The Safety Net Most Creative Entrepreneurs Never Build

I think creatives misunderstand what a safety net actually is.

Voice Note from Aug 2026.

Most people hear “safety net” and immediately think, “Six months of expenses,” or, “keep some cash in the bank.”

That’s part of it. If you don’t have an emergency fund, that’s probably the first thing you should build. I take that as a given. If you’ve been freelancing for years and don’t have any cash reserves, you’re playing a dangerous game.

But, that’s not really what I’m talking about.

When I say “safety net,” I mean knowing that one bad year in your business doesn’t destroy the next twenty years of your life. That’s a completely different kind of security.

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A Big Mistake…

I think one of the biggest mistakes creative entrepreneurs make is assuming every extra dollar should go back into the business.

At some point, I realized I didn’t just need to get better at making money, I needed to get better at deciding where that money went. That meant spending time learning things that had nothing to do with filmmaking.

• Subjects like…

  • Investing, taxes, retirement accounts, business operations, acquiring businesses, marketing strategies, and many other topics.

Most creatives don’t want to educate themselves because it feels like time away from the craft. I get it, I’d rather be on set than reading financial newsletters, but the 6 months I spent learning completely changed how I think. After a 1-2 years, I saw a huge difference in how I balanced business and personal finances.

Now, after a solid month making more than projected, my first question is “where should this dollar go?” Then I ask…

• “Should it strengthen the business? Should it strengthen my balance sheet? Should it go toward retirement? Should it be invested in my individual brokerage? Should it sit in cash? etc.”

Lets go further,

• Once my income from video production became more consistent, I started adding things on auto pilot which freed up more time. These decisions matter more than the size of the paycheck itself.

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The Irony

The irony is that the better your safety net gets, the less desperate you become.

You…

• stop taking bad clients because you need the money.

• stop panicking when work slows down.

• feel less uneasy

• have moments where you see your money increasing without you being onset.

I have gained the freedom to know that if this year is slower than the last one, my family is still okay. My retirement is still growing. My kids’ future is still being funded. As long as I have enough to put food on the table and have shelter, my business still has time to figure things out!

That’s a complete safety net.

I’m curious how you think about this. What does a financial safety net look like to you? Leave a comment, I read every one!

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