Wednesday, December 3, 2014

$120/hour (an IWSG post)

So let's talk jobs that make $100 an hour or more. According to CNBC at any rate. Well, okay, I'm not really going to talk about them, just give you an example of some of them.
1. Underwater Welder
2. Anesthesiologist
3. Commercial Pilot (the best ones, anyway)
4. the best Tattoo Artists
5. the top Arbitrators
6. half or more Orthodontists
7. the top 10% of Freelance Photographers
8. the top Interior Designers
9. Hand Models or other "parts" models. So, yeah, if you have an exceptional "part," you can make pretty good bank showing it off.
10. Life Coaches. Seriously.
11. big city Massage Therapists
12. Political Speechwriters.
13. my daughter playing her accordion

Let's talk about #13.

Back during October, my daughter got asked to play her accordion at an Octoberfest function. It was just 20 minutes of accordion playing. 20 minutes isn't much. I mean, she practices more than that every day. For her 20 minutes of playing, she made $40. That's $120 an hour! It's kind of sobering. That's more than I've made from my writing for the entire month of November, November was my best month ever.

There are times, evidently, when it really pays to be a cute, 11-year-old girl. Literally pays. At the rate of $120 an hour.

I don't have a real point with any of this. I'm proud of my daughter. She's really good. Her accordion teacher (who's been teaching for... well, let's just say a long time) says my daughter is one of the best students she's ever had. I hope one day she proves you really can play accordion in a rock-n-roll band.

For the moment, though, it's just a little unsettling to be outperformed by a sixth grader.

Well, except at video games.

19 comments:

  1. Well "they" say we're not in this for the money, right?

    Congrats to your daughter though. That's awesome.

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  2. I'm kinda stunned anyone plays accordion anymore. It sure is unique. Yay for your daughter being good enough, savvy enough, and confident enough to play in front of strangers and earn some dough! ;)

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  3. Hey, Weird Al made a career out of it.
    That's cool that she's doing so well and was paid for her efforts. Keep encouraging her.

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  4. Figuring out how much you make per hour can either be exciting or depressing. In your daughter's case, it' superexciting. I had no idea accordion could be so profitable. Looks like it's back to school for me. I wonder if the University of Phoenix offers an online Masters In Accordioning? Look out, Leon Daughter: There's some competition coming atcha.

    Good for her, seriously. When do we get a video of her playing?

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  5. Congrats to your daughter! That's awesome. I used to play the piano when I was young but I don't think anyone would've been willing to fork over more than a dollar to hear me pound out a tune.

    Life coach, huh? My therapist mentioned I'd make a great life coach…maybe I should pursue that instead of writing.

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  6. Delighted to hear she is doing so well. My husband used to be the top boy chorister in England, in his day, and was once paid £5 for a performance which is more than his dad earned in a week or more. No record of what his dad thought!!

    Now about my feet......

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  7. It's great that your daughter found her instrument so young in life. She will benefit greatly by beginning so early. I do hope she is a big success as then she can buy her parents a REALLY BIG house!

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  8. Haha! I was reading down the list nodding my head and totally stopped at number 13… what the what??? LOL… You SHOULD be proud--loved reading this, Andrew! :)

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  9. My kids made $75.00 for an hour focus group last night. And they had free pizza and cookies. I need to sign up for some of those!

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  10. I love to see young people making money. It make them appreciate the cash in their hand. In this case though, it had made us wish we were young musician instead. Funny that :-)

    Anna from Shout with Emaginette

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  11. Clearly I need to learn the accordion.

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  12. Good luck to her at keeping her rates that high :)

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  13. They say if you do what you love the money will come. How great would it be to have that figured out at eleven.

    I'm trying not to be *envious*. Ha!

    Cheers to your brilliant little one!

    -Adrienne

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  14. dolorah: Oh, screw that. I'm totally in it for the money.
    All $2 of it.

    Lexa: Playing in front of strangers has been the same kind of learning curve as playing the instrument.

    Alex: Oh, we do.

    Briane: Well... Okay, I have some videos, but blogger won't let me upload them. Then, it gets technical.

    Elsie: Well, a piano is a little difficult to carry around with you.

    Jo: I'm not fond of feet, so you'll have to find someone else to talk to about that.

    Anne: I think accordion player is going to be her cover once she becomes a spy, so I don't think a big house is in the future.

    Morgan: I am proud.
    Even though she wears me out.

    Stephen: Yeah, but they can't just pull out their "focus group" and go play that any time they want.

    I always get turned down for those things.

    emainette: She's pretty responsible with her money, too, so that's a good thing.

    Pat: That's what I keep saying.

    Jeanne: Oh, she didn't charge that. That's what they gave her. She would never have considered charging so much.

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  15. Adrienne: She certainly knows what she loves: accordion and softball. Of course, neither of those can be considered "big money" careers.

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  16. Congrats for your daughter! How cool for her. :)

    And that seems like a natural rate, when you think about it. She's got a talent, but there's a minimum that should be paid, and $40 is appropriate for a musician. :) Good on her!

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    Replies
    1. Alex H: It is cool for her. She's even developing her ability to talk to the audience which, other than saying who she is, we were wondering if she would ever be able to do.

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