I’ve been trying to make it as a musician for a little over 2 years. The following is an attempt to tell you what I’ve learned since graduating while its still fresh in my head.

1. Quit using your credit card.

Poker is not going to pay rent, its not going to pay the bills. I don’t care how many books you’ve read or how many episodes of High Stakes Poker you’ve memorized. Quit using your credit cards to fun your account. While I was in school, I used my credit cards to buy books, beer, gas, car repairs, buff up my bankroll on FTP, and other unnecessary college clichés like pizza and movies. If you want to spend money while you’re in school, get a job or get a sugar daddy. Don’t screw up your first 3 or 4 years of adult hood by amassing so much debt that you have to get a 9-5 to pay it off. Be careful, borrow money from mom and dad if you have to. Only use the credit card when it is absolutely necessary, and pay it off in full each month if you can. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Single? You can live on so much less than you think.

While you’re getting established as a player in your city of choice, you’re probably going to need a job, but this doesn’t have to be exactly what you’re thinking. The world is changing, the economy sucks, people no longer work one job 40 hours a week for 40 years and then retire happy. Thats just not the way things are now. More and more people are doing work in a different way. People are trending towards working multiple jobs with fewer hours that collectively add up to part or full-time work. This allows for more flexibly and protection against getting fired and being left high and dry. You see, if the salon you’re cleaning has to close, you’re still teaching private trumpet lessons, editing video, and playing gigs, which gives you the time and flexibility needed to find another outlet for income if you need it. I want to warn against getting a 9-5 because I have found that the best musicians (at least in my field/city) like to rehearse during the day so they can gig and/or see their girlfriends at night. Having the ability to choose when to work has its advantages.

Your costs moving out on your own will include rent, car and health insurance, gas, food, and entertainment — among others — If you do it right, you can live on $800 or $900 income per month. Now, this kind of money isn’t going to leave you much wiggle room, and you’re certainly not going to be able to build up much savings, but it will get you by long enough to get established as a writer/player in your community. Take advantage of being single and live for cheap so you don’t have to bring in much money to make it.

The same principals of inexpensive living can be applied to married couples, and may in some cases even be easier if the spouse is not a musician and making tons of money somewhere. Other times it can be harder. I’ll break down being a married musician in some other post.

3. Be Assertive.

Go see as many shows as you can. Its not going to happen unless you go out and see the music thats going on in your area and meet new musicians. Stay till the end of the show, even if thats at 2am and you have to get up early. Good things happen when you stay late. You talk to the musicians, you talk to the servers or managers, even sometimes owners. Introduce yourself, buy them a drink, ask for a lesson, whatever it takes. But try not to be too pushy or annoying. There is a fine line between being assertive and being annoying. The more shows you go to, the more people will start to recognize you, and you’ll start to notice how many other musicians are there checking  out the same music you’re in to. This is also a nice indication of musicians you might like to play with in the future. Also, its going to make you a better musician, listening to all this live music.

almost forgot

4. Practice your ass off.

I’ll have more on practicing, putting bands together, contracting, finding gigs, marketing and other important topics in the future. Stay tuned.