Hello there,

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Paris, where I’ve been staying for a bit over a week. Since I arrived, the news out of the U.S. has been a steady drumbeat: a military parade during the largest protests on record, political assassinations, attacks exchanged between Iran and Israel, and talk of the U.S. going to war. The headlines shift, but the chaos doesn’t, that part stays the same.

From this strange vantage point—physically, far from it all but, emotionally, still wired in—I’ve been holding two truths at once: that everything feels like it could fall apart, and that life keeps going anyway.

In our team huddles each week, I catch myself repeating the same lines. Thanking my team for showing up, for continuing to care about accounting, about our clients, about something, really. And with each new shock to the system, I’m surprised that nihilism hasn’t swept in and swallowed me entirely. Instead, I find myself zooming in closer, letting the small, mundane things mean more.

Work, oddly, has become a kind of shelter and a source of autonomy in a moment where control feels like a myth from the past. It has helped me focus and through it, given me something real to hold onto when the world feels ungraspable. No, we aren’t going to fix the world through the accounting work we do, but maybe we can hold one small piece of it steady for the people whose livelihoods depend on it. And maybe, for now, that’s enough… small things, done with care, in service of someone else.

How has the shape of what’s familiar shifted for you lately? I’d really love to hear. Don’t be shy; hit reply.

Your favorite finance friend,
Paco

1.💸 My Friend Found A Sugar Daddy. I Think He's a Scammer. (Paco for Refinery29)​
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​2. 🙌🏾 The Relationship Is the Job (Working Theorys) “AI will flood the zone with intelligence. But as intelligence gets cheaper, presence gets more expensive. Real, earned, interpersonal trust will become the rarest currency. And relational labor is how that currency gets minted.”
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​3. 🖥️ Hollywood Already Uses Generative AI (And Is Hiding It) (Vulture) Behind the scenes, AI is already shaping how blockbusters are pitched, budgeted, visualized, and sold. This isn’t speculative, this is happening now. Whether it’s a shortcut or a revolution depends on who’s holding the prompt. Either way, the curtain’s up.
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​4. 🧾 An Illustrated Guide to Who Really Benefits From ‘No Tax on Tips’ (New York Times) “Many tax-policy experts are rooting for the demise of the deduction, which they see as another potential hole in a tax system so strewn with carve-outs that it is often compared to Swiss cheese. In general, they would prefer a system that charges roughly the same tax on workers with roughly the same earnings, rather than creating a tax advantage for certain types of work.”
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​5. 🤰🏾 The big barrier to having children we’re not talking about (Vox) “Everyone should have the right to decide if and when they have children. Yet over the past 50 years, the United States has built an economy that increasingly works against fertility — demanding more years in school and longer hours at work for people, especially women, in the years when it is biologically easiest for them to have children, and concentrating wealth and income among those past their reproductive prime.”

This Week’s Featured Story: A 33-Year-Old Musical Instrument Repair Shop Owner in Lafayette, LA, Building a Business That Preserves Craft and Creates Community

👤 Who: Female, 33

📍 Location: Lafayette, Louisiana

🔧 Business: Musical Instrument Repair

📆 Years in Business: 2

💵 Gross Revenue Last Year: $180,000

💸 Business Expenses: $45,000

📈 Net Profit: $10,000 (after paying two employees and herself)

👫 Household Income: My husband works too, but this business is our long game. Right now, we’re growing slowly and staying profitable so it can sustain our family in the future.

🏦 Savings: $35,000 across personal and business accounts. Business account usually carries $20K–$25K.

💰 Do You Pay Yourself?: Yes! I started after the first year and have been consistent since then.

📉 Retirement: Not yet—paused contributions to pay off our dog’s surgery, but hope to resume soon.

💳 Debt: $8K in credit card debt (dog’s surgery), ~$10K in student loans for each of us, plus mortgage and vehicle loans—all manageable

📊 First Year Profit?: Almost broke even. Ended about $5K in the red but wasn’t paying myself. The next year we were in the black, hired two employees, and netted $45K.

🎯 Biggest Financial Achievement: Growing slowly, paying myself and two employees, staying profitable, and building toward long-term goals like buying better tooling and eventually a building.

💎 Unexpected Challenge: Bringing on a business partner. It ended up being a bad fit. We spent thousands on legal fees setting it up and undoing it—but thankfully, I caught it early.

🛠️ Boldest Business Move: After my partner left and took his specialized tools, I spent $15K to replace them—because customers were expecting that level of work.

🧠 How I Handle the Emotional Side of Entrepreneurship: I lean on my husband a lot. We make time for each other and I’m deeply grateful for his support.

📆 Seasonal Planning Tip: My busiest season is summer, when schools send in hundreds of instruments for repairs. I save throughout the year to front-load parts and labor before school budgets roll over. It’s hectic—but I plan for it.

📚 Best Financial Advice: Don’t go into debt to start a business. Buy tools as you need them, grow slowly, and always budget for dry spells.

🚫 Worst Financial Advice: Start a showroom and flip instruments… when we had no space, clientele, or time. Glad I didn’t listen.

📦 Pricing Strategy: Source direct whenever possible. It helps me compete with big-box stores and save my customers money.

🧰 What I’d Tell a New Business Owner: Jump in. Ask questions. Podcasts, books, local small biz resources—all of it helps. People want to help you succeed.

🗣️ Talking About Money: Yes—especially with other repair techs. We’re a small, niche industry trying to preserve a dying craft in a throwaway culture. Transparency helps us grow, support each other, and fight for quality over mass production.

If you'd like to share your personal story with us, submit it here! And if you'd like to share your business story with us, submit it here!

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​@thepacodeleon​

The Nerdletter is put together by my Editorial Assistant, Cole Kalin, of Ladies Talking About Money. Please consider several ways you can contribute to this important mission – an inclusive conversation about money, finances, and capitalism for Creatives. 🌟 Leave a review for the Weird Finance Podcast​ 👯‍♀️ Share this issue with friends​ 🤓 Tell us what you think of The Nerdletter​

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