I know that you have a certified asshole of an employer; the kind who makes you wants to sharpen your kitchen knife and butcher them for New Year's dinner. You want to exit that toxic work environment so bad except your only plan is to become a gangster rapper.

You have no funds, no backup plan, no extra skills, no alternative source of employment lined up, no nothing; just a trailer load of wanderlust, a Sound Cloud account and an accent which you borrowed from a New York you'll probably not be able to visit anytime soon.

Either that or you are in your 2nd year of college or university; and your youthful mind is filled with thoughts of quitting school so that you can joined your aforementioned counterpart in again... becoming a gangster rapper. (Insert whatever genre you prefer. The journey is still very much the same).

Well... Don't! Don't quit what you got going just yet; not unless your parents are direct beneficiaries of the recently concluded COVID 19 money heist. Even then, it's still money that they worked so damn hard to steal. Don't imagine that they'll give you a couple millions to fund your music career just because they stole it from somewhere.

If you don't have enough savings to live on as you establish your footing as a self-sustaining brand, please keep flipping those book pages. Keep learning alternative skills and keep building your credit. Don't quit unless you have a solid plan and finances to back up your artistic dreams.

These terrains are harsh and unfriendly and only a very tiny percentage actually gets to actualize their artistic dreams. Even for those who eventually do know that it takes time, resources, prayer, deodorant and a whole lot of scheming. Let no one lie to you that it's going to be as easy as dropping out of school or quitting your job to become an overnight sensation.

Come in blind at your own risk if you want though. You'll soon morph into a self-loathing internet scribe who drinks cheap liquor and pens long jeremiads about how the so called older artistes have refused to give your youthful shine a chance. You will be spending your mornings and evenings spamming people with links they'll never open; all because you never saved enough money to market yourself in the proper way.

By then your parents would have already kicked you out of their house and you will be here cursing them out as well. You'll become thin to the point you'll swallow your own dimples because of skipping meals. In between time, you'll also be hopping from studio to studio like a desert locust in search of your big break.

Some of those promoters, brokers and producers will want your genitals and all your rights as well as royalties in exchange for a few favors and there's nothing you'll be able to do about it. By the time you get around to actually making it, you'd have spent up all your energy reserves, your verve, your flare and the beauty which currently resides inside your innocent soul.

In short, don't be an idiot. The game is going nowhere. It's you who is in a hurry to fly before you can crawl. Get that money. Have a solid plan. Learn alternative skills. Get those papers if your folks can afford to put you through school. Those are the things that will keep you afloat as you pursue your artistic dreams; not talent, not beauty, not brown skin, not biceps and not a big behind.

Many of these celebrities you are dying to emulate will never show you the other side of the story. They never post their struggles or their failures. They'll never tell you that they are going through hell or that they are faking it for the Gram.

They'll never tell you that they are grappling with debt and regret either so don't admire blindly. Be the human with a master plan and you'll flourish. Fail to plan and you'll just be another statistic among the approximately 40,000 acts who upload new Spotify material daily.

Rome was not built in one day and neither were your biggest brands. Nurse those dreams though because dreaming is the only part you can get for free. Polish those rhymes, work on your flows, invest in your image and then when your life jacket is fully functional, dive in with all you got. Hallelujah church? Amen.

This article was originally shared by MC Sharon on Facebook. MC Sharon is a Hip Hop musician, artist, writer and entrepreneur.