09/20/2024
If you've ever wondered why it's so flipping hard to survive as an artist, here's my perspective from the other side of my first 20 years struggling, striving, and occasionally thriving as a working-class creative.
I kinda see it all in stages.
Stage 1: First, there's the whole 10,000 hours thing. Getting good at your craft is enough for an entry-level gig. But nobody's going to pay you to become great. You have to do that on your own, in the stolen hours while all your friends are hanging out, starting families, or grasping for the next rung in the corporate ladder.
Stage 2: You spend the next part of your career as a square peg in a world of round holes. You have to bend and twist yourself into knots just to fit into someone else's idea of what your craft should be. These are good times in part because they will wear off the rough edges, but they'll also make you feel used or worse-used up. Especially if you're not working with good mentors. You'll have ideas to innovate or problem-solve, but you have no agency and few who listen.
Stage 3: It's the next 5,000 hours that are most critical. You've become a steady hand at the thing you set out to do. But now it's time to layer your core competencies. Get good at saying 'no.' Learn to pitch. To speak in public. To find mentors. To negotiate. To build coalitions. Artistically, you still see creation as a deeply personal endeavor, but you're comfortable enough in your identity to invite audience into your inner circle. The work is immensely satisfying and no one can ignore how good it's become.
Stage 4: You now have something new to offer the world. Something fresh, timely, and relevant–backed by lessons learned and scars earned. You're surrounded by a community of friends and mentors. Your time and talents are seen as worth every penny. You begin to thrive.
Most artists I know get stuck at Stage 2. Things get comfortable. Bills need to get paid. It was just a dream, anyway.
Stage 3 creatives need mentors. Not in their craft. But in all the other business-type things that don't come naturally. Above all they need honesty and good will.
Stage 4 artists are the ones who shift the paradigm. Who disrupt the market. And they're the ones everyone points to at stage 1 and says, "See? It can't be that hard."
Just my two cents. Curious if this resonates with you or with other fields besides the creative ones.
