Your goal should be to stay at the big organization with the bi-monthly paycheck because while you are formulating your new endeavor you continue to have some income. Keep the day job as long as absolutely possible while you do as much as you can at night and on the weekends preparing to break away. When it becomes absolutely impossible to keep the stable job/income then it is time to think about the move.

Additionally, having a nice sized war chest of money is going to be necessary in providing living expenses and start up funding for the new venture. Generally, you’ll need to self fund in the beginning to have the best chance of success. If you don’t have sufficient funding to begin with, more than likely failure will happen (even sooner) even if you have a great idea that could ultimately succeed.

This is the standard game plan for anyone going out on their own and it has always been.

Seems like a great idea. There don’ t seem to be many programs that offer you the opportunity to get the training you need in an environment where you receive the rewards of that training direct by increasing the value of a business you have equity in….

- skills (addition: a wide range of skills)
- maturity (addition: sophistication)
- connections (addition: these can help later on when you want to do your own thing. Important that the big organization you’ve joined surrounds you with really smart people).

others, could include:
- work ethic
- industry knowledge
- practical learning
- organizational behavior

I feel that you are not looking into the substance of the message delivered on this site, and others like it. The surface message may seem to be “do what you want” or “do what you feel like”, but it does not skirt around the fact that hard work is required, value must be offered, and that this is not an easy path.

I apologize if I did not communicate clearly in my last comment about my artwork. I have done those things. I am already of artist caliber, not simply a hobbyist. I have created art for commissions and I have supported myself solely from sales of my artwork, for over a year’s time.
I can also point you to stories of MBA’s who are bag boys, or working as cooks at restaurants. There are success and sob stories in all fields.

I do thank you for your concern over my (and other readers’) futures. If worst comes to worse, I can fall back to previous jobs I have held, on to my business minor, or even go on to earn my MBA. However, as I head into my future, what I will say is “Watch me!”

By your argument that time is your most precious commodity; you should go for the high paying job instead of the job you enjoy and do what you what you enjoy as a hobby. But by that reasoning, you should forgo the hobby all together and get a second high paying job – maximize that conversion of time into money.

One of my best friends went to school to major in art. After college, he has used that education to work in advertising, for the WWE, and as a freelancer in the entertainment industry. He has had galleries and exhibits; now, he teaches it in a high school. So there are a lot of things that can be done with an art education.

Also, by your arguments, nobody should ever become a teacher. Teaching will NEVER be as lucrative as accounting (and accounting will never be as lucrative as investment banking). Yet people go into teaching. In fact, I have two friends who left their careers in industry, one was an industrial chemist, the other a programmer, to go back to school to become teachers. They gave up jobs that paid over $70,000/yr to pay for more education to get a job that will probably only pay $25,000/yr to start.

My pastor left his job as the V.P. of a bank, sold his house, and had to support his family of 7 on his wife’s income as a postal worker so he could go to seminary. As a preacher, he will never make half as much as he did at the bank.

I have a friend who used to be into the big money lifestyle. He works on Wall Street and happens to enjoy it. But until things went really bad for him, he was hypnotized by money, everything had to be expensive and flashy. Now he lives in a studio apartment and drives a Volvo. And he’s much happier.

One of the first things we learned in macro-economics (I needed to fill an elective) was that businesses exist to make money. Frankly, I call that bullsh*t. If it were true, the only kind of business in the world would be investment banks. Businesses exist to provide a service (producing a product is a type of service). Making money is only the secondary objective.

In short, money isn’t the only thing. It isn’t even the most important thing.

Everyone here, and in general will not dispute the fact that our time is the most valuable asset we have because you can’t get it back and at the end of your life, you’ve used it all up. Now, the key is how you value your time and what other people (or corporations) are willing to pay you for your time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with working for a corporation that pays you generously in exchange for your time. It is actually entirely irrelevant whether I’m truly energized or if the job itself makes my life better – entirely a non-issue. The point being, that the job I do is compensated with the paycheck and that paycheck provides the means for myself and my family not to just survive in this world, but have a very good, fulfilling, and enriching life. In fact, I’d say that my life is that much better as a result because I do my work, and then am able to spend all of my non-working time with my family. The job is just something we do because someone is willing to pay us for doing what they say in exchange for our time – at whatever price we mutually agree my time is worth. I think most people (especially the ones on this site) have really lost sight of that and seeing the continued statements of “just do what you feel like” or “I’m doing what I want” will generally end either in failure, or a lower standard of living. Long term, it generally does not make for a successful career financially. Again, the arts (musical, artistical, etc.) are wonderful hobbies. You could even do it as a side profession to earn some extra money or simply get the personal enjoyment from it. However, tossing aside the profession you’ve already been training for and paid to go to school for (both time and money) to pursue something that most likely will earn you less money and probably a lower standard of living doesn’t seem like a reasonable thing to do. I can point you to stories of people who did go to the best schools for the arts, came out with loans, couldn’t get/hold employment to pay their living expenses, and they ended out in bankruptcy. Mind you, these were not the people of the caliber who had music or art as their hobbies, but were truly professionals.

You might also take note of the fact that one of the top reasons for divorces these days come as a result of financial issues in the household. Is your wife fully in support of you being in school with an art major, not in line for earning the $40,000 starting salary, and just getting by? You’re looking at a long, difficult career and if your spouse isn’t entirely supportive of you, or has endeavors for more down the road, surely you’re going to have a different perspective on having persued your dream.

I wish you all the luck with your art endeavors. However, I think when you are done with your schooling and really are depending on it to provide an income, you’re going to ultimately be quite disappointed.

Props to you for taking a chance and good luck in your ventures!

Taking care of my family:
I am currently married (my wife is also in college), and we have a nice apartment and that we pay for with our monthly earnings. We have chosen to own only a single vehicle for the time being, and we manage just fine without a second. The car’s paid for, by the way, and was purchased new.

College loans:
Yes, we’ve taken out some loans for the education,but we do have a realistic plan to pay back our loans. If both my wife and I get full time minimum wage jobs $10 (even though we both have $10/hour jobs that we can return to in a worst-case-scenario) we can live off of one income and use the second one solely to pay back our loans. In this case, it would take, at maximum, 3 years to pay back our loans.

Degree choice:
No matter what degree I earn, I will have to work hard to get a good job and earn a decent living. This honors student is not afraid of hard work, and is willing to put in the necessary effort to become successful.
Do not think that this was a flippant decision. It required much deliberation to make the switch from Accounting to Art.

Being an artist:
Art involves a high degree of technical ability (at least the type that I create), so I am in school to master those skills faster than I would on my own. Further, I am building my network (I don’t just hang out with art students), and am being exposed to new styles of art.
What does make one an “artist”? Am I an artist because I have my own works displayed on my walls? Am I an artist because I have worked created art for commissions? Maybe I’m an artist because I supported myself for a year solely from the sale of my artwork. Perhaps I am not an artist because I have not had a show of my own in a gallery, or because you have not heard of me.
Who would be considered a great artist? Perhaps Picasso, who learned from his father, the art teacher, before heading off to art school. Maybe Raphael and Leonardo, who did not go to school, but worked as apprentices for masters of their time.

Doing exactly what you say in your last paragraph:
Rest assured, I have no desire to “just get by.” Because I do want to do all you suggest, I am pursuing something that I am not only good at, but enjoy doing. Because of that love I will work harder than I ever would as an an accountant. I might not end up selling paintings in galleries for a living (which would be adding value), but starting a business that helps artists become more business minded (they are running businesses, after all), or running an art rental company for corporations, or any of countless options.
I don’t expect to be happy all the time. No matter what I choose to do, I will be working hard, and there will be parts that I don’t enjoy.

James, I hope you have a career that not only provides well for you and your family, but that also energizes you and makes your life better (and not just through a paycheck.)