I know many of us begin this journey into the Music Business with a full-time Just Over Broke better known as a J-O-B and you pursue your dream part-time as a result... I commend you for starting NOW in spite of...but who's to blame for that?
As I sit and write this post I'm at one of those Just Over Broke situations and although I feel I'm worth more than what I'm being paid (my boss TOLD me I was one of the lowest paid people in my position) and that my bonus was a pure and total SHOCKER (I worked my BUTT OFF this year for this company and don't have ANYTHING to show for it - how's that for a Happy Holidays), and no one seems to appreciate the extra effort you put forth each year you sit and give to these people...Look at it this way...
As an employee of anybody else's company, you work on THEIR dreams and aspirations, devoting your precious and invaluable 8+ hours (don't forget to factor in traffic and commuting time, to and from home) to fulfilling THEIR goals and adding to THEIR bottomline...they provide you with a meager salary as they live rich and fulfilled because you are doing everything they need for THEM to live the life of luxury and bliss, right?
But wait....who is holding you back from LEAVING THIS PLACE and pursuing our OWN goals and dreams...but you say, "I need the money to survive and pay the bills"...well, is it that you are in a comfort zone? What's comfortable about no guarantees? What's comfortable about not knowing if you will have a JOB tomorrow if they so decide to let you go for no reason? What's comfortable about risking your life everyday in traffic? What's comfortable about you doing your best and they still give you the same rate of pay although you've gone over and above THEIR expectations?
I don't think it's about really being comfortable as it is that it's just EASY! It's an easy way to exchange your talents for money, many times in ways that you feel demean you and don't adequately use the best skills you have, wasting your valuable and precious time for a set price. Yep, Folks, Its' THE No-Haggle way for you to buy your LIFE, in essence, that's what you do when you get a job. You are buying your life based on what you are paid, so in other words, you are saying your life is only worth $XX,XXX, that your life's enjoyment can only be restricted to $XXX and you can only do it when you have the TIME OFF they allow you to have (for many of us it's about 10 days out of 365, now how's that for living it up? (Of course we're not considering the 2 days you usually get in a standard week, but you know what we're trying to get at, because some of us are working 2 JOBs, so you don't even get that) Think about that!
Again, it's the value you assign to the money, what can that money do for YOUR life? It's doing wonders for theirs and may only account for, at the most about 2% of what you are making for them in profits or saving them in expenses or liabilities. Sure, your salary can make it a little better where you are not struggling to have the basic necessities in life, but isn't your time worth more than that? Isn't it more valuable than that? Okay, something is better than nothing, but would you just not do anything, when you have this passion to do your music? Doesn't your life have the potential to be more than it is right now? What more would you like for it to be? I'm sure MORE than what the JOB is paying you and what they are utilizing your skills for, correct?
It's almost like a game of musical chairs; many of us march around setting our sights on getting that ONE seat that will declare us the winner...but what happens when you don't win or someone else pushes you out of the chair you were going for? It's not fair, you may feel, but WHAT is fair in this life? TIME is fair, we all have the same 24 hours as any one else does, we've chosen for someone else to dictate those 24 hours for us, when we have a JOB. During this musical chairs game, many of us give up and decide to just wait until the next round and try to fight over that next one seat again in attempts to be declared the winner.
It's almost the same with having a goal to just get ENOUGH, looking for the easy way, trying to be the winner of the one seat that's going to make you who you are destined to be...but do you have to be in THAT specific seat to be a winner? Sure, it's good that you want to play over and over again, you know that you can do it and you go full steam ahead to keep trying...but trying is NOT DOING! There is a very distinct difference, ALMOST NEVER gets rewarded, that's second place, and you want to be second to none...the only way you become second to none is by creating it yourself, there is no room for competition in something you've created, how can someone compete with an original? No one can sit in the seat you've created for yourself, it has your name on it, your DNA, your special uniqueness that can only be yours and yours alone. You can always decide not to play that game..the J-O-B game and use that time for adding meaningful value to your life.
Well, some of you will say, "but Mill, it's okay to do that temporarily until you have the means to do it full-time, right?" I say, yes, but how long is temporary? It has no time constraints, it has no real measurement, it has no goal potential because temporary can be several minutes, hours, days, months and/or years. I know people that have been on temporary work assignments for 3 years...why in the world are they still considered to be a temp? It's all in how you are defining what your time means and how it is valued. People will take advantage of you as long as you ALLOW them. They are getting what they need and that's all that matters to them. Don't let people take advantage of you, again you ALLOW them, it's outright blatant that you ALLOW them to do that to you. You show up, you've allowed them to do it to you over and over again. Why subject yourself to that? Why allow someone to get the best of you, your talents and your time? Why let them dictate how much you are worth? Don't you feel your time is more valuable than that? WHY, WHY, WHY?
If MUSIC (My Unique Sound In Creation) is what you want to do, don't make excuses, make it happen.
I've finally figured out that it's my fault that I allow these people to do this to me...I'm doing something NOW (No Other Way) to put a value on my TIME - To Initiate My Experience (you can tell I LOVE acronyms, right :-) and you should too. Don't let it be just because it's a new year coming...let it be because you've decided you don't want to play Musical Chairs for the rest of your life and that the comfort zone is not the best place to be when the war between what you have and what you deserve begins!
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