Part of the purpose of this blog is to document my journey toward becoming a successful composer.
One of the things I learned as an entrepreneur is the importance of setting and defining goals. Vague statements like “I want to be successful” aren’t very helpful.
A goal must be specific. It must be reachable. And you need to have a plan for reaching it. So… what, specifically, does it mean to me to be “successful”?
First off, I want to separate the association of “successful” with “wealth”. Wealth is only one component–a byproduct–of true success.
To me, success is living life with no regrets. It is being happy and fulfilled. It is doing what you feel is your true mission here on on Earth.
Furthermore, you must be working only on projects you’re sincerely interested in working on–not for the money, but because you really want to do them, and you would still do them (or at least wouldn’t mind doing them) even if they didn’t pay a dime.
To me, that is the foundation of true success. Unless you’re on the right path and living a fulfilled life, it doesn’t matter how much money you’re making. You’re not truly successful.
That said, part of being “on mission” is living in abundance. After all, why would the Universe send you down a path if It doesn’t provide for you along the way?
Money, like it or not, is an important component of being successful. Money is the medium through which we acquire needed goods and services to maintain our lives.
Let’s start with this baseline: you must earn enough income from your passion to keep the bills paid and provide for your needs (not necessarily wants) without having to do other less desirable things to make ends meet.
In my case, I live modestly. I live in a small apartment in an older building. I don’t have car payments. I can get by with as little as $18,000 / year.
Granted, that’s not a lot of money. And most people wouldn’t define $18,000 as anywhere near “successful”. But as I said earlier, my measure of success has more to do with fulfilling a mission than any particular dollar amount.
All you take with you into your next life are your experiences. Everything else is left behind. I’d rather spend my few decades on Earth doing something I love than “sell out” for the sake of nicer things.
So $18,000 / year will be my first benchmark of success. Ultimately, I’d like to be earning six figures a year as a composer. But I’ve got to start someplace.
So far this year, I’ve earned $1000 as a composer. It was prize money for winning a competition. That means my goal is to bring in another $17,000 by the end of the year.
How will I do that?
I’ll talk more about my plan of action in my next post. Stay tuned…
