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Career Roadmap

Joe's work combines: Music, Entrepreneurship, and Being Creative

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Day In The Life

Musician, Paper Arrows

Write, record, perform and market original music.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

    Oak Park River Forest

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Ancient/Classical Greek Language and Literature

    University of Wisconsin-Madison

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Musicians & Singers:

High School

Bachelor's Degree: Ancient/Classical Greek Language and Literature

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    I started learning to play the guitar when I was 8 and playing in bands from 10 on.

  • 2.

    Then I went to college and majored in Ancient Greek (Classics) but pursued music on the side.

  • 3.

    Then I graduated college and worked at a law firm for almost 10 years.

  • 4.

    Then I wrote a folk opera based on Homer's "Odyssey" and created "Paper Arrows."

  • 5.

    Then I quit my day job to pursue music full time, including "The Odyssey", "Paper Arrows", and teaching.

  • 6.

    Now I am succeeding in multiple areas of music and can't wait to see what happens next.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Myself:

    Success must look like ____________

  • How I responded:

    I overcome the Noise by being flexible and understanding that success comes in many forms and by focusing on the things that I do well and that set me apart from other people in my field. It feels counter intuitive and at times presents more challenges because you may not find an exact analogue to your situation but in the long run cultivating unique vision and talent will set you apart from others and give you space to market yourself and really to BE yourself. And that's success.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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  • I haven't quite overcome it yet but through hard work and focusing on the simple successes I find that fear recedes to a manageable level.