Quote:

<...>I'm obviously familiar with your web site for BIAB files, but what's your web site for your duo?



http://www.s-cats.com

I get pretty sick of people saying, "You can't make a living being a musician." I know too many people who are.

I suppose if you read the forum for CPA's you will read, "You can't make a living being an accountant anymore."

I suppose if you read the newspaper writer's forum you will read, "You can't make a living being a reporter anymore."

And so on......

And I suppose that is true for most professions. But on the other hand, there are people who are still making a living at those professions as they change with the times. And yes, there are people who drop out of the profession, even talented ones. Just as there are in any profession.

And jazzmammal, sure anyone can learn to be the hostess/waitress at a restaurant, but that's not all that's involved in running a small business like a Ma and Pa restaurant. Somebody has to be a talented cook, someone has to know where to get the best ingredients at the best price, someone has to know how to keep the books, someone has to know the market trends, someone has to know what the competition is doing, someone has to know how to maintain the equipment or who to call, someone has to know the health department code and how to comply with it, someone has to know where the most effective advertising is, someone has to know what insurance is required and what insurance is not, someone has to know how to minimize overhead, and so on.

A small business is a small business and what you see on the surface is not all there is.

Lawyers are pretty talented, and I have heard of a few quitting the profession because they couldn't get enough good paying work.

A friend of mine was a surgeon, but is now teaching high school because he could make more money as a teacher than a doctor. Too many doctors, too much overhead (malpractice insurance, office costs, staff, etc.).

A friend of mine was an engineer for a large photographic film and camera manufacturer. He loved engineering as much as I love playing music. Engineering was downsized, he took a job as a sales rep.

You can hear the same story in every small business or profession and many big ones as well. On the other hand, you do have the Pat Benetar and Gloria Estefan types that break out and become rich and famous. That's simply the breaks.

Most small businesses will fail in five years or less. If it was easy, the numbers would be better.

Most big corporations are downsizing and outsourcing.

Much of the problem is the economy. You simply cannot fight two wars on the country's "credit card" and have good economy. And you can't compound that debt by hiring mercenaries to do the fighting for you at a higher rate than our finest, and then say you are shrinking the size of the government by doing so.

The fact is that you still can make a living by being a musician, CPA, engineer, luthier, or whatever, but just about everything is more difficult than it used to be. And it will be until we quit our military adventures and get our Federal budget balanced again as it was in the latter 1990s.

Of course, as in any small business, being a musician means not living the "normal" life. It's no 9-5 gig with employer paid benefits. There is no paid sick leave (more often than not you work through it), no paid vacations, you pay self-employment tax, your bank, insurance, phone and everything else costs more, you work much more than 40 hours, but it doesn't really seem that much like work, it's just what you do. On the other hand, you make or fail by your own decisions, you are not taking orders from someone else, and you are basically living life on your own terms.

I wouldn't trade it for anything, but it's not for everyone.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
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