Tim Gunn’s financial faux pas and learning to 'make it work'

Though the legendary Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn needs little introduction, his story does. Gunn wasn't always the celebrity we know him to be today; he was a career educator for 29 years. Gunn shared with Living Not So Fabulously hosts David & John Auten-Schneider that teaching is more of a calling than a job. He identified as a ‘pauper educator,’ with more of a focus on serving students than his own personal finances. Though that is surely noble, it left him living paycheck to paycheck. “I really did think if I lose my job, what am I going to do? Move in with my sister?” he said.

Then came the ground-breaking Project Runway, where this ‘pauper educator’ mindset stayed with him. Gunn wasn’t paid for the show's first two seasons; he loved mentoring the designers. Gunn didn’t even realize that wasn’t typical, with his first agent describing saying upon reviewing his TV contracts, “‘These are the worst contracts I have ever seen in my entire professional career. Wow. You just sign these things?’” to which Tim said, “what am I supposed to do? I don't know. I assumed that they're boilerplates, what people sign.”

At the end of the day, it wasn’t about the money for Gunn. “It didn't bother me not to be paid.” Learning from his financial faux pas, Gunn recommends to his students that they seek help, as Gunn received from his lawyer, “because there may be someone who says this whole thing is completely out of whack and just unsustainable.” You simply don't know what you don't know. Read Gunn's story in his latest book, "Tim Gunn: The Natty Professor: A Master Class on Mentoring, Motivating, and Making It Work."

Hosts and husbands of Living Not So Fabulously, David & John Auten-Schneider, dive into real money stories with activists, allies, artists, tech-gurus, and trailblazers in the LGBTQ+ community to give you tangible takeaways to tackle your wallet woes.

Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Living Not So Fabulously at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/living-fabulously/.

Have a money story of your own? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at [email protected].

00:00-Tim Gunn joins Living Not So Fabulously

01:00-A pauper educator

04:00-Being a teacher is like being in the clergy; it's a calling

05:30-How he got involved with Project Runway; unpaid

14:25-Origin story of 'make it work'

16:57-Biggest mistake of many young designers: happy hands

19:45-Financial advice for young designers at the start of their career

21:34-Finance advice for everyone else

Yahoo Finance's Living Not So Fabulously is hosted by David & John Auten-Schneider, and created and produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky.

Beloved pop culture icon and New York Times bestselling author Tim Gunn is best known as the Emmy Award–winning host of Project Runway. He also hosted two seasons of his own Bravo makeover series, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, and was the host of the reality TV series Under the Gunn.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices