"You Can't Make a Living at..." --- is DOO DOO!!

Everyone has heard the stories of kids who grew up with dreams of being an artist, or a musician, or a musical artist, or just something 'creative,' that didn't fall into the mainstream of career-oriented occupations, or so everyone thought -- many of these people are now middle-aged, have maybe had good careers doing something else, maybe their creative passion now takes the form of a hobby -- and this happened because early in their life, they heard the words, "You can't make a living at..." or, "You need a backup," or, "You need to get a real job," or, "I'm not paying for four years of college for you to major in..." or something like that.

And then, a few of them didn't listen and supposedly because of their immense talent they got successful anyway, despite everything, and the rest is magic.

Pardon me in advance, but both of these scenarios are DOO DOO.

It is not what you want to do, what your passion is, what you are good at, or your creativity even that make you "successful." It is your drive, your professionalism, and your willingness to find opportunities and make connections. That's it. Same goes for athletics, for accounting, for aeronautics.

I have had a ton of cool creative jobs. I've worked in film and video, and design, and information architecture, and even games. But each job involved being a professional. And now, working for myself, it's even more important for me to be professional - to respond to customers, to write back to fans, to get stuff in by a deadline, to make quality stuff consistently.

I am taking my daughter this week to hear Steve Turre, who is considered by many to be the world's best jazz trombonist. He also happens to have grown up in our neighborhood and gone to the same schools that she is attending. Now, kids understand jazz implicitly, so I know musically it will be a rich experience for her -- but I also want her to see how professional musicians set up, how they conduct themselves onstage, how they handle their equipment and their instruments, how they address the audience -- because these will be some serious professionals. And regardless of what she wants to do with herself, she will need to be a professional.

So, if you've got a passion, great. Pursue it. Major in it. Get really good. But don't think that raw talent will get you all the way -- you must be a professional, you must be willing to get out there and make connections. This is what I tell high school students when I talk to them about careers. So, have at it, have a great time, but most of all get out there.