Transitioning From a Day Job to Music Production Full-Time

If you want to transition from your day job into being a full-time music producer, we have a few essential tips for you. Watch the video linked above or read on below!

1. Be 100% committed

You have to be 100% committed to this goal of becoming a producer full-time. You can't put in 20, 30, or 50% and then expect to get amazing results. If you aren’t completely committed, you'll remain stagnant and get comfortable where you are, which won’t promote growth.

2. Be willing to make sacrifices

Sacrifices are temporarily putting a hold on things that you may love/love to do so that you can focus more on building your business. An example could be staying up later than you normally do to work on music when you have to wake up early for work the next morning. On the flip side, it could be waking up earlier in the morning to get some music done before you go to work. In both cases, you’re sacrificing sleep, but you have to keep in mind that you can't have your dream career if you’re busy dreaming! Other examples of sacrifices include watching less TV, playing less video games, and hanging out with friends less. You have to be willing to say “no” to something so that you can say “yes” to something else. And that “yes”, in your case, is being a full time producer.

3. Know your financial goal

What do the numbers look like? What do your expenses look like? How much does it cost you per year to survive and pay your bills? If you don't have a goal, you don't know what you're shooting for. Therefore, you won't know when's the right time to transition because you've never had a number in mind. So add up all of your expenses right now with your day job and write that number down so that you have a goal to shoot towards in your production business.

4. Reinvest the money from your day job

Think of your 9-5 job as an angel investor or your primary investor that’s investing into your business. You're getting money from them and using it to grow something that’ll make you more money and eventually give you the freedom that you want. Some things that you can invest in can include marketing, networking events, courses, or even other team members so that you can have people doing things that’ll continuously push your business forward while you're on your 9-5.

5. Use your time wisely

Use hacks to get some of your time back! For example, instead of listening to music and doing nothing productive during your commute to and from work, listen to podcasts or audiobooks that can help or inspire you. This way, by the time you get home, you may already have a ton of ideas that you want to start implementing in your business. You can also use your lunchtime and breaks to do productive things such as podcasts, taking meetings, and sending emails. You don't have to wait until you get home to start working on your business!

If you’re ready to transition into music production full-time, you should know when's a good time to leave your job. One of these indicators is when you’re consistently making either the same amount or more income from your production business than your day job. Another indicator is when things become a lot more challenging to balance between the day job and your business. If you’re continuously missing out on opportunities to make more money in your business because you’re tied down to a schedule at your day job, it may be a good time to leave.

However, before you actually make the leap and leave your day job, there are a few things you might want to do first. We’ve listed them below, but we go into a lot more detail about each tip in the video linked above, so do yourself a favor and check it out!