(The following blog is an inspiring thought spiral, obviously.)

Being a life-long professional artist is hard.

Sure, your uncle was right when he told you that as a teenager, but he meant it in a different sense than what I’m about to describe. What he meant is that you would have a hard time making ends meet financially, which can definitely be true sometimes.

Damn, it’s hard to admit when your drunk uncle is right.

*Your uncle, pictured here under the influence.*

But what I’m about to describe is a more long-term hard. It’s the fact that you spend your entire career not only explaining to everyone in your non-professional life why your career matters, but also explaining to the people in your professional life that your time and energy and experience matters and is either worth more money or less of your time.

That’s right. Your time is your most valuable resource because it’s limited. You don’t get it back. And the older you become, the more valuable your time becomes.

So, young artists, take note. When you sign up for your first professional job in the field, you’re not just signing up for an exchange of money for talent. And skill. And time. You’re signing up to:

1. Advocate for your artform for as long as you do it.

and

2. Advocate for yourself.

Rinse and repeat. Over and over and over again until you either quit or retire. Or worse.

*Pictured: John Eliot Gardiner’s inner ego.*

So let’s talk about #1. How can you advocate for your artform? Well, there are a lot of ways to do that, but the most common that you will come by is finding a concise way to explain what you do and why it matters to a person who will probably never encounter your work.

Yes, they need to know. Why do they need to know? Because 100 pennies equal a dollar, and until you have a larger platform you need the practice. You need to know why what you do is important to your culture and your society if you want to do it long term.

You need to know this so that you understand why you’re doing this to yourself in the difficult moments.

Once you understand your why, it will be available for you to use in a broader long-term context. It will be available when you are pitching to a potential donor. It will be available if and when you are going after that closely-related-to-your-artform day job. And it will be available to you when you have to help someone less experienced find their why.

#2 is a little more nuanced, but equally important. In my opinion, professional artistry is a little bit like Squid Game. The longer you successfully last, the more your survival is worth.

*An archival photo of your Music School’s graduating class.*

This will mean having difficult conversations with people you like, people you respect, and people you want to impress. That is why you are going to be reasonable when you ask for that extra money, or less time, or accommodation.

(Side note: Some people have managers to do this for them. This blog assumes that you’re going it alone without one.)

Reasonable can often meet reasonable halfway. If you’re not working with reasonable people, you should reconsider how sustainable that will be in the long-term. You deserve to work with reasonable people.

If you are having trouble accomplishing step #2, think about your student loan payment for 45 seconds and try again. That usually does it for me.

*Me, after thinking about my student loans for fifteen seconds.*

The people in your life should respect who you are and what you do, but that starts with you respecting who you are and what you do. Now get out there and make some money!