Frank Ocean Quotes

I worked check-to-check, worked in dead-end jobs my whole life before I got into stand-up, and even during stand-up, I was working at a retail job and Starbucks, all those places.

I think that I'm lucky in that, even at levels where I, by and large, wasn't making enough money to sustain my life, I worked as a male nanny, I waited tables and did what I had to, to keep doing theater and acting.

Before I got my big hit, I was selling beats for $500.

I started out as a duo with Mis-Teeq's Sabrina Washington, and we worked for four or five years before signing a record deal. I had no money, and I was taking part-time jobs just to earn the train fare to get to rehearsals.

When I moved to New York, I was waiting tables, painting in the daytime and working at night, and I felt it was possible to find a balance and just about get by.

I didn't come out and roll from job to job - my first year was really tough. I had to work as a teaching assistant for an agency; I ran a pancake stall in Dulwich Market. I taught drama classes and ran my own workshops. I applied for every advert on Gumtree there possibly was.

My parents got divorced when I was about ten years old, but I saw my mom go work two and three jobs to make sure we didn't miss a beat.

I had a lot of time before I actually got my break so to speak. I was building websites for other actors. I worked in a grocery store back in the little village where I grew up but I found it mind-numbingly boring.

Being in a band is far more than playing an instrument. It's surviving. It's getting an album together.

I worked selling tickets for Dodger Stadium; I delivered pizza; I did every job under the sun. It's the part that sucks as an artist. But I've learned at the end of the day you just have to enjoy your life.

Honestly, when I got to Hollywood I was trying to sell my songs.

'Queen of Hearts' is one I'm really proud of because I worked so hard on it, and then I was told it wasn't good enough to be included on an Allman Brothers album. That directly led me to go into the studio and cut 'Laid Back,' my first solo release. So 'Queen of Hearts' is special to me.

Everybody was in struggle, in the grind trying to make it.

It only took me six months to get a record deal, but it took me 20 years to have a hit.

I couldn't live on the singing at first, so I worked as a cleaner, in a launderette, in a garage, face painting and doing the windows of shops at Christmas, 'cause I had been to art college.

When I started out, I struggled, and I was broke a lot. But I'm glad I struggled, and I'm glad I was broke a lot.

My mother cleaned homes and drove school buses, and when my family was on the brink of foreclosure... I started bartending and waitressing.

If one job doesn't pay all the bills, don't worry. You can get another one and another one and another one.

I've done so many jobs. As an actor, you have to. I didn't have my parents footing the bill when I moved to New York. I moved here with, like, 300 bucks. I was a bike messenger. I was a waiter. I was a bartender. I worked in a consignment shop for high-end designers.

When I first started fighting, it wasn't the easiest thing. I didn't have all the money in the world. I was eating Subway once in a while, some packets of oatmeal here and there. It wasn't that bad, but it's because I was fortunate and had good people there to support me.

My father worked three jobs, my mother worked two, seven days a week sometimes. And they wouldn't take welfare or social assistance, they were too proud.

I didn't come over with a comfy sponsor that took care of my visa and paid me a good amount of money right away. I came over here with nothing, the little bit of money that I had saved up, and it was struggle and plight to get some recognition and then finally make it to the WWE.

Even when we were stuck touring, earning $100 a day, I never thought I'd even make it that far.

I've never relied on one job and usually have a few different gigs going.

The jingles saved my life. When I got hired to do that, I was on top. I finally was making a living doing what I loved. Before that, it was so bleak; it got so dark in L.A. I was 25, been living there for seven years trying to make it, and getting really close to getting signed with different bands and as a solo artist only to have my hopes dashed.