Quit, you don't have nothing to loose. If you believe in your self and what you are doing by all mean try to make it happen. I have only played music since getting out of high school, I do session work, live gigs and recording whork, what ever to make some money and I am happy for it. I'm not rich but I can get the things I need. I was on the road for quite a spell and although the money was pretty good I hated playing behind a person I hated and who really didn't have anything to say as a artist. Anyway if you are willing to make sacrifices and go through some hell go for it. You can always get another "job" if you need money. droddey made a great point in saying "Something to consider also is, when music becomes you job and you HAVE to do it every day, will you still want to do it every day?" After some set backs on personal and emotional levels I almost gave up playing professionally, I took a few months off and didn't touch a instrument or my music computer and after clearing the baggage out of my head I found I have found my passion again. It comes down to what you consider "making it", if being a "star" is how you define it you might be let down, but you can make a living playing music.

I didn't read your entire post. But one thing I have found to be true:

Some folks are natural risk-takers and others are not. If you are the type who LIKES (and is relatively happy) taking risks, then you will be better motivated & more likely to succeed if you quit your job and focus. If not, then quitting your job could be the worst thing you ever did. Only you know which you are. Look at your moments & times of greatest success in the past and ask yourself it they were motivated by calculated risk(s). Either way, you have your answer.

Do what works for you. That may be jumping off a cliff and learning to fly on the way down. That may be working your tail off at a day job AND music.

Throw in some horns and we'll talk :)

ORIGINAL: Xfusion


I've been debating back and forth about a big decision I need to make and I could really use some good advice right now- should I quit my job to focus completely on my music?

A faint heart never won a fair maiden.

I am the last man standing from all my high school buddies.... everyone else faded into suburbia the 2.5 kiddies, the mortgage and the job to support that lifestyle.

I am in my 50s I still write, record and play for a living, and some my friends who walked away from music back in the day are now wishing they had followed that dream with me.
But planet earth has moved on... and it is an old boys network in my neck of the woods.... so a couple of them have their weekend jazz gigs... some of them phone me to touch base when the whiskey drives them to it… but as far as jumping back on the bus…. That sucker left town years ago.


I have had long periods of mind numbing poverty in my life... I have had to walk away from innumerable lovers when their need to nest has come into conflict with my dream…. Abandon friendships when the work took me to strange cities…. If this is really just a hobby then you have my utter respect… to do it for real is gonna be tough at times…. It needs to be fun… this can’t be stressed enough... because it is that sense of fun that will keep you sane when the brown stuff hits the rotating blades.
I am established and respected within the music industry these days.... never aimed to be a pop star... have had recording and publishing deals along the way, realised early on that most Pop Stars have a short shelf life, but that sidemen kept on gigging. These days I run a couple of studios... one here in the centre of the universe (Sydney) and another in Florida when they drag me kicking and screaming from the emerald city of OZ…. My music is played around the world (39 Countries and counting)… but you will walk past it and never know where it originated from (or care) because it is embedded in games.
I drive to my studio most days with a smile on my face and a lot of gratitude for where I am sitting today… I have a tight circle of friends and lovers and my life is as close to perfect as any man would wish for.

But in order to be in your dream you need to walk away from ALL your comfort zones, and support systems… this includes using your family as an economic base of operations…. Go live in your car if necessary… just make sure you park it where the opportunities are.
Only the relentless hunger to succeed will get you a piece of what you claim to want.

Harlan Howard once told a happy young songwriter to go and get a good divorce and a few years of misery under his belt….

Hunger creates the desire to eat… sounds simple… but the trick is never compromising on your dream

Wow. One of the truely honest and heart-felt cries for help I've heard in a long time. I've seen it with my best friend and maybe with myself...but let's focus on you...man to be 25 again. It sounds like you have a family that loves you and supports you...that is such an awesome gift. When I was twenty-five I was facing the same questions you're facing now, only I didn't have a decent job. At that point I had given up on the b-circuit bands I played in for five years and decided that going back to college was the best solution to solving the "I want to be a musician (rock star)" dream I had. Well, I got my degree. Got married twice. Had some kids. Had numerous jobs that payed really well, all the while telling myself that this was going to fulfill (perpetuate) the dream. Guess what? LIFE got in the way! I have so many responsibilities that music has become less than secondary! But I digress...this is suppose to be focused on you...

It's never to late to go back to school and get a degree in a field in which you might be interested. So I say, play music NOW!. You're young! Develop your craft. Keep playing. Keep writing. Find a way to make a living as a musician! Keep playing! Everyday! Play in band. Write music and try to sell your songs. Give music lessons. Anything to make money and keep playing...as long as your loving family will continue to support you. Thank them and take advantage of their generosity...make them proud. Record your original ideas! Shop them to record companies. Submit them to websites like garageband.com, myspace, or whatever...get it out there for people to hear. Find clubs that cater to original music. I have a hugh stack of Gig Magazines that I'll send to you for free...they were free to me and chocked-full of ways to make money as a musician.

In the end, you may earn your way in life as a muscian, or maybe not. But, how will you answer the question: Did I give it everything I had?

There is nothing sadder in this life than a middle aged man with nothing but faded dreams never chased. I saw this in my father's eyes, as he watched me chase mine. GO FOR IT. I have been very fortunate in this life. Not because I became world famous or made alot of money. I am fortunate because I will never look back and say I wish I had............... I took my shots, risks whatever you want to call them. I did it when I was younger than you, and kept doing it when I was older than you. No regrets. Fame is a crap shoot. If its the love of the music, PLAY. Play for free, for money, just play. An album cost alot of money. Dont spend it til you are confident people will buy it. Thats what record companies are for. Get out and play. If you are good, the right people will find you. If you are good, you will make enough to live. If you are not, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you gave it your best shot. I can tell you this. While I may never have become a rich rock star, the memories of trying are something not alot of people have. Or would ever believe. Others here know what I'm talking about. You will hopefully learn for yourself

Randy

Some folks are natural risk-takers and others are not. If you are the type who LIKES (and is relatively happy) taking risks, then you will be better motivated & more likely to succeed if you quit your job and focus. If not, then quitting your job could be the worst thing you ever did.

I dunno. I'm not a natural risk taker at all, but (as per my Soap Opera above) I did it. I think what's really required is an ability to pretend that disaster isn't around the corner and just keep chugging along, instead of letting it paralyze you with fear and loathing. So you just have to develop a healthy sense of self-denial and just assume it's all going to work out OK in the end if you just work your butt off. If Fate does decide to make a house call, there's no way to know until it happens. I've read a LOT of books about people in my business (software slash technology) who went for it on their own and so many times they were on the edge of complete disaster but made it through to great success (and in this business great success can mean hundreds of millions of dollars, though I'm not counting on hitting it quite that big.)

Anyway, I don't think it's so much that you have to be a natural risk taker, you just have to be able to ignore the danger until or unless it actually strikes , and just keep the blinders on and work like a mule every day at it. It often means given up friends and fun and vacations and so on. I've not taken a day off in more than five years. But, in a way, it doesn't feel nearly as burdensome as doing a mercenary 9 to 5, because I'm working like a mule for me and my future and my vision. But that means you really, really have to love it, and not in an 'I want it' sort of way, but in a 'happy to get up out of bed every day doing it all day long' sort of way.

ORIGINAL: droddey
I dunno. I'm not a natural risk taker at all, but (as per my Soap Opera above) I did it. I think what's really required is an ability to pretend that disaster isn't around the corner and just keep chugging along, instead of letting it paralyze you with fear and loathing. So you just have to develop a healthy sense of self-denial and just assume it's all going to work out OK in the end if you just work your butt off......
...

Anyway, I don't think it's so much that you have to be a natural risk taker, you just have to be able to ignore the danger until or unless it actually strikes , and just keep the blinders on and work like a mule every day at it. It often means given up friends and fun and vacations and so on.
...

But that means you really, really have to love it, and not in an 'I want it' sort of way, but in a 'happy to get up out of bed every day doing it all day long' sort of way.

You know, that's what I'm really saying. Some folks can't do those things or give up those things or pretend like that without losing it completely. Those who can, I call "natural risk takers". They are just made to be able to handle the stress, tension, isolation, etc. where others would crack. I think it takes a touch (or more) of good insanity.

To paraphrase the movie Hitch: 'You are absolutely TOTALLY out of your mind............that's good.'

That's like saying, "Hey I just bought a lottery ticket. Can I quit working now?" If you're really great the music moguls will come and find you. Stay where you're at until they do. Word of mouth is everything in the business world.

Oh, and have you ever been on the road with a band for any length of time, at least a month or more? I've met very few musicians who will admit to liking the road aspect. Yeah, concerts are great but they only last for a couple of hours of the day. It's like being married. I don't care how great the sex is, you still have 23 hours 45 minutes left of every day to get through.

You know, that's what I'm really saying. Some folks can't do those things or give up those things or pretend like that without losing it completely. Those who can, I call "natural risk takers".

Yeh. I guess I was just making a distinction between the two difference phases. There are people who have a problem making the decision, and there are people who have problems dealing with the results of the decision. You could be a natural risk taker, i.e. it's easy for you to make the decision, but not be very good a dealing with the realities of it. Or, you could be someone who has a huge amount of paranoia making the decision, but can cope with their decision once made and see it to the end. And every combination thereof of course. So I guess I'm considering 'risk takers' and 'risk survivers' as separate categories.

In a way, I guess I had no problem making the decision, and not a lot of problem dealing with the consequences. I seemed to be able to pare my life down to the bare essentials pretty easily, strangely enough given my love of toys and no real history of risk taking. But, for me, the push was the standard one, I got fired :-) It happened in the big net bubble burst. Things had been going so well and everyone was making so much money that I didn't really have to do much work or anything. I put out a nice memo once in a while and that was good enough. So when the caca hit the fan, I couldn't really present much evidence of my usefulness. And with companies throwing people overboard by the bucketful, it wasn't going to be much of a sellers market for software engineers.

So I did the time honored thing and went out on my own. Luckily I'd already been working on my idea on the company's dime (another time honored tradition in Silicon Valley), so I wasn't starting from scratch. Still, having to use up all of your savings and live on starvation wages for years is something that a lot of people couldn't stomach, even if it didn't involve their loved ones. It requires a certain amount of stoicism I guess. Luckily, having come after the big bubble, I had a nice set of toys stored up to help me through the lean years a bit. But anything that breaks doesn't get replaced unless it's business related.

I think that my father also very much wanted to doit, but just couldn't because of his family responsibilities. The level of paranoia and guilt would be enormous, I'm sure. But, being blessed by a complete lack of appeal to the fairer sex, I wasn't in that situation. I'm counting on getting rich to make up for that :-) Of course I'm completely convinced that the day I finally sign those papers to sell teh company to Microsoft that I'll be hit by a bus, if not a meteor, because Fate is a cruel ****.