The Thing We Never Talk About

In this episode, Tim sits down with Andrew Sandoval — producer, manager, and founder of Beatland Books — for a wide-ranging conversation about a life built entirely around music fandom. Andrew traces his path from publishing a music fanzine as a teenager to writing liner notes, managing the Monkees on their 50th anniversary tour, and eventually launching a book company producing deluxe, limited-edition volumes for underserved fan communities. Throughout the conversation, Andrew reflects candidly on the financial realities of that kind of career — the feast-or-famine nature of tour income, the experience of subsidizing passion projects with his own savings, and what it's like to have invested so heavily in music that conventional financial planning has largely happened around him rather than because of him. He also shares hard-won lessons about the importance of delegating, finding complementary collaborators, and identifying what's missing in a market rather than chasing what already exists.
Andrew's question for Tim: What would be a good first step for someone wanting to dip their toe into the investment market without tying up a lot of liquid income?
Key Takeaways:
Andrew describes himself as a producer rather than a manager — a title that fit both his creative role and the Monkees' own complicated history with outside representation — though in practice he handled everything from booking flights and negotiating contracts to writing set lists and running video footage during shows.
He got his start in the music business by putting himself in the room where things were happening — working at clubs, writing liner notes, showing up and being useful — and credits that approach, more than any formal career plan, with everything that followed.
When the pandemic wiped out a major Monkees tour he had been producing, Andrew pivoted to self-publishing — launching a 700-plus page deluxe book on the Monkees by going directly to the fan community he had spent years building, rather than waiting for a publisher or using a platform like Kickstarter.
His publishing model is built around identifying underserved audiences and making products that no mainstream publisher would bother with — limited runs, no Amazon, no digital versions, direct-to-consumer fulfillment — because scarcity and quality matter deeply to collectors.
Andrew describes music as his religion, and acknowledges that this devotion has shaped his financial life in ways that aren't always practical — including years of subsidizing passion projects with his own savings because the work itself felt worth doing regardless of the return.
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Watch this episode on YouTube. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FihXte_Gsx8 )
Beatland Books ( https://beatlandbooks.com/ )

Most people use the words "investing" and "trading" interchangeably — but they're actually two very different games, and the one you choose to play makes all the difference. Trading takes a lot of work & relies heavily on luck with limited upside. Investing, by contrast, means committing money to things you believe are fundamentally worth owning and holding them long enough for compounding to do the work for you. Tim walks through why trading is so hard to do, why patient long-term investing is far easier than most people assume, and why relying on the financial news media can actually lead you astray if you're trying to build real wealth.
One Key Takeaway: Investing — owning good things for a long time — is a game almost anyone can win.
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In this episode, Tim sits down with Scott Adamson — touring front of house audio engineer and founder of The Production Academy — for a wide-ranging conversation about building a life in live sound. Scott traces his career from mixing indie bands in small clubs to working with Grammy-winning artists in arenas, sharing how luck, relationships, and just sticking around long enough opened doors he couldn't have anticipated. He shares his experience with  the financial realities of the touring world and speaks candidly about The Production Academy, the online education platform he spent nearly a decade building, including what he got right, what he got wrong, and how that informs his thinking going forward. Throughout the conversation, Scott brings a refreshingly self-aware perspective on his own financial habits: what he wishes he'd done sooner, how regularly investing even a little helps in the long run, and what he'd do differently as an entrepreneur the next time around.
Scott's question for Timothy: How do we approach online education?
Key Takeaways:
Scott describes his work as a creative collaboration with artists, translating what happens on stage into what the audience actually hears and feels.
He spent his twenties and early thirties living cheaply, often without an apartment, bouncing between tours — but with no savings to show for it, a gap he deeply wishes he had addressed sooner.
Despite the touring industry's lack of contracts or union protections for crew, Scott notes that touring people rarely talk openly about rates — a habit that works against them collectively, though he actively tries to share what he knows with colleagues.
Scott spent close to a decade building The Production Academy, generating around half a million dollars in revenue — but with very little profit, largely because he focused almost entirely on product development and not enough on sales and marketing.
He identifies his biggest entrepreneurial lesson as the importance of complementary skill sets: building something alone means doing everything yourself, and the things you're not naturally good at — in his case, sales — tend to get neglected.
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The Production Academy

In this solo episode, Tim explores the tension between planning for the future and actually taking action in the present. Using examples from fitness, travel, and financial planning, Tim makes the case that over-thinking and over-planning can quietly become an obstacle — doing the work to decide whether to do the work, without ever getting started. Thoughtful, deliberate decision-making matters, but waiting for a perfect plan is itself a form of inaction, and that right here, right now is the only time any of us has to change our path for the better. Tim also walks through two common financial planning scenarios — buying a house and saving for retirement — to show how taking positive "imperfect" action today puts you in a stronger position to meet those moments later.
One Key Takeaway: Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. No plan can guarantee the future, but taking positive action right now — even small, imperfect steps — can give you more and better options later.
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In this episode, Tim sits down with Jason Narducy — musician, self-published author, and longtime member of Bob Mould's band and Superchunk — for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually means to build a life in music. Jason shares the arc of his career, from a major label deal in the nineties through running a painting company for 20 years, to eventually going all-in on music again. He talks candidly about the economics of touring, the difference between working as a hired band member versus leading his own project, and how his solo shows have become one of his most rewarding musical outlets. Jason also discusses his self-published book Mostly the Van — a collection of short, human-centered essays about life in that middle space between fame and hobby — and reflects on the financial habits he's developed over decades of irregular income, including a hard-won lesson about credit card debt.
Jason's question for Tim: What helpful financial advice do you have for musicians or any self-employed creatives?
Key Takeaways:
Jason ran a painting company for 20 years alongside his music career, providing income stability during slower periods — until he shut it down in January 2023 and committed fully to music.
He describes his approach to scheduling: he commits fully to every project and doesn't back out, relying on bands planning ahead to lock in dates rather than managing a complex personal system.
Jason reflects on the hidden complexity of being a working musician, noting that success requires skills far beyond playing — traveling, writing, interviews, interpersonal relationships, and financial awareness — and that many musicians aren't equally equipped for all of them.
When touring with the REM tribute band he leads with Michael Shannon band, Jason prioritizes comfort over cost-cutting, believing that keeping experienced musicians happy is what allows the project to keep going long-term.
His strongest personal financial habit: not spending money he doesn't have. An early experience with credit card debt left a lasting impression that shaped how he has managed money ever since.
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Jason's Instagram
Jason's Threads