40 years

Sometimes peoples fears get the best of them. You can be afraid to fail and you can be afraid to succeed and some can be afraid of both at the same time. You can cloud your thoughts with over thinking. I'm not big on setting goals because I think they are traps for giving up when a goal isn't reach by a certain timeline. I also believe that your goals will change as you move forward and you should go with that instinct as long as you are positive about the change. I have stated before that I'm a big fan of change, good and bad all lead to some place new.
Every marketing guru in the world will tell you to do what you love, do one thing and do it really well. Create your brand and stick to it. I think that's good advice from a marketing standpoint but I think sometimes people do this too early in their career and pass on opportunities that may help them down the road. I hate when I hear young photographers or assistants say "that's not what I do". I think it's a bit naive and close minded for a" creative person" to put themselves in a box right out of school. You may find out that your really good at a different genre and apply that knowledge in the future. Everybody has there own idea of what being successful is. I have seen many talented people give up on their dream because they couldn't adapt to change. I may have a different outlook but my idea is that if you get out of college by twenty five years old you have forty years to be a photographer until you turn sixty five. Do you really want to spend forty,thirty,twenty years shooting the same type stuff? Not all of us are going to make millions and millions of dollars in a ten year period and then fade off into the sunset and do book projects and gallery shows.

I also believe you have to be open minded about your location. Sometimes you have to move for opportunity,but some people aren't willing to do that. Big cities are not always the best place to work, I started in a large market, moved to a very small market. I was lucky, the small market I moved to allowed me to work on very large jobs for big clients at a very young age. I would have never gotten that experience in a big city. I got to work with extremely talented people without all the big city click bullshit.

I am currently in a large market ,opportunity once again brought me back. Like all opportunity there is a certain amount of risk, financial and mental. Each of these categories carry the same weight in my opinion. One feeds the other. Over the years I have witnessed people fold under these pressure's. If you don't open yourself to different experiences at the beginning of your career it can come back to haunt you.

I have learned more from bad experience's than good ones.