Do you know anyone like this?
“”Fred” missed out on watching his kids grow up because, “I have a wife with expensive tastes and kids with expensive hobbies.” He traded away years of his life for around $225K per year. Admittedly, people have sold their soul for a lot less, but that didn’t make it any easier when he watched his third and youngest child walk across a stage at high school graduation. At that moment he said he realized his kids and wife were all strangers to him. “I was surrounded by my family and I felt all alone.” Did he ever consider taking a job that would have allowed him to work less than 70-80 hours per week? “I couldn’t afford to. Do you know how much it costs to support our lifestyle?””
This story comes from a post by Jenifer Lambert entitled Over Your Head and Out of Your Mind. Jenifer is a professional recruiter from Seattle who has seen her share of people like “Fred”.
“I wish I could tell you that Fred’s story is unique, but it’s not. I’ve seen people who make $50,000 and live well. I’ve seen people who make $500,000 and are “broke.” It doesn’t matter how much you make. If you live beyond your means, you will become enslaved to money.”
I see this as the second biggest obstacle to having a great life for people in the arts (the first obstacle is letting music BE your life). As I wrote about here, success in the music business is having a great LIFE that includes your passion for music. And nothing can screw that up quicker than letting money rule your life.
Jenifer writes: “Some of the best advice I’ve ever received came from a mentor and dear friend, Walt. Among the many things I’ve learned from him, I often think of his admonition to “keep yourself affordable.” What he means is keep your expense structure low so that you have options.”
Options.
As an artist, you cannot – and will not – have a great life that includes your passion if you don’t have options. One of the reasons I got out of the business was boredom. For a multitude of reasons, I was in a place where I had to work gigs because of money. Playing music began to resemble factory work: as songs would come along, I would pop in the drum track and wait for the next one. Of course I was happy to be playing, but there wasn’t much passion involved.
Music, by its very nature, is about experimentation and freedom. Its about 4 or 5 guys in a garage playing for hours and hours, or two people writing songs until the sun comes up. My hope for you is that you’ll build a balanced and successful music career that allows moments like these to occur.
If you want to make a career of music, you will be earning money from music, and that money will support your lifestyle. Balance will come as you understand exactly what you desire that lifestyle to be and when you work and play to live that lifestyle – keeping yourself affordable. Be wary of the “but I’ll pay you $XXXX” gigs. The X’s will be tempting, but you’ll end up trapped, bored and alone despite being surrounded by family and friends.
And that is no way to live.
