Why I chose a choir over being an air-traffic controller
As the founder and facilitator of Pub Choir, Astrid has spent the past nine years teaching more than 400,000 people how to sing with her improvised and audience-driven music shows.
The comedic mass singing lessons, which regularly draw crowds in the hundreds, seem like the perfect business venture for the former music teacher, but an earlier job opportunity almost took her life in a very different direction.
Since 2017, Astrid has taken Pub Choir from one bar in Brisbane, to concert halls around Australia and the world, while also writing and releasing a memoir, Average at Best. Astrid is currently touring her show around Europe and the UK.
Tell us about your upbringing. What shaped your attitude towards money?
I grew up as the youngest of five kids, wearing hand-me-downs from my four older brothers, including underpants.
It's safe to say that money was tight for my parents, especially during the nine years they were having children and surviving on one teacher's salary. Money has always meant 'independence' to me, that is, not needing to ask others.
I got a job at McDonald's on my 14th birthday and have worked since that day. From that first pay packet, money has meant freedom.
You turned down an opportunity to work as an air-traffic controller to take a job leading a school choir. Why did you choose the choir over that job?
I've been playing music since I was two years old. Music is just who I am. It pours out of me. Wanting to be an air-traffic controller was not a passion, but an attempt at stability.
I'd stopped feeling brave about music and was looking for something to run away to. But I'm absolutely meant to make music.
And luckily, I was offered a job to run a 'whole school choir' at the right time, to get me back on track.
How did that job lead to the first Pub Choir event?
I'd never taken on a choir that big before but, to my surprise, I found it easier than a smaller choir.
When I walked onto the stage, I entered a flow state for the first time in my life. I intuitively knew exactly what to do and what to say to get the job done. That led me to create Pub Choir a year later.
Pub Choir is just a whole school choir for adults. Everybody is invited and we're not trying to win any awards. We're just singing together and having a nice time.
Pub Choir became your full-time job within four months of your first show. How is it funded?
I'm so proud that Pub Choir is 100% funded by the audience who buy tickets.
I've never received a single cent of funding or grant money.
The show is entirely independent and exists because people like it. How wild! I keep the tickets as cheap as possible - even against the advice of basically everybody I know.
There is no comparable, two-hour live music show that you can attend for less than $50.
Your memoir talks about 'embracing mediocrity'. Why is this important?
Mediocrity is the reality of life. You may have one 'best' day in your life. We certainly all have a 'worst' day.
But what about every other day? So much more of life is lived between the extremes. I think we have to get better at finding meaning in the in between-ness and mediocrity of life.
'Best' by its very nature is rare and singular. You'll miss out on most of your life if you only care about the 'best'.
What a lovely, freeing thing to let go of 'best' as the only important part of life and to focus instead on trying your best and seeing where that will take you.
How can embracing mediocrity allow people to be financially free?
There is no entry-level CEO position (nepo-babies excluded). For most of us, financial freedom can only be preceded by shovelling shit for years and working hard.
I really believe that mediocrity is the necessary stepping stone to learning anything or getting anywhere good.
Financial freedom likely means working for others, doing jobs you don't love and acquiring skills that aren't obviously connected to your goal. In my opinion, there is nobody better suited to leadership than somebody who had to forge a path there.
Are there days you regret not having the income of an air-traffic controller?
I absolutely out-earn an air traffic controller now and I get to travel on the planes. Thank you to air-traffic controllers for getting me safely to my destinations.
We are all much better off without me in the tower!
What is the best money advice or habit you've adopted?
Don't spend beyond your means.
My mind truly boggles at the way people feel they need expensive car loans, credit-card-fuelled holidays or Afterpay-funded wardrobes of designer clothes. Spend money that you have.
Finish this sentence. Money is good for...
...poor people. May financial freedom find everybody in this life.
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