Since you ask, here's my bit. I hope it translates, but my English is not as good as it may seem (do not underestimate this bit!!).
When I have to choose in this type of situations, I have this set of questions that to a surprisingly little degree are about music, like:
- If you decide to go for it, and if that in hindsight seems to have been the wrong decision, can you live with yourself?
- If you decide to keep your job, or find a better one, can you live with the thought of never having tried living off music?
- Have you really set up a really realistic budget that gives you real confidence you'll really survive? Really?
- Have you taken a hard look at yourself and questioned your reasons and reasonability in this, as well as your realism?
- Do you [b]know[/b] that you have all the resources to be able to make this work, or are you living in a bubble of hope?
To me, this type of questions soon results in a feeling about whether the thing is nonsense or not. Many projects and ideas are dropped, but I did start a musical career once, and gave it up once.
As a background carpet, here's my experience:
Wanted to be a musician in classical and rock. Saw that way too many educated musicians struggled financially. Decided to have something to fall back on and took an education in the field of leadership, with subjects like law, economics, psychology and sociology (I thought that that would help me later, and it did).
Then started studying classical music (rock education didn't exist yet in college then), and made sure I got a complete study in the pedagogical side so I also could fall back on teaching as well.
Worked as a teacher and had many small jobs like depping, playing music to theatre plays, composing stuff for theatre, some recording, some marketing and some gear responsibility. Total income hardly worth mentioning, and most came from teaching.
Then moved to Norway, and was forced to decide on a future. Worked as a teacher for two more years whilst thinking and discussing with the wife, and then decided it was best to live where I live, and that that was more important that hunting for a musical career (which in my case would mean to move to Oslo). This automatically meant my planned musical career was not to be.
Since '86 I've only had regular jobs, and I've only depped sometimes.
Personally, i got the best time not from music as I expected, but from having my own company within sales, and doing everything that needs to be done there - so much fun I was able to decline a great job offer in marketing a few years back, that would give a much better income, but where I would be someone else's slave again.
YM [b]Will[/b] V
best,
bert