St.Louis Business Journal
BOOTSTRAP YOUR WAY INTO A CREATIVE CAREER

By Anna Navarro

May 2009  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.



Jeffrey was a highly paid accountant by day and an avid music photographer in his non-work hours. He longed to devote himself entirely to music photography. But the practical side of him kept saying he was lucky to have a lucrative and secure career as an accountant.

The country was in a deep recession, with unemployment the highest it had been since the Great Depression. It was the early 80’s, and he kept telling himself that even if he decided to take the risk of launching an independent creative career at some point, this was not the time to attempt it.

But the longing wouldn’t go away, and his frustration with his current work kept escalating. He finally decided he needed some help dealing with the issue. That’s when he came to see me.

Today he is a very sought after music photographer. His work appears on album covers, websites, and the promotional materials of top artists, as well as many of the leading music publications in the country. This is the story of how he pulled that off.

I advised him as a first step to study himself and what he needed in a work situation. I also suggested he study what a music photographer’s life was like day to day, to determine if the fantasy he’d been harboring for years matched the reality of the career.

What he learned from these investigations excited him. The field wasn’t a perfect match, (it never is) but he could get roughly 80% of what was important to him, and he thought he could live with the downsides.

The question then became not whether, he was going to do this, but when and how.

A hard look at his finances during the first stage of our work convinced him he could live on about a third of what he was currently making. He had considerable savings, and he was willing to use some of that to make the shift. But not all of it. He wanted to retain some of them as a cushion in case the risk didn’t pan out.

The plan we evolved was that he’d give himself five years during which he would devote most of his time to music photography -- both to learn the skills and develop a business. But during that time, he would also work part time to pay for the majority of his living and photography expenses.

Eventually he hoped to support himself through his work as a photographer, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. He needed a high paying part- time job to fund the switch, even if he lived very frugally.

After considering the options, we decided the best solution would be to try to get a job with his current accounting firm, supervising the part-time staff they always hired to get through the heavy demands of the tax season.

The firm’s management committee was distressed when they learned of his intention to leave. But they also saw the advantage of having him take on the supervision of part-time tax season employees.

They agreed to pay him more than he had anticipated, but stipulated he had to keep up with changes in the tax code during the year on his own time.

The deal Jeffrey made allowed him to devote nearly all of his energy to music photography from May through December. That was enough time to turn his dream into a reality.

For the first two years, he concentrated on improving his skills and developing contacts. That eventually led to paying jobs, a growing reputation and expanded connections. He met his five-year timetable to support himself entirely as a music photographer, and his income has grown handsomely since then.

The key elements of Jeffrey’s success were his ability to focus clearly on a goal, to develop and stick to a realistic long- range plan, and to live frugally during his start-up years. Lacking a trust fund, this is what it takes to bootstrap yourself into an independent creative career, whether it be photography, painting, music, sculpture, writing or another similar endeavor.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.