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The Client Letter
August 14, 2013
The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 61 Degrees
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By pretty much all measures, I consider myself to be an extremely well paid artist.
Certainly far better paid than I originally thought possible when getting out of music school almost 15 years ago (15 years, ouch!).
I have to admit, the job I won my last year in college was pretty sweet. I beat out people way older than I was — way more credentialed than I’d ever be. I got a full time job as a church musician and moved with my wife to Nashville TN.
And immediately, my income shot up from about $10,000 per year to $31,500.
At that time, I thought that was awesome. And I was very grateful for the opportunity. These days, however, raising a family of 8 (soon 9) on a salary like that would be quite a challenge.
I WOULD be the starving artist.
But that wasn’t on my radar back then. Back then, I got to play an instrument worth millions of dollars and spread my art (music) to thousands of people.
To see a grown man breakdown in tears because of the music I played is something that really affects you. I didn’t really get it at the time, but now, looking back, I get what that meant to him.
Talk about a humbling experience.
Art offers value to the world in a way that can often NOT be put into words. Instead, you get smiles, or tears, or changed lives, or the look of resolve to keep going just one more day.
It’s a different type of currency than money, but these things are no less valuable. Far more valuable than money in fact. The challenge for the artist is, you can’t use these valuable assets to buy food.
Now 15 years ago, I was a young, naive and angry kid. Too young and naive to truly appreciate what a privilege it is to be an artist.
And I was too blind (at the time) to figure out how to put my art in a form that could sustain me into the future.
Finding the Intersection of Art Street and Commerce Avenue
There is a place where these two roads meet. The road of the artist and the road of commerce. I know this intersection exists because I’ve found it for myself.
This intersection is a place where your art can become so valuable in someone else’s journey that they freely offer up resources in exchange for that value.
You have to be creative to find it.
And there’s currently not a lot of help out there to encourage that creative ability we all are born with. As Sir Ken Robinson of TED Talk fame says, “We are educating people out of their creative capacities.”
In my own life, it feels like it took forever for me to find this intersection.
It took a lot of trial and error.
Most importantly, it took being wrong… a lot.
Another quote from Robinson: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
For a very long time, I wasn’t willing to be wrong. I was trained not to be wrong. You don’t get straight A’s by being willing to be wrong. Actually, I got straight A’s because I was scared to DEATH of being wrong.
You see where the problem is?
What I Discovered About Becoming a Well Paid Artist
The stereotypical “artist” isn’t about to change his or her art for the sake of anyone.
That’s not the point right? The artist creates without regard for the opinions, thoughts or wants of “the market.”
Art is about self-expression. To do anything else would be “selling out,” right?
But what if, even just for a moment, you consider the idea that transforming your “art” into something that can be immediately recognized as valuable and useful by others is a possible course of action?
To me, this path requires humility and a willingness to serve others first.
While it might sound altruistic, it’s actually quite practical. Because by being willing to make art that satisfies you and serves others at the same time, you end up getting far more back in return than ever!
You art could actually be art… or a business… or a way of helping people… or a way of speaking.
It could be anything.
It’s not just what you do, it’s also part of who you are.
I count myself as extremely fortunate to have discovered my intersection between art and commerce.
To me, art is about taking a piece of who I am and offering it, with an intention to serve, to others all across the world.
When I do that in a way that satisfies ME, I am fulfilled.
When I figure out how to offer my art in a way that satisfies me AND provides real value to others, I get the satisfaction… and I also get resources.
The thing is, I have no idea if finding this intersection is worth the effort for you. Only you have the answer to that question.
What I can tell you is that if you are interested in making the journey, you may or may not be in for a long one.
But let’s be clear:
We are not here to be a cog in someone else’s wheel.
We are here to make our own wheels.
But how do you do that and still manage to eat?
Discovering that answer for yourself is what makes life worth living.