✍️ The newsletter: Feedback for Conservators #15
On money (part 1): feeling comfortable talking about it 💸
This is a monthly free newsletter project that came from the Initiative Feedback for Conservators ✍️: a place to bring a little bit of professional advice/share of experience to help on topics that I wish I knew more about at the start of my art conservation career. Topics discussed here are recurrent ones that I see over Zoom sessions! So I thought would be useful to discuss them here. It’s also not a perfect newsletter and doesn’t intend to, but rather a space to share. Read here past newsletters. And as always, some disclamers1
So! We are inaugurating a selection of posts that will all fit into the same theme: Money and conservators. Because we do not talk about it! And two disclosures:
this is not money advice, is what has been my experience.
This text first appeared (with some minor variations) in the recent seventh iteration of the International Institute of Conservation’s Student and Emerging Conservator Conference (IIC-SECC): Testing Waters. If you do not know this is a conference celebrated in a different location but always focused on Emerging conservators. I have assisted online to some in the past and always found something good to know about. See their Instagram here.
Especially thanks to the IIC organisation and more precisely, to the Co-Chairs Amelia Hammond and Paula Ogayar Oroz,(check and follow their profiles!). I have been also part of other conference organisations and let me tell you, it’s a lot of work behind closed doors. So many many thanks!
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On money: feeling comfortable talking about it
We often forget that our work is service-based. So you like it or not, you will have to deal with talking about money. However, we still do not talk about it for many reasons, but the main one is that we do not feel we know enough and yet, knowledge is power (so it is another correlated art: negotiating. More on that soon). Focusing on the first one, here are some reflections on my experience:
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🤓Educating yourself about money is your responsibility. No one else will come to teach you this and yet, it is one of the things that can have more impact on your life and career. If there is one place that I think investing in could have a good return, is this. So I looked around and checked some books and courses on financial education, but also, there is always the option to simply ask the conservation association/school association where you’re from if they can create one! (they did, was fantastic).
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😎If you do not know, find somebody who does. One of the first things that I did as an emerging conservator, even went I had barely worked was paying a tax accountant to help me out with my first tax declaration. Yes, I could do it myself with some help, but this was a huge relief to me and at the same time gave me the time to figure it out and learn on the go. A bonus: finding a professional who is more familiar with our field (by asking other colleagues if they have good accountants!). I believe that we do not need to know about everything, but we have to make sure to surround us with people who do.
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🙋🏻♀️In case of doubt, ask: There is a point in life when you will realise that most people ask themselves the same questions and we are all just pretending that we do know. I found that is better always to ask, even if it feels stupid. Two examples: recently (yes recently) I paid an accountant one hour to help me understand and clarify some things that I didn’t understand. Best investment ever. Another case? I worked abroad and the first paycheck of my salary I could not understand a thing. I ate my pride and emailed the HR department to ask if they could help me figure it out. They not only sent a PDF with detailed explanations to me but also to the rest of the team. Win-win.
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🖥 If there is no database, create your own. We can all agree that figuring out prices and salaries is tricky when our field is not into publishing all job offers in like… LinkedIn. So what did I do? I started collecting as early as possible any job advertisements that I found in my field. Over time has given me a good sense of conservation salaries around Europe, how the market evolves and feeling more confident, even as a freelancer, to ask for prices, as well as what kind of skills are requested and paid for. In the same line, who said that an internship or fellowship is ONLY to learn about the practical part? It is also a chance to discuss with other colleagues how they feel about the business side, learn to create budgets and ask if you can check past projects that have been done. This is also part of the job! So we should not feel shy about asking if it would be possible also to see/learn this. I personally learned a lot from it.
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That’s a warp for today. More next month, see you then?
This is my personal opinion, which means that I could be wrong, you do you ✨
Please do not share extracts of this newsletter without my consent.
This is not money advice, is what has been my experience.