It really comes down to money planning. If you haven't already, you should plan out all your money issues to see how doable your plan is. Plan for the worst case scenario. Don't wait till you are committed and in the thick of things to do this planning.

If you are independently wealth, then ignore my advice (except this last part

Follow your dreams if you can, life is too short to have regrets. Good luck to you! For most of us, it would likely not be possible, so, at least for me, I will live through YOUR dream.
Go for it!

^^^This is exactly the right advice. There is an old saying that goes "If you fail to plan, then plan to fail". I'm 100% in favor of you going after this dream. Life is indeed short and every moment is precious. To give you the best opportunity to succeed, I'd look at it this way;

- Do a budget on paper with numbers. Be realistic and plan for things that can and will happen outside of a "normal" month. This will tell you how much money you have to generate to support yourself and your dream.

- The most precious thing in the world is time... so figure out how much time it will take to generate this money each week/month. Look for a way to generate the money in as few hours as possible given your skills. This will leave you with as much time as possible to follow your dream and your new life won't crash the first time you have a need for some extra funds.

FWIW, I think this will be more of a transformation than a step change. It will take some time to get to a point where your dream supports your life, and in the meantime you'll be supporting it. Hopefully one will fade to become the other.

Best of luck. I hope you are wildly successful in reaching your goals.

Keep pushing. I've been play music awhile and it's never paid the bills, but the MUSE keeps me going. I'm in a position now, at 58, where I work part-time and just auditioned and started playing with a couple of other musicians that have finally pushed me to a point where I am PUSHING MYSELF. I need a situation where I am FORCED TO PUSH. (am i using this word too much?) Go for it. Dedicate whatever it takes to follow your MUSE. I have enough to put food in my mouth, gas in my truck, and strings on my Stick. My girlfriend is about to engage in a career change because she HATES WHAT SHE IS DOING. (she also sings and paints but doesn't do either enough because she's in a position that makes her restless, irratble, and discontent.) Passion in life is all there is.

I don't want to discourage you but when Gary Burton and Stanley Jordan had to take day jobs for salary & benefits, jeez...

Having to work and support my family is painful, as my core identity is musical. The pain of it is so much a part of me now that it would feel weird to have the freedom to actually do it. And my family brings me joy (about every fourth or fifth day ).

I passed my optional-retire day this month, but I can't afford to live on a pension! Doubly maddening.

However- and this is the big However - learning takes place in 25-minute chunks, so I've found, and I have a few of those, about six days a week. There's a fine young musician in Denton named Nathan Phelps who tells me I'm improving, even if my progress seems imperceptible, as we get together every six weeks or so.

Also, I'm playing congas and piano, in addition to Stick, so I'm really spread out. I just don't want to give up those instruments.

Yes it's painful, but I think that the story of any artist's life includes some suffering, and that's the nature of mine.

Think twice about quitting your day job. The economy sucks, and jobs are hard to come by.

Roy

One of those sandwiches is The Reality Sandwich. Take big bites!

R

Glad you got some coin coming in mate.

Just fuckin' go for it and trust your conscience when it observes your emotional state and progress. As Joe Zawinul said, the rational mind goes out the window when you write/play music.

Don't forget to come up for air.

This is an interesting thread, and I've been thinking about it since it was posted. Time to comment, eh?

Y'know, eons ago I decided I needed to make a career from music. It was literally the thing I was best at in life, and it always brought me great joy to do it. So, I got myself a student loan, and off to music school I went.

When it came time to graduate, my guitar instructor at the time (I never did really like him) asked what I was going to do, where I was going, and the answers were "I'm not sure" and "Grande Prairie AB" He was like, "You're an idiot. You need to go to a town where music is a part of the economy". Well, I ignored him and went anyways. My wife has tons of family here, and that's important.

I literally knew no one besides the family. I knew I had to get some kind of music job, so I snagged a job at the local music store. Lol very low paying, but I weaseled my way into giving guitar lessons there. 13 bucks a half hour. Compared to the 6 bucks an hour I made at the music store, this wasn't bad at all. A year went by, and I ended up with about 40 students. Another year went by, and I quit the music store and just did lessons. It was a bit sketchy at certain times of the year, but with the money I made from doing gigs, stuff got paid for... When I stopped doing lessons, I had a roster of about 135 students a week... But I was very burnt out.

I wanted to buy a house, but the bank wouldn't touch me for a mortgage. Self employed, and a musician? Even with a large savings account, and 7-8 attempts they were like, get a job. I was, like...dammit.

I did go get a job, took a pay cut and for the next twenty years "enjoyed" stability.

I say fuck it, and go do music. You will make it work.

Sad thing about being a pro....oftentimes its got nothing to do with skill level, sometimes it works paradoxically in the opposite manner...(you real musicians already know this)

Example....Victoria Beckham (Spice Girls) is worth 300 million, Drake (Canadian rapper)...88 million....I've never in my life heard a Drake tune...and I'm ok with that. I don't consider these folks musicians. I just don't listen to that kind of shit ass music,..someones eating the cake though.

Geddy, Alex and Neil.....36 million each......see the irony unfolding?

Reaching a level where you can sustain a decent lifestyle as a musician is very fucking difficult, but it comes easier for some than others. Its a blood sport, and a crap shoot....and a real commitment to those who choose to weather the storm.

It was once my goal as well..but I didn't want to end up poor....so I went a different route, but I still get to play most everyday and thats good enough for me.

cheers,
kev

'I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.' - Mark Twain

I am at the proto-geezer phase of my life. I've raised a family, and lived life without any material want. I've also started a newspaper, been stage manager for an opera company, imported wine, traveled in former Soviet states numerous times, and now study Stick with the ever-patient Greg. Corporate drudgery has enabled all of the above and more.

These aren't grazing activities--they're all in. It's OK to fail. Actually, everyone should learn to fail, and fail fast--it's the surest road to success.The day job wasn't always concurrent with my other ventures, but I've danced between the raindrops for many years.

Much can be forgiven in life, and it's great that you recognize opportunity within the Stick. In my own case, I found a pretty decent work-life balance. The trick is to realize that some things in life cannot be fixed--I can't stress this enough. Don't fuck up big-time. But if you enjoy first-world advantages, and do no harm to loved ones and no collateral damage, you can have 85% of it all.

Sputnik