How to Optimize Your Finances As a Freelancer or Small Business Owner | with Sylvia Inks

If you intend to climb the career ladder straight to the top, step #1 is understanding the four different types of creative jobs. Only once you understand where your job fits in can you then reframe your perspective to get the most out of every opportunity (or know if it’s time to bail out).

Imagine for a moment you’ve wanted to be a doctor your whole life, and the first year of medical school is finally here.

After getting a toy stethoscope for your fifth birthday, you spent the next eighteen years dreaming of wearing the white coat, helping others in need, and writing the letters ‘M.D.’ after your name.

Yet despite knowing that being a doctor is the only true career path for you, you’re frustrated, anxious, and depressed.

Why?

You feel like all the work you’re putting in could potentially be a total waste of time because you haven’t seen enough results yet....you want to be a doctor NOW.

“What if medical school isn’t right for me? I should just become an independent doctor instead.”

“Maybe I should network with medical directors at local hospitals to see if there are any openings. I know I have the skills and can prove myself today.”

“I deserve the white coat. Why hasn’t someone discovered me yet?”

Wait a second...no medical student has ever been pulled out of their first year of medical school and given a white coat and a degree because they were “discovered.”

While no one would disagree that becoming a doctor is incredibly hard, it’s also simple (not to be confused with easy). It’s common knowledge that becoming a doctor requires everyone to follow the same path, and following that path combined with hard work and good grades almost guarantees a career in medicine.

Success Rarely Has a Defined Path

Unfortunately following a single defined path is a luxury you don’t have if you work in a creative field (especially filmmaking).

You may have gotten your first camera at five years old and spent every moment since learning the crafts of directing, editing, cinematography, etc. Yet despite the fact that in your mind you are a “filmmaker,” your current job title says otherwise.

Let’s say you’re an assistant, and your job duties include fetching the director’s coffee, pickup up the producer’s dry cleaning, and getting lunch for the grumpy editors who never talk to you.

In short: You’re a gofer.

You’re confident you have the skills to be a successful filmmaker, but you feel like all you do is spin your wheels, stuck in the exact same place.

Not knowing whether or not your efforts at your current job will pay off has left you frustrated, anxious, and depressed. You’re confident you have the skills to be a successful filmmaker, but you feel like all you do is spin your wheels, stuck in the exact same place.

Even worse, you recently read a story about director Ryan Coogler who’s first feature film right out of film school Fruitvale Station won him the grand jury prize at Sundance, and now he’s directing Marvel’s Black Panther!

Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, two guys way cooler than me and you.

Knowing there are real people not much older (or even younger) than you who are light years ahead in the same career is demoralizing, especially when you have no clue if your current job is leading you to the promised land...or completely wasting your time.

Resentment creeps in, your performance suffers, and what was formerly an “opportunity” has become an “obligation.”

What if simply understanding where your current job fits into your own unique career path completely changed the way you approach your duties day-to-day and you suddenly had 100% confidence that this was the exact path leading to your dream job.

Imagine having the same level of clarity as a first-year medical student that you were in the right place and all that mattered were your results.

Would your mindset change?

Your mood?

Your performance?

If you intend to climb the career ladder straight to the top, your first step is understanding the four different types of creative jobs. Only once you understand where your job fits in can you then reframe your perspective to get the most out of every opportunity (or know if it’s time to bail out).

The ‘Paycheck’ Job

The ‘Paycheck’ job is unfortunately the most common simply because the vast majority of jobs in the world are things that need to get done that most people just don’t want to do. It pays the rent and keeps you from starving, but that’s about it.

• You aren’t passionate about the work you do
• You aren’t building your professional network
• You aren’t learning new skills
• You definitely aren’t climbing the ri...