Beggars can't be Choosers

So all you guys know I'm working on this Iron Man project and there's this kid who found me thru a social media site and he happens to be in the same town as I. We've been working together for month and half in the studio and I've realized a lot things about this guy. One thing is he's younger and he has habit of refusing jobs to "wait" for the right job to come. It just mountains of excuses from his mouth NOT to do a job when he should be saying "Oh I don't have experience nor do I like to do the job, but I can give it a shot." This kid also wants to be my partner in business and I am about to give him my thoughts below about how someone BECOMES a Professional and earn the big bucks in life.

In my line of business, I equate it to that of a actor building his career. There will be small roles that won't pay much or even just becoming an extra on stage. But if an actor starting out his career in life refuses enough jobs, this actor is only sending a message to the world that he isn't ready to become anything. Its most likely that he will become an unknown and before you know it, he's too old to do any acting because all his life, he shut the door of his future in his own face. I wish Nicolas Cage would turn down a few roles. But even an accomplished actor such as Nick Cage couldn't say no to another meal for another year or two with each role he's taken. I don't like him but I admire his work ethic and professionalism and we all can learn from Nick Cage.

In the professional world of ANY industry, no one will give you the lessons to learn except for internships. If you turn those non paying jobs down, you will never learn anything from that industry and the last time I check, companies invested by multi-billionaires only hire people with experience of any kind. They don't pay people to sit around to do nothing. If there's such a job sign me up.

I feel this kid in my studio has a lot to learn about what it takes to really become a professional. I want to say to him that if he is to become my partner, his knowledge and expertise must meet or exceed mine. If he don't know anything and keeps suggesting that I outsource every single job, it just going to cost me more time and money and that is not the kind of partner that I want. He is nothing but a useless leech that just gonna suck more money and produce no results. Pretty soon I won't even need him because there's nothing he can offer me but suggestions to find other professionals which I will do because I only have so much money to invest and I need to make it all back.

We all need to suck it up and take each job that is offered. Only the true professionals can refuse jobs because it may not be a direction that they want to take but at that point they can afford not to take a job or skip a meal because they are THAT rich. But for a kid who hasn't had any money saved nor any impressive portfolio pieces but a bunch of model kits, he is just a hobbyist who can paint others works.

Each job we take in life prepares us for the next challenge. Look at Face-off for example. Each contestant need to take the job and prove that they have the skills to go to the next round. Do they suggest to outsource the job to another professional because 3 days isn't enough to a cheap Halloween mask? NO. They step up and beyond their calling in order to get to the next level. Many people don't see the point of the show thru the smoke of dramatization and excitement but this is what the judges want to show kids who aspire to be in Hollywood to become the next Steve Wang or Stan Winston. We all need to suffer and be tested and life gives you tests everyday. If you fail each job or each challenge or worse, not even take the job - You will miss out on a lot of experience gained from the job.

I've learned the hard way and the impossible way. You guys see my deviations and you probably think I worked in some Hollywood shop? No man. I wasn't that lucky. I'm 3 millions miles away from Hollywood and no one would hire me 3 years ago without proper experience and knowledge on how to make molds, cast something or even Sculpt something amazing to be on the screen. Those jobs only go to professionals who had years of hard knocks. Steve Wang got his first shop cleaning clay from silicone molds. It wasn't the best job nor was he even paid. But he did it. Pretty soon because of his willingness to learn and humble attitude, they gave him more diverse and creative jobs where he proved himself worthy of working along side with the great Stan Winston. But if Steve said to Stan that he should find some grunt to clean molds, Stan would've just said thanks for coming today and see ya later.

So how can someone like me become professional at my game? Self training thru tutorials of any kind and a lot of trial and error. I had a day job doing PowerPoint presentations for Pepsico and it was a shit job but I took it cuz I had a wife and mortgage to pay. But I slowly I used the money I saved and time I had to learn something new and luckly I had the talent and art experience to build on to move forward.
The rest was pure grunt work that mad me sweat, burned all the money I had and thru meditation I gained an inner wisdom and taught me all the things you read now. It will never be easy and it will never be fun. There will be times when materials don't mix right and hell you will fail more than you succeed. But by golly you may just hit the jackpot someday. But until then we all need to keep struggling if we are to be professional. If you don't make any money you will gain useful experience and at least write a book on "how to fail but keep going anyways."

So I hope all of you get my point and I wish all Artists successful or not to keep on going. Don't sell yourself short but don't refuse something because your ego deems unworthy, or not pay enough. But walk thru each door and another door will open and eventually it will be a multi-million dollar of your mansion.

Peace yo
-Mike