You book the job. You exhale. Then, somewhere between celebrating and figuring out when the money will arrive, another thought sneaks in: What happens when this ends?

I know that feeling. Before becoming a financial wellness coach, I spent 15 years as a freelance TV producer, documentary filmmaker and journalist. A show would end, and the search for the next one would begin. How was I supposed to pay down debt, save or plan for my future when I didn’t know whether I’d be working in three months?

I wanted to make a living doing work I loved. I also wanted to stop panicking between jobs.

Today, I help actors and other creative professionals bring together practical financial tools and the inner work that helps them use those tools. Because you can know you should save and still feel afraid to look at your bank account. You can love acting and still carry a belief that it will never really support you.

Financial wellness asks us to pay attention to both.

What’s behind the Jim Carrey check?

You may know the story of Jim Carrey writing himself a check for $10 million for acting services rendered, dated Thanksgiving 1995. It’s become one of the most familiar stories about manifesting success. 

But if writing a check were the whole formula, a lot more actors would be cashing theirs.

I believe the deeper work is examining what happens inside you when you imagine receiving that money. You might consciously think, “Yes! I can make a wonderful living as an actor.” Meanwhile, another part of you whispers, “Be realistic. You need something else to pay the bills.”

That tension is worth exploring. An old belief can influence which opportunities you pursue, what you feel comfortable asking for and how you respond when something good comes your way.

At one workshop, an attendee told me his parents had always supported his acting career. As we talked, he remembered something his mother said before he went to college: “Get another major, just in case.”

It was likely meant with love. Yet he recognized that he had carried it as a message about what could reliably support him. He was making money doing everything else, but struggling to earn through acting.

His dream had support. His ability to make a living from it came with a question mark.

What messages have you absorbed about being an artist? That you must struggle? That wanting money makes you less committed to your craft? That creative work is something you do after the “real” work is finished?

Writing yourself a check can make your intention visible. Then ask: What beliefs am I bringing to this intention, and what actions would help me support it?

Let curiosity make room for possibility

My Financial Freedom for Creatives Club member, Patricia, was afraid of investing. Through our work, she became more curious, learned how it worked and began seeing her investments grow. As her understanding grew, her fear eased.

That same year, she booked a role in Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

To me, those experiences are connected. I see a woman becoming more comfortable with possibility, learning that she could participate in building her financial future and becoming more open to opportunities.

That is my interpretation of her experience. What I find especially meaningful is the change from fear and avoidance to curiosity and participation.

You can begin that shift with your own finances. What have you been avoiding because it feels intimidating? Looking at debt? Understanding where your money goes? Learning about investing?

Choose one small step. Open one account. Ask one question. Learn one concept.

Clarity gives you something concrete to work with. Start by identifying what money is available, what income is expected and what needs to be paid. Include your living costs and career expenses, along with what you want to build for your future.

You don’t need to understand everything before you begin.

Know what you bring to the table

Actors are evaluated constantly. It’s easy to let “We went with someone else” become “There’s something wrong with me.”

One client had spent much of her life keeping herself small. In her acting career, she often found herself down to the final two, wondering why she wasn’t getting the role.

We worked on expanding her sense of what she was allowed to express and receive, and on owning her self-worth. Later, she booked a role in Dune: Part Two.

I share that because the inner work mattered in her experience. Casting has many moving parts, and no exercise can promise a role. But you can work on how fully you allow yourself to show up.

I describe self-worth as a quiet, powerful knowing of who you are and what you bring to the table.

Keep reminders of that knowing. Create a self-worth jar with notes about skills you’ve developed, feedback that moved you, work you’re proud of and moments when you showed up with courage. Read them when you need to reconnect with yourself.

Your value deserves a place in your awareness between bookings, too.

Turn confidence into advocacy

Another actor I worked with appeared in all seven seasons of Bosch. His agents hadn’t negotiated an increase in his compensation. Before the seventh season, we developed a game plan, and he negotiated his highest rate.

This is where the practical and emotional work come together.

Knowing your worth can help you prepare for a conversation that previously felt uncomfortable. Preparation gives that confidence somewhere to go.

Agents and managers can carry their own money beliefs, too. Having representation still leaves you an important role in communicating your goals, asking questions and advocating for your compensation.

Before a compensation conversation, get clear: What am I asking for? What experience and value support that request? What do I need to discuss with my representatives?

You can appreciate an opportunity and ask thoughtful questions about its terms. You can love the work and want to be paid well.

Allow your creative work to support you

A member of my Financial Freedom for Creatives Club realized she had earned more through acting, audiobook narration and directing than through the other job she had relied on financially.

She was blown away.

Sometimes an old story stays with us even after our circumstances begin to change. We’re so accustomed to calling one source of income dependable and another a dream that we don’t stop to notice what is actually happening.

Look at your own numbers. What is already working? Which creative skills are earning income? Where could you build on that momentum?

And when something good arrives—a payment, a referral, a compliment or an offer of help—give yourself a moment to receive it.

You get to keep some of what you earn. You get to build stability. You get to use money to support your health, your family, your values and your creative future.

Financial freedom, to me, means having the freedom to make decisions based on your values rather than fear.

This week, choose one action that supports that freedom. Question an inherited belief. Look at your finances. Prepare a conversation about compensation.

Your creative gifts matter. So does the life that allows you to keep sharing them.

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About the author: Katy Chen Mazzara is a certified trauma-informed master financial wellness coach and graduate of UC Berkeley’s Personal Financial Planning Program. A former freelance TV producer, documentary filmmaker and journalist, she helps creative freelancers and entrepreneurs make more, worry less and build lives rooted in freedom, purpose and joy.

Ready to explore your own money stories? Download Katy’s free Mindful Money Mastery Guide, which includes a money and emotions tracker and tools to help you recognize your patterns, examine old beliefs and create clarity around what true wealth means to you.