When I bought my first decks in 1991, my father and mother were adamant that I get my college degree and have a “backup plan” in mind. At the time I was working as a cashier in a grocery store, which helped to buy gear on layaway and buy vinyl.
Over the years, I did try to “make it” as a DJ in the club scene, more often than not hitting failure versus success. At the same time I was working on my Bachelors. I even at one point quit the grocery store due to them slamming me with 39.5 hours a week…which made it difficult to go to school full time. I had a weekend DJ residency and thought it would suffice “for now”.
Go figure a few months later the club fell apart and I was out of work.
I told you all that to illustrate how fleeting the DJ life can be. I never really found success as a DJ, but did find my career in web design/development through the DJ thing.
In your case, it’s clear you want to be a producer…even more than a DJ. So focus on that. Many of the top producers mainly do that. They put most of their effort into producing, because it’s what brought many success (and the big DJ gigs).
I’ve known producers who have day jobs, and they handle it fine. They work, go home, and spend a few hours a night producing. They’ll spend weekend time producing. They’ll also post and promote their work. When someone does want them to DJ, they find a way. Lord knows we have computers, sync, etc.
Many creatives didn’t live in wealthy households where they can spend all day working on their art. A lot of them live in normal working lives, moonlighting as their creative forms. I know you want full nights of sleep, and you can have it. You just need balance, and to remember it doesn’t have to be “full time” right now. You make it “full time” when it suddenly pays you enough that you don’t need the day job.
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