Thanks everyone for the great input. I submitted to my first agent, and I am glad it is now behind me. I hope to make it a much more common thing just to get passed all of the head games I put myself through.
I am glad to hear that my intuitions aren't off. I think knowing the obstacles we all are going to face only helps us more than not knowing at all. Like I mentioned above about my previous career pursuits, I was very much unaware of how hard it was going to be in that industry, and having people give me a false picture only ruined any chance I had of continuing to pursue it in the future. I think almost everyone from my classes back then is doing something different now, and I that might be due to a false honeymoon scenario which led us all to fail. One of the things I loved about SVS when I first came was the honesty, and not being told that it was a dream job, and life becomes perfect once I get an agent, or even that I might never be able to get one. It prepared me much better than other pursuits, and it is interesting how reading what @Lee-White had to say doesn't feel like a negative, but somewhat of a relief. I definitely want to be as prepared as I can be for the work load, as well as any other things that are required of me to make this work. I have already come to grips with the idea that if I can make something of myself in this industry that I might just scrape by forever, and I am totally fine with that. I love the craft, and just want to be a part of it in some way.
@smceccarelli I think seeing you post here for the last couple of years and hearing about your experiences has helped me prepare for this to be different than I might have imagined it to be. I have heard that the publishing world is a tight group of people, and the last thing I would want is to start off on the wrong foot a gain a bad reputation, so knowing about your experience and guarding myself a bit for the future only helps me prepare to be someone worth working with. I want to make sure I am a responsible client for agents, and that I can fulfill any job I take. I love your perspective on continuing to feed my portfolio. I think much of my aim has been to craft the perfect portfolio that represents me, but that is somewhat of a fools errand it seems and that makes sense. I think the idea of working on a series of images is a very good one. I will shift to that shortly.
@Jason-Bowen I take it as a positive for sure. I tend to overthink everything, and allow opportunities to overwhelm me. I fear saying the wrong things, or that I might make a misstep and ruin what might be my only opportunity, or at least I think that in my mind. I also want to make sure that whatever happens to me that I am open with everyone here about it. I want to help everyone keep on their toes a bit, because I see us as a team, and that I want all of us to have success in what we are pursuing, so revealing my fears about the process is somewhat part of it I guess š
