Saving for slow months

The income is seasonal

Some months are strong and some are quiet, and the quiet ones often arrive without warning. January is slow in many places. Summer is slow in some cities and busy in others. Sporting events, conventions and tourist seasons shift money around. A new club nearby, new management or bad weather can drop your take for a month.

Which months are slow for you depends on your city and your club, so ask the dancers who have been there a few years. They know the rhythm of that room better than any general rule.

A salaried worker gets the same money in a bad month as a good one. You do not. Spend what you earn in a strong month and a weak one leaves you short on rent, tempted to work shifts that are not worth it, say yes to things you would otherwise refuse, or borrow. A reserve lets you make calm decisions instead.

Pay yourself a wage

The most reliable method is to separate what you earn from what you spend:

• Work out your essential monthly costs: rent, bills, food, transport, debt payments.
• Pay yourself that amount, plus a reasonable allowance, as a fixed transfer from your work money into your personal account each week or month.
• Everything above that stays in the work account, and from there goes into tax savings and a reserve.

In a strong month the reserve grows. In a weak month you draw on it to make the same wage. Your lifestyle stops swinging with the room.

Building the reserve

Aim first for one month of essential costs. Then three. Dancers who have been through a club closure or an injury often aim for six. Build it with a fixed percentage of every deposit, not with whatever is left over, because there is never anything left over.

Keep it in a plain savings account, separate from everyday and tax money. Do not invest it in anything you cannot get out of quickly; this is sleep-at-night money.

Planning around the slow months

Once you know your slow season, plan for it:

• Save harder in the months before it.
• Consider whether travelling to a city that is busy when yours is quiet makes sense once you have some experience.
• Use the slow weeks for things that pay later: updating your profile and schedule, new photos, building your online presence, sorting your records with your accountant.
• Book rest. A slow month is a reasonable time to take a holiday without feeling you are losing money.

A reserve is also leverage. A dancer with three months of costs in the bank can walk away from a bad club, a bad manager or a bad customer.