6 Questions to Ask Yourself When Deciding Whether to Pursue an Orchestra Job or Become a Musician Entrepreneur

When I had just graduated from Conservatory, I had no idea what career path was going to make me happy, or how I wanted to make money as a musician.

However, I did know that there was no worse way to live my life than to wake up on any given day and deeply dread whatever I had to do. Unfortunately, according to polls, this is the reality of 80% of individuals.

As you go on your journey to discover your dream career, the biggest question young musicians have is: "Should I pursue a traditional route or create my own path?"

Many influencers and life coaches will tell you a myriad of strategies to find work you are "passionate" about...

What I've learned from personal experience and from being a life coach is that none of that matters until you've found work where the day-to-day "grind" is something you love.

When most people consider possible careers, they only think about the end result and the benefits one gets by being in that career. IE if I land an orchestra job, I'll be making $60K - $120K per year, I'll have financial stability, and can start a family! Or, if I'm a successful entrepreneur, I'll get famous, I'll be able to have social impact, and I'll be able to work for myself!

What most people fail to realize is that none of the end success matters and the job will not be sustainable unless the daily process of getting to that end result is enjoyable and fulfilling for you!

Below are questions to gain clarity on "daily work" you will genuinely enjoy:

What does your ideal day-to-day look like?
What do you enjoy refining? It’s the areas you can’t help yourself from editing and optimizing where you have a long-term advantage.
What are you doing when you find you are in a state of flow or feel truly alive?
What can you spend your time doing that when you are doing it, you lose track of time and yourself?
What is something that you cannot stop talking about? Something that you have to read, write, dream about all the time?
When you have free time or are on vacation without any obligations, how do you spend your time? What books do you read, what kind of movies do you watch? what podcasts do you listen to?

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