Question: What can I do to overcome the fear of failure that prevents me from developing as a professional musician?
Tom Hess's Answer: If you want to become a professional musician, but your fear of failure is holding you back from getting started, then you should ask yourself which fear is stronger: the one about failing, or the one about looking back at “today” 40 years from now and realizing with regret what could have been if you made the decision to start your music career NOW?
Look around at people who have jobs and / or lives that are NOT what you want in your life! Now imagine waking up at 5:00 AM every day to go to job you hate, doing work that does not fulfill you, dealing with a boss you don’t really like and then coming home after work too aggravated, tired and frustrated to enjoy life and not enough time or energy to even play music! Now imagine living this way for the REST OF YOUR LIFE! That is what happens to most people who are too ‘afraid’ to get serious about pursuing what they LOVE – a career in music as a professional musician!
Now ask yourself this, what is the absolute WORST thing that can happen if I pursue a try to become a professional musician and it doesn’t work out? Answer: you simply go to the job or career which you are going to go into now if you won’t even try the music thing! However you would have had a lot of fun and fulfillment in the process and grown immensely as a musician with new skills that you will enjoy for the rest of your life! So in the big picture of life, even total failure in your pursuit as a professional musician is probably a lot better than not trying at all…
You CAN become a professional musician if you understand how the music industry works, how to prepare yourself for becoming successful and how to diversify your risk via multiple streams of music related income. I know this, because I am very successful as a professional musician and I mentor people every day to become pros as well. But before you can become successful, you must make a conscious and definite CHOICE to commit to your goal to become a professional musician. You are either committed or you are aren’t.
That being said, there are specific steps you can take to make a gradual transition into a full time music career that will protect you from suddenly subjecting your life to huge risk (especially if you already have a job and/or a family to support). I discuss these transitional ideas in my article about how to start a music career.
Learn how to grow a music career and reach success as a professional musician.