20 y/o jobless, female in a homeless shelter

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Looking for just someone to talk to who won't be judgemental.Not against things becoming more potentially, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't craving that sort of love at all or anything.

I'm a 20 y/o black female who currently resides in a homeless shelter with her mother (I'm still very reliant on her, unfortunately) but we've gotten the greenlight to start searching for an apartment so we can finally leave the homeless shelter.I have no work experience and do not currently hold a job.I should be entering college soon since I have already graduated high school to study to become a lawyer as well as do some acting studies.I will soon try to do some modeling work and also get time in a recording studio to record some songs I've written, enough for a full album as well as some EP's.So, potentially life as a rich and famous celebrity is in the cards for me though of course that is mostly just facetious talk and I am aware that this isn't going to happen in all likelihood LOL.

I know I'll be a broadcast journalist someday because this is something I feel very passionate about and I am a complete news junkie.I feel it isn't a question of if this will happen but when as I feel certainty this will someday come to fruition for me.

I have 0 friends, no one to confide anything in, not many people who care about me and have trust issues due to a heartbreak I suffered back in high school and find it hard to trust and believe anyone really cares about me even if they seem to initially.As typically, the same such people seem to forget I exist later.

So, anyway, that's just my honesty about my life situation and don't even bother responding if you have anything negative to say or are not interested.

FoxHugs. Hopefully you find a place soon. Must not be pleasant at homeless shelter. I need my privacy myself so I’d dislike it. Better the. Living on the street though. How’d yiu two become homeless?

Actually, it's not so bad, we're in an okay room and furthermore, it's actually in an affluent city.They keep the place looking like it's a hotel so it doesn't really 'stand out' in said affluent city where there are a lot of people who probably don't worry about things like money much.Anyway, is it okay, if I continue this and explain how we got into our current situation in a PM?I don't really want to put the long details out here in the open.There are some details I'd like to keep more private.

PM's open

I like to be rudely and acutely honest with strangers... That may or may not be sarcasm

Sure that’s fine and understandable. Pm away

Hello, Cat! Very sorry to hear about your situation. Been homeless, too, living out of a motel room. Not fun, but “this too shall pass.” You will be fine.

You have a wide range of interests. Good for you! I’d start narrowing things down and go for excellence in one main area.

I’m a musician. For recording, if you want to get serious about it, start off by setting a budget. I’d start by saving up $2300. That could get you a small MacBook, Logic Pro X, Shure SM57 mic, an XLR-to-USB adapter, a cable adapter for USB to Thunderbolt, microphone stand, and AKG k-240 headphones, Bluetooth MIDI controller, and one or two necessities I might not have thought about. This is not a high-powered setup with much storage, no 3rd party plugins or sample libraries. It’s very minimal, and I wouldn’t count on recording more than 8 softsynth/drum tracks + 8 audio tracks. But that should be PLENTY enough for you to get a quick EP out.

I started out with a cheap windows 98 setup, used some cheap laptops off eBay, and then went up to an iBook G4. When I outgrew that, I bought a 2008 MBP with minimal specs and pretty much wore it out. Just this year I replaced it with a new MBP, this time with 1TB SSD, Logic Pro X pre-installed, 16 GB RAM, 15 inch display, and packed it with GPO, EWQL symphonic choir and symphonic orchestra libraries along with my go-to 3rd party plugins: Arturia Synclavier V, NI Reaktor, FM8, Absynth, and Kontakt player with ProjectSAM Lumina library. I’m more of a cinematic and symphonic composer than a singer/songwriter so it’s worth it for me to be free in my spending.

But when you start from nothing, you have to set realistic goals. #1 priority is to protect your investment, so first you need a place to live. Then you need an entry level job so you can start saving money.

All else in the meantime will have to be borrowed. Is there a church in your area that might let you borrow a piano just so you can get song ideas down? Do you have a smartphone or some other device that will let you do voice recording? Just getting those ideas down is always a good start. You might consider learning to play guitar also. Portable, takes up little space, and learning your chords will help get some harmony down while you sing. And guitars are relatively inexpensive. Just make sure you keep a set or two of spare strings in your case because, well, you never know.

Anyway, that’s how you break into music. It’s not as hard as people think it is. It’s just that so many people lose heart and give up because they have all the wrong expectations, this mentality that the world owes them something just because they can strum a guitar and sing. I produce my own music. I’ve made about $500 total from that. I’m almost 40 now. I have about $5 in YouTube ad revenue. I keep food on the table by teaching and by serving on the church staff as an instrumentalist, essentially a liaison between the worship leader and the praise and worship band. I also program and play synths with the youth praise team. I play in bands every chance I get, and I play for fundraisers, social functions, weddings, whatever. I’m in a slump at the moment, but it’s been worse. You just do what it takes, sacrifice, and hopefully at worst you break even.

Best of luck out there! Keep us posted on how you’re doing.

For once I actually agree with you, especially the expectations part. It's perfectly possible to make a living doing music, especially doing teaching and/or live gigs, but you have to be willing to sacrifice alot and work extremely hard, there's not alot of money in selling records anymore. However, if your goal is to be rich, you probably couldn't choose an industry where that's less likely to happen.

80-90% of people in this industry, from producers, to musicians, sound designers, audio engineers, live techs ect. Earn a bit above or below minimum wage. And most of them work very hard, and are very dedicated. The only reason they do it, is because they love it. Seriously, if your goal is money, look elsewhere, this industry is not kind to the half hearted.

I am currently on my way out, and going back to university. I will always love music, and keep it as a hobby, but I realize after 5 years of trying(been playing for 13), the workload is too big, the pay is too low, and the risk is too high. I want more freedom in my future, and I doubt I will ever get that in music. The stress of it all started having negative effects on my mental health, and I knew I had to let go. Only the lucky few get to make it big, sometimes life hits you in the head.

I am by no means telling you no to do it. If you have to do it, just do it and don't look back.

The “real money” is in music licensing. Learn to make good, clean tracks, and the rest is all about cranking tunes out as fast as you can. Pay attention to what’s in demand. You could make $50k-$250k EASY.

I’m not in a position where risk:benefit is quite worth it yet. You have to treat it like it’s a full time job even if you don’t make any money right away. I’m running a school music program that very likely is about to receive some real money from a Nashville veteran and I may be forced to go full-time. So taking off in the dead of the night for a “maybe” vs. about to get a big break handed to me just for showing up for work... ugh... tough decision...

But to my credit I DID get one song placement on a TV show. Who knows what can happen if I do a better job managing my spare time?

Seriously, Closet, look into music licensing. If you land some indie films, corporate, or TV, or shop any of that out as concert music for school bands or even professional orchestras, or whatever it is you enjoy doing, you could have a potentially lucrative side-gig. LOTS of composers and producers do corporate jobs and live comfortably. Part of the reason album releases and radio play aren’t the big earners anymore is that career musicians are ditching the media in favor actual paying jobs nobody dreamed of taking 30 years ago. My plans are to do a massive amount of radio/TV images, repurpose them as concert music, and see who’s buying. I have lot of friends in high school and colleges, maybe one or two in symphony orchestras. If nothing else, there’s Bandcamp and iTunes.

I'm glad, despite being homeless, that you're not in a typical "homeless" sort of situation.

I live in NYC; you just might live near NYC.

What do you want to study in college? I work in a library at Pace University. Should you happen to get a scholarship to Pace, maybe you can visit me and say Hi.

Good luck on your journey to become a lawyer! That’s awesome!

The modeling work is probably the most lucrative work and the quicker you can have if you have the looks and the body (but its life cycle is short but you make tons of money)- just look how much the regular models on instagram earn, and I am not even talking about the celeb models.

You can even do it while studying something you love, it will cover your education costs.

All very helpful advice and information, do you have any insight or good advice about if I were to pursue acting seriously?As in putting the music aside at some point to full time go after a career in the acting industry?

Well, personally I have a great interest in studying broadcast journalism and also obtaining a degree in political science.My mother wants me to enter into something that's either in the medical field or the legal profession.Either a pediatrician, doctor, or a lawyer (with my choice of doing either prosecution or defense, for now I've chosen defense but I could change my mind later, possibly).I'm thinking in that case I want to do a combination of acting studies along with obtaining some modeling work and study to become a lawyer.So, I may go into broadcast journalism later but have a legal background on top of that.

Now, it is important to maintain at least a 3.5 Grade Point Average (about an A-minus), so you stand a decent shot of getting into law school.

And take advantage of the scholarship opportunities which come to people with low incomes.

And do internships whenever possible.

I’m not discouraging you from the legal profession. But I do think you need to be more realistic about it. Criminal lawyers, prosecution and defense, are overdramatized in the media. The actual work along with courtroom procedure are really boring. Boring, tedious, BUT extremely high pressure at times with more difficult cases. You may have to prosecute someone who is innocent, or defend someone who is guilty, and yet your goal is always to WIN.

Most lawyers aren’t criminal lawyers. They all could competently handle criminal cases, or at least survive them, but that’s a more specialized area of law that comparatively few lawyers take on.

Most of your money is made handling so-called “debt counseling,” which is the politically correct term for bankruptcy. Fed bankruptcy laws are tougher now than they used to be, requiring means testing at least for Chapter 13 (wipe out unsecured debt, save the house and the car, and bring secured payments up-to-date with a lower court-sanctioned payment plan). Chapter 7 is the easy one: Tell credit card and payday loan companies to stick it, sell off all your securities, and tell the bank where to stick it with the difference.

I did a Social Security brief once for 2 lawyers who teamed up. Lawyers get BIG payoffs for SS cases.

Then you have routine family law—adoptions, wills/estates, trust funds, real estate, blah blah blah. But bankruptcies and divorces are lawyers’ bread and butter. I hated doing divorces. And then because I was overweight at the time, I’d pick up a little extra pizza money as a process server. Easy work. “Sir, are you _____?” (Yes). “Here.” (Hand over blueback/restraining order/whatever, walk away, don’t say a word.)

Passing law school is eeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssyyyyyyy. Can you read? Can you follow instructions? Then you can be a lawyer. As long as you understand how to form complete sentences, you’ll pass bar. It’s the time and money spent at law school that’ll kill you, but they really aren’t looking to turn anyone away. As long as you have common sense, you’re good.

Legal language is REPETITIVEREPETITIVEREPETITIVEREPETITIVE. Recursive. Something they have in common with programmers. Once you get used to the legalese, it quickly becomes second nature to you. It’s not all that interesting, but if you are really passionate about law and helping people and you have a competitive streak, it’s an easy profession.

Best advice I can give on becoming a lawyer: don’t get too caught up in the lifestyle. Too many doctors and lawyers let the money go to their heads and forget about simple economics. Simply put—if you can’t pay for it, you can’t afford it. Serve in an area with few lawyers, grow your clientele, and don’t be surprised when you have a $250k year AFTER paying taxes, fees, and student loans. You should be able to knock out your loans in less than 10 years. So when that day comes and you get a HUGE workers comp or accidental death settlement, or some MASSIVE civil suit settlement, go ahead and buy the mansion on the hill. Donate money to the public school and get a building named after you. Do NOT lose sight of the big prize and get screwed over because your pride made you blind to risk.

And stay off the drugs, too. If lawyers had to take drug tests before going to court, we’d be in terrible trouble. Same goes for judges! lol

Anyway... I’m not a lawyer, just a former temp paralegal. It was actually quite fun, and I learned a lot. If you earn a degree in paralegal studies, you basically get the same thing lawyers get in half the time and without having to pass bar. You basically practice law without a license while under a real lawyer’s supervision. If you can do that for 4 or 5 years, you get all the legalese and procedure with hands-on experience. THEN apply for law school and just breeze through it. Sleep through it. Try not to party too much, try not to stay high all the time. Remember all your classmates’ names, because they’ll populate the firms and maybe even judges’ benches as you get older, and may be willing to do you some favors one day. Network the heck out of law school. Little things like that make any profession easier to transition into.