Something that everyone will unquestionably struggle with at any point in their creative career is “Where do I find the drive and motivation?” Well I’m here to break the news to you. If you really love something and have a creative passion for it, the instances where you have to ask yourself that question should be very few and far between. Everyone has a moment of doubt every once in a while, but if you’re asking yourself how to find the drive to do something on a daily basis, week in and week out for months on end, it’s probably time to find a new interest or hobby.
Don’t focus on an idealized pie in the sky expectation. Analyze the numbers. Learn about your industry. Every industry has business publications. Seek them out and find out what sales figures are like for the particular type of project you want to create. Talk to those professionals and fellow creators that you’ve met through things like collaboration. All these friends that I’ve been telling you to make are resources. Soak in those books I told you about and when all else fails, just come out and ask somebody what they get paid to do their work. Just be respectful about it. You could even ask someone how much they would charge you to do that work or how the sales are on their books. Do not look at others’ self-promotion or movies or online videos or music videos and think that’s the life that you’re going to live and achieve. It’s not real. It’s all part of image and marketing. Famous writers, authors, actors and creative folks that make millions of dollars, or allegedly make millions of dollars, have media and marketing gurus on their payroll. The image being presented is always more glamorous than the reality. Fame does not always equal fortune. Many famous actors, authors, comedians, musicians and others are making less than what you do with your day job. They do this because they love it and have a passion for it. So get into this with realistic expectations. Don’t expect to pay off your house mortgage, your car payments and get a villa in Tahiti after your first year of self-publishing comics. It’s not gonna happen.
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