I remember when I told people that I wanted to be an actor I would always get advice from well wishers like “Make sure you have a plan B” and “does that mean full time waiter part time actor?” and other unhelpful tidbits. I sometimes would even get told “make sure you don’t have a plan B because that will become your plan”. I never understood why people felt the need to comment. It just made me more motivated to prove them wrong. 

I was so doggedly determined to ‘make it’ that I deliberately did not have a plan B. Honestly, I feel that was to my detriment. Once I had finished high school I deliberately did not look at any university courses or any other education almost to spite these annoying well wishers. I’ll show them! 

I did decide to go to acting school later on in my early twenties – which was an absolutely amazing experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world… However doing so left me with a lovely expensive acting degree with no other skills or ways to make money in the quiet periods in my mid twenties. This caused me great panic and to live quite close to the breadline, which is no way to live let alone create. Pair that with absolutely no financial literacy and you have a ticking timebomb… 

Yes as you can guess I ended up with quite a large credit card debt – but that’s the long story. 

My advice to any creative newbie would be to get skilled in something that compliments your creative pursuit. In my book “The Savvy Creative” I actually give a list of skills that compliment very nicely with the life of an artist which, is one that is unpredictable and can be feast or famine. 

So whether that be social media marketing, photography, editing or interior design; just ensure you have some other way to earn income that allows you to not only stay busy and bringing money in but could also potentially open up other opportunities to further your creative pursuit by expanding your network. 

You never want to be just one dimensional or defined by your craft. You also do not want to be panicking about money. By expanding your skills and by allowing yourself other ways to earn income (that won’t destroy your soul) you are taking back some of the control you will feel you lose when you are creating art for a living. You are in the drivers seat. 

My other piece of advice that goes hand in hand with this… have a full life with lots of exciting things going on and your creative work will be better and more fulfilling.