How did you know you could go full time?

[martin_ronda]

Well, I don't even know... I think I started full time, when I was still in highschool, performing was my only job... then I tried a bit of regular work and then I got so sick from that, that I started performing again...

This summer it will be a test for me, I'm quite insecure about many things, exept the fact that I'm not going to work in other thing unless I really need it.

The regular life is always there if you need to go back, but I don't think I will ever return...

It's a bit scaring to depend only of the street, but once you start you will feel better... or worse, you never know...

good luck,


Martin

[Evan Young]

arguing for a job

I have a friend who was a full time magician for a long time. He worked lots of resteraunts and any job he could get and was paying the bills ok, but he wasn't doing the work he wanted, which was corporate stage gigs and college gigs. At some point he decided to get a real job to pay the bills and never take a gig he didn't want to do. It freed him up to be more agressive at marketing to the gigs he really wanted and let him focus more on the show he really wanted to do. He still has the other job, but he got them to let him do it three days a week, mostly from home, and he's only doing the shows he want to and makes more money performing colleges and corporate than he did before trying to do everything and not knowing that next months rent is covered. <- one hell of a run on sentance
I have to say that since I've had more booked gigs on the calendar months ahead of time, my street shows have been way better because I'm more relaxed and just looking to have a good time with the audience.

So, there is something to be said for keeping another job; but I think you need to make it clear to yourself and everyone else that the performing is your priority.

[Rachel Peters]

Agreed.

I would also like to emphasize that whatever needs to be done (and even the best of them need to just make ends meet sometimes), it's not something that should be looked on as a failure. I struggle with that all the time - feeling like I'm being looked down upon by some because I may be working a 9-5, or feeling the need to justify it some how so I don't feel like a hack. All the arts seem to have that shame attached to them.
I find either choice respectable.

Whatever does the job for what the individual's needs are, at that moment.

[vconaway]

I was one of those that Isabella encouraged to quit their day job, and I'm glad she did. But, for me, the big revelation came courtesy of September 11.

I was performing part time when it happened, hoping to quit my day job but unsure. Then the attack came out of the blue, completely surprising me, and 3000 people lost their lives. Countless more lost their jobs, as NYC struggled to recover. Everything in that part of the country was in upheaval, and almost everyone affected had a "safe" career.

It was then that I realized that there is no such thing as safety, and that security is an illusion. If I'm going to be insecure I might as well be forthright about it and do the things I love, so the following March I went full time and never looked back. Then, as if to further prove things, I married a chemist and over the course of our marriage my income was more reliable than hers.

[Mama Lou]

I worked in the office world for a while and once I saved up some cushion money & quit the job I still took what I had learned about how companies are run - and apply that to me.
Look at all the departments/branches any large company has:

CEO
Financial Office
Marketing
Sales
Human Resources
Comunications
IT
Legal Dept
Process Improvement

It starts to paint a picture of all the hats we wear in order to successfully put money into the shareholder's pocket - ie. into MY Pocket.
Each company has full time staff for each of these departments. So, rationally, you have plenty of work to do every day. As CEO keep your long term goals in focus. If you haven't done something for your Legal Deparment lately - maybe its time to re-look at your Contract & Rider? Marketing wants to create buzz about you to potential clients & HR says you need a vacation, a raise, and a trip to the dentist.

Its not totally romantic to be a professional entertainer. Well, ok, somtimes it is, but I do need a trip to the dentist.

[harmonicakev]

my 2 cents

Just want to chime in; when I took a full time position at a local human services vendor in 1995, my performing time went down, but my money from performing went up slightly...I mostly only performed during the better, i.e. weekend times...also, no more sweating the rent, so I wasn't burning myself out so much...
I was able to get ahead a little, do some advertising, buy a house, and then I switched to part time, which I still do, and on weekends when I don't have a gig or a jam, I can pick up an extra shift if i want (24/7 job).

re: Mama Lou's post - I read somewhere of a study that found that people who have challenging and/or multitasking type jobs actually improve their brain function as they age...sorry don't know where I read it, but it makes sense.

Ciao - Kev