What is your backup plan?

Well you spend all that time in school chasing your dream and finally you are graduated. Prepared to take on the world and follow your passion. Maybe your passion doesn’t grow in this area. So what do you do?

By this time in life, you are on your own. You’ve got the knowledge that is the cutting edge to your intended profession. You are at the top of your game, but there is rent to pay and food to buy and your friends might want to go out and celebrate but you don’t have any money.

We’ve all heard stories of actors waiting tables hoping for an audition or singers washing dishes until discovered. So many times that “American Idol” moment doesn’t happen off the bat. 

So what is your backup plan? Are you prepared to put your passion aside to live? What if you are not immediately accepted in your given field? Are you ready to dummy down your desires to accommodate the reality of the job market?

Think of it this way. A painter or dancer or performance artist may have to spend hours learning a different profession just to survive, but then again the second job might become even more rewarding. People and places that were not anticipated might, just might, prove to be a new adventure.

None of us are guaranteed a career in our given talent field. Sometimes we must adjust to the current times. A singer may become a dancer or a classical guitar player may join a heavy metal band. Just like a painter might switch mediums from watercolors to oils, even the most determined may have to adjust. 

They don’t teach this in school. You graduate with your heads in the clouds that you will be immediately sought after due to your qualifications and talents. 

Guess what? There are a gazillion more just like you trying to break into the market. So good luck and grow up. Things might not work out how you had planned it. 

Then again you might become the next Picasso or Beethoven or Tom Wolfe? Good luck.