Tag: interview

A Conversation with Chris Dane Owens on Money, Creativity, and Self-Funding Art

Believing in Miracles: A Conversation with Chris Dane Owens on Money, Creativity, and Self-Funding Art

Lauren Torres ("Kitty") Leave a comment

Today we have something truly special for you.

A few months ago, we had an opportunity to talk to an artist who’s been an absolutely iconic figure in our lives. Longtime readers know we are obsessed with Chris Dane Owens. His self-produced high fantasy rock music videos grabbed us at a formative time in our lives, and they’ve never let us go.

We first encountered Chris Dane Owens during our college years as roommates, when his viral hit music video for Shine On Me (2008) blasted across the duct-taped screens of our Dell Latitudes. Its radiant awesomeness pierced the clouds of our cynical art school education, which in the early aughts was insisting that art could only be good if it was gritty and brown and serious and rEaLiStIc. And to this day, we play its followup Light Speed (2014) before every speech and public appearance to pump ourselves up and appear effortlessly high energy.

Eventually, our superfanning caught his attention, and he magnanimously offered to come on our show. Our producer Ducky had to physically push our souls back into our bodies.

Today we’re thrilled to share that conversation.

Now, if you’re thinking “Eh, I’m here for the personal finance and career stuff, I’m gonna skip this one,” STOP! We talked about so many issues that matter to our readers.

  • How do you balance the soul-restoring work of creative endeavors with the draining but necessary work of paying bills?
  • Why does doing art on a part-time or hobby basis make us feel like failures or sellouts?
  • How do you identify the cross-functional skills of day jobs and passion projects that make you better at both?
  • Can you still grow and improve as an artist during times when money and work take priority?
  • If the work you want to do can’t be done alone, where do you meet collaborators and supporters?
  • How do you sustain a creative effort over a long period of time?
  • How do you fit self-funded art into a normal budget?

Chris provides a lot of honest and thoughtful answers to these questions, and more. We’re so grateful to him for his time and insights. We hope you enjoy listening half as much as we enjoyed making his episode, because it was easily the most fun we’ve ever had recording our podcast.

You can find Chris Dane Owens’s music on your streaming platform of choice. His YouTube channel has all of his legendary music videos. (If you haven’t seen them, have you even truly lived?) And if you want updates about his upcoming FEATURE FILM, Empire Queen, you can find links to videos, sneak peeks, and social channels for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more at EmpireQueenMovie.com.

Special thanks go to Chris for so graciously appearing on our little podcast, and to our producer Ducky. Recording with guests always adds an extra layer of challenge, and she rose to the occasion!

Becoming a Millennial Entrepreneur (In the Midst of a Pandemic) With Katelyn Magnuson

Piggy 5 Comments

HOO BOY, WHAT A YEAR, AMIRITE?

In these trying times, it’s good to know we can still come together to celebrate what’s most important in life: raising chickens and naming them after TV characters.

Freelance CFO Katelyn Magnuson is here to teach you about being a millennial entrepreneur.
This is Katelyn Magnuson, the Freelance CFO. More on this majestic Mother of Chickens in a moment.

With record numbers of layoffs and unemployment rising like a helium-filled dumpster, a lot of us have turned to what we call survival entrepreneurism. That includes full-time self-employment, freelancing, and stringing gigs together like so many Hobby Lobby clearance rack seed beads. Not only is this #entrepreneurlife a way to make ends meet when absolutely no one is hiring, but it’s a method of advancing one’s career as a millennial entrepreneur. Starting your own business right now is the lemonade many have made out of the nasty-ass lemons 2020 has given us.

I myself transitioned to full-time self-employment when I lost my job just as the coronavirus hit the fan. Yet while this makes me a card-carrying millennial entrepreneur, it’s not something I’ve written (or thought) much about!

To be honest, starting my freelance business and then making it my full-time job was, in the words of our Lord and Savior Bob Ross, “a happy accident.”

As usual… when it comes to being a millennial entrepreneur, I have no idea what I’m doing.

Meet Katelyn Magnuson, millennial entrepreneur and “Freelance CFO”

Every so often when I’m researching money topics, I sigh dramatically and collapse onto my fainting couch, limp wrist held to my clammy forehead in the very picture of Victorian femininity. “Oh woe!” cry I, “This money shit is so confusing and complicated! If only some genuine professional would do the research for me and just let me copy their homework!”

Which is usually when I decide to interview an expert instead of doing the work myself.

Enter Katelyn Magnuson, the self-styled Freelance CFO and Mother of Chickens (long may She reign). Katelyn’s whole thing is working with small business owners and freelancers to take the practical steps necessary to bring their passion to life. Her courses, Facebook group, and free resources are not just full of platitudes and cheerleading… she actually has made her own business out of setting up the businesses of others.

So when Bitch Nation clamored for information on becoming “solopreneurs” (Katelyn’s word, but I’m stealing it), I knew she was the hero we needed and deserved; a millennial entrepreneur to cut through the bullshit and give us some step-by-step guidance.

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10 Questions You Should Never Be Asked in a Job Interview

Lauren Torres ("Kitty") 14 Comments

I got a call from a recruiter the other day. His offer wasn’t very exciting, but I told him to keep in touch. It would’ve been a forgettable call… except that he then asked a series of really unusual job interview questions.

“Can I ask a few more questions to complete your file?” he said.

“Sure.”

“You’re a U.S. citizen, right?”

I answered immediately, automatically. But as the “yep” escaped my mouth, a little warning light started flashing in the back of my brain.

“And your date of birth?”

I paused. There are some questions you should never be asked in an interview setting. Your nationality is one. Your age is another. He’d asked two of these questions in a row. What’s going on here?

I decided to give my birthdate, partially because I’m the exceedingly neutral age of 32, and partially because the truth is the easiest answer to give when caught off-guard. But then his last question was… 

“Do you feel comfortable giving me the last four digits of your social security number?”

WOAH. What what whaaaat?! I didn’t know the dude from a hole in the ground! My birthdate and my social?! What’s he gonna want next—my credit card number? A copy of my house keys?? Shit no!

I thanked him for his time and asked him not to contact me again.

I knew the job offer was legit; I’d had other recruiters contact me about it as well. But the high number of sensitive questions betrayed a basic lack of training and discretion. It was just too many red flags.

Even though I know a lot of this stuff cold, I still wasn’t prepared for how to handle them when they came up in the moment. But you will do better than me! Today I’ll share with you ten bad job interview questions to watch out for. We want you to be ready to identify and avoid sketchy workplaces and scams. Luckily, many seem willing to make their sketchiness known before they even hire you!

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Bitchtastic Book Review: Tanja Hester on Early Retirement, Privilege, and Her Book, Work Optional

Bitchtastic Book Review: Tanja Hester on Early Retirement, Privilege, and Her Book, Work Optional

Piggy 8 Comments

Dear readers, we’ve been holding out on you. For there is something beyond the basic financial literacy we strive to teach you here at Bitches Get Riches. Something that comes after you level up as far as you go with your money.

It’s called FIRE, or “financial independence, retire early.” And it’s something a lot of our esteemed colleagues in the money-writin’ biz are fighting tooth and nail to achieve.

One of the beacons of light in the conversation about financial independence and early retirement is Tanja Hester, author of the brand new book Work Optional: Retire Early the Non-Penny-Pinching Way.

Tanja is awesome. Her book is awesome. Her advice is awesome.

She’s like the result of a long, fulfilling, romantic relationship between a timelessly wise Amazon warrior and your favorite cool aunt, the one who both comforted you about the mean kids at school and bought you your first box of condoms. I’d trust her both to carry my body to Valhalla from the field of battle and to give me sound financial advice, is what I’m saying.

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