If you are a "business man", or a stock broker, or a salesman, or an entrepreneur then you're probably strongly motivated by money. Maybe money represents your status in the world. Maybe it just provides a feeling of endless opportunity. Unfortunately money means everything for some people. Someone's net worth or flashy toys get to the point where they define a persons whole being. Interestingly, over and over again I see for myself and hear from the "wise" that money does not make someone happy... although it should probably be stated... money ALONE does not make someone happy.
I don't think you will ever talk to a true artist and have them tell you that what they do is for money, or that money ever defines who they are. On the other hand, the term "starving artist" doesn't just exist as an exaggerated expression, it's true much of the time.
So what do we "starving artists" do for food and shelter? And how do we find it without losing our core in the process? I'm not sure really, because I'm unfortunately still working on it. I might be somewhere in the middle, or I would like to think I am. I'm not willing to wake up every morning and focus my day and life on making money, which probably is why I don't have more. I will say though that I'm discouraged at the times I'm struggling. I have come to a place in my life where I realize that, even though I'm completely confident that money isn't everything, it certainly is a necessary evil. It provides some kind of sense of security no matter how feeble and false that feeling really is. If you're one with financial means when someone else isn't, sometimes doors and opportunities open up not only for a selfish reason but more importantly to be generous and giving.
So what drives an artist? I'm guessing that most of us are similar in that we're painfully good at procrastination. I can get something done in a matter of hours pinned against the wall that I haven't accomplished on my own over the course of months. I won't say that I'm driven by the money from a project as much as I'm driven by the deadline and making people happy with me and my work. Even though the truth is that I'm looking for the check when it's all said and done.
If I'm right about all of these observations not only in myself but others, then it just adds to the list of things an artist needs to balance out. Being driven by procrastination doesn't really set the stage for the most productive life. The trick is to create your own deadlines and projects and goals. If we aren't driven as much by money as we are the art and the process, then maybe the answer is to drive our own projects. When we create the deadline and the project to drive us, then we're always moving forward. We will always make product and art, and are hopefully happy with whatever it is we're doing throughout the day.
I wish it was all that easy. I wish that I saw my own life the way I see others. I wish that I was starting a project as soon as I post this blog... but I might not. It isn't because I don't want to or that others should "do as I say not as I do", but because everyday life forces most of us to get off the highway. We don't live in a world where we can just sit in our creative spaces and disappear. The truth is that artists can't. We need people and social interaction. We need all aspects of life to be the true artists that we are. We need to be interdependent versus independent, careful not to become codependent.
We just have to find the right thing to drive us down the road until we reach each new destination.