Mastering Money in Entertainment: Insights from Shamelle Riveter
We had the privilege of sitting down with Shamelle Riveter, a trailblazing entrepreneur and financial guru in the entertainment industry. With a rich background in the realm of financial management and founder of GYSIO (Get Yo’ Stuff In Order), she assists artists and creatives in navigating the complex financial landscape of showbiz.
In this enlightening interview, she shares her insights on the unique financial challenges faced by those in the entertainment world and offers practical advice on managing finances and planning for a stable future. Shamelle’s journey from the screen to the ledger is not just inspiring but also filled with valuable lessons for anyone in the industry.
Please note, the information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. We encourage our readers to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals for their specific financial needs.
What are some common financial pitfalls you see in the entertainment industry? How can people avoid them?
One of the common pitfalls I see within the entertainment industry is the lack of financial management. There is a mindset of not understanding that you are a business and not just an artist.
So in order to avoid a financial pitfall, you want to make sure that you’re organizing your finances and setting yourself up as a business.
What does that mean? It’s not just formulating a company with the Secretary of State or with the IRS, but it’s also positioning yourself for retirement and for other wealth strategies that will have your family in a great position should you decide to retire or stop. Or in the case of a strike like the ones we just had – you have
income that you can pull from in order to sustain your living.
So to avoid a pitfall, you want to organize your finances and ensure that you keep the mindset that you are a business and not just an artist and conduct yourself that way. Plan. Organize.
What unique tax challenges do performers and entertainers face? How does GYSIO help them?
So one of the biggest tax challenges that entertainers face is not organizing their transactions in order to create a financial to give to the tax preparer. And so what we do is formulate their financials.
We take over their bookkeeping, and we prepare their taxes for them. Or we give them financials so that they could give it to another tax preparer. And the way to fix that, if you do not have a bookkeeper, is to get an Excel sheet and start categorizing every single expense you have. Meaning all of your income.
Outline:
• All of your income coming in
• Name where you got it from
• How much it is
• And the date
Make sure that it matches the income that’s going into your bank account, and do the same thing with your expenses.
How has GYSIO adapted its services to meet the evolving entertainment industry, especially with the rise of YouTubers, Influencers, and livestreamers?
The interesting thing is that we have always catered to the film industry to a degree because content creators are considered working, performing artists; you know, they are creators, artists.
We formulate our services by staying on top of how transactions are categorized so that their financials and taxes fit their type of work. So it’s going to be a little different as it pertains to a YouTuber or an influencer, right?
Because they’re going to have a lot of ad revenue coming in. We formulate the chart of accounts or their categories to reflect that.
Could you discuss the importance of financial education and how it can empower artists and entrepreneurs?
Financial education is very important for artists and entrepreneurs because they are a business.
You’re not just an artist. When you formulate yourself as a business, you put yourself in a position where you can gain funding and get money back from your taxes. You can set up a retirement account just like any other business owner or employee because of your financial education.
So it’s always important to have not only a bookkeeper but also a financial advisor. You want to have a tax accountant, which all of these titles are different.
How do you approach creating budgets and financial strategies for events with unpredictable variables, such as live performances and tours?
In order to create a budget or a financial strategy for events, we go by a prior event that an artist may have had.
For instance, let’s say this event is a live tour, and you’re moving from state to state.
One thing that we do is we have to perform research within that state and industry. When you’re touring, you must know what venue you’ll utilize. You need to know what the set is going to look like and all of that. So, we formulate the budget according to the stage and location and create a budget according to that type of event.
If anything changes, we always create a line item because sometimes there are unpredictable variables. Sometimes you’re going to have an expense that may be a little lower or a little higher.
So we create a budget line item that says “other” in your income and expenses. So that way, it covers you. And how do we determine what that number is? We go by prior events, or we gauge with our own formulas. You need to be an accountant to understand that aspect. I can’t go into the deepness of how we do that.
For more information on Shamelle Reveter, be sure to listen to Industry Insights, where she shares additional information and details about how she is making an impact on her community and her clients.
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