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In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco de Leon and Caroline Cala Donofrio discuss the intricacies of a career in the arts. Caroline shares her unique journey from growing up in New Jersey with little encouragement to pursue the arts, to becoming a celebrated author of the Best Babysitters Ever series, ten ghostwritten books for celebrities, and publishing her email newsletter, Between a Rock and a Card Place. They explore challenges like imposter syndrome, societal pressures about the idea of success, and the why AI does not feel like an existential threat to creativity. Caroline talks about the significance of defining personal success, maintaining a consistent writing practice, advice she’d give to her younger self and to others navigating the creative field.

Caroline Cala Donofrio (@carolinecala) is a writer whose work has been featured in The Cut, Vogue, Elle, Refinery29, The Zoe Report and Cup of Jo (where she also worked as an editor for many years). Her newsletter, Between a Rock and a Card Place, features a mix of personal essays, interviews, and a weekly card reading. She has also authored, co-written, or ghostwritten over a dozen books.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, host Paco de Leon sits down with Pony Lee Musgrave, founder of Folklore Salon, to discuss the intersection of business and community. Pony shares their journey from aspiring artist to successful business owner, emphasizing the value of creating an inclusive and supportive environment for both clients and staff. They delve into the financial challenges of running a salon and the necessity of separating personal and business finances. Pony highlights the relief and strategic advantage of bringing on professional bookkeeping services, especially during COVID-19, and offers advice to other small business owners. Throughout the conversation, Paco and Pony stress the importance of fearlessness, community feedback, and staying true to one's values in a competitive industry.

PonyLee Musgrave is the co-founder of Folklore Salon (@folklore.la and @folklore_lbc), the first openly Queer owned and operated shop of its kind to service the LGBTQ Community and it’s badass allies and Pony has also served as a member of the of Dyke Day LA board for over a decade.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.

In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco and Niluka Kavanagh dive deep into the evolving landscape of remote work and entrepreneurship. Niluka shares her journey from working at KPMG after studying at Oxford, to becoming a digital nomad and founding her company, Imagine That (@imaginethatclub). They discuss the challenges and benefits of transitioning to remote work, the significance of customer feedback, and the importance of personal branding. Niluka also addresses common misconceptions about digital nomads and the realism of balancing work while traveling.

Niluka is the Founder of ImagineThat - the Business School for Digital Nomads and Solopreneurs. ImagineThat helps ambitious but bored professionals start their own independent online services business and work from anywhere.

She does this through offering career support and her ImagineThat Business Academy.

After graduating from Oxford University, Niluka started her career in consulting at KPMG UK in London. But nearly 5 years later she wanted more and decided to embark on an experiment - to work for herself and work from anywhere.

During this time, Niluka worked on 2 of her own businesses, fully remote from 7 places across the world. She saw that it IS possible to work for herself and have location freedom - spurring her on to build ImagineThat and help others achieve the same.

If you are interested in what Niluka is doing and would like to work with her on either your online business idea or get guidance on how to transition in your career, you can reach out via the website or connect with Niluka on LinkedIn.

You can also subscribe and join over 500 people in the free community here.

Finally, you can also get the ImagineThat Guide "How to become a digital nomad through starting an online services business" which has 30 pages packed full of information on the topic from the ImagineThat website.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 1-833-ASK-PACO, email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com or submit your questions here. We’d also love your listener feedback about the show; here’s a short survey.