thats the attitude that was instilled in me, too. "fuck your dream, go make some money", so thankful for advice like that
relates to all these public school teachers union advisors and 25% off a year employees telling kids to follow their dreams, get a degree in gender studies or west african dance. no, get a degree or skill that can be applied in an ever competitive global flat market interconnected economy. i have a degree in business but the best education i ever got was from my dad commuting to hockey practice for 15 years. renders back to family and values and logic, not money. intertwined in that scenario was a man who came from no money, but he got an engineering degree, commuted 40 mins each way to job, came home and then drove his son to hockey practice and games after work, another 40 + 40 min commute, 3- 4 times a week. he tought me tough love. never depend on anyone else as an adult with the opportunities and structure available to us here. theres no character with that; nothing in life is free
the unsung hero/true badasses in society, are the taxpayers doing what has to be done to support themselves/family in an honest manner. think i want to be in this windowless office for 50 hours a week while half the country is getting paid by me to wake up at 10 am, roll a J, play fortnite, or go to the beach? must be nice.
back on a commission report...
Your right in a sense but are missing a crucial component. Nothing wrong with people seeking out there dream job or following their dreams. Problem is and I think what your probably referencing is, living your dream job does not mean your living in a dream world.
When I started my business I had no illusions of the fact that I would be working way harder to make a living than I was when I worked my 9-5 building superintendent job. While I’m creative daily, I mean every day, I have to treat my creations and my work as a business and not just a dream job. I have to run ads, develop products, send out marketing emails, develop product lines, provide estimates, provide agreements to sign and pay taxes. I also, wether I like it or not, have to be ever present on the social platforms that give me the most visibility and take advantage of things like hashtags, promos etc. I do all these things consistently, though I’m usually a quarter or two behind on gross receipts. I hate the administrative side of my work, but it’s what allows me to continue what I love to do. I don’t make massive amounts of money, but I make a steady income that puts food on the table for my family of 5 and sustains us enough to allow my wife to get her PA degree. I’m 5 years in and my grind is less intense because of all the hustle over the last 5 years. People come to me when they want work done. When my wife graduates herself this year,I actually plan on hiring a few folks to help with wood jewelry production and book keeping, that way I can focus on what I do best. Making cool shit.
We need to not encourage people to not follow their dreams, we need to teach them how to be successful in those dreams within the capitalistic system we live in. you don’t have to sell your soul to be a creative. If we didn’t have people that followed there dreams and just worked the “unsung hero” office jobs, the likes of Ryan Neil and Bjorn Bjorholm would not be doing what they are doing. They are following their dreams, they are just realistic and business minded about those dreams. I hate when people call out rappers or artists for doing ads for big corporations say they “sold out”. Fuck you, they are doing them and have earned ( in most cases but not all) that sponsor money.
The sooner as creatives we realize the entire system revolves and runs on money, the sooner we can live a life that is not all about money.
my best friend who is now a real estate agent and runs a successful food tour company out of Santa Fe, NM got his bachelors in fine art. They taught him how to paint, draw and sculpt like the legends of that world. He always complained though That they don’t teach you is how to utilize those skills in a practical manner economically. How to brand yourself and run a business. The stigma of poor working artist sucks and is on the educator as much as the student. Many of the greatest film makers in the world had to make commercials. They’d make 10 commercials in a year so they can pay the bills and that then gives them the opportunity to experiment on some crazy, independent avant-garde thriller, that may or may not be successful. But we don’t hear about the shitty commercials, we hear about the success.
all I’m saying is, they’re are plenty of “unsung hero /true badasses” who are living their dream job AND paying taxes and employing folks and they worked just as hard to get to that point as anyone else.
. I learned the hard way that I could exercise every day, running and lifting weights, but I was still a fat ass, even if I was eating so-called good food. A few years ago, I discovered intermittent fasting… Look it up, it works! I still try to eat well, and succeed 50% of the time, but I eat less, don’t feel like I’m dieting, and that’s allowed me to lose 25 pounds and keep it off for at least a couple of years.
