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I'm a musician; but that does not mean that making money AS a musician has to equal me being famous or well-known nationally/globally. If I had to make an estimate as to the amount, in dollars, that I have profited from the creation/production/performance of my own, original music, in the past decade, I'd have to put it at approximately $20,000 (give or take 2 or 3 grand maybe). TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! It's truly unfortunate that for years I was absolutely horrible with money, and was infected with a tremendously aggressive disease known as narcotic addiction - those two setbacks combined took up most of that twenty grand, for sure. If only I knew what I know now, then...things would be a LOT different. But - sometimes one must learn on their own, and I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason although you control when and where those things are done.My point in saying all this is that music, as an industry to work in, is a viable route for a young person to continue on, past the initial jammings and garage bands that originate as musical abilities develop enough to do something with professionally.
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Therefore, I've officially decided that the music industry is my calling - not just as a hip-hop/rap artist, but as a producer and audio engineer for various genres of music. I want to be able to work at a prestigious music recording studio, walk into the place, and have the ability to sit right down and begin mixing audio, and know exactly what the fuck I am doing, too. I know a little bit about that side of it, but definitely not enough to do that, not yet. So far in life, I've learned how to play a few instruments, including guitar (6-stringed acoustic/electric/ 4 or 5-string bass), and drums. I want to learn how to play more instrument - I've recently bought a digital keyboard (Casio CTK-4000) and a very nice flute by Ashbury, so I of course really want to learn to play both, especially the flute (can't even get a single note out of it yet, ha!).--------------------
Anyway, since I've realized finally what I want to do, I had to figure out step-by-step what I need to do, and where I need to go, in order to get to where I want to get to. So, I've mapped out a timeline plan for myself spanning the next 6 years or so. I am currently 22 years old (23 next April), so by the time I am 28, I should be where I want to be in life. I should be on my way to building a serious career in music, making decent money for my work, and also on my way to being happy with my progress in life as a working man, a musician and (most importantly) as a father.Now, everybody knows that in order to get a decent job, ya gotta go to school, take a course, do SOMETHING to learn the skills required to work doing whatever it is you're aiming towards.
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I've always sort of thought that taking a Business course is something that almost everybody should take at some point; based on the fact that a business degree can be applied to just about anything. I mean, if you want to start a coffee shop in your neighborhood: take a business course, get your degree, learn how to be a good businessman/woman and then get a small business loan or save money and open your own coffee shop, if that's your thing. If money is what you're in it for, and money alone, then there are things you must of course consider: if you want to SELL something, your product should clearly be something that will SELL. For instance, a shitload of people smoke pot - the demographic is so diverse, the ages for pot-smokers range from 14 to 70 years old! And those who smoke pot, LOVE their pot, mostly. They like to own accessories, pipes, bongs, several kinds of rolling papers, scales so they dont get ripped off too often, etc etc. So, if you felt so inclined, you could start up your own marijuana accessory shop! Call it "Cloud N9ne Hemporium", sell all kinds of paraphernalia, books on growing pot, etc - you could make a fortune. Right? But in order to own a small business, you must take a Business course.--------------------
One course in the NBCC course agenda (in the Business section) that caught my eye was: Business Administration, Sales & Marketing. It is the 'Sales & Marketing' bit that got my attention, I'm already a phenomenal salesman, so imagine what I could do after 2 years of learning to hone my sales skills, polished to a premium! BUT...In order for me to take this course, I need to first take some high school upgrades. Two upgrades, both mathematics: Patterns & Relations 112 & Geometry 112. Each high school upgrade course costs $140, so double that for both and then add the processing fee of $25 = $305, three hundred and five dollars that I DO NOT HAVE at the moment. Which is why I am searching like mad for a job, any job - to make enough dough to get me by until whenever I won't need it anymore and I can move on.
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SO - this is my plan for the next 6 years:Starting the month of September 2009, my upgrades begin and I do them until the end of the semester, I would assume...if that's so, I would end right after Christmas, sometime in January. Now, there's a possible glitch in this plan because I may have an opportunity to head out west to do seismic work in December, so I have to ask them at NBCC if I can do my upgrades as a correspondence thing, like take my work with me or do it online or whatever - even if I could just do both courses online, I could buy a laptop and bring it out west with me and do my school work in my spare time (which I wouldn't have much of out there, probably, working 6-7 days/week). Anyways, I have to figure all this out in the next few days so that I can have an answer ready for going out west to work.
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Anyways, so I take my upgrades in time to go to NBCC for Fall 2010 to take Business Administration, Sales & Marketing, and work out a way to pay for my tuition ($2600) and books (couple hundred bucks) when the time comes - worst case scenario, if I have to resort back to social assistance, I know for a fact that they will pay for half of my tuition, pay for all my books, and pay up to $20/day for my transportation to and from school, which would be perfect - although, who WANTS to be on social assistance? Not me. I'd much rather get a student loan and pay it back slowly. Even if I DO take the 'social assistance' payment method, I still have to muster up the other half of the tuition, a ripe $1300.--------------------
Two years later, when I'm all finished with my course, this is where the music part comes in. The Centre Of Arts & Technology is an institution offering courses relative to audio and video engineering. They have thousands of dollars worth of equipment for the creation of music and videography, and photography. There is a C.O.A.T. in Fredericton, and in Halifax as well. After my business course is all said and done with, I want to take Audio Engineering at the Halifax C.O.A.T., and there are multiple reasons for me choosing the Halifax location: I love big cities, I've never lived there before where I've lived in Fredericton for 7 years total of my life, and I crave something and somewhere new often...not to mention Halifax's lively hip-hop scene, I've got a lot of music connections there, and know loads of peeps from Hali, so moving there wouldn't be as foreign as say, Montreal or T-dot.Anyhow, I believe Audio Engineering is a 2-year course also, so I wouldn't be finished that course completely until mid-2014.
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Now, combining my previous musical/business knowledge [all of that prior to my post-secondary education] with both Business Administration, Sales & Marketing and Audio Engineering degrees, I think it'd be safe to say I could begin a decent career to my satisfaction, and make good money at it for the remainder of my working years. I hear that in Ontario, there is a considerable amount of jobs available for working in recording studios, which I could do until I had enough dough or enough credit or both to start up my own studio! And the best part is, during all this schooling, job-searching, working, and whatevers - I can still make plenty of music, produce and make beats, schedule shows here and there in whatever area I'm currently living in, and maintain my position as an active musician in The Maritimes, and in Canada. I figure by the year 2015, I'll have a cozy job doing what I want to do, just starting out in the recording industry, a freshman on the mixing boards - but I'll be doing what I love, so tell me I'm wrong for doing that and see if I believe you!Well, that sure was a handful to type, and definitely an eyeful for you to read, but sometimes its helpful to write out one's plans and even publish them for viewing eyes, so that your ideas and plans become more clear and concise to you from that point on. I feel much more confident about my future even since beginning this blog entry twenty minutes ago!
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I encourage others to do the same. If you have a blog, write about what your plans for the next few years are, putting it on paper feels good! It makes you feel like you have a purpose, and I believe it makes you more likely to go through with it, too, once everyone has read it and expects you to at least lightly follow your own plan's path!It's good to try and get your shit together...its time for our generation to get on the fucking ball, to get ready and become adults; all the other young parents out there, YOUR LIFE IS NOT OVER!! You can still go to school, you can still get a good job/career! Having a baby is NOT the end of the world, take it from me! If anything, bringing Alyssa into this world truly helped me in being a better person.
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Well, time to hit the sack, but thank you for reading, everybody! I hope my family and friends all support me in my goals and ambitions, I'm sure they do. Thanks to everyone who has helped me lately, every reaching hand is much appreciated, every little bit helps like you have no idea. Have a good one, peepz!PS - I'll end this entry with a quote, from my great-great-grandmother Beatrice (Mum) Taylor, something she said many years ago:
"Love many, trust few;
Always paddle your own canoe."
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"""""""Always paddle your own canoe."
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......:: DNA ::......
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