Today I watched this video from Venus Theory:
He cited a new book by music creator Liina Turtonen titled “Creative Confidence and Music Production.” The book and recently losing a freelance gig made Cameron — Venus Theory — think of seven principles to help creatives become more impervious (his words) to the ups and downs of our calling. They are:
- Create more than you consume
- Discomfort is the teacher
- Be your own witness
- Don’t wait for permission
- Satisfaction over validation
- Act in your nature
- Share effortlessly
His points really resonate with me. I don’t think any of them are super new to me, perhaps “act in your nature” is the most new. But they are all ones that are important to me, that I do work on, and that I want to improve on. Particularly, I want to improve on…. Shit, all of them. Haha. But I guess if I were to choose two:
1. Create more than I consume
I have literally been working on this lately. It has come up before, and I have tried. But for the most part, I haven’t manage to create more than I consume musically. Okay, that’s not true. While doing the (now defunct) musical newsletter (uh huh) Halitrax, I might have broken even. And then since hiring my coach Alex Joyal, I probably am above even. Working with a coach and making the decision to do music professionally has resulted in much higher output and reduced consumption of other stuff.
…except for news. I’d be better off consuming music tutorials and gear reviews than so much news. I’ve been trying lately to both get in the mindset of even writing a sentence or quickly processing some audio instead of reading news. Or if I read some news or similar information, I at least write a sentence about my thoughts (which resulted in this long post…). I’ve been trying mainly to read headlines or AI summaries, using Readwise. I have also been re-arranging the apps and stuff I use so it’s easier for me to jot down ideas–written or audio–and either share them (e.g., my blog) or put them in a pipeline to get used in a future track or project. I’ll eventually write some of this stuff down in case other folks want inspiration for their own workflow. Well, I’m even planning on putting a workshop together based on some of this.
2. Don’t wait for permission
And that brings me to the second point. Yeah, I am still waiting for permission to be a professional musician, a professional music producer, and a professional audio engineer. I’ve done this with other career pursuits, too. (Not to say I always have; far from it.) I mean, kinda. I was thinking of my foray into podcasting and journalism when I wrote that. However, getting into it, I didn’t ask for any permission. And with no resume whatsoever, I wound up at Houston Public Media. That experience proved that you don’t always need traditional credentials to get an opportunity in a field. But I guess I forgot the principle of not needing permission when I moved back to Seattle last year.
On reflection, that’s literally what I did when I got to Seattle. I met with public radio and podcast folks and basically asked them for permission. (They essentially said no in that Seattle Nice kinda way.) I actually really love being a radio/podcast producer. So that wanting of permission and not getting into it (so surprising) led to me deciding to emphasize my focus on music because that career transition comes with similar barriers/friction but higher personal upside (i.e., I’ve loved and played music forever, while the first podcast or public radio show I really listened to was like 6 or 7 years ago). The point of that run-on sentence is that I waited for permission for podcast producing, didn’t get it, and moved on. Though, to preview some news, I am currently working as a freelance reporter/producer for the BBC on their show People Fixing the World. That’s after a multi-year gap in radio/podcast work. So, not sure what the takeaway on that is.
Anyway! The point is that I am definitely in a “waiting for permission” spot again–this time with music. I want to work for other musician to help produce their music. I want to work for other musicians, engineers, and businesses, to do audio engineering. I want to offer educational opportunities to musicians and other creatives. I haven’t done that. And the main reason seems to me is that I feel like I need “something” to happen so that I can start, whether that’s finding a job (riiiight) or learning enough or releasing enough or meeting someone who magically wants to give me a shot. But Cameron is correct (and my coach has certainly said this to me too).
What am I going to do about this insight? Haha. Oof. Well, right now I feel more in touch emotionally with the previous point of creating more than I am consuming. Hence, I am writing this after spending time watching Venus Theory’s video. Hence, I will get right back to working on the 20ish tracks I have in the works. But knowing that permission is not coming and, more importantly, I don’t need it, is certainly liberating and a great mantra for me these days.