What Does Professional Actually Mean?

I want to be careful about the word “professional”. Making great music and being satisfied with your art is not necessarily tied to making bank. I’ve made my living through music (and now through teaching) for my entire adult life, and it has been a constant grind. I’ve worked on music I’m proud of, I’ve played alongside some of my heroes, and I get a little prickly when I see the term “pro” tossed around. Because a lot of the time it has more to do with people selling a lifestyle than it does making ends meet. My problem with it is that a lot of the times, I think people paint unrealistic outcomes on here. At worst, I think it’s predatory. It’s a big part of why I started the school.

But let’s manage expectations for a moment. You’re not a “pro” because of how much money you can throw at a problem. You’re not a pro because you get a lot of views. You’re not a pro because you know what you’re doing. You’re not even necessarily a pro because you get a lot of streams.

You are a professional when someone pays you for what you do. Why would someone do that? Because you are reliable, you produce a predictable outcome, or perhaps because you are sometimes so spectacularly good that someone will take a chance on you. But for most of us trudging along, being a professional means being consistent, reliable, and that means that even on your worst day, it’s good enough. By all means, aim high. There’s nothing wrong with landing “good enough” 99% of the time. Because 99% of the people out there can’t actually do that. And that’s why they pay you.