Monday, March 3, 2014

Never been better (or worse)

Speaking of how to make money...

Some say there has never been a better time to do more than one thing.
Others say there has never been a worse time to do only one thing.

Some are optimists: Creating multiple streams of revenue has never been easier -- so go get it!
Others are realists: Wages stagnated decades ago -- you've got no choice but to hustle more.

These two voices have become a theme of my first few weeks as a freelancer. Music has an economic path about as easy to see as the Milky Way above Manhattan. How exactly do you survive in this business?

My search to answer that question led me to perspectives from some trusted sources:
John Gross,  Ahmad Jamal, John Nastos, Colin Malloy, Cliff Waits, Jazelle Green-Younger, and Justin Schepige (to name a few).

John Gross told me to "always have a 'plan B' just in case your first choice doesn't pan out." Worse case scenario is you'll be doing your second favorite thing.

Ahmad Jamal had this to say last week (from his talk at PSU): "If you only have one exit door, you may get trampled to death if a fire breaks out. Prepare yourself with options. Learn how to compose, orchestrate, perform and teach so you don't have to be somewhere because you have to be. It's much better to be somewhere because you want to be."

A living example of Jamal's advice is local sax beast John Nastos. From our recent talk, he makes ends meet by gigging, teaching, composing, arranging and he built a killer metronome app.

Now's the time to turn that passion/hobby/obsession of yours into a revenue stream. Because it's what you love and the new connection economy is built by and for you! Oh and also, because you can't afford to do only one thing.

There are many many examples of people that have found a way to make it work. I hope to be one of them some day soon. As for the optimist and realist -- they're both right.

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