Quitting the day gig, moving to CO and starting over as a muscian & entreprenuer
As a 32 year old guy, I’ve come to a major crossroads in my life. With my mother’s breast cancer diagnosis last August (she’s in her 60’s), I thought to myself, would I be happy with the life that I’ve lived if I were told I only had six months to live? The answer to that was a resounding “NO!” I don’t want to work my entire life into retirement, finally able to do what I want and realize I’ve got months to live. What I’ve always wanted was the time and flexibility to study and pursue a career in music. But how could I make this work?
For over 10 years I’ve been doing the corporate thing, and hating every minute of it. All I would ever think about all day long would be music. Whether it was the music itself, creation/writing, rehearsals, upcoming gigs, promotion, or gear, I am completely obsessed with music and all its trimmings. But I could never make a living doing what I love……or could I?
So with these life realizations made, my wife and I decided we needed to make a change. I supported her as she started and grew her business into what it is today. Now she wants to return the favor!
The first step here was to completely simplify our lives. We sold our 750 sq ft Hoboken, NJ condo and got rid of as many expenses as possible. Being that we lived in one of the more expensive places in the country, we decided to get out (I grew up in NJ but no longer have any family left here). As a result we bought a house outside of Denver, CO and are moving there in the beginning of April. We had always been smitten with Colorado and with my brother moving to Denver last June, it became impossible to resist.
My plan is to take the next 4-6 months off and clear my head. I want to intensely study music (dive heavily into Ableton, Reason, Logic, etc.) and learn how to become an all-in-one unit. I plan to use these tools for composition AND performance in conjunction with my guitar/keyboard/voice skills. This way I don’t have to rely on anyone else to create and perform this stuff and reduce my overhead as much as possible. As I’m also an IT/PR/Marketing guy, I also plan to start a business or two that would mirror my musical interests. Whether that becomes consulting, production and any other combination of the abovementioned skills, I’m going to give this more focus and attention than I’ve ever done in my life. This is my shot and I’m not going to mess it up.
The purpose of this post is two-fold. It’s an unabashed announcement that I’m about to hit the Denver/Boulder music scene and am looking to connect with as many musicians out there as possible. But may this also serve as a case study for any of you who had ever contemplated ditching out on “Corporate America†and giving your dreams a go.