[Pete]

Hi guys

I'm facing a unique dilemma right now. I'm in my early 20's. I graduated college with a bachelors last year and I thought life was going to be easier after that. Well, I've learned the hard way it isn't.

I spent a long time looking for a job and found one. I've been about 2 1/2 months with it. To be honest I hate it, every minute i spend on it. I only get paid $7.25/hr. But that's life, it's the best I could find where I live. The only way to find jobs where I live is to be connected or to ask favors from politicians (even then it's hard too), sadly.

My dilemma is. I hate this job. I know I could move to the US next week and find a job relatively easy. A friend of mine moved 2 weeks ago and the next day he got there he had a job with benefits and all. The only thing keeping me where I live is my dream.

I love singing, writing songs, and that life. I always saw it as a dream, nothing more than that. About 2 years ago I met a like minded individual and we decided to join forces and take this to the next level.

We started "investing" money into our music. We've made songs with 4 of the most important people in our genre (One of them even got nominated for a latin grammy last year, other has a song which is heavily played on radio, I even heard it in Medellin). While on that I can estimate we've spent about $20,000 in this venture.

A few weeks ago I made a deal with a producer who works with the best of the best in our genre. The deal is $6,000 (half me, half my partner). I have already about 3/4 of the money. I've been pouring my first 3 checks into this.

Thing is a few days ago I was thinking. And I felt like I'm loosing too many oportunities by staying where I live. While I know that, my justification is that I'm sacrificing right now so I can be able to do what I love later. Thing is, my partnet sometimes doesn't take this thing as seriously as I do. I always take 5-10 hours weekly and improve my craft and work on music I need to finish. He sometimes doesn't come to the studio for weeks. I know if I want to acheive great things I have to sacrifice right now and stop going out anf instead spending that time honing my craft. My partner sometimes doesn't get that way of thinking.

What would you guys do in my place? Leave all that and go for a more lucrative job? Or continue here until "it" happens?

I feel like I'm putting all of my eggs on one basket. If it doesn't work out I'm pretty fucked.

[Valentine]

It's a cliche but your career should be your passion. Only if a career is your passion will you take it to it's highest income potential, whilst it be simultaneously fulfilling and meaningful to you. If you only follow the money you'll always regret not finding out how far you could have gone and who you could have been by expressing your core gifts. It also sounds like you have a passion which has a reasonable expectation of earning you an above minimum wage living, which is another huge point when many people in the world follow their passion without even caring about money/fame.

Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in the present to ensure the rest of your life is a comfortable, ridiculously fun ride.

Though I would think about the partner you've chosen more. They may be holding you back if they're not keeping up with your pace, not something you want in a business partnership.

[scotian]

As a recent college graduate, how the fuck are you able to afford a trip to Medellin and dumping tens of thousands of dollars into a music venture while making $7.25/hour? I think that its cool to follow your dream or whatever but sometimes dreams don't pay the bills and $7.25/hour is damn near the poverty line, which is okay, if being a starving artist is your dream.

Myself, my "dream" when I was younger was to travel the world, which I'm doing now, but in order to do so, I have to bust my ass in a work environment that most people wouldn't consider doing because its tough. I'm not passionate about my job, it fucking sucks sometimes, but it can be interesting and its a physical and mental challenge, I learn new things every day. The rewards of my work are the fact that I can make more money in six months then most of my friends make in three years and I can spend the other six months in tropical paradises getting drunk everyday.

I think that your work being your passion is over rated but different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Ruxman]

Follow the music, you've come far enough already to know that it will provide for you. if you and your music partner split, keep at it and adapt. I use to play in a band and when the drummer left it went downhill when it didn't have to at all.

[Gmac]

Follow your dream or enjoy life? For me, it's the same fucking thing! May sound gay but, you really do only live once.

[MalibuPad]

Music business is tough...I've had some success in the past 5 years, but I still keep my day gig to pay the bills. Now everything I make from music/royalties goes into the early retirement fund. Lose the partner, make money anyway you can, and work on your music with all your free time (may have to sleep less).

[NFallin]

Work and passion seem to rarely go hand in hand for most people. Many seem to be lying. Give anyone a million and ask them if they would still show up to work the next day.

Find something that you can tolerate and that will pay well. Bank it, live below your means, and chase the getting wasted on tropical beaches all over the world dream.

[Nacirema]

Normally I would just talk to you about this offline, but since other guys can learn from this thread, I'll post here.

You are still young. Now is the time to take big risks for big rewards. Even if you spent the next 5 years living in PR working at your job and working on music only to fail, you could still recover and be living well by your early 30's. And you would have learned a lot in the process.

On the other hand, you are so young that you could go do some tough, high-paying job for a couple years and save some serious money. You could then take a break from work and get right back into the music with the ability to focus 100% on that, and some real money to invest in your projects.

Either way, you definitly should not quit on the your dream, you are young and talented. Quitting would be a waste of that talent.

[Nacirema]

(05-11-2013 10:42 PM)NFallin Wrote:  

Bank it, live below your means, and chase the getting wasted on tropical beaches all over the world dream.

Pete already lives on an island full of tropical beaches and sweet girls.

[Pete]

(05-11-2013 05:19 PM)scotian Wrote:  

As a recent college graduate, how the fuck are you able to afford a trip to Medellin and dumping tens of thousands of dollars into a music venture while making $7.25/hour? I think that its cool to follow your dream or whatever but sometimes dreams don't pay the bills and $7.25/hour is damn near the poverty line, which is okay, if being a starving artist is your dream.

Myself, my "dream" when I was younger was to travel the world, which I'm doing now, but in order to do so, I have to bust my ass in a work environment that most people wouldn't consider doing because its tough. I'm not passionate about my job, it fucking sucks sometimes, but it can be interesting and its a physical and mental challenge, I learn new things every day. The rewards of my work are the fact that I can make more money in six months then most of my friends make in three years and I can spend the other six months in tropical paradises getting drunk everyday.

I think that your work being your passion is over rated but different strokes for different folks I guess.

Yeah, that's why I'm looking at other options. I get paid $7.25/hr but for the pressure they put on me while working it's really not worth it. It stresses me out too much.

(05-11-2013 07:48 PM)Ruxman Wrote:  

Follow the music, you've come far enough already to know that it will provide for you. if you and your music partner split, keep at it and adapt. I use to play in a band and when the drummer left it went downhill when it didn't have to at all.

It's an option I've been thinking. I mean, sometimes I feel I need to carry too much responsibilities. In a partnership it's supposed to be 50/50. Now it's more like 85/15 for me.

(05-11-2013 08:08 PM)Gmac Wrote:  

Follow your dream or enjoy life? For me, it's the same fucking thing! May sound gay but, you really do only live once.

That's the reason I've kept at it. If I die I don't wanna die without knowing I tried it.

(05-11-2013 08:21 PM)MalibuPad Wrote:  

Music business is tough...I've had some success in the past 5 years, but I still keep my day gig to pay the bills. Now everything I make from music/royalties goes into the early retirement fund. Lose the partner, make money anyway you can, and work on your music with all your free time (may have to sleep less).

Yeah, I do it every chance I get. Every day I try to write something.

(05-11-2013 10:42 PM)NFallin Wrote:  

Work and passion seem to rarely go hand in hand for most people. Many seem to be lying. Give anyone a million and ask them if they would still show up to work the next day.

Find something that you can tolerate and that will pay well. Bank it, live below your means, and chase the getting wasted on tropical beaches all over the world dream.

That's the option I'm looking at. But it would mean moving from where I live and that would mean forgetting about the music. Or flying here regularly which would probably defeat the purpose of making money as I'd be spending it on airfare.

[Pete]

(05-11-2013 11:06 PM)Nacirema Wrote:  

Normally I would just talk to you about this offline, but since other guys can learn from this thread, I'll post here.

You are still young. Now is the time to take big risks for big rewards. Even if you spent the next 5 years living in PR working at your job and working on music only to fail, you could still recover and be living well by your early 30's. And you would have learned a lot in the process.

On the other hand, you are so young that you could go do some tough, high-paying job for a couple years and save some serious money. You could then take a break from work and get right back into the music with the ability to focus 100% on that, and some real money to invest in your projects.

Either way, you definitly should not quit on the your dream, you are young and talented. Quitting would be a waste of that talent.

Yeah! I was gonna call you man but my phone broke. Now I have to wait a few days while I get a new one. I have some shitty nokia

That's the dilemma that's got me thinking. Make the move now? or wait and see what happens? If I move on I may loose all that I've invested. I'm pretty dissatisfied right now, you know. My partner hasn't done shit. He hasn't come through with his part of the deal. And even worse, he isn't taking music all that seriously. It's hard because apart of the business I have with him, he's my friend. But money and business are separate from friendship.

(05-11-2013 11:11 PM)Nacirema Wrote:  

(05-11-2013 10:42 PM)NFallin Wrote:  

Bank it, live below your means, and chase the getting wasted on tropical beaches all over the world dream.

Pete already lives on an island full of tropical beaches and sweet girls.

[RossTan]

Do both! Make your money in a high paying job while putting yourself out on youtube! No point in wasting good money making years while you have the energy on jobs that don't pay well while you're working on your music. Best movie "8 Mile." Worked in a factory, while writing his music. You know who else did that? Eddie Money. He was a cop while he worked on his music. "Take Me Home Tonight" was his hit! So do both. Have plan A, B AND C working simultaneously!

DO BOTH! If you ain't Justin Bieber by now, or Usher Raymond, or Timberlake (all started when they were 10 and 12 years old) it's time to build your finances with your education (while its still relevant) while also pursuing your music. Do BOTH! Not the best idea to put all eggs in one basket. Even Bill Gates had a Plan B while working on Microsoft,

[RichieP]

Here's a good exercise to do when you're considering following your dream:

-Think of all the worst case scenarios that could happen if you took a leap but failed. Get them down on paper, specifically and in detail. Write about the exact things you're most afraid of happening.
-For each of them, really think about how likely they all are to actually happen, in practical reality. (Some will be very unlikely or easily avoidable, some will strike you as real risks)
-For the ones that are somewhat likely, think about what steps you could take to at least get back to where you are now - e.g. a $7/hour job.

If it turns out there's a chance you could make it, and at least if you don't you can find your way back to something like your current situation without too much effort, then you realise...cool. what have I got to lose.

Second one:
Ask yourself "What would I be willing to lose to at least give this a shot?" Think about it in terms of time and money expended. What, if you ultimately failed, would you be able to look back on and sleep soundly about having risked and lost, in the service of giving your dream the best shot you could?

[theArbiter]

Another thing to keep in mind:

Even if you fail, your net outcome could still be positive.

Why?

Experience.

Think of it as the "price" for practical, irreplaceable education.

You polish up your singing skills. You learn songwriting. You learn sound design/production. You learn PR. You learn marketing. You learn branding. You get industry knowledge.

Nothing can take away that personal development aspect away from you.

And if you don't fail, then damn, you win. Not bad, huh?

[IntrovertSuccess]

(05-12-2013 06:05 PM)theArbiter Wrote:  

Another thing to keep in mind:

Even if you fail, your net outcome could still be positive.

Why?

Experience.

Think of it as the "price" for practical, irreplaceable education.

You polish up your singing skills. You learn songwriting. You learn sound design/production. You learn PR. You learn marketing. You learn branding. You get industry knowledge.

Nothing can take away that personal development aspect away from you.

And if you don't fail, then damn, you win. Not bad, huh?

I think this is correct. The music industry has changed so much, all the marketing and PR has to be done by yourself these days, especially online.

So you'll be learning all of that on top of sound engineering and studio techniques.

I try to create synergy in everything and I do, and so far in my life one of the least effective ways I've found is to trade time for money in something unrelated to your passion (unless you set yourself a clear monetary goal and time line to save it in). Even if it seems a logical thing to do.

When you're following things related to your interests you naturally build up a big network of resources and people that will aid you in your goals. If you're working in something unrelated to your goal just for the money do you think you'll randomly bump into a sound-engineer looking for help on a movie project, or a band that wants you to record them, or a venue owner that needs you perform at his bar? Opportunities like those come much less often in my experience.

[kevingreen]

Here I must say follow your dream because enjoying life will never give you what you want so following your dream might be harder and hectic but you will be extremely happy going on with your dream.