Each spring around graduation time, I am often cornered by anxious parents with highly creative kids. Their innovative offspring are graduating from high school, college, or art school, and simply don’t have a clue about jobs, career prospects, who to talk to, or what to do next.
Generally, the inventive young folks seem pretty relaxed about their future. But appearances are deceptive. The cool hauteur is usually a mask for considerable youthful insecurity. They need and want specific guidance — not a lot of pious platitudes.
Their worldly parents, however, are often on the verge of a major mental meltdown. These worries are grounded in reality, but it is an old and increasingly irrelevant reality. The economy is simply becoming a lot more hospitable to highly skilled creative people.
The following 11 insights are the product of much personal experience — some painful, some exhilarating. But, most of all, they come from the careful observation of literally hundreds of successful and ethical creative people in many domains of creative endeavor.
My purpose in compiling the following items is to help young people employ their talents for the benefit of both society and themselves. Hopefully, the following will be of some practical help in navigating the ever mercurial creative marketplace.
The list is long and involved, and requires real effort on the reader’s part. But it might very well spell the difference between success and failure in establishing a creative career.
Also, my voice shifts casually between talking to the parent and the young adult. I did this on purpose — the points are meant to be read and discussed together!
1. There are no "Creative Commandments." But there are mindsets, behaviors, skills, and role models that can enhance your chances of earning a reasonable living and finding a place for yourself in the brutally competitive creative economy. There are links to a list of superb books that you probably have not read but should at least peruse at the end of this list.
2. If you choose to "follow your bliss", do it in a commonsensical fashion! Most
of the blissed - out creative types that I have come across are broke, bewildered, and many times married and divorced. Bliss is a great way to choose a hobby, but not to strategize a career. The nub of the matter is serving other people for money — not finding personal nirvana.
3. Extraverts/optimists tend to thrive in American society; introverts/pessimists tend to have a fairly miserable time. But even if you are a born wallflower or have a pronounced dark side, you must learn to schmooze; i.e. make charming small talk. Basically, it is just a matter of practice and attending an Improv
workshop or two. If you take a sincere interest in other people’s stories and become a good listener, you can function socially. The other viable alternative is to get an agent or socially adept mate if the opportunity presents itself.
4. Drugs and alcohol are NO-NO’s. Although I was no fan of Nancy Reagan, she had a point with her "just say no" slogan. Dopers and drunks can be moderately amusing in small doses but they are for the most part pathetic and incorrigible. Even if they somehow manage to function on a high level professionally, the
people around them usually suffer a lot. Learn to manage stress, depression, and anxiety in a more healthful manner. The Jackson Pollack-Ernest Hemingway-Edgar Allan Poe- Sylvia Plath-Britney Spears-Judy Garland lifestyle can be terribly painful and lonely.
5. Say YES to broccoli and a brisk walk. It is often hard for time pressured young creative arts and design students to make time to eat sensibly and exercise. The youthful body can function at a high level of sexuality, energy, and mental acuity with a donut, cup of coffee, and a few tic tac’s; but only for a few years. After the big 3-0, muscle tone, immunity, and looks go to hell fast without a balanced diet and regular exercise. So start a healthy regime in your early 20s.
6."The MFA is the new MBA" slogan is the new BS. I am shocked that a guy as genuinely smart and decent as Dan Pink http://www.danpink.com/ would coin such a misguided thought. (It is the new "follow your bliss" for the new millennium). The MFA permits you to stand in line for a largely non-existent tenure track teaching job and wait tables at trendy restaurants. There are circumstances that warrant the investment of time and effort in a graduate fine arts education, but proceed with great caution. Caveat Emptor i.e. Buyer Beware!
7. Pay yourself first. Uncle Sam has finally done something that actually helps creative people of all ages and incomes. It is the IRA (Individual Retirement Account and various other tax-deferred saving schemes). It will literally keep you out of poverty in your later years. Check out the three books on personal finance on my suggested reading list or contact any large mutual fund company. Basically, the program is a snap — just take the first dime of every dollar you earn and save it. If you start in your 20s, you will develop a humongous nest egg by the time you are in your 60s!
8. Own the roof over your head. I personally know at least six artists with real estate holdings of well over a $1,000,000.00 with next to no mortgages in Philly, Maine, and New York City. They do not have MBAs or any particular gift for financial speculation. They simply bought homes and studios in rundown but interesting cities in the early 1970s and made them beautiful with their sweat equity. None of us mere mortals know the future of the housing market, but you will always need a place to live and work. If you can swing it, buy and rehab a house or loft in an emerging neighborhood in a creative city that smart
people you would favor. They key point is to hold it for decades without trying to "flip it" for a fast buck. Time is on your side!
9. Big Success happens in Big Cites; but saner and more humane creative lives are cultivated in smaller metro regions. If you want to hit it big in almost any creative endeavor, you must move to New York City or Los Angeles and join the Darwinian fight of the fittest and luckiest. It is just how the creative marketplace is structured; there is no getting around it. But if you are into friends, family, community, and letting your creative gifts unfold in a more natural way, a smaller and more laid-back metro area fits the bill. These regional hotspots have a lot going for them and I suspect will really blossom creatively over the next 20 years…and that includes the Tampa Bay.
10. "Marry" happily or not at all (if you are gay, read "civil union" for "marriage."). If you want to be truly productive and fulfilled, find and unite with your soul mate. This is easier said than done, though two can live cheaper and more efficiently together than as two one-person households. Also, the emotional and financial wreckage associated with divorce severely depletes the creative life for those of us who are not world-class dramatists. If one is not really the marrying kind — too independent and professionally focused — then be the "fascinating" aunt, uncle, or godparent. There are lots of ways to creatively express and receive love under the sun. The crucial thing is to truly connect with loved ones and make the ties that bind. That is what any life is ultimately about; including the creative one.
11. I put the most important "commandment" last. It is — GET A MENTOR. This indispensable and influential person will professionally groom you and open doors. Every creative field has its hidden signals, rules, and power-brokers. Without a trusted guide, a young creative person is essentially lost and can only move forward by trial and error (mostly the latter). Virtually all long-term successful creative careers have a "defining moment" that happens sometime between the ages of 20 and 27. Do yourself a favor and read the mentor section in The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with
Less by Richard Koch.
And good luck!
Three most important books on the emerging creative economy:
The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas by John Howkins
A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by
Daniel Pink
The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure,
Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida
Three classic books on career strategies:
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less by
Richard Koch
Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design
by Laurence Boldt
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2007: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and
Career-Changers by Richard Bolles
My three favorite books on personal finance and investing:
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio by
William Berstein
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful
Investing, Ninth Edition
by Burton Malkiel
The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America’s Economic
Future by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns
My favorite book on coping with stress:
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
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