Performing arts programs train extraordinary artists. They rarely prepare them with the practical business skills every freelancer needs. Every graduate is the CEO of a small business the day they walk out of your building. Making It Work is the resource that prepares them for the role.
Making It Work should be required reading for all performing artists. Put its suggestions into practice and you'll be lightyears ahead. Amy Northard, CPA · Founder, The Accountants for Creatives
Written by Ben Bliss — two-time Beverly Sills Award recipient at the Metropolitan Opera, 2025 Grammy nominee, and active international soloist. Your students hear it from someone currently doing the work.
A self-contained guide on the full set of skills a freelance career demands — negotiating contracts, building budgets, taxes (US and abroad), agents, unions, visas, debt, insurance, life on the road and much more.
Answers the questions your students will face in their first years as professionals — building gig budgets, signing their first contracts, managing life on the road and building relationships and habits that travel well.
Build a Business of Music, Career Skills, or freelance-life course around the book. Chapters map to a full 12–14 week semester (Pay → Taxes → Agents → International Work → Life on the Road).
Layer two or three chapters into a capstone or transition seminar — typically Pay & Expenses, Basic Business, and Agents — paired with guided budgeting and contract-reading exercises.
Teachers gift it to graduating students or use it as a discussion text in studio class. The voice keeps it readable; the content keeps it useful.
The international-work section of Making It Work dedicates country-specific chapters to Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the UK, Spain, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands — where your students may be headed to start their careers. Foreign tax withholding specifics, totalization agreements, the FEIE/FBAR mechanics — all of it written from active international experience.
Ben is available for Zoom visits with classes, studios, and departments — Q&A on the business of freelance life, conversations about the gap between training and what comes after graduation, or a closer look at any chapter you're teaching.
Ben also offers masterclasses, but only for in-person visits.
Fill out the form and we'll respond within a few business days. For bulk classroom or program-wide orders, mention quantity and we'll sort out a discount.