Earlier this afternoon I was explaining to a designer I just met why I want to work on some projects that probably won’t make any money, but might get buzz. I said that I want to market myself. I felt it sounded cheesy, so I elaborated.
It came out like this. It sounded even cheesier, but rung true for me:
“Sure, I’d like to make money, and be able to buy a house someday, and nowadays you have to be rich to buy a house, but life is short, and I want to hang out with interesting people, and work on interesting projects.”
I now understand why so many artists take a long path toward making money. Or don’t get around to it at all.