Three Words: Quit Your Job

by Jason on June 4, 2009 · 3 comments

This is what I’ve always said to people when they ask me “How can I become a musician (or photographer, or actor, or painter)?” Simple, right?

Today I found a great blog post by Lauren Zettler that says the same thing, only much more eloquently than I ever could.

Read the post here:
Eff It… Quitting Your Job to Pursue (Insert Passion Here).

Bravo, Lauren.

brem June 4, 2009 at 5:55 am: It’s so funny… In an interview, a musician who is fairly sucessful said when asked for advice: “don’t quit your days job” 🙂

I love contradictions…

I believe if you are competent and work your networks, eventually, you’ll end up landing more and more gigs, which in turn, will give you the opportunity to quit that day job… because you have an alternative.
Jason June 4, 2009 at 7:52 am: Hi Brem,

Thanks for reading, and for your comment!

One of the things I like about Lauren’s post is that she says very clearly that everyone will come at it from their own place and comfort level. The musician you quoted obviously did the right thing for him/her, because as you say he/she is fairly successful. Good on them!

For me, I couldn’t find the time to practice, hustle gigs, practice, market my services, practice, rehearse and practice while working a full-time job. There just weren’t enough hours in the day.

So if it works for you to build your network of gigs while working your day job, by all means do it! But if your job is sucking the life out of you and you don’t have time for the important things in life, then maybe it’s time for a change…

Keep those comments coming!
brem June 4, 2009 at 11:16 am: Well, I’m not an aspiring pro, so I keep it a serious hobby at best.

But I have a friend who is a TV series writer… Thing is, he’s not paid until his project gets accepted, he can’t afford not to have a day job… for musicians who gig a lot, that’s fine, but when you are new and not well known, it can be a little difficult!

And I know about not having time to rehearse… sucks to be me 🙂