_posts/2018-02-21-shed-your-money-taboos.md
---
title: Shed Your Money Taboos by Derek Sivers
date: 2018-02-21 10:48:00 -06:00
tags:
- work
- business
link_url: https://sivers.org/mn1
---
Derek Sivers offers advice to musicians that applies to *any* creative pursuit:
> The unhappiest musicians I’ve met are the ones who avoided the subject of money, and now are desperately broke or need a draining day job. It may sound cool to say money doesn’t matter — to say “don’t worry about it” in that negotiation moment — but it leads to a really hard life. Then ultimately your music suffers, because you can’t give it the time it needs, and you haven’t found an audience that values it.
I've made this mistake many times in my career. I've made it when negotiating a salary, and when I've priced projects. Unfortunately, it has meant being underpaid in many situations, then having to get the work done anyway.
I've come away from these instances with a great lesson, and one that Derek touch on too: people won't value work, if you don't assign it value.
Talking money is a life skill.
---
*Via [The Newsprint](https://thenewsprint.co/2018/02/18/sunday-edition-021818/)*