Career Path vs Career Pattern: Notes for the Entrepreneur

Upon graduating from a music school or conservatory, artists typically face two very different approaches to building a career. Understanding the difference between them — and choosing consciously — may be one of the most important decisions a musician ever makes.

Career Pattern vs. Career Path

A career pattern can be a good thing. It represents the pursuit of goals based on a well-trodden path — seeking a position in an established ensemble or company, or following the “shoulds” we carry in our heads about what we’re supposed to do based on models we’ve grown to admire. This is an honorable pursuit if it is genuinely one’s calling. The downside is pursuing a career pattern simply because it seems like the only option.

A career path is a very different thing. One may not see the whole picture from the outset — but it is a career created from one’s own initiative and vision. There is a sense of striking out to pursue an ideal or calling. It may not happen through a radical transformation overnight; it may take one step at a time, born of one’s own actions. Listening to oneself and discerning the next step eventually leads to a larger picture of where you are headed. Very often it is those initial instincts one should trust — because in the end, no one can walk our path but ourselves. The downside is that such a pursuit may initially mean more work and more kinds of challenges than a position where everything is laid out for the artist.

“It’s a funny thing, the state the world is in today with the economy and no jobs. This is the perfect setting for a relationship of courage and creativity to manifest within many walks of life. It is a time for great creativity.”
— Wayne Shorter, Adventures On The Golden Mean, January 2012

Following One’s Dreams

Following one’s dreams enables us to use all of our skills — not just the ones we know about, but those that may be hidden or underused, along with abilities we didn’t even know we had. Doing something genuinely challenging necessitates using absolutely all of one’s talents, and creates a much more complete sense of fulfillment. Doing only music, one uses only part of one’s abilities — but discovering and using all of one’s skills creates a far more empowering experience, and the freedom to do the things one most wants to do with one’s life.

Following one’s passion and unique path means:

1. Using one’s natural gifts
2. Using one’s untapped gifts
3. Discovering abilities you didn’t think you had

Three Key Points for Pursuing a Dream

1. Overcoming the illusion that it is up to someone else to provide the perfect conditions
2. Releasing the belief that investment capital must come first before initiating a project or company
3. Building a set of values that enables one to create something of genuine worth

Self-Reliance and Building a Great Foundation

While it certainly helps to have people opening doors, or to receive support — financial or otherwise — in the end it really does start with one person deciding: “I’m going to do this, no matter what.”

One of the greatest pitfalls is waiting for the environment to give one permission, or to make things easy. Finance is always a typical stumbling block for any artistic pursuit. But the successful entrepreneur can start with exactly what is at their disposal at the moment the venture begins. If you are waiting for the right set of circumstances, or for outside forces to align before you can begin, you will be waiting for a very long time — and will probably become bitter in the process.

What can you begin to do right now? What tools are already at your disposal? How can you lay the groundwork today? These challenges will also help sharpen the business model and bring the artistic venture into sharp focus — so that when investors or collaborators do come into the picture, you will be ready with something real.

Value Creation

Creating value with one’s life is an individual experience. To do so, it helps to have a clear set of values and a source of inspiration for setting high standards. Artists can sometimes operate in a bubble, not necessarily concerned with how their work lands with an audience. But that is actually an important concern — both as an artist and as a business person. Having a sense of service is a genuinely useful mindset: not compromising one’s artistic vision, but being curious about how one’s work resonates with and contributes to the world around us.

by Rozanna Weinberger