Don't. Ha, just kidding, kind of. You do need to understand that if you go down this path, you will have to work 10 times as hard as you would at a 9-5, and there's no guarantee you'll do decently financially. I'm writing this from more of a recording standpoint, but if you want more of a touring one, I can answer that too.

Take any job you can. And I mean any job. Finding work is always the hardest when your just starting out.

Be a people person. If you can, befriend the studio owners and producers and they'll send work your way. I spent 3 years touring before I started getting recording gigs, and that network I'd built up proved invaluable. Don't burn any bridges, you never know who is going to recommend you to whom.

Recording and touring are wholly different animals. I'm going to assume you're already a pretty good player, if you can't sight read, try your best to learn. My biggest weakness is my reading. It's kept me from a few jobs.

Be a musical sponge. Listen to anything and everything. In fact, learn some styles you just don't like. To be successful, you're going to need to nail whatever part your asked to in as little time as possible. Sometimes that means they want something that's not in your bag of tricks. If you're a metal guy/gal, pick up some jazz standards, if you're classical, pick up some metal riffing, you should definitely have the blues down pat no matter what you like to play, and finger-style folk and classical will also serve you well.

This one is gonna be kind of rough, but I firmly believe it. Have a backup plan. You never know if you're going to make it, I've seen many fantastic musicians go broke trying to "make it." Understand, the chances of you making it are stacked heavily against you. I got my music degree, them went back and got a CS degree. You need to be a realist and not end up on the street.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Also, if you don't mind me asking, where are you located/going to be/want to be?