Nick
Yes! My tips are this:
1) Know what you want to do! Do you want to teach? Make gear? Perform? You probably can't do them all at once. My advice is to follow your dreams. There is magic in that.
2) Once you've figured out your dreams, figure out how manifesting your dreams can benefit other people. I.e. if your dream is just to play poi for yourself then it might be tough to make money from that, so figure out how your dreams can involve helping other people, or to solving their problems, or making them happy, or helping people by solving their problems while making them happy. Nobody ever paid me for playing poi! I've made a living partly because I've figured out ways to help other people, such as helping the shops design and promote toys. This was a lot of work and I had to think of things from the point of view of the shops. If you want to be self-employed, then you have to figure out what you're providing and for whom!
3) If you're under 30, learn to write for people over 30. Some young people's writing these days involves a lot of acronyms or other so-called text-speak and does not strictly follow the rules of grammar. This writing style has some benefits and is not inherently bad. However, people over 30 won't understand you or take you seriously unless you speak their language, which involves punctuation when written.
4) Know that being money is related to your state of mind and attitude. Five years ago I decided to start living as if I had all the money I needed. Adopting this mindset wasn't easy, but in the long run it helped. I call this approach cultivating an "abundance mentality." If you want abundance to flow to you, then try letting it flow through you, to others. That doesn't mean you should be reckless! Simply experiment with seeing yourself as a generous provider, somebody who can support other artists and businesses and see how that changes your approach to people and opportunities. Also, the best kind of financial freedom is generous freedom, otherwise you might get rich but you'll be like Scrooge!
5) Take baby steps! I got myself into trouble by jumping into things too quickly when I created the Vancouver Poi Studio. I could have rented space until things were rolling and that would have been much less stressful.
6) If you succeed, be grateful to those who helped! Expressing your gratitude won't help you make money, but it will definitely help you be happy. (I certainly have a lot of people to thank!). So take take note of your good fortunes right from the beginning. Sometimes even the things that seem like bad luck will turn out to be good fortunes later.
7) Have fun! You might as well!
