Art for art’s sake - Seth Godin on doing what you love

Not everyone can make a living doing something they really enjoy. As Seth points out:

Today, there are more ways than ever to share your talents and hobbies in public. And if you’re driven, talented and focused, you may discover that the market loves what you do. That people read your blog or click on your cartoons or listen to your mp3s. But, alas, that doesn’t mean you can monetize it, quit your day job and spend all day writing songs.

That’s the dream, but only some people can live the dream. The rest of us have to do what we love in our spare time and hope that one day we’ll be able to devote more time to it.

But there is always the temptation to create according for the market, to change your style or follow the latest trend. Sometimes that might work, but Seth encourages artists not to “wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills”.

In fact, his advice is to create without concern for commercial value, arguing that the “twist is that as soon as you focus on your art and leave the money behind, you may just discover that this focus turns out to be the secret of actually breaking through and making money”.

Sounds like good advice to us here at Karmafan. If you create something you value then there’s a very good chance that others will value it, too. And they might just be willing to give you a little something in appreciation of your work.

Seth’s Blog