How do you know if you’ll like a career?
We spent the weekend talking and theorizing with our kids about the life on the road – after we had walked past the Jacob Collier tour buses, there were lots of questions. Tour life is strenuous and non-stop. Some people derive a lot of energy from touring, while others are drained by the experience. It’s not necessarily connected to proficiency as a musician – it’s a separate and almost equally-important part of the job.
The biggest question, then is this: how do you know if you’ll like it when you start building your career? How can you know, without actually getting out there and touring, whether you’ll be a road warrior or not?
Early trial runs help. One bonus of the 22-concert tour of Europe that I did as part of WMU Gold Company in 2000 was I got to experience at least a semblance of the pro tour life. My classmates and I each knew after those three weeks whether we’d personally enjoy doing more of that.
Beyond that, though, it’s a combination of intuition (“I think I’ll enjoy doing this.”) and then leaning into the good parts of the gig once you’re on tour (“No job is perfect, but I really enjoy this part of tour life.”).
That, of course, is true for any job. Combine trial runs, intuition, and a positive outlook and you’ll find a way to succeed in your career of choice.