Financial Advice from Comic Con

At Comic Con 2016, there was a panel on Thursday called "Be a Financial Superhero Even If You Aren't Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne." It was geared toward creative artists and their finances. Here's what I pulled from this presentation:

To succeed in your own business:
What do you have to give that is going to help people?
What can you do that no one else is doing?
What is your passion?

What you need to be a successful artist:
Passion for your work
Skill set to do it well
Hustle to get yourself known

Build an outstanding team:
Find a mentor to guide you.
Hire people you trust so you can focus on your craft.
Develop a fan base of support.

Lay out your goals with timelines to keep yourself accountable and measure your progress.

They also talked about credit. Your credit score is made up of five factors:
35% is based on your payment history (whether you pay your credit card bills on time).
30% is based on the amount owed on your cards (try to keep your balances under 25% of the limit on a credit card).
15% is duration of credit (don't close out a credit card; it's better to lower your maximum on a card you rarely use in order to maintain your history and duration of credit).
10% is based on new credit (don't open up other new credit accounts prior to taking out a loan).
10% is the type of credit you have.

Some suggestions: Pay off your debts aggressively, don't take out student loans, step away from a purchase before buying an expensive item to avoid impulsive decisions, and ask yourself how many hours you have to work in order to pay for the item.