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For the last several years, my annual goals list has included adding two resume skills. I got this idea after reading “I am my biggest asset” over and over again on career related blogs, but it’s kind of true. It’s funny how long I overlooked that investing in myself often has some pretty big returns, but it’s also funny how difficult it can be to do at first. I mean, investing in yourself is… a very wide concept. Even when I knew it would be a good idea, it took me several

I’ve talked a lot about how nice it is to not always be broke anymore , but that’s also extended into some of my work options too. While I’m still all about getting the best deals possible, there are some splurges that are part of my work supplies now that definitely weren’t at the beginning of my career. Express Pants  The debate regarding which pair of black pants is the best among female stagehands can get pretty fierce. They’re a fairly expensive necessity and over the

I’ve toured several different ways. I’ve lived on boats and trains that were like a little apartment that stays with you the whole time you’re on tour. I’ve done week long sit downs in hotels, which also gives you a little of the home feeling. But I’ve also done van and box truck tours and bus and truck tours and both of those leave your world feeling a little upside down. There’s not much room to spread out your life in a bus - and one-nighters in a 15 passenger van mak

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I don’t work out on the road anymore. For years my plan was to go back to school, get a doctorate and become a professor. I’ve applied to doctoral programs three different times since I finished undergrad and I haven’t gotten into a single one. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I don’t usually fail at stuff, so this has left me a little perplexed about exactly what my second act is going to be now. Teaching

Guys, do you know what I was doing 10 years ago today? I was embarking a cruise ship for the first time. I was reminded of this because we’re having some growing pains out here at the circus and trying to figure out more effective ways to orient new people and get them the proper training. Because I am a packrat nerd, I thought, “I wonder if I still have my binder of HAL stuff.” And I do. I started going through it and I found my first contract ever. Right before ships I

Arts degrees have a little stigma to them. I mean, I wrote a whole post years ago about why a theatre degree isn’t useless . Today, I’m going to tell you about how a theatre degree (or music) actually gives you an incredible savings edge. Some of the best jobs that totally cover room and board are jobs for people in the arts. The biggest reason I am where I am financially is because over the last 10 years, I’ve paid rent for two and one quarter of them. One year of rent w

In the arts, we talk a lot about how miserable the pay is out here but often justify it with following our dreams, how expensive it is to make art so of course there’s not much left for salaries, how difficult fund raising is… etc., etc., etc. The vast majority of time I’m on the side of “pshhhht, this is bs.” If you can’t properly fund a project, don’t try to hire professionals to work it. However . There have been a few times over the years where I worked very low paying j

Image Credit: Pexels Since stage management is such a tough gig to get, it is always worth having a couple of back up plans to get further opportunities during your down seasons. This means that knowing what your transferable skills are is a must for applying for other jobs or putting your CV about. Many of the skills you need to be a stage manager are actually along the same lines of being a film producer. Now, you probably aren’t going to jump straight to Hollywood blockbu

Now that I’m actually a little settled into my job and no longer running around like a chicken with my head cut off (most days), here’s a look at what my three most common types of days look like. And if you're wondering about the type of skills that led me to this jobs - it's an awful lot of stage management, a little bit of production management and PR/event coordinating. I also get more of a voice than I've ever had in the creative development of the shows, which is prett

This has easily been the weirdest year of my stage management career. There are a lot of moments when I’m walking around the circus wondering “how did I get here?” If you’re thinking of a career in stage management, you should be aware it’s really not a linear pursuit. It’s kind of like buying a giant carpet bag and over the years you throw more and more crap into it and with each job, you have more stuff you can pull out of the carpet bag to help you too. Profound analogy,

"What have you failed at this week?" – Sara Blakely Check out this quick and amazing video that helped me redefine failure: I love the idea that the only way to really fail is to not even try. When friends or family try to do something that seems crazy to me and it doesn’t work, I never think of them as failures. I actually think they helped us all find something that doesn’t work and that’s just a point to move on from. I do struggle with friends and family who have some

Last night, as I stumbled back to my home fairly exhausted from my 18 hour work day, I was thinking a little bit about a friend who did not land the gig he wanted on the show I’m working on. We’ve known each other for years, and I feel that we’re both pretty good at what we respectively do, so I got a little mired in the unfairness of the situation for a minute. It reminded me though of this basic formula that I’ve found to be the key to success as a stage manager (and mayb

Let me lay a few cards on the table here. I don’t think Actors' Equity is a good union. I say this from the standpoint of someone who has turned down three different jobs that would’ve allowed her to join – not as someone who hasn’t been able to get in. That being said, a good friend of mine who is currently looking for work was offered a gig that would get her an Equity card and I could completely understand her excitement and wished her will with the whole venture. Equity

This post does contain affiliate links.  Opening Night is pretty exciting and it’s generally traditional to spring for a gift for your cast and your ASM. If you’re looking for some great, inexpensive ideas for your cast, check out these five opening night gift ideas for less than $5.00 . Sometimes the same is done on closing. Personally, I usually give everyone involved on the show a little something and a personal note at Opening and often the only person who gets a seco

EasyShift is one of those apps that let you take pictures or check prices in a store for a few dollars. I was pretty intrigued because the payouts seem to be higher than a lot of other microtask apps ($10-20 range). I recently started training for a part time job in the mornings that leaves me with a 3 hour gap between when those shifts end and work starts at my regular job and both jobs are much further downtown than I live. Three hours might seem like a lot, but taking

Coming up on 4 years of blogging soon and I’m happier than ever that I started blogging in 2013. Last month brokeGIRLrich brought in $667.10 and I made $315 from freelance writing – opportunities that come 100% out of starting this blog. For the majority of the last year, I’ve been averaging a little over $500 a month in extra income from this blog and about $200 in extra income from freelance writing. Some months it’s a lot more and once in a while it’s a lot less. I spe

When people think about side hustles or survival jobs, a lot of them seem to revolve around being on the same place all the time or work hours outside of 9-to-5. Any stage manager knows that doesn’t really help us out. Work hours change a lot in the theater. While you might be able to swing some bartending shifts or night job work during rehearsals, once a show is up and running that’s out. And you might be able to babysit or work as a temp in an office once a show is up and

I started my blog to try and stay accountable while paying off a bunch of student debt. However, once I finished that, I had to rethink why I wanted to keep blogging and my main goal really has been to show an accurate pictures of life and finances when you work in the arts. I’ve also been really lucky, which some of you long time readers have been able to see, in that I almost always seem to land work, even if it sometimes pops up at the last minute. Not so much this past

Finding work can be difficult for anyone, but breaking into the theater world can seem impossible sometimes – especially if you come from a school with no network (cough, cough, Stockton University, cough). Here are a few resources worth looking into to find a job as a stage manager. Please note that under the paid section, you will find several that offer “free” access, but I’ve found the “free” access is really useless, so unless you pay for their services, you really just

It’s been a while since we’ve done a day in the life of! It occurred to me though that my days on my last tour were wildly different from any other job I’ve done. I was on a bus and truck non-Equity national tour. The means that I lived on a sleeper bus. The fact that the tour was non-Equity meant that things like days off didn’t have to be taken into account and there were no limits on the number of hours a day you could work (and no overtime when the days were crazy long).