The Two Things Your Art Needs from You
Your art needs two critical resources from you. One is time. The other is money. This month’s I'm writing about funding your art with money.
Which means we have to discuss the dreaded day job. But day jobs for artists have to be chosen carefully.
You may have a voice in your head, a part of you that resists this idea. It might be saying that Real Artists Don’t Need Day Jobs (your art is supposed to support you completely, otherwise you’re a coward or a hack), or There Are No Decent Day Jobs (you’ll lose your muse if you have to work for The Man. You’ll be sucked dry, chewed up, spit out, a dry husk of a person…).
Your voice might not be that dramatic. But if you’ve worked at a soul-sucking day job already, you may be hearing a part of yourself that doesn’t want to repeat that experience under any circumstances.
You aren’t alone. There are vigorous and often pained discussions on Instagram under #dayjob, #dayjobproblems, #dayjobsucks, #dayjobblues, but also #dayjobinformsmystudiowork and others.
This month I’m going to explore what makes a good day job if you want to work for someone else, and how to make a day job for yourself if you don’t.
I have some theories about how to create a day job for yourself. I am looking to work with five creatives in an inexpensive beta program ( six sessions of individual coaching over a 3-week period), to test them. Go here to see the details.
In the meantime, if you want to find a day job working for someone else, here are two tips
First, stay away from jobs that traditionally require long hours. For instance, many tech jobs will work you to the point that you have nothing left over. That was true for me.
Second, try not to get a job that is sort of like doing your art, but is a pale shadow. Some painters and other 2D artists can handle graphic design, for instance. But for others, graphic design is nothing more than art on demand, with a side order of no choice. The client, likely someone with no design skills, is going to be telling you what to do. If you can handle that, great. If not, stay away.
Other jobs that might suck your blood are technical, copy, website or content creation if you are a writer (I tried this and couldn’t switch my writing voice to the voice the clients wanted to see); factory work for inventors, etc. You’ll know. If the thought of the job makes you sick to your stomach, that’s your sign.
Ideal day jobs for artists
The perfect day job is twenty to thirty hours a week, stimulates a different part of your brain than the one you use to create, pays all your bills, includes health insurance and leaves your mind free and your body relaxed enough to do your real work.
In the US, Trader Joe’s and Costco are staffed by lots of artists. I considered working at Starbucks at one point, but I was worried I would drink so much coffee I’d never sleep again, plus I wasn’t sure I could memorize the 200+ varieties of drinks that people think up to order. If you can moderate your caffeine intake, maybe barista would work for you. The ‘gig’ economy (TaskRabbit, Uber, Lyft, Angie’s List, etc.) might offer sufficient work to keep you in toilet paper and rent.
I know this doesn’t sound romantic. But if you just get a halfway decent job that pays the bills so you don’t have to worry about money, your art will thank you. It’s challenging enough to manifest your creativity in the world without adding money stress to your life.
If you’d like to be a guinea pig in my “Design Your Day Job” program, click here to read more about it if you're on desktop or here for mobile. Alternatively, schedule a 15-minute appointment to talk and see if it is a fit.