Balancing Work and Music as a Beginner
Balancing your life as a musician and earning a living can be tought without these simple tips.

Every upcoming indie artist would love to build a thriving music career. Every artist has their definition of the word "thriving", but that's the ultimate goal. The good news is it's an entirely achievable goal, super realistic, and not the wildest dream in the world. You can build a thriving music career for yourself over time. The bad news is that it'll probably take a very long time.

It takes years to build a music career that will allow you to ditch everything else and become a full-time musician. Before that happens, you have to find something else to do alongside your music. As an indie artist, there's no record label footing your bills, so like every regular person in the world, you'll have to get a job. This is where the trouble starts.

A job is a significant commitment that requires much of your time, but so does your music. So which master will you serve? Ignoring work will get you fired and eventually leave you hungry, but ignoring your music will keep you at that "temporary" job for way longer than you thought possible. The key is to find the right balance between work and music.

So how can you balance work, life, and music as an upcoming artist? In this article, I'll try to give you some tips to use.

Tips to Keep You Afloat

Be honest

First and foremost, be upfront about your music career, especially with your boss. Your working place must know about it because they know to cut you some slack if you happen to miss a deadline because of your music. Even if your boss isn't supportive of your career, at least they know what's going on. Your coworkers also need to understand what's going on, and I'll tell you why.

If you ever get in trouble, your coworkers can cover for you. It's much easier to do that when they know what's going on. Also, if you're really good, you have your first set of fans right there at work. If you can win them over, it's much easier to balance work and your music. Trying to live two separate lives is much harder.

Forget about balance

I know this must sound like a ridiculous contradiction. The whole point of this article is to help you balance your work and music, so why am I telling you to forget about it? Just stay with me for a bit. The concept of balance suggests that you can share yourself equally between your job and your music. That simply won't happen.

You must understand and accept that your job will take most of your time. If you want a job that can afford you a decent living, the chances are it'll take much of your time. So your music career won't grow as fast as you would want, but that's a sacrifice you must be willing to make.

Make sure you're in love

Once you've accepted that music will take a back seat, you'll have an inner debate. It's a debate every indie artist must have if they will ever be successful. Is this music worth it or should you just focus on the job? That's the dilemma. At this moment, only pure and undiluted love for music will keep you going.

Coming home tired from work to start another job is less than ideal. If it's something you love, however, it won't even feel like a job. Music must become leisure to you, a way to recharge after a tiring day or week at work. If it becomes fun, you'll be able to put much more energy into it and get your creative juices flowing easier.

Plan rigorously

Being in love with your music is good, but without good planning all that love will go down the drain. To keep up at work and grow in music, you must plan your time down to the hour. Good time management is the only way to stay effective in both worlds. Block out your work hours and other occupied times so you know exactly how much time you can afford to live music.

Whether it's two hours a week, it's something to work with. Planning helps you know what you have and how best to use it.

Compartmentalize

Picture this. You're at work staring at a computer screen, but you're not there. You've been trying to write a song but you keep getting stuck at a particular line, so you're trying to figure it out. You're at work physically, but your mind is on your music. That's a dangerous path you don't want to go down.

Learn to compartmentalize. Know when you're at work and give your all to work. As soon as you leave the office, leave anything that concerns work behind. It's the best way to stay effective in both worlds. When you're in the studio, focus. When you're at work, focus.

Get help

You've heard this before, but I'll say it again. You can't do it alone. You need the right relationships to help you grow. Having a job will force you to get help from others. Whether it's a production or lyrics to your next song, if there's someone who can lighten the load, don't waste the opportunity. It'll help keep you afloat when things start to get rough.

Find the right job

Remember I said you should be honest with your boss and coworkers about your music? A good working environment won't stifle your musical growth. If your job is blocking your progress in music, it's time to start looking for another job. Find the right job to help your music career grow.

For example, a job working in a recording studio is certainly much better for your music career than a job as a waiter. A job teaching musical instruments is better than one on an offshore rig as a technician. I'm sure you catch my drift.

Final Thoughts

Working a job while chasing a career in music is tough but necessary. When something is necessary, it doesn't matter how tough it is anymore. You must find a way to get through it successfully because failure is not an option.

These tips will help make it a bit easier to navigate but make no mistake. It's a tough life to live, and as soon as your music can pay the bills, you'll be the happiest person in the world. Before that happens, hang in there.