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Jeffrey was a highly paid accountanty by day and an avid music photographer inhis non-work He longed to devote himselfr entirely to music photography. But the practicak side of him kept sayin g he was lucky to have a lucrative and secure career asan accountant. The countruy was in a deep recession, with unemployment the highestr it had been sincs theGreat Depression. It was the earlgy ’80s, and he kept telling himself that even if he decided to take the risk of launchinvg an independent creative career atsome point, this was not the time to attempft it.
But the longing wouldn’t go and his frustration with his current work kept He finally decided he needed some help dealinfg withthe issue. That’s when he came to see me. Todayh he is a very sought-aftedr music photographer. His work appears on album covers, Web sites and the promotional materials of top as well as many of the leadinb music publications in the This is the story of how he pulleethat off.
I advised him as a first step to studg himself and what he needed in a work I also suggested he study what amusic photographer’s life was like day-to-dayh to determine if the fantasy he had been harboring for years matched the reality of the What he learned from these investigations exciteds him. The field wasn’tr a perfect match, (it never is) but he could get roughl y 80 percent of what was importantto him, and he thoughgt he could live with the The question then became not whether he was goinb to do this, but when and how. A hard look at his financexs during the first stage of our work convinced him he could live on abouf a third of what he wascurrently making.
He had considerables savings, and he was willingg to use some of that to makethe shift. But not all of it. He wanteed to save some as a cushionn in case therisk didn’t pan out. The plan we evolvefd was that he’d give himself five years during which he would devote most of his time tomusic photography—bothu to learn the skills and develop a business. But duringv that time, he would also work part time to pay for the majoritty of his living andphotography expenses. Eventually he hoped to support himself thougy his work as a butthat wasn’t going to happen anytime He needed a high paying part- time job to fund the even if he lived very frugally.
After consideringt the options, we decided the best solution wouldd be to try to get a job with his currenttaccounting firm, supervising the part-time stafd they always hired to get through the heavy demandsa of the tax season. The firm’s management committee was distresseds when they learned of his intention to But they also saw the advantage of having him take on the supervisiomof part-time tax season They agreed to pay him more than he had but stipulated he had to keep up with changesw in the tax code during the year on his own time. The deal Jeffrey made allowed him to devotse nearly all of his energy to music photography from Maythrough December.
That was enough time to turn his dreak intoa reality. For the first two he concentrated on improving his skills anddeveloping contacts. That eventuallyy led to paying jobs, a growing reputation and expanded He methis five-year timetable to support himsel entirely as a music photographer, and his incom e has grown handsomely since then. The key elements of Jeffrey’s succeses were his ability to focux clearly ona goal, to develo and stick to a realistic long-range plan, and to live frugallu during his start-up years.
Lacking a trust this is what it takes to bootstrapl yourself into an independentcreative career, whethef it be photography, painting, sculpture, writing or anothed similar endeavor.
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