Lo Pau de Ponts: "In this world, you're worth what they're willing to pay you."

The son of a family of farmers and merchants, Lo Pau de Ponts has made his charisma and roots in Terres de Ponent his career. In addition to performing song parodies, he takes his musical comedy show to major festivals across the country. Pau Pinós (1993) began working at age 16 as DJ Pepinos, playing music at the San Juan festival at the swimming pools in Ponts (Noguera), his hometown.

He's now been performing for over 10 years. "That was something I did on weekends, and it went very well for me. It wasn't until many years later that I conceived of it as a job," explains Pinós, who combined it with law studies. "When I had my master's degree in law and was therefore going to dedicate myself to the profession, Ernest Codina saved me," remarks the comedian, who worked for two years at RAC 105.

Pinós explains that his is a very rewarding job: "When I go to work, people are happy and have fun." Furthermore, he explains that it's a seasonal profession, with workloads accumulating mainly in the summer and on weekends. "I'm the only one in my group who has these schedules. So, you're always working against everyone else; you find yourself with a lot of free time when everyone else is working," he explains. Thus, he combines this with other tasks: for a time, he worked as a teacher and is currently finishing his degree in Catalan Philology at the UOC.

The artist directs and performs solo. In fact, he's been approached on several occasions to form a group: "I've looked into it. It's more profitable for me, not only financially, but also for flexibility, to do it alone." He even handles the sound equipment himself. Thus, he believes the work is well-paid: "In a group, they have more time to spread out and they get paid more." "I often work for city councils, and you represent the same thing to a city council as a group. In other words, you take up a bit of their main festival and you're cheaper," explains the singer-songwriter, who compares the group to other similarly popular musical groups. He clarifies that "city councils have money," and he "works cheap."

Since he started, he maintains that the market sets his prices, and he's been gradually raising them: "If you ask for too much, they'll tell you, and no one will pay you. Therefore, in this world, you're worth what they're willing to pay you." He also measures his price based on the popularity and impact of the videos on social media: "You also see it, because when there's more activity, you get more calls."

Barcelona resident

As for housing, Pinós has lived in Barcelona for a few years now, because his family has an apartment and there's "more atmosphere." "I've lived for many years renting with friends and sharing apartments. Now I've been living with my brother in our apartment for a couple of years." In this sense, Pinós considers himself thrifty, but he could be even more so if he didn't live in the capital: "There are more temptations, more things to do, therefore, more expenses. If I lived in Ponts, I would save a lot more."

Regarding his finances, the comedian says he used to be quite disorganized: "At first, I was very rudimentary with the typical calendar from the town cooperative that you have hanging up. I would write down the dates of the performances, the price, and whether I'd been paid with a marker of a different color." In this sense, the entrepreneur previously had a manager, but currently, with interest and "YouTube tutorials," he has learned to manage it himself.

When it comes to personal finances, Pinós confides in a friend: "He's the director of the bank where I have most of my money. He advises me on everything; he's very involved in the whole investment aspect. He tells me, 'Buy this on the stock market,' and I follow his lead," but always in low-risk transactions. The worst investment he made was with his younger brother: "We were young and got caught up in a Ponzi scheme involving a coin." "We never saw anything like that again. We gave 500 euros in cash and it vanished," he adds.

Although it won't be seen forever, as long as he has job offers, Lo Pau de Ponts will continue to exploit the entertainment sector. And, although he doesn't know which direction he'll take, for now, he has more projects in mind: "I'm looking at businesses parallel to this whole world," he says.