She's On The Money - MONEY DIARIES: DJ Tigerlily

Episode Date: April 4, 2021

DJ Tigerlily is a boss! We love her and we guarantee by the end of the episode you will too.On this Money Diaries episode is speaks with Victoria Devine and Ryan Jon.Do you love the podcast SICK and want more SOTM? Course ya do. Join our Facebook page to share your money wins and money confessions, follow us on Insta for daily inspo to keep you on track and DEFINITELY subscribe to our newsletter https://www.shesonthemoney.com.au/newsletter the written recap of the pod's key takeaways, including some bonus bits you won't want to miss.Finally, if you're in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we've got you sorted - simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast!The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Today we are having a chat with... Hey everyone, my name is Dara Hayes. You may know me as DJ Tiger Lily. I'm a DJ, a producer, and an influencer from Sydney, Australia, and this is my money diary. And let me tell you, for those of you who don't know Zara, she is an absolute legend and a boss in her own right.

People still think I can't DJ or write music because I'm a hot chick. And I'm like, come to one of my shows and stand next to me and watch me play because I'm a f***ing great DJ. It's quite frustrating because it means that like, I don't know, there's something about society you can't be a good looking confident woman and like be intelligent or have an opinion or be really really really good at your craft like it's very frustrating and as always on our money diaries ryan john you are also here in the background hello so let's get into the chat because to be honest this was one of my favorite chats i've ever had about money with someone of

influence let's jump straight into the structured questions yes and you don't get any special treatment here, you get all of the same questions all our money diarists do. And the first question is, can you please describe your relationship with money? I love this question so much. It's so interesting. I have a really healthy relationship with money and have for the last 10 years, I think. It's been quite a work in progress though. My parents are definitely super middle class. They both have good jobs, but you know, nothing crazy. And they've always really implemented for me and my sisters to save and to not be frivolous with our money. So coming into adulthood, I was always a little bit nervous to spend money and always had a little bit

of guilt around spending money on nice things. And I've definitely tried to work through that in the last couple of like the last 10 years and I feel like I've got to a really good point now where I feel comfortable with saving money but also confident with spending money which is a really nice place to be at and you know just knowing what makes me feel good and what is also smart to spend my money on and kind of combining the two of them but it's definitely been a work in progress and it's crazy to see how many even just small things or comments or you know, situations from childhood can affect your money story massively. And it's also been interesting being with my partner for the last five years and combining our money stories together

and working as a team coming from, you know, totally different families. It's been fun and exciting to like, you know, be able to relate to other people. And that's definitely helped me a lot, I think, with my relationship with money as well. I love that so to ask a silly question what do you do for work and life I'm a DJ that's my that was my main form of income until about 12 months ago so the bulk of my income was from live performances um and then 12 months ago that obviously like stopped completely which was oh my god so nerve-wracking I had probably like six months worth of shows lined up oh my gosh they were all cancelled yeah postponed you know how long between you thinking oh i might have to

make some changes to full stop it's over like 24 hours just like that six months of income plans even schedules maybe even more yeah like i had like new year's eve booked in and stuff like that and this was in march the the day that was like the real pivotal moment i actually flew down to melbourne to play the grand prix and i'd brought a massive crew with me i'd brought a saxophonist a bongo drummer um a photographer that would have been so fun too also that's such a casual thing for you to say oh just hanging out with a couple of bongo drummers driving i have no creative license so all of this is just so cool to me i'm like yeah let's talk about money and you're like so i've got a saxophonist and i'm like what you can get that so what you can get that you bring the

whole crew down yeah and play like a live set it's they're they're both so epic um like i'll just be djing and they'll totally ad lib on my whole set which is oh my gosh so far all right so but did you get to do that show well so we landed at melbourne airport like i said to my partner in that like that morning i was like god i don't know what's going on there's all this stuff coming into my phone text messages on calls and news stories and i was like what are we gonna do got on the plane i was thinking look it's gonna be fine it's gonna be fine i think all of us said that to ourselves at the start right we were all like it's gonna be two weeks yeah right maybe a month the longest and then we landed in Melbourne and I got a call from my agent and he's like walk

back upstairs and book the first flight home for all of you because nothing is happening and I was like oh my god so we grabbed our bags and walked straight upstairs to Qantas and like booked the next flight home and that day like literally everything got canned yeah I remember that day so clearly I was the opposite I was in Melbourne and I was calling my manager because I was flying to sydney to host an event and i said i don't want to get on this flight because i know the event's not going to happen and he's like trust me it's on fine i get on the plane i land phone beeps go home oh my god what that's mental yeah it's it's pretty gnarly when like you know you're just the whole movement of getting ready to perform or you know be a host an event and

it's just like stopped but did you think oh next weekend then or did you know right away this could be because i guess we thought oh yeah two weeks you know then we're back i was like quite aware that it was pretty bad because we traveled to america the month before to do some work with tourism like brand usa um and me and my photographer were like masking and like hand sanitizing the whole time and everyone over there was just like what are you doing you're crazy and so i was like turns out you and the jokes on you jokes on you america yeah yeah and so i was thinking you know it was probably pretty bad i was quite nervous and anxious at that point about the whole thing so i was thinking it was going to be a couple of months everyone around me was like

no it'll be fine you'll be back by september i was like and then like a week later i was like and then like a month later i was like told you i wouldn't be back by september like 12 months later we're finally kind of back sort of covid normal is what they're calling it now god all these terms you're on it is true i have replaced a question here and i'm gonna ask you have you ever asked for a pay rise if so how i have definitely asked for multiple pay rises obviously it's really non-traditional in this industry it's not like i have one boss who i oh of course look up to um so it doesn't make it any less nerve-wracking to say hey i actually you think I'm worth more money than what you're currently offering right so I work quite closely

with my agent which is kind of nice because I have someone to kind of keep me leveled or back me up if we want to ask for more money and every 12 months we kind of have a meeting and we say okay what are we charging what does it look like what value are we bringing and you know I do remember some years I've gone in and said I think I'm worth more and he's like well these these numbers haven't changed these streams haven't changed i think we keep it as is and i'm like feeling a bit deflated but thanks though yeah but then other years he's like absolutely you know this and this has changed this has gone up you know you're bringing so much more value to the clubs at the moment and so they measure the clubs go when dj tiger lily's in we get 10 more people you know

they yeah they'll measure like a bar spend people coming through the door people pre-signing up to oh my gosh i didn't even know that yeah they can and like that's cool measure bar spend at times as well so like if people are coming in early and spending or if like they're coming in late they can measure so many different things clicks on links follow-throughs like and so then is that where you get your power to say hey as you know when i'm on you know drinks are selling people are booking in advance that's what you guys like so yeah absolutely and the more you have good examples of you coming in and like selling a heap of tickets or breaking records for whether it's you know bar spend or I don't know at the moment it's like pre um registering for

events and stuff like that so all that kind of stuff really really helps and yeah so I have had to ask for like you know pay rises in that sense um but it is really good having someone who has been able to kind of support and or you know navigate it with me um it's great having that buffer i like that because i think that that's also something that a lot of people don't have and even if it's not an agent which you know i don't have an agent you guys were talking about your managers i'm like i reply to my own emails on you guys uh excuse me not anymore jess is sitting on her laptop replying to your emails right now so you watch your mouth okay that is a very good point but I definitely don't have a manager that works in the same capacity and I think that it's

really important to remember even if you don't have a manager or an agent even having a friend to bounce back off and be like hey well this is the value I think I bring to the table and then even sometimes being that friend for other people and being like hey like you said that you you know wanted a pay rise but like what else are you bringing to the table this year that you weren't last year I think can help you have that conversation we did an episode on pay rises and it's like you've read the bible on that because lots of people would go in and say i want more money because i'm buying a car and i'm thinking you're getting a mortgage and stuff but you go in and say here's what you get out of it and you're sort of saying and it's the same when you

talk to a boss for a pay rise since i've been working here i'm doing this well i'm hitting my targets i'm bringing in the business this much and that's why i think i should be worth a little bit more instead of being like more money please 100 you have to show them all the value that you're bringing being like i'm doing this and this now i'm doing a b and c more than i was when i started what would you do without me yeah exactly but you should be everyone who's listening to agent dj dj tiger lily will be negotiating on my behalf i'll invite you i'll invite you in for that and also one day when i luckily get married i'll be like who's the saxophonist i want one of those and the bongo drummer don't forget i need a dj a bongo drummer i need a saxophonist like i'm having

a party random obviously the pricing would be more than the regular one but do you get invited still to do weddings and private shows and stuff like that is that still a thing in your world just say no yeah i just say no um i do get asked to do is there a few like random millionaires that'll go hey look we're on the sydney harbour and we're ready we're willing to pay well i don't know if there are hit me up my email is in my instagram i will give you a cheap rate cheap rate for the millionaires yeah yeah I like that you know what actually I have been hit up two years in a row to go to Monaco and play on like millionaires boats what are you doing saying no to this why are you here now what are you doing I couldn't do both of the gigs because

I already had like stuff that was pre-booked ditch them it's Monaco also take note do not hire me as your agent I'll be like so you're ditching everybody we're going to Monaco I'm coming first class tickets let's go you're gonna earn a whole lot less but and piss off a heap of people that is not my problem that is their problem all right so next question do you feel confident making decisions around money yes and no and this goes back to what we were talking about before in regards to having someone to bounce off which was my agent um there are some decisions which I definitely do feel confident about making but that's definitely come with practice and over time um but shout out to my dad he is actually the biggest legend and

he helps me so much financially he's like an accountant by trade but now does kind of other my dad's an accountant too they are good eggs yeah they're so good and he is really my um I suppose word of reason um I recently bought a new car and I was flogging my old car for like almost 10 years and really needed a new one but was putting it off because I am deep down like a bit of a stinge I love that you're like I have no real need to be a stinge but when a stinge always a stinge yeah I know and it was getting to the point of it being quite ridiculous the car really needed help and the help was going to be expensive. So I just thought it's time to get something a bit newer and a bit more modern. And I found this secondhand car that I thought,

awesome, great. This ticks all the boxes, but I still was nervous to commit. So talked to my dad and he's so good because he just runs kind of through the numbers with me. We like punch them out together and look at, you know, my budget and the timeline and how long it's going to take to pay off xyz and it's kind of nice to have someone there who can like just kind of assure me with big purchase items or like big kind of decisions that I'm doing something that isn't totally crazy and unnecessary so did you buy your car secondhand not brand new yeah you are a queen as you said on your episode never buy a new car exactly I feel like it's logical and I think that a lot of people are like oh but if i had the money i'd buy brand new it's like no no no no even people

with money should not be buying brand new it's silly can i tell you about my car because i want to know i want to know is this the new one or the one before the new one all right tell me about the new one so i bought it from pickles in brisbane so the auction oh my gosh the auction thing yep so i took a bit of a risk because it's pickles um but i bought a car that was two years old had really low mileage like 8 000 k's on it so it had already hit the depreciation you didn't have to carry that one yep yep yep and what i didn't realize this was like a an unknown win to me at the time the brisbane car market is totally different to the sydney car market oh 100 every city is different yeah absolutely i shipped the car down for 500 bucks but i reckon i saved almost

20 grand what compared to the car market apparently perth is the cheapest and i have to live in perth and a friend flew over stayed with me for the weekend picked up his new car and drove it back to melbourne he's like oh it's gonna save me 10 grand i was like okay well the guy at pickles in sydney was saying what they would have been able to sell it for was yeah 15 grand maybe plus what the guys in brisbane were selling it for and you know i still got like a mechanic to go in and give it like a little once over obviously they can't fully hoist it up at pickles and do all the in depth stuff so you are running a little bit of a risk in that respect um but yeah i am like a massive pickles fan through and through to the point where i then sold them my old car because

they made it so simple wow love pickles yeah shout out shout out that's your money win for this week yeah that is my money win for sure i love that but i do want to pivot away from cars for a second and ask you when you first started being a DJ, what were you charging? How did that work? Nothing. Nothing. You just did it for free. Free drink cards, baby. That'd be the same as most creative endeavors. Yeah, I think so. I feel like everybody starts for free, but it's interesting to know that story, right? Because obviously you're now at a point where you are in demand and you are actually a professional at this. And so you're being paid for it. But I think it's interesting to understand the journey of like how did you go from being free drink cards

which I mean at the time when you were probably starting you're like this is so epic I get free drinks to wanting to charge for events like how did you make that leap because I know in our community there are a lot of creatives and musicians and people that probably are doing free work at the moment how do you know when is the time but also how do you have that conversation because you don't have an agent then no absolutely not I didn't have an agent I think for the first four years I was doing everything myself from my bookings to my invoicing to my tax to my like performance stuff everything which is kind of overwhelming to think about that now so it's a really good question and there's no right answer and it's kind of tricky to know

I think I was probably playing for free or for very low amounts like $25 an hour but when you think about like that sounds like standard but from a performance perspective it's kind of different because if you've got a one hour set once a week you're making $25 yeah and you've thought about the music killer in the day and you've got to travel and travel all that stuff yeah so I think you know that stayed like that for a couple of months and I just took a bit of a leap in the deep end and I remember like upping my invoice rate to like $85 an hour and thinking oh god what's gonna happen here I've ended my own career I've overcharged but people were actually totally fine with it I remember having lots of different conversations with other DJs in the

industry at the time being like what should I be charging how much do you guys charge so I think like asking people if you're in a creative industry that are around you and maybe at a similar ish level that's also really helpful to get kind of some idea of what venues are willing to pay at the moment in regards to the COVID stuff it's like totally different to normal even for me now being like a professional I suppose everyone has different amounts of money to spend so I think that's something really important to keep in mind if you are a creative at the moment you know trying to speak to whether it's clubs or galleries or whatever about how much you're going to charge but yeah I would say I spoke a lot to people around me and then yeah

did definitely take some random leaps and hope that they worked and look no one ever said no in those early days but um i wasn't asking for really stupid amounts is the dj world like collaborative in that people are like oh these guys looking for people like you're helping each other out or is a bit competitive or a bit of both depends on the person what's the sort of bit of both definitely depends on the person um and i would suggest if people are being dickheads and, like, you know, really competitive, steer away from them because there are really nice people out there who will help. And I often get sent loads of random gigs on, like, Instagram or emails

and I pass them on to my agent and say, oh, this chick would be great for it or this guy would be great for it because I know it's not going to be suitable for me. Can I say, as the lowest earning person of my management talent agency, the leftovers I get from the bigger people is just fantastic. You're like, thank you for that. They definitely won't be doing that. but ryan's probably free like on that day so he's ready to go so um get involved but um it's

interesting though because with when you are you know a freelancer and it's a competitive marketplace some people are uh really helpful and and like you said i don't the word leftover sounds really bad but um but that's what it is yeah but you got someone's crumbs yeah but i actually saw this post the other day i think someone shared it in the she's in the money group but it was like um surround yourself with women who would bring your name up when an opportunity arises i like that yeah so is that the kind of people that someone says hey ryan do you can you dj this thing like no i can't but you know i know someone who can versus someone goes no and it doesn't help me so then i'm not interested anymore i really don't like that mentality yeah no and i just feel like you

are lifted by lifting other people and you say this all the time ryan i'll go and say my saying yeah what's your saying there you go no no i want to hear it from the master a rising tide lifts all boats it does i love that so much does that make sense warms my heart yeah it does but like you know you don't actually dull your own light by shedding it on other people and other people's light it's just so much more powerful together and you know we get this a lot in finance when people are like oh why did you let another financial advisor on your podcast or this and i'm like it just makes the world a better place like i'm not here to talk about you know just me like it's better when it's together yep and if you want to email us at dj tigerliliesleftovers

at shesonthemoney.com.au we can hook you up to start your career i'm not a dj but you know what they can do get one of your sets on youtube and play it for them hells yeah i can do that i could what would your dj name be dj vicky d love it girlfriend it'd be disgusting but it works oh my gosh yeah australia is such a tall poppy um syndrome community i think especially when it comes to like niche uh markets um so yeah it's interesting and i do remember like so many you know funny stories where djs are like elbowing each other out of the way to get to get gigs pretty much and i think it definitely pays off just being super friendly and honest and you know a genuine nice person and you like you miss out on gigs like to this day i still miss

out on gigs because like we're not pushy enough or we're not charging low enough rates but i think there is also um merit in uh keeping your ground as a creative with how much you're willing to charge and how much value you think that you bring to the table so to all my creatives out there value yourselves you guys are important so we talk a lot about this and especially she's on the money as a business and other things that victoria and i do a lot of creatives now it's not necessarily i have this one thing that i do that i make money it's like having these multiple little trickles and stuff so don't go into detail but with doing instagram stuff you mentioned before you do so the influencer work and djs like how many different ways are there that you make money

yes lots which is great and this is something that i really wanted to talk about because it's what i really want to talk about is diversifying your income streams for maximum safety and like this last 12 months has been so it's like it has just shown me that through and through because I literally would make I reckon 70% of my income from like music and performing and stuff and it literally went down to zero and I had to think okay what else oh like what am I going to do to kind of compensate this and keep my staff employed and keep my business alive and so social media really did take a massive kind of step up in that respect and yeah it's definitely plays quite a major part even at the moment um in regards to making money for me I have different types of

relationships on social media so ongoing sponsorships as well as more short-term like you know one to two to three month relationships with brands which is really awesome and then also have um like a share portfolio but it's a very long-term perspective share portfolio so I'm not Not enough to my own heart. Yeah, not intending on touching it anytime soon. So I wouldn't say, oh, yeah, I'm making money from that. But you are making money from that. And that income is, I'm assuming, being reinvested for your future.

Yes, absolutely. So, yeah, long-term future Dara will hopefully be very thankful. So would you put yourself in a similar category to an athlete in that I'm guessing the lifestyle of being up at 3 a.m., playing music, travelling, DJing is maybe a young person's game and when you're 50 or 60 you don't want to do it anymore? Like are you sort of thinking, oh, I've got to earn the money now while I can kind of vibe?

Yeah, my partner says I will be DJing when I'm 60 with a blue wig on stage. I hope you are. But I really hope for my sake and our future children's sake that I'm not. But is that like very present? I'm sorry, I want you to be doing that if that wouldn't be so cool. Is that something you're aware of?

Like, oh, I can't just assume that what I earned and how I earned it this year is how I'll earn it in 10 years. Yeah, absolutely. I'm like very, very, very aware of that, which is why I have tried to be relatively smart with my money and not buy, you know, really ridiculously expensive, you know, why don't buy designer anything? Like don't buy, you know, stupid, crazy sports cars that I know a lot of like athletes or say musicians do. I've tried in the last five years to work really well with my financial advisors and set up long-term hopefully safe investments for the future because I am really aware that you know I'm 29 now let's say I have kids in four years I don't know how that's going to go being pregnant and having babies and being up at 3am DJing like I don't necessarily see the two lifestyles as very conducive and I really want to create and set up an environment where I feel like I can

take time off to have kids and can then you know after I've done that be like okay what's the situation what do I feel like doing so yeah I'm very aware that I'm entering my 30s and you know want to have kids soon and also don't know how much longer I will be DJing for it's kind of a scary thought but then there's also so much opportunity like social media for example is just absolutely brilliant with what it allows you to do there's so much on there and the scope is so huge so i'm not worried i'm excited but it's definitely something i'm aware of all right so you mentioned your share portfolio before and my next question is probably already answered but that is do you currently invest if so how and i'd like to know a little bit more about one how you

made the decision to invest because we already know you do but true like what does that look like for you yeah cool love this um so I suppose I invest in two different types of ways in that super being that like you know investment that we all kind of should be doing um and then I do have a share portfolio that I have created with my financial advisors um initially when they made it for me five years ago um I didn't know anything about anything and I just thought it was you know going and popping into the market and having a bit of fun and that was it. And I only realized last year, crazy, that there were things that my money was being invested in that I didn't approve of being like mining and coal and live animal exports, tobacco, gambling, all this kind of

stuff. So 12 months ago-ish, I worked with my financial advisors on changing that to a total green portfolio which was epic it wasn't the smartest financial decision because i suppose the green market is kind of newer so there's less i suppose reliability it's not like those blue chip stock that just like a super reliable yeah but they could be the big juicy long-term wins though you say it's not as valuable mate like who's to say yeah it may be yeah yeah and i find that really interesting because i have that conversation with clients all the time because I'm an ethical only investor. So a lot of people are always saying like, okay, well, the market performs at this and I go, well, okay, but in my business, we don't actually compare to

that benchmark because that benchmark is an indicative of the stocks that we're looking at here. So I even find it quite interesting when you do compare it because they're completely different asset classes. They're completely different investments in my eyes. So if you compare it to the average, it's kind of like, yeah, I'm obviously taking a little bit of a hit, But personally, I don't genuinely believe that in 50 years when I will still actually be alive, given modern science, the stocks that other people are investing in today will be as profitable because I feel like there's a lot of scarcity involved in those as well. And we're getting smarter and we have bigger voices.

And like, if we talk about live animal exports, I hate live animal export. And I'm really, yeah, it makes me sick. I cannot even watch those videos. People send them to me and they're like, hey, watch this. Why do people send it to you? Because they know that I'm some kind of vegan hippie and they actually are like, oh, you'll love this. I'm like, no, no, no, that's why I'm not eating animals.

I'm actively avoiding this. I actively avoid this. I can't see that being the future. And so for my business, it's investing in the future and it just makes sense. So you're right, you're probably taking a financial hit now. It's also a bit more expensive to invest ethically because it involves being more involved.

Yes, there was more expenses in that respect and then also expenses in changing the portfolio over but absolutely no regrets for me it was like a non-negotiable when I found out that you know my money was helping or assisting or being invested in things I wasn't okay with I yeah we changed it over immediately which was cool and then the final thing is I've been really really lucky enough to be able to invest in some property which has been cool and once again it's just like slow long-term burns not trying to make quick cash grabs or quick wins the point of them is to have them there and have them tick away and slowly pay themselves off have you been are you in the she's on the money facebook group yes

there has been some significant landlord v renter um passionate discussions i'm a landlord and a renter i'm literally both sides of the argument and i'm sitting there being like oh my god it is really difficult though because i try and be a really great understanding landlord landlord and then you really hope like the good calm will come back to you and like you know make your landlord be super nice to you we have a great we're renting at the moment and we have a great landlord which is awesome but like you know that could change yeah so you're the same as me you're both sides of the story yeah absolutely i think it's really interesting though because so many people think that landlords must just be

these really rich moguls that have millions of houses and, like, that's how they derive their income. And it's like, no, I bought that property with the money that I worked my arse off to get and now that income is, you know, my future and my retirement and you are putting me in this box of being some mogul that's trying to... No, barely, that property barely breaks even each year. Yeah, yeah.

It's, like, usually a bit of a loss. Yeah, exactly. I'm not some rich old guy, leave me alone. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're not rich, but, ooh. excuse me the attitude of victoria going around sorry moving on yes i feel like you've got a lot of good money habits but i'd like to ask you what is your worst money habit yeah this is bad so i never shop but when i do i am a really terrible shopper i go online in a rage thinking i'm sick

of all the clothes i wear i probably buy like four or five hundred dollars worth of things which is you know, let's say five outfits, a heap of them like will come, they won't fit properly and I'll be like, yeah, I will send them back, I will send them back and then like I'm pushing it to like that 28-day limit and then often I'll forget and I literally hate myself for it so much, for not doing that, what do you say, 24 hours, think about it, wait. I don't do that. I get on in a rage and I just purchase all this stuff and it's really toxic.

So that's my money confession. I love that. we now have another use for dj tiger lily's leftovers that she's on the money if you want some clothes i'll take them you're really fashionable do you feel um as a especially as a female being in the entertainment industry the pressure to always be wearing something different because you're on instagram all the time and heaven forbid you would wear the same clothes again right yeah i used to but i'm like a massive fan of like re-wearing stuff now because I'm also so, you know, about sustainability and, you know,

reusing as much stuff as we can. So I've started this actually cool habit, which I really like, is like putting clothes away in a box that you just forget about. Like I get those big plastic Kmart things, the 60-litre tubs, pop them away in the spare room. And then like two seasons later, you open the box up and it's like having a new brand of new clothes. She's a genius.

So, so, so good. So, yeah, I definitely do feel the pressure a little bit and I'm a massive fan of hiring. I hire like a lot of my outfits for, you know, events and bits and pieces and love doing loans from companies as well because then you're not actually having to buy stuff and other girls can be loaning it. So that's really cool as well.

It's a nice advantage of having the ability to do that. Second last question of the formatted questions. What are you currently saving for? Do you have a big money goal at the moment? Well, Scott and I, my partner, got engaged last week. Last week? I saw that on, I was going to ask about your ring, but I also thought that maybe I'm not going to ask like off the bat

having just met you. It's crazy. How did that ring fit in the studio? I don't know. And Scott designed it himself. What? Hold on, hold on. So is the diamond band on with it or is it just the marquee?

Yeah, it's like all attached. I love it. I know. I was so pervy and I was like, I'm not going to ask her straight off the bat. That's so rude. You should have asked me. I love when people ask. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm so pervy.

was it a complete surprise or did you know it was coming or tell us everything total surprise absolute total surprise i'm a pain in the ass and so i'm like sending scott rings being like you know be lovely to get married you know it's a really good sounds like someone i know victoria divine i'll tell you what you have to say my ploy was none of our friends are married yet so i was like you know you want to be the first so people are like so excited for your wedding and it's like get in first be the biggest best party and then all the other rest all the rest will like you know have to like compare to yours which is the first are you gonna dj at your own wedding no way no way no way no way you don't go to work at your own wedding no but some people like if they're

musicians they'll like sing at their own wedding or whatever maybe like a 10 minute set maybe a 10 minute set right at the end of like 3am that would be so fun will you knock out a few tax returns at your wedding i'll say well i give that money advice left right in the center i'll be like guys This is a money win for you. The tab is on me. Here's a question. How much are you planning on spending for a wedding? Because weddings can be anywhere from zero to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Well, the average wedding in Australia is apparently $52,000 as of a 2019 study that I was reading literally the other day. Far out. Yeah. That's a lot of dollars. Yeah. We don't know. So obviously we're still in like, I'm still shocked.

Like I look at it and I'm surprised. I'll be around there in a hot minute. I'm just behind a mic and I'm trying to work. But in regards to, I don't know, I said to Scott we should start like a wedding saving account and just like directly deposit X amount each week for both of us so we can save up like hopefully pretty quickly for the next 12 months and make that a priority. I don't know how much, like we don't have a budget yet because we haven't spoken about any of it. We had some really good friends just get married a couple of weeks ago and I think their wedding came in around, oh, I don't know. it was probably a bit over the average and it's a lot of money to be thinking about we do have that scary or it's exciting or when you think of the money side of it like oh it's one of these

things where like it's terrifying because you're like oh that's like a pretty good deposit on a house like wow it's crazy what a waste but it is also exciting in that scott and i both do have good jobs and we are both conscious of the fact that you know let's spend good money on the stuff that we really care about and cheap out or skip the stuff that we, you know, don't want. Like we're not going to have an engagement party. I think we'll have some friends over and have a barbecue in the backyard, stuff like that.

Like we're not going to do the high tees and all that type of cellar tees or whatever they're called. Don't spend $8 per seat on a ribbon for the chair. Yeah, none of that. What do you mean? Wait, hold on. Did you not do that at your wedding? No, we eloped, so.

Yeah, geniuses. The two chairs. Oh, my God, so good. But we do have an awesome, like, money win with the wedding in that Scott's parents live on an epic property. Oh, my gosh. It's going to be so beautiful. So, yeah, we're going to try and do it there.

And which, you know, venues around Sydney are like 20 grand. Kind of minimum-ish. That is a very good money win. Yeah. You can pick any date you want. Yes, literally. Unless they're hosting other weddings. Well, funnily enough, Scott's sister got engaged five days after us.

The audacity. They would have been so pissed to find out that you snuck in by a week. We've got news. So do we. Bad luck. Anyway, so I think they're going to get married sooner rather than later. So maybe in like September, October from the one quick conversation we've had with them. You can let them do that.

They can trial the venue. Yes, absolutely. And then in 12 months time, we'll take all their tips. Genius. I have a random question. Yeah. and just let me go on the record of saying myself and i'm assuming victoria's all for this so don't feel like it's awful to say you'd do it ethically morally whatever if some brand was like hey we'll

chip in for the wedding and supply the our brand of sparkling champagne or something would you take the cash and the stuff and like i said i would 100 i'm just putting on record that if anybody at some point when i do manage to get engaged and convince steve that it is a good idea i'll take it yeah so what do you want from me what would you obviously it depends on brand but in saying that in theory 1000 yes i've already been hit up by three dress companies and i am 100 going to work with one of them because why not oh my gosh as if not like it's such a fun thing so keen and look at the end of the day like you look at i don't know i've been obsessed with wedding photos the last nine days and like looking through everyone's wedding stuff and everyone's tagged anyway so like

you know when it's like you know hair by this person makeup it'll be a pretty it'll be a pretty subtle hashtag spawn won't it yeah but and it sounds wanky right now i definitely don't have enough followers to justify any of this but i i have a lot of clients that do and you kind of go people are following you because they're genuinely invested in your journey and what you're up to and it gives that brand if they're willing to part with that i don't really love when influencers slide into brands dms and like give us free stuff but that gives them such great exposure to a community that genuinely want to be more like you or see what you're up to.

Like it's fantastic. As long as like the brands align, which I think for a wedding generally they will. They will, yeah. So, yeah, but then also we're conscious, like Scott and I spoke about this the other day after we got hit up from the dress companies, like not taking people for a ride as well because like that's their bread and butter, so like figuring it out.

But, yes, if you want to give me a discount for something wedding, hit me up. Totally. Champagne would be great. moe hit us up yes we're friends with g hedge mom i think there's yeah we are anyway back to the original question that will be definitely the next 12 months of saving it wasn't um on the plan life plan but that's fine we work we work with it i like that i wasn't gonna ask you that question and then i knew you got engaged so i was like i'm gonna ask her because she'll bring

up the wedding i'm happy to talk about wedding all the time so last question before we jump into a break how would you rate yourself if i forced you to give yourself a financial rating i feel pretty proud of my development with money and like what i've done shout out to my dad and my great accountants um so i feel like i'd give myself an a because i feel like i still have room to move and to probably be a little bit more savvy with general spending um but for the most part i feel like i'm really proud of the way i've invested my money over the last 10 years i love that yeah i'm gonna ask you so many more questions about that right after this really quick break

all right let's jump straight back into it dara you said that your financial literacy or just interest in it came from your dad he was an accountant did he literally sit you down and be like okay it's homeschooling money time or how does that come about with him i think it's not been an exact sit down or good conversation of let's talk about money. It was more along the lines of a couple of years into the business and things started to go really well and it was obvious that I needed some help with organizing stuff because stuff just wasn't getting done and there was money coming in and there was money going out and I always had a bit of an anxiety of not actually knowing how much money I owned and running your own business you obviously have

to pay your own tax and your own super and you know things like insurance and workers comp and all these really gross bills but they only really ever come up like once a quarter or once every 12 months and so at the beginning I was really unaware of how much money I actually had and like what I was actually doing and so dad was really great at coming in and helping me set up processes and using Xero and like getting a great like you know finance team on board to like you know help me make some smart long-term decisions um so he's been really good in that respect and I love his outlook on finance and he loves spending but he also loves saving but spending things on the right things like shares or property um him and mom are pretty frugal with their

spending um i'm definitely nowhere near as frugal as them oh my gosh my mom is horrified of the things i spend my money on like 14 vegan cheese but it's so delicious i'm sorry agreed yeah bio cheese it's bio cheese isn't it you don't like bio cheese i like delecto it's do you have harris farm here i don't think so it's like a big supermarket grocer in sydney you'll be able to get delecto online they do a blue cheese and it literally tastes like blue cheese but it's really expensive google it yeah um ask jess how much i spend on food is her yes pretty bad what's your parents vibe and your vibe on how money works for you so for me for example i actually have no qualms about being rich for me it's just about security you know i have this deep fear that one

day it'll all be gone and i'll be out on the streets and i know so for me it's about like safety and security but for other people it's about flashiness or doing stuff and there's lots of different versions so what would your parents be and what would yours be the same So mum and dad are definitely safety and security. They do have an amazing, beautiful house. It's like right on the ocean in Sydney, but it's like not flashy in that it's, you know, there's not marble benchtops and like chandeliers and all this stuff. It's like a really cozy home in that respect.

I love that. And they do definitely have a safety and security mindset when it comes to money. So like considering like their super and like their properties and like their share portfolio and stuff, dad definitely likes to go rogue on the shares. or gets a hot tip and just has a crack at something absolutely um but i think i'm definitely like that as well keeping in mind what we were speaking about before about um really understanding that my career probably has some sort of time frame on it and how to prepare for the future um so i'm definitely not flashy i'm definitely more about the security kind of things but in

saying that like yeah I did just buy a new car although it took me way too long to do and Scott and I do live in a lovely house but we're still renting because we can't afford to buy the house that we actually live in because the Sydney property market is just redonkulous so I think I do spend the money on things that I know are going to make me happy and make me feel good but then also make sure there's enough to be putting into you know my savings and my shares and all that kind of stuff you mentioned career before and you know knowing that there's a limited time frame on your career but i want to know what did you want to be when you grew up did you always want to be a dj how did that eventuate so i went to a selective girls high school and you were going to

be like in finance a doctor a lawyer an engineer and that was kind of it um so i actually went to uni to study dentistry what yeah i know it explains why she has such beautiful teeth yeah oh you know what that's why I wanted to do it because I had the sh**tiest teeth you've ever seen and then my orthodontist changed my self-confidence forever like I would never open my mouth I didn't want to smile I feel so sad thinking about how like I'm literally the same if you go through our photos on Instagram I used to smile with a closed mouth and since Invisalign I'm always like yay and I'm not even done yes seriously I remember the day I got my braces off it was potentially the second happiest day of my life because I was just like everyone

so yeah i think having that incredible experience was what made me want to give other people that experience but 12 months into doing a science degree it's in a uni i was like this really really sucks the hours are long and to become an orthodontist it's generally like 10 to 14 years of studying practicing specializing yeah it's full yeah yeah it's a lot and that just wasn't for me meanwhile I was DJing for $25 and a free drink card and absolutely loving the out of it and so then I changed to a media and communications degree which I then continued and finished while DJ hustling on the side are you the most intelligent DJ in Australia no I would love to be I don't know if this is a really like inappropriate question like probably

is coming from you let's go let's go ask it anyway you're like we've all just met like in person today you're clearly very smart i'm loving chatting with you yes and it's going much longer and you are so articulate yeah and i'm not blushing i'm not suggesting that i was implying otherwise i'm honestly not but do people assume that someone who is really good looking has blonde hair and is a dj do they kind of assume you might be a bit ditzy and a bit you know like is that a thing yes 100 so how do you how rude though the audacity i know like this is even like not just from being intelligent it's actually a thing that goes fully into the dj industry in the music industry as well like people still think i can't dj or write music because i'm a hot chick it's

rude literally and i'm like come to one of my shows and stand next to me and watch me play because i'm a great dj like i love that yeah so like it's quite frustrating because it means that like i don't know there's something about society you can't be a good looking confident woman and like be intelligent or have an opinion or be really really really good at your craft like it's very frustrating are there some hot girl djs who can't dj sorry i was swearing again absolutely yes but there are also some your brand really hot them in the bin there are hot guys and really unattractive guys as well that can't dj too it's just i don't know it's something about the dance music industry and like electronic music they like love to hate on hot chicks

it's it's i don't think that's an industry i feel like i think that's life we are probably life too yeah all right it has been incredible having a chat with you and i'm so grateful that you took the time on your 18 hours in melbourne to spend arguably two of them with us so thank you for coming down and sharing your money story and having a chat about money with us thank you for having me honestly i love the podcast i love the facebook group it's just so epic so i'm so stoked to be here i love talking about money and it's amazing what you're doing love you guys as always that is all we have time for today but before we go we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples the traditional custodians of the lands

the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring on the land which we are able to learn we pay our respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness now the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and it does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon make an investment or a financial decision and we promise i am actually an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257 afsl 339151 and thank you to the dream team of audio engineers and producers that hang out in the background and put all this together each week for us

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clicks and stuff before yep she can track them yep unbelievable she was great wasn't oh my gosh i am obsessed i love her so much what a legend all right chat to you guys later