I’m thrilled to bring you this incredibly comprehensive flow chart of my advice on making a living with your art.

For me, it all hinges on Step 1: Make something awesome. In my experience, every paid creative gig has stemmed from a creative labor of love that showcased my skills. For example, I can trace almost all of my creative film gigs back to one fateful day when I gave a copy of my triple-disc concept album to filmmaker Jason P. Schumacher. I became his go-to audio guy, and he referred me to several other filmmakers. Now, years later, I’m seeing a monetary return on my music composition degree through film composing. As the philosopher Alan Watts says:

If you do really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what it is, you can eventually . . . become a master of it. It’s the only way to become a master of something, to be really with it. And then you’ll be able to get a good fee for whatever it is.

I’m going to post a more in-depth article soon about what made me leave the safety net of a “real” job to set out on an artistic adventure, and I’ll talk about the pros and cons of that kind of life upheaval. If that sounds like it might be useful or entertaining to you, consider subscribing to my mailing list or connect with me on Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Charlie McCarron