JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Brian Austin Whitney Blog Daily Distractions 12-16-2017 (Best Advice EVER)

I think kids should have a reasonable plan for their college education. They should start by removing the arts (aside from perhaps technical training with career paths), social issues, pop culture, and the plethora of other obviously unemployable degrees where even if you were to get a job in that field it would never give you return on investment for your college costs and the time wasted there. I no longer recommend kids go to college unless they are confident in their path and likely return on investment which includes tuition, living expenses, books, other fees as well as likely interest to be paid on the loans versus pursuing the same or similar career paths using an alternative pathway to get started. 4 (or more for advanced degrees) years of potential work and income, hands on experiences, networking and mentors in the field of interest versus idiot college professors or worse grad assistants who have no actual experience and no knowledge beyond theory rather than practical hands on success to prove their curriculum, ideas and methods. Compare that to becoming an apprentice in the field or fields of your choice for 4 years where you may or may not make a living, but at worst the education is free. it's real world, hands on and you get to experience what the early stage of that career might entail as well as observe the operation and potential pathways for the future. You also gain confidence and savvy working around and with professionals, practicing your own skills, demeanor, communication abilities and likely also discover your weaknesses and opportunities to improve. With the right mentors, you can begin shoring those things up immediately, 4 or more years earlier than your peers, giving you a giant head start over them. Bottom line is after 4 years of your peers getting deeply in debt, meeting next to no one in your field, forming little hands on skills and work history, and failing to fail, which is the best teacher, because the university route doesn't give you a chance to do anything for real. Plus, if you find you dislike the work, you may discover other related options within that or similar industries, or you can simply shift gears to something else entirely. In fact, you can experiment virtually risk free in many different fields, take wild chances pushing yourself in new directions and frankly have a great time doing it. The only downside is missing the college social fun, but it is highly overrated most of the time.

After 4 years, you'll either have a lot of practical experience, contacts in that industry, a positive reputation if you have worked hard, you'll be polished because you will have gotten past most rookie mistakes with little negative impact because you won't be in peril financially should you mess up so badly you lose a job like you would if you graduated and had loans to repay. And, most importantly, you won't be stuck in a job you hate because you got the wrong degree but now have to earn at a level that will keep you out of bankruptcy.

I think you should pursue things that interest you in your spare time. I ran JPF while working full time for a decade before I focused entirely on it for the past 2 decades. I also played in bands and wrote over 2000 songs in a 10 year window. I wrote, directed, produced and acted in 2 plays of my own and 23 others. I worked in radio at the #1 radio station in Indianapolis learning all about the business as an volunteer intern while also employed as a mid level manager at a major corporation. Because I was more qualified than anyone else at the station in most things (much to my surprise) I had the run of the place and was representing the station at live major concerts, taking care of VIP's and artist relations with record labels and top artists of the day, doing production, writing the news, putting together audio commercials and promos (sadly, I wasn't very good at the technical aspects to be honest but I learned a great deal anyway), I learned all about how songs were chosen for airplay, I learned a lot of dirty secrets of the business and because I was a volunteer, I came and went when I wanted, and got to learn about what was interesting and avoid doing the stuff I didn't like. They had a high functioning mature person they could trust for free and I got a complete master class in how a major radio station was run from Profit and Loss, to Sales and Marketing, to News and Production to On Air Programming and mixing it up with high paid on air talent. The only thing I didn't get to do was host a show, but I did play characters, did call ins, made tons of public appearances and it was a blast. I also learned that it could be a sleazy business when it came to actually playing music which served me well running JPF and talking to people in all areas of the industry from actual first hand knowledge and experience, all without taking a class or having to take a terrible paying slave job getting coffee for everyone all day like most interns. They kind of thought I was crazy because I made so much more money at my "day" job and they didn't understand they 100+ hour work weeks I was putting in sometime between the day job and working there, but it was my passion. It even helped me in my day job because I was doing some high level stuff at the radio station that I hadn't been able to do at the day job, but once they knew I had those skills (I didn't tell them I had done it until I had decided to stop) they had me doing activities there that no one else at my level were allowed to do. I could go on, but you get the idea. I would work 8 to 6pm at the day job, then drive 2 hours to practice with my band, practice to for 3 hours, then drive 2 hours home, getting about 4-5 hours of sleep, but having the time of my life. I even got to take the gig that Hootie and the Blowfish gave up at the Cubby Bear in Chicago the night they got on Letterman with only hours notice before they got on the jet. All this to say I pursued my various "passions" outside of my bill paying job until I found something (or in my case CREATED something) that I was passionate about and which I could survive doing full time (which for me was always 100 hours a week or more and until health interceded, I kept doing).

I think his advice is amazing and needed. He didn't address the College portion, but I think it is part of it. Go out and DO something, don't sit back having some unqualified series of people theorizing on it, often with inherent biases and outdated ideas and viewpoints. And don't put your eggs in the basket of your passion and until you have safely proven those passions can pay your bills (and preferably before you have gotten in debt or started your family with kids to consider).

Brian