How to Succeed

There are a ton of resources these days about how to succeed. There are as many articles and books on the subject it seems, as there are people. So why another article on how to succeed? How is this going to be different than any other article?

This is different because it deals with the most basic rule about succeeding. Every other rule and guideline is just a point based on this. Every other reason is an offshoot of this basic principle. It’s nothing new and has been said numerous times and a variety of ways. It needs to be mentioned again here though for all of you musicians out there. Mostly because I feel that musicians and artists are more familiar with this rule than most people out there yet don’t apply it to the other areas of their life. Most of all, they rarely apply it to their career.

The Musician Entrepreneur

Here's a bit of a newsflash for you, if you're a working musician you're automatically an entrepreneur! What's more, this absolutely nothing new. This is the way it has always been. From the time of Bach and Mozart, to Duke, to today, musicians have always had to take care of business. Some famous musicians were notoriously bad at handling business and  finances, while others were quite good at it. The problem is that even though this is standard fare in a musician's career, it's seldom discussed and rarely taught. It's one of those subjects that we're forced to learn on our own. Usually the long, hard way!

4 Reasons Why Musicians Fail

Let's face it, being a musician isn't the easiest route to go. There's no security, usually very little money and a high risk of failure. Yet the market is more crowded now than it has ever been. With all those people out there reaching for the same goals, the chances of failure are even greater. Here are the 4 biggest reasons why most musicians fail at making music their career.

How Musicians Can Deal With Stress

It's not a secret that the life of a musician isn't easy. There are tons of things to deal with, lots of ups and downs and always unexpected things cropping up. The hardest part of all of this is the fact that you're pretty much alone most of the time. You're trying to get things going in your career as well as trying to be creative the rest of the time. It's important that you learn how to deal with the daily grind of trying to get your music career going (as well as keeping it going!). There are a few things that you can do to keep your focus thereby saving yourself some stress.

How To Find Your Musical Goals

There was a comment recently about tips for trying to figure out your goals. This seems to be a tough thing for most people, especially musicians. There are tons of articles out there about how to get things done and succeed. They start off with you making a list of your goals and then move on from there. Unfortunately, figuring out your goals is usually difficult and timing consuming. Some people go through their entire life not knowing what they're goals are. Yet you're supposed to figure this out in a short time and then move on from there. Figuring out what your goals are like asking you what your favorite color is. It's all personal and one person's answers are going to be different than another. The key to figuring out what your goals are is all about asking questions; tons of them. Once you start asking yourself the right questions it will become easier figuring out what direction you should take.

Practicing On Purpose

We seem to set out with the best of intentions. We try and practice everyday. We make sure we're covering the basics. We're trying to improve. Like we've talked about here before, it's important that you set apart some time to try and assess what your goals are. You try to figure out what you want to accomplish on your instrument and what you want to accomplish with music overall. But there's so much to learn. So much to practice. Every new skill seems to take forever to master. How do you know what you're supposed to practice and what not to? Of course having a great teacher is invaluable for this because that should be a prime consideration of theirs every time they see you. But how to do you figure this out on your own? How do you practice with purpose?

The Real Life Of A Musician

I read a great quote a long time ago that said ‘a musician doesn’t do just one thing, a musician does many things’. Great words of wisdom. Unless you’re lucky and hook onto something immediately, you’re going to end up doing a lot of things to make ends meet and ultimately become successful in your career. Instead of just going out there and just getting 'any job to pay the bills', it may be in your best interest to really think about what you want to do and how to go about getting there. Something that you should take into consideration when trying to figure out how to get into the industry is (oddly enough) 'industry related' jobs. These are better than your regular run-of-mill jobs because a) in some cases be a greater source of income than your standard part-time wage b) it may be something you're already skilled at, and most importantly, c ) it may create excellent opportunities that take your music career to the next level.

Musician's Top 10 Getting It Done List

Being a working musician is tough. You're pretty much on your own. You have to take care of all of the business, networking and finances. On top of that you have to find time after a busy day to try and be creative and make some great art. Here are a list of things to help you keep focused and on track.

1. Move away from abstract ideas to actionable goals - There was a study done with two groups of people. Both groups where given a set of tasks to complete. Group A's tasks where clear and concise (like go pickup this, go here etc.); whereas Group B's tasks where a little more abstract (like having to pick out 'interesting items'). Group A completed all of the tasks whereas Group B had trouble completing the list. It's much easier for us to complete concrete, measurable goals. This especially applies to musicians because so much of what we do is abstract. For example your goal maybe to write a song. That's not well enough defined and also may not be something you can complete in one go. A better goal would be to finish a first draft of a pop song or ballad. This applies to everything; your writing, business and practice sessions.

Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

It's pretty much a universal truth; practice makes perfect. Musicians know all too well that if you want to master your art, there is no substitute for practice. The problem is that this statement is much too vague.

The Blind Leading...

Just blindly practicing without thought can do more damage than good. Thinking that you can just show up and go through the motions can install false hope and produce unrealistic expectations. It also may cause doubt and pain after a huge investment in time and money is made and there are no results or improvement. There are right ways to practice and wrong ways to practice. There are wrong ways to learn and wrong ways to work. You can actually practice hard everyday and not accomplish very much at all. The student who practices wrong may be doing more damage than good; wasting years of time and effort practicing the wrong things over and over. Or, they may be going through the motions of practicing without making any effort or challenging themselves at all. Essentially, it's not enough to just sit down and practice, you must make sure that you are going about it the right way.

Why Are We Here?

While this may seem obvious at the outset, a lot of students will go about practicing without thought to why they are doing it in the first place. Some musicians have the really bad habit of practicing certain skills without too much thought about proper fingering or technique. People like to practice the same material and skills over and over. Learning new skills and keeping yourself challenged takes some discipline. Keeping on track with planning, execution and periodic self assessment is hard. It seems so much easier just to get to it; even when we know better. If may be as simple as not looking forward enough to see how much could be gained by some planning and discipline.


The Two Finger Approach

A lot of the time, making that initial investment seems like more trouble than its worth,. We're simply too lazy, can't be bothered and just want to get down to the task at hand. There are some skills that people don't take the time to learn even though the investment would be quite small in comparison to the time and money saved. The best analogy of this is the simple task of typing. Many people spend most of their day on their computer yet never learn to type. Even though it will save them a huge amount of time in the long run, they never take the time to learn and practice the skill properly. Some people go through an entire lifetime typing with two fingers. If they took the time to learn the skill in the first place, with regular practice they could double their typing speed in a relatively short time. The best part is that this is a skill that will stick with you the rest of your life. With a little concentrated effort and planning you may achieve much more in a significantly less amount of time. When you take the time to learn the proper technique, you will only get better with time. It's a good idea to think about this when planning your practice regimen. Think about what it is you want to learn and how (or who to go to) would be the best way to go about it.

Do You Have One?

First of all, how many musicians do you think actually have a practice regimen? By that I mean a specific time set apart where the musician will sit down and follow a charted course of lessons and exercises. How many musicians a) practice simply when they have a spare moment or just whenever they feel like it? b) actually take notes during their practice sessions? c) record their practice sessions and periodically review their progress? Working at something without actually charting your progress seems ludicrous. Can you imagine practicing a sport without taking the time to measure your progress and results? Yet how many musicians do this? How many musicians take a haphazard approach to practicing, writing, technique and their overall progress? As a student of any other activity, you would never do this.


General Rules

I'm going to go over some general rules to always keep in mind when sitting down to practice. These principles can also be applied to any endeavor which takes daily, regimented action.

Always do the following when sitting down to practice.

• relax and focus on the task at hand
• be mindful about what you're doing and why 
• review what you did in the last session
• plan for the practice session
• work on problem areas
• work on new skills and ideas
• take notes
• stretch and challenge yourself daily
• use a timer
• include warm ups and fundamental exercises
• make notes for next session
  

While this may seem like it would be a chore to do and hard to implement, it's actually like most other learned behaviours. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes easier to do. After an extended period of time it will become automatic. It actually saves a lot of time and takes a lot of the guess work out of what you're trying to do. It's easier to stay on track because it's all right in front of you. There is little guess work. It may be hard for a lot of easy going, artistic personalities to get into such a regimen but once you stick with it for a while and start seeing results quite quickly, your attitude may change.

The Big Review

You're going to have to sit down periodically and do an overall review. These reviews serve two purposes. First of all it gives you a good idea of what you've done and what you want to accomplish. That way you can make sure that you're working on things that are going to get you where you want to go. With music, there are so many skills and things to learn that it becomes easy to work on many different things. It's easy to get into a whole set of skills that aren't related to what you wanted to accomplish in the first place. It gives you something to measure as far as seeing if you are actually moving toward your goal.

Secondly it also helps in motivation and keeping on track. It's all too easy to lose your place or even worst, lose your motivation when practicing. This after all, is just you. You have to try and be objective about what you've learned and if you're making any progress. If you've taken the time to write down what you want to accomplish, you can later go back and see if you've done what you've set out. A lot of the students I have taught get excited when they see the results in their playing. Sometimes, it's as simply as recognizing a chord progression on the radio, but once there are measurable results, it gives up the motivation to stick with it. There are always periods of what seems like no growth at all but then there are always moments of a-ha where you realize that have improved or accomplished something significant.

The Big Plan

One of the things that's important to do before you even start a practice regimen is figure out what it is you want to accomplish. Write down what specific skills you'd like to learn and what the big plan is. It should be within a given time frame. This could be a year or 6 months or even 3 months. Don't worry about being too accurate with your time frame if you're just starting out with a new skill. For a beginner this would include learning to play an instrument for an intermediate musician, it may be earning to write a symphony. You won't know how long this is going to take. As you get going with your regimen though, you should do a review after a couple of months. From this you will be able to tell if you're improving and it may give you a better idea of your time frame and how long it may take to learn a new skill.

Check, Check

You must make sure that you are checking your results and always striving to get better. It's possible to keep going over the same things and think that you are practicing but you're not. This is when people seem to hit that 'ceiling' and can't seem to improve. When learning new skills you may have to get 'worst' before you get better. There's the idea that mastering a skill takes 10 years but it's possible that you could work on something for a decade or more and see very little results. It's also possible for someone with a set plan, with the right materials and work ethic, to master something in a fraction of that time.

Working Solo: R&D

Last time we talked about some of the problems with goals setting and planning when working on your own. When you're a musician most of the time you're going to be on your own which makes it that much harder trying to get it all done.


What to Do…What to Do

Planning is simply figuring out what’s important, what needs to be done, and how it’s going to get done. The problem with the music industry is that there isn't one way to the top. There are as many ways of getting there as there are musicians. So what do you need to do? What's your first step? What's your next step? What needs to be done first? Of course the answer to any of these questions has a lot to do with where you are now and what you want to accomplish. There is no set approach for artists and musicians; more now than ever since the turn in music industry in recent years.


R&D

You are going to have to spend a part of everyday on career development. Most companies spend a good deal of time (and money) in research and development. As a business, you're going to have to do the same. It’s said that in business that you should be reinvesting a certain percentage of your profits back into R&D; otherwise you become obsolete and die. You need to be doing the same. That means spending time everyday doing some research in figuring out what people in your industry are doing to make it. Much like practicing and working at your craft, this is one of the things that you should be thinking about and working on everyday. How do you go about this? What do you do first? If you’re just starting out, you’re going to have to do quite a bit of research and a lot of trial and error.


This process of research and trial and error never actually ends; you just get better at it.


The ‘R’ Part

For a starting musician (or even if you’re not), you will need to do some research first. Go to your library and take out books. There are tons, pick a couple but don’t just read them, make notes and put some of the ideas into action. This will be the beginning of your master plan. Don’t worry if you’re doing the ‘right’ thing yet. It will become apparent what works and what doesn’t soon enough. Do some research online. Don’t spend too much time on this. You could spend years going through all of the stuff online and end up wasting a lot of time. Do the same process as you did with the books. Take some of the good ideas, print them out on a separate sheet so you can access them anytime. This will get rid of any temptation to do any extra surfing while trying to work on your goals. Make a list of some actionable goals from the ideas you got online and then get out there and do them.


People, Places

Get out there and talk with musicians. This may be your greatest resource. Even if they aren’t ‘rockstars’ yet, that doesn’t matter. Every musician has stories and lessons learned. Remember to take it all with a grain of salt. See what ideas you like and try them out. If you hear one piece of advice over and over; memorize it and learn from it. It may save you a lot of pain later. There is no substitute for real experience but with a little research there won’t be as many surprises. Make no mistake though, there will be surprises!


Always have research and development as part of your to do list. No matter where you are in your path, this always needs to be on your list. This must be an ongoing thing.


The ‘D’ Part

The development part has a couple of areas that needs to be considered. Just putting your research into action is part of your development. Tweaking that research and you master plan is another. Remember we’re talking about career development here and not about your art; development of your art goes is another article entirely. Development in your career also involves networking, administration and of course finances. If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent years working on your craft, leaving the business largely alone. There is no place for this anymore. Just as you work on songwriting everyday, you must work on the development of your career. This means that once the research has been done and you’ve written down some goals, it’s time to see what’s working. Most businesses have a method of measuring if something is successful or not. They measure if it was worth their while and check to see if they can replicate that process. If you can do this, it’s a good idea but a lot of the things that you do in your development wouldn’t be so clear-cut. Sometimes the most unexpected things happen as a result of something that seemed arbitrary at the time. Sometimes upon closer inspection, there things don’t turn out to be as arbitrary as you think. It’s all part of the process.


Anything Happening Yet?

There will be times that you can see a direct result of something that you had done as part of your R&D. This may be getting contacts at a networking event, meeting other musicians at a jam night or simply getting sales from a local gig. When you achieve some success, it’s important to take a second and figure out why. If you can trace your steps back and see what you did and how it resulted in that particular success, you’re more likely to do that again in the future. It simply means that this process or goal works for you and it’s always a good idea to build on successes. A lot of very famous musicians have built a career on making the most out of one or two ‘small’ successes.


Your Career Workbook

One of things that you may want to do right from the outset is put together a career workbook. I have one of these for my practice sessions as well but having one solely for your business, planning, career and PR is a good idea. Once you’ve made a list, put it in there. Any marketing ideas? Put it in there. CD release checklists, networking events, etc. Put it all in there. Some people like to have their workbook on their computer. I personally find a binder much better. I carry it anywhere, doesn’t need any batteries or back up, and I have a hard copy of all of the most important items. This workbook should be opened at least once a day and checked. It’s important that this is a vehicle for action and results; not another system that you spend all of your time on tweaking and updating. It’s a WORK book.


Try and Try Again

If you’re just starting out don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. Check out some of ideas that you’ve found in your research and get started. Keep a list of what you want to do and what you’ve done. If something works, make a note of it. Rework the research and the plan. It’s a work in process.

Working Solo: Staying Motivated

There’s been a ton written about the importance of planning your goals. It's common knowledge that one of the best things you can do to make your dreams a reality is to put together a list of goals and then take steps to get those goals done. This is rarely as simple as it seems. Take a trip online and see all of the websites, programs and applications that are supposed to make this process simple and painless. The problem with goal setting (and achieving) is that we all have different goals (approaches and applications) and different personalities (methods and motivators). There doesn't seem to be one system for all. What we're going to discuss today is a good starting point in putting together some lists so that you have a strong foundation. We'll look at some of the universal problems in achieving your goals. From here you may try any one of the systems out there and see what works for you. In any case, you'll have set the ground work and not matter which system you end up using, you will be heading toward your goals along the way.

You're Special

One thing that most systems don't take into consideration is the fact that no two people work the same. There are provisions in most time management systems that allow for folks to try and discern the most productive time of day and try to work around that but there's a lot more to it than just the time of day. People have different ways of working and different motivators. Some people like to work under pressure, some hate it. Some people need to work in a neat and orderly place, some people thrive on chaos. Most people need structure, though the amount varies a lot between individuals. Some people need a lot of supervision and feedback, some very little. You get the point here. There are a lot of other variables that most systems don't take into consideration. Some just leave these questions wide open and leave it up to the individual to figure them out for themselves. The problem is that these issues are really important and may make the difference between a system working for you or not. Let's look at a couple.


One is the Loneliest Number

One of the major issues people have today in getting things done is that most things have to be done on your own. This means that not only do you have to get the job done, but you also have to figure out what’s important and what needs to be done. Just as important you have to try and find the motivation to get do these things on a daily basis. The fact is that a lot of people don't work well completely on their own. Most people work best within a system with some structure. Working with other people, it's easier to stay motivated and on course. It's all too easy to let things slide when you don't have any one waiting on results. It's easier to think that an item isn't as important when it's your own responsibility and no-one's reputation or job on the line. The problem is that if you have an important item on your list that must be done, you must find a way in make sure that it gets done. If you boss tells you that he needs that report by Friday morning by 9, it's a lot easier to put much more importance on it because somebody is waiting for it. It seems easier for most people to get things done when there are other people waiting on it and you're reputation is at stake. That's why when people are trying to lose weight and going on an exercise regimen, they are encouraged to tell somebody they trust about their plans. When there is somebody waiting on a particular project, there is a huge built in motivator for you to get that done. When you're on your own, that external motivator isn’t there.


Feedback and Community

Along the same lines, another big motivator that keeps you on goal is feedback and community. When you have a community of people that know about your goals, you can turn to them for advice and motivation. Sometimes just being able to have a conversation about what you're working on and what you plan to do in the future may provide enough motivation to last for weeks. It certainly can help when you're not sure what to do next or if you're questioning the goal in the first place. There is also that built in motivator that we talked about in the last point. Suddenly there are other people that know about what you're doing and you may feel pressure to get things done just to keep up with the community. Community is also great when things aren’t going well. It’s comforting to know that there are others out there going through the same kinds of things that you are. It may also give you an idea of what the trouble is and finding a solution.


Welcome to the Show

It’s no longer enough these days to just be a musician. You need to be able to run your music career like a business. That means that most of the time you’re going to be doing a lot of things at once. Most of these things won’t be your area of expertise. You are literally a one person show. Even if you join a band, these same principles of running a business still apply. You won’t have the money to get all of the help you need so you’re going to have to do a lot of things on your own. You will have to start working your music career like a business.

As a business you’re going to have to set apart some time to make some plans. Knowing how you work, how to keep motivated and on course is critical for your success. At the end of the day, you’re on your own and it’ll be up to you to make sure that you get all that needs to be done…well, done.

Next we’ll take a look of some specific examples from the problems listed above and find some solutions.

So You Want A Record Deal

Image via WikipediaOne of the things that I come across a lot is people who really want to make it in the music industry and think that if they're just standing in the right spot at the right time, then they'll get discovered and all of their dreams will come true. They dream of the day when they turn a corner and there is a music industry bigwig there to make them a star. We all know they story, it's permeated into our brains and then reinforced by the media and shows like 'American Idol'. The premise being that 'we will make you a star'. While this does happen it's rarely the case. Most of the time you hear of people 'getting discovered', they've spent many years working at their craft and were completely prepared when their time came. Part of the success of 'American Idol' is that it feeds this desire may people have to be a star, while taking away the personal responsibility to make your own career. It never ceases to amaze me when I see people with obvious talent subscribing to the thought that a record company will come along one day and make all of their dreams come true. I know because I held these very same viewpoints myself. I used to feel that 'it was going to happen anytime soon'; that this was going to be the year that I finally make a success in the music industry. The problem was that I didn't know exactly how I was going to do that; I didn't have a clue about what I wanted to achieve in the first place. I didn't even know the genre of music I wanted to be successful in because I had spent time touring with rock, country and jazz bands. All I knew was that I wanted to make music for a living and didn't really care in what capacity or exactly how I was going to do that. Is it any surprise to you that I never really had that much success in those years? It wasn't until I sat down and make some concrete goals that I started to see some success. The funny thing was that when I did finally sit down to make plans, the goal to get signed to a record company, something I thought would be the number one item on the list, was about number 20. I realized that if I wanted to become successful in what I wanted to do, I'd have to decide on exactly what it was that I wanted to do and then take responsibility to get it done. Although the thought that I was ultimately responsible for my entire career was scary, it was also very liberating.

The List
Once I had figured out my music career goals, I was surprised to find that getting a recording contract was quite far down the list. Don't get me wrong, it was important to me and it was one of the things that I wanted to accomplish but it was only after I had accomplished a few other things that a recording contract was even a consideration. After I knew what I wanted and had written it down, I got quite a bit done. I set up my own company, starting making money with my studio and put together a great band all within a year and a half. I started writing and producing tracks on a daily basis and made plans to get some gigs for my band. It was hard and a lot of work but it got done. In the end the band disbanded after a couple of years but it was one of the best bands I had ever played with. While I had the studio going I would spend a lot of time working and getting better at producing tracks. You see, to get the attention of the big record companies, I wanted to have a demo done, I wanted to have some shows under my belt and I wanted to have some credits as far as writing and producing. These were all things that I wanted to accomplish before I even contacted the record company. After a while, I wondered if I even wanted a record deal since I had done so many things myself. I had worked as a musician, a producer and a writer and wondered if I would have that kind of freedom if I worked at a record company. I realized that if you go out and make a career of it one your own, record companies will stand in line to sign you. You see, you've done all of the work and they can make money from that. Don't kid yourself, that's the extent of it. If they didn't think that they could make any money, or if they probably couldn't get a return on their investment within a reasonable amount of time, then they simply won't care. I wanted to write and produce, so I had to make sure that I had the chops before I put myself out there. So before you think that you're going to become a star but don't have a clue how you're going to get there, you may want to sit down and reassess where you are and where you want to go. Once you figure that out, you can take steps to make sure that when that music industry bigwig does cross your path one day; that you're good and ready to take on anything.

Paying Dues
There's the adage in the industry of one paying their dues; an artist who has spent time working at their craft through thick and thin. There's the image we have of a talented artist singing to an unsympathetic crowd in some run down club. If you get out there at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The truth is that no matter where you are there are always times where you will have to pay your dues. There is going to be a time when things are going badly and it seems everything is going wrong. This may be when you're just starting out, when you've finally had some success and realize that it's not all roses, or if you're just going through a difficult time in your career. The truth is that these things are all part of the music business and a lot of times the mark of a great artist is one that makes it through these times and still continues to make great art. I'm not here to discuss the darker side of the music business. I'm just putting it to you that if you want a lasting career in the music industry that there are a lot of things that you're going to have to deal with that aren't that pleasant. I would like to focus on how to still keep going and not lose focus when those hard times do come around.

Part of the Program
The sad part of the paradigm of paying your dues is that somehow we've come to think that this is a necessary part of the process. We've come to believe that being a poor, unappreciated musician is part of the program. This simply isn't true. Having to pay the bills and deal with everyday problems is part of life. There is the notion that great artists shouldn't have to deal with the everyday mundane things; that somehow, they're beyond this. I've held the notion that I didn't deserve to be waiting on tables; that I was a great artist and deserved to be treated so. The truth is that until you've gone out and made the way for yourself, you deserve to be treated like everybody else. Most musicians I knew never seemed to have any money; including myself. But then there were always those guys who seemed to have it together. These were the guys who were working hard at getting things going with the band but still kept their finances in order. A lot of musicians act irresponsible, like its part of being creative. The truth is that not paying your bills has nothing to do with creativity. Once you're a star and making millions, then you can be as much of a big diva as you like. You can be irresponsible and a pain, not because you're a great artist, but because you can afford to. It's a simply as that; it has nothing to do with who deserves what. You'll also find that if you're out there getting things done, some people will appreciate what you're trying to do and even show some support. You'll also find a lot of resistance, and I'll talk about this more in another article.

Walking the Path
A lot of what I've talked about in this blog actually deals with the 'paying your dues' part of the process. I put it to you that it's not so much paying dues as simply walking the path. And that's what this blog is about, helping you walk the path. If you've sat down and figured out what it is that you want to accomplish, and how you're going to go about doing that, it makes it a lot easier when hard times come around. If you've made a plan and are getting things done and something goes badly, you can deal with things better because having the plans there allows you to look at the bigger picture and see how everything fits in. It also makes you take stock of where you are and figure out if there's a better way to do things, or if you have to take a different approach. Most of all, when things go bad, you know that this is just a temporary situation and that you'll find some solution. A couple of times when things started to go badly and I had to take a different course or had to drop my current plans to deal with the emergency at hand, since I had sat down and made some concrete plans, I knew that this way just a temporary situation. This helped me deal with things in so many ways. If I had to take a part time job to pay some bills, I knew why I was doing it and that it was just something that had to be done for me to reach my goal. I wasn't any happier about it, but I knew why I was doing it.

The Choice
The thing I came to realize was that since there was so much I wanted to accomplish with my career, I simply had to work twice as hard as 'normal' people. I had the part time job to pay my bills, and I had my music. I came to view my music as my main job; simply to make it the most important thing that I spent my time on. For people who aren't musicians, they can have their job and then come home and have that free time. For artists, that free time is time to work on their craft. I never viewed this as a bad thing; I always loved what I do. There were times when I wasn't motivated of course, and I talk about this in other articles in this blog. If you have to have another job or you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get where you want to go, that's simply something that you have to do. Some people don't go through as much to get there, most go through a lot. Whether you're one or the other doesn't matter as long as you stick to the program. When it comes to finances you really have only two choices; have a full time job and carefully budget your time or have a part time job and carefully budget your money. Remember that in the initial stages, becoming an artist can be a costly affair. So even if you're making enough to pay your bills, you'll need extra to pay for gear, gas, web space etc.

No Time
Another misconception I find people have is that they have all the time in the world. When you're twenty years old you may feel like you have tons of time to get things done and try things out. Well, yes and no. This is the perfect time to try things and see what works for you. You probably won't have that many responsibilities and your cost of living may be lower than older folks. The problem is though, that you really don't have that much time. If you're playing in a pop or rock band, or are looking to become the next Gwen Stefani, these are the years were you want to take advantage of your time. Most recording acts these days are signed while relatively young and they're getting younger all the time. It's not unusual to see a teenager getting signed to a multi-million dollar deal. If you show promise at a young age, you're more likely to look appealing to a major label. A lot of the biggest acts we know today started out at a very young age and kept at it; usually with the guidance of an older person. So if you're in your twenties and think that you have tons of time to waste, you don't. I don't want to scare you or put older musicians out, I just want to put it to you that time, no matter how old you are, is always a consideration. If you've already decided on what you want to do and are getting it done, you are more likely to find yourself in the right spot at the right time.

It Can Be Tough…But
Sometimes when things aren't going well, it's easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself. The goal to become an artist can become incredibly hard at times. It's so easy to feel helpless and lose sight of your goal or give up. If you've done some of the things that I've written about in this blog and written down exactly what it is that you want to accomplish, it'll be easier to deal with and keep track of where you are. Don't let old tired misconceptions like the ones I've talked about here get you down or get in your way. Whether it takes you 5 months or 5 years to get there isn't important; just get it done. Once you start you'll find that even with all of the downs, it's all worth it in the end. I love making music. Nothing else gives me the same satisfaction that I get when I'm writing a song or playing my guitar. If you've ever done a great show in front of an appreciative audience, or just written your latest masterpiece, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

The Big Plan

One of the hardest things that I've had to wrap my head around as far as managing my career as musician is the whole process of planning. A lot of things about being a musician I felt couldn't be planned. I had gotten to the point where I was pretty proficient at my instrument, gone to college and university, had been in a couple of bands and toured yet never sat down to make any sort of plan. I figured that if I had made it this far without a plan, why should I start now? I also felt that planning might take away some opportunities that I might miss or would take away all of the spontaneity and fun of being a musician. Most of all I really felt like being a musician was nothing that you could plan and I might turn the corner tomorrow with a new opportunity that I could have never planned in my wildest dreams. I really felt like as a musician, you basically had to ride by the seat of your pants.

No Plan At All
I'm sure that you've heard the story; a young band starts out, does a couple of shows, and in no time at all end up getting signed and selling a ton of records. It's the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of. It almost seems like some people seem to do much better without putting too much thought into it. I read an article by one of the members of the Grateful Dead who said that anytime they made a conscious effort to do anything and sat down to make some concrete plans, it would usually fail. Whereas when they just went ahead and did what they felt like, without much planning and forethought, they were successful. Some people, not just musicians, also seem to get far with this mindset; succeeding in life without taking any time out to make specific plans. The fact is that most successful people plan. Studies have shown that a critical factor in highly successful people is that they write down their goals.They focus on one thing and make the effort to get that one thing done.They do things intuitively that most of use have to learn and take time out to do. We are usually unsure about what it is that we want to accomplish how to go about making our dreams a reality. You simply have to write down what it is that you want to accomplish and then take action everyday to realize those goals. With music, art and life, there are also things that you could never predict; you can only prepare and plan and see how things turn out. The Grateful Dead were an incredibly successful group that sold millions of records and were one of the most popular touring groups of all time. Ultimately, you could never plan that. You may find that you can still get a lot done if you are motivated to get out there and do it.
Highly successful people write down their goals; the key here is the word 'write'.

The Problem With Problems
So can't I just take things as they come up? Why do I need a plan ? The problem arises when problems arise. Let me explain that. Anytime you take on any endeavor, you are inevitably going to come across some problems. You are also going to get to the point where you don't know what to do next. You may also be at the point where you realize that what you're doing isn't working and you either need a new plan of attack or a completely new plan. The point is that it becomes necessary at this point to make some sort of plan and make some decisions. Even though the Grateful Dead were never successful at making any grand business plans, they were successful in creating one of the most successful live bands of all time. You're going to come across a situation where you're going to have to sit down and make some decisions and figure out what the best things for you to do next. We all know the value of making plans. So how do we apply this to being a musician and mapping out the best way to become a success?

Looking at the Big Picture
There a couple of ways that you can create a plan that will ultimately help you get where you want to go. The key here is figuring out where it is that you want to go. Sitting down and making plans makes you start to look at the big picture and makes you ask yourself some serious questions. You want to sit down and figure out where it is that you are right now and where it is that you want to go. It's a good idea to be specific here. Saying that you want to be a superstar in the next 2 years just doesn't cut it. If you can describe exactly what you want to accomplish, you will be much better off in making those goals a reality. If you are a singer, you want to describe the style of music that you'd like to do, if you're going to write the material or get other writers, if you're going to have a band, etc. Some people start off and they have no idea what it is that they want to do; they just go in every direction hoping that something will click. Some people don't even care; they just want to be a star. I'm putting it to you here that if you want to take control of your career and have a greater chance for success, then you should have an idea of what you want and how to get there. You'll find that as soon as you get out there and start getting things done, you'll learn more about what to do next and you may find things happening as a result of your efforts.


The basic formula:
1) Figure out who you are
2) Figure out what is it you want to do
3) Create a plan to achieve your goals
4) Put that plan in action


Simple yet tough.


What Next?
If you're one of these people who isn't sure of exactly what it is that they want to do or are confused about what it is that they should be doing don't worry, make the plans anyway. The biggest point here about making plans for a career in music is that these plans aren't written in stone and they will change. We do want to sit down though and figure out what it is that we want to do and have some sort of direction. Just grabbing anything that comes your way may result in some success but you're really just playing the lottery and we all know what those odds are. Once you sit down and start making plans and getting things done, even if you're not sure of exactly what to do, it will become a little clearer of what it is you should be doing. You're usually much better off deciding on some sort of direction and making plans to see that plan to completion. Your plans may change but once you've accomplished something by planning and making it happen, it becomes easier the second time around. It's also helps in keeping focused on achieving what you want to do and not just reaching for anything that comes your way. That way, you are in control of the direction of your career and when something unexpected does come up (as they usually do) you'll be better equipped to deal with it more effectively.

Doing It All…Or Not

So for all of those musicians out there who think that they have to do it all (like me), it's not only easier in the long run to get as much help as you can, you may end up with way better results than if you were to do it all alone. Decide on what your strengths are and try and get help on the areas where you know you are weak. I’m guessing that this may be more of an issue with men simply because they have a harder time asking for help but I’ve found women who fit into this category too. Remember that I’m speaking here from years of experience trying to do it all myself. It’s simply more efficient, more satisfying and cheaper (in terms of time and money) to get others involved in whatever you may be working on.

You also end up making some valuable connections along the way. Not only there is the possibility that someone you know may have other valuable connections that you can use but as far as exchange of ideas and knowledge, there’s no better way to get the inside track on what’s happening. If you have a lack of funds like most musicians, remember the tried and true barter system. Whenever I’ve gotten somebody to work on my material I always made sure that there was something in it for them even when they were just happy to take part. This included credits on the CD, a copy of the finished product, and recommendations to other clients and contacts.

So for example all the songwriters out there, you don’t need to do it all. Find some players to play on your demo. Find someone in your area who’s good in the studio as far as recording and mixing. Having this step alone will save you years. Barter the time that they spend on your demo with singing on their demos. Everybody needs a great singer. If you want to learn to do it all, take it one step at a time. Focus on the songwriting first, get your demo done and learn the skills along the way. I know people who had a hard time getting the exact results they wanted so they decided that they were going to do it all themselves. Most of the work never got done because the learning curve on all of the different skills needed to put together a great CD was just too much. It may be some work trying to find the right people get the sound you hear in your head to tape it but in the end you may save yourself a lot of work and time.

Sometimes You Just Have To...

I’ve had tons of singer come through my studio and sing my songs. Sometimes the results where great but a lot of times they weren’t: it’s all part of the process. A few times I had a song and just couldn’t get the singer to get the sound right. Sometimes you have to just make the best of it. Sometimes it’s more important to get it done than to wait for that perfect performance. It all depends on you and the song but the point is that you want to get it done the best you can within a reasonable amount of time. If you have more time and a bigger budget then you can take advantage and get the premium players. If you don’t have all of the resources at your fingertips, get it done anyway and don’t make any excuses. No matter what the situation, first demo or major label release, some concessions are always going to be have to be made. While some of you may argue with this point, I think that it’s better to get it done and out there than to let it sit on a shelf forever because it didn’t live up to your expectations at the time.

If you're not sure it's always a good idea to get an opinion from somebody that you trust and isn't a fan or a family member. It may be hard to hear the truth sometimes but it's an essential part of the process. Try to find somebody who knows what they're talking about. This doesn't have to be a musician, just a person with great ears. One of the best critiques I got was from an industry professional who didn't play an instrument at all. She told me what was wrong with my song and after listening, I realized that everything she said was right. It was at an industry listening session and after hearing the song, a lot of people commented that they really liked the song and didn't agree with what she said. After listening to the song with fresh ears, I knew that she was right. Take criticism with a grain of salt, try to listen with a fresh perspective and see if what was said applies. Even with people who know what they're talking about, music is an opinion and nobody is right 100% of the time. This step alone is worth the effort. It's this type of thinking that will differential you from the pack. So many people are just happy to get something out that they think that every note is necessary and perfect. If you get the same critique from a couple of different source though, take note! People with great ears may be just as hard to find as a good player but very valuable.

Within A Reasonable Amount Of Time

Keep in mind that I talking about making the best effort you can in making it as good as you can at this point in time. This isn’t an excuse to be lazy, simply make sure that you make the best of what you’ve got. This mostly applies to all of those people out there who take forever to get a project done and even then they're not happy with the results. I've been through this a million times and I've seen it in other musicians as well. Tweaking something to death while trying to do it all is counterproductive. I've also met bands who worked on their CD for the better part of a year and the results reflected all of their hard work. Mostly though I've seen a lot of time wasted on working on material that never sees the light of day being bogged down by people try to do it all. It’s also good to get into the habit of working with somebody as soon as you can because odds are it’s going to come up a lot. If you're a bit of a perfectionist and you know somebody who's eager to get things out there, try to work together. A lot of time their eagerness to get it done will rub off on the perfectionist 'it's not quite perfect yet' and the perfectionist's eye for 'quality and detail' will rub off on the eager beaver's 'just rush through it' attitude. I'm being really general here but you get the idea. Whatever you do, get out there and make those connections. In the end, you will save time and effort over trying to do it all yourself and it may lead to some great partnerships and ultimately some great music.

You’re A Big Biz Now!

We're A Lot Alike...

When it comes to doing business, corporations have certain ways of doing things. From what we’ve seen of the music business in the last decade, this hasn’t always been the best ways of doing things, but from a pure business and project management point of view though, there are a couple of things that we can learn from them. For one thing, businesses always put together a business plan including all of the financials when they first start out. This may be overkill when first starting a band because initially you may just be jamming and seeing if you gel. Once into a situation where you’ve been together for a while and are planning on going to the next level and plan on getting things done, you should get together and discuss some things. You may want to discuss where you are all at as far as the band is concerned, see what you want to do next and see where people’s priorities are.

On the surface you may not realize it but you have the same issues that a big corporation would have when taking on a new venture. You may be trying to figure out your style and the look and feel of the band. You want to get a demo done and start making some money. You want to set up some shows. You have to get a web site set up. At the very least, you need to have a MySpace page. These are the same things that a corporation has to deal with; they just call it different things. Finding your sound would be their developing a product, finding your look is their branding, making your demo is the same as their manufacturing and the MySpace and website is their marketing. If you look at how they get these things done, it will be easier for you to figure out what to do. Since corporations have big pockets, you may feel that you don’t have much in common but if you look at how they do things, you can learn a lot. For example, when the big labels release a new album, there are a whole series of things that they do before it ever sees the light of day. Yet I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a band booking their CD release party before they even have the CD printed. There should be about a 90 day grace period where you can set everything up before making the official release and having a CD release party.

...With One Big Difference

From a music point of view, I’ve heard this analogy for a long time from industry professionals and never really cared for it. Comparing my band to a soulless corporation took all the coolness out of it. It's just a good idea to keep this in mind when sitting down and making decisions. I actually think it’s better to keep the attitude that your band and music is anti-corporate. That what you’re creating is not some lame dispensable product but your voice: your art. The reason why I bring this up is because when making big decisions and trying to keep organized and get things done, it’s better to approach it with the professionalism of a corporation. If you’ve ever put a CD together or a tour for your band, you’re aware of all of the things that go into making these things a success. It’s so easy to start out without any plans and just jump right in. Ask anyone who’s been on tour though, once you do this the first time, you don't do it again. There's nothing like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no spare tire, no transmission, etc. You can always tell a band that’s been on the road a lot. They seem to have it all down to an art form: organized, stripped to the bare essentials, and prepared for all the million things that can ( and usually) go wrong.

Lessons From The Road

They are the things in the business world called logistics. That’s all the things that are needed to get you (and your product) from one place to another. Most of the guys that I know who’ve spent a lot of time on the road, including myself, learned the hard way. The first time I went on the road I took so much stuff with me, that I spent half of the time just moving this stuff around. The band I was in was also booked for about 6 months so I left my apartment, put my stuff in storage and was going to find a new place when I got back. Bad idea. The tour ended prematurely and I ended up being homeless for a month. The point is that when you undertake any one of these things, it’s better to be prepared than to just do it tempt the Gods. If you can get material on the subject and most of all talk to bands that have been on the road and ask them about their experiences. You'll be amazed how much you learn. Guaranteed one on the first things they'll say is 'Make sure you don't...' and then go on to tell you some horror story.

Project Management 101

When it comes to project management though, there’s a whole other list of things that you should take into consideration. Right now I have about 5 different projects going on at once. This is nothing new for me and a lot of times it’s necessary. For example if I have the time, I like to have something I’ve completed sit for a day or two before I come back and make any final decisions. If you leave a piece of music for a while, you come back to it with fresh ears. If there’s anything wrong, it’ll usually jump right out at you. I try not to listen to something I’m working on too many times because you tend to fall in love with something after a while. I listen to it once or twice, then make the changes. If you’ve listened to a track too many times, you lose your objectivity. It's called demoitis, falling in love with the demo simply from listening to it over and over.

Let’s start at the beginning. You have the idea for a new demo, new song or new band. The first thing that you should consider is if this is worth pursuing in the first place. Keep in mind that you already have a couple of things on the go and your time is precious as it is. If there is money involved (I mean money now, not the prospect of some in the future) then that my take the highest priority. If you’re making the final adjustments on another project that’s really important to you, you may want to put it off or not do it at all. It may be something you’ve always wanted to do creatively (like tackling a new genre or new instrument) or work with somebody that you’ve always wanted to work with.

There are no hard and fast rules for making these decisions. For example, the two above (working in a new genre or with somebody new) sounds like a no-brainer. Anybody will tell you that it’s always a good idea to work with somebody new to make connections and hopefully make something better than you alone could create. Musicians generally hate to say no to anything, especially more music! The problem is that there is only so much time in the day. Even if you’re young, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a 24 hour period. You might be thinking that you just want just try anything that comes along and see what works out. This was always my thinking. The problem with this is you don’t have any focus and instead of having more opportunities, you end up limiting yourself because you have no real direction.

Focus

I remember the turning point for me. I always figured I would become a session musician; playing one- nighters or whatever came up. I practiced a lot and tried to become well versed in many styles. Not a bad plan, right? The problem is that I had been in a couple of projects that were terrible from the very beginning yet I spent time and money (gas mostly) in them anyway, while still pursuing anything else that came my way. I had spent valuable time in a lot of bands with people with attitudes and a lot of flakes. Keep in mind; I don’t think musicians are any more flakey than the general public, they are trying to put something together that does take a lot of personal time and effort.

One day a friend of mine who I had played with before asked me if I wanted to be in this band that a friend of his was putting together. I said sure without even meeting the other guy because my friend was a good guy and I trusted him. Well, I hated it. I didn’t get along with the guy who ran the whole thing but I stuck with it until the end anyway. The reason why I didn’t like the guy was that even though he had put together this CD which wasn’t bad, I didn’t consider him a very good musician and had trouble ‘taking orders’ from somebody who I felt had less talent than myself. Plus, it wasn’t a true band in my sense of what a band should be. The main guy had put together a CD and was looking for a band to play his material. I wanted to be part of a band that wrote together, he just wanted people to take orders. There are times when the above situation could lead to some work, even a tour with a major artist. But for me, it was a bad situation that surprisingly turned into a great learning experience. I decided that if I was ever going to do anything musical again, it was going to be on my terms. That was the last time I was ever in a band that I didn’t put together myself. I learned a lot from this guy. As far as I was concerned he had minimal talent (it was no secret among the band members that he was the least talented player), and was a bit of a jerk. But, he had put together this CD, got a lot of great players to play on it, and got a band to tour with. Not bad. It was because of two major factors; he was organized and he had focus.

Focus..With A Point

Which brings us back to the point in the very beginning; while it’s great to pursue many avenues while trying to make a living and figure out what it is you want to do, it’s vital that you have some sort of focus. If you do have that focus, you will have to turn down some ‘opportunities’ while pursing your personal vision. If you're not sure what exactly that focus is, as soon as you examine what you really want to do, ideas will pop up. If there a couple of things on your list that you'd love to get done, just pick one and get on with it. Make sure though, that whatever you pick, you stick with and see it to it's final conclusion. This guy only did the one thing; he created the CD. Once that was done, he put the band together, and shopped the CD. He was the least talented of all of the musicians yet he had the most success.

From that point on, I decided that I was going to really sit down and decide exactly what it was I wanted to do and I was going to see it through. The next band that I played in was my own. It was a funk band and it was the best band I ever played in. I got the best players that I could and this time it was me who was the ‘worst’ musician. This sounds bad but it’s really a good thing. If you’ve ever played in a band with musicians who are better than you, it can be intimidating but you learn so much and become a better musician way quicker. The bar is raised that much higher. Plus this band rocked. It lasted a couple of years and ended up disbanding because of lack of gigs. I then started a small project studio and opened my doors to songwriters and musicians who wanted to create a demo without the need for a band. I had learned to play numerous instruments along the way (not something that I planned but was well worth it; you can’t plan everything) and became a one stop shop for songwriters. Most of my clients never even played an instrument and I usually had to fill everything in, including the chords. It was another great learning experience. I stopped playing live for a while to focus wholly on this new business. Financially it kept me going for a while but on its own wasn’t enough so I had to augment this with a couple days of teaching a week. I now just work in the studio, focusing on creating the best music that I can.

Why Things Always Go Wrong: You Can’t Predict the Future

The Ubiquitous To-Do List

The problem lies not with the technology itself but the utilization of the technology. It’s fine to make lists of all the things you want to do and all of the steps needed to get there, but what is it that motivates you to get all of these things done? The problem with any undertaking is that things will invariably go wrong: or at least not according to plans. The reason for this is 'variables'. In life there are just way too many variables to predict what’s going to happen from one moment to the next. So what has this got to do with my plans? Well when you make plans if one way you are predicting what’s going to happen in the future. For example, you decide that you’re going to bring in a guitarist to play on your demo. That one thing could lead into any number of directions. Do you have one in mind? What happens if he can't make it or it doesn't work out? What happens if he suddenly has to leave town? You get the idea.

Once you start trying to get things done on your list, a couple of things are going to happen. You going to have some setbacks, have some troubles staying motivated, get discouraged and sometimes just want to quit and give it all up.

How Do You Work?

So you've decided on a major project and have started to put together a list of all of the things that you have to do to reach your goal. If you’re new to the process, then there’s a huge variable right off the bat. I think we can agree at this point that once you start a new project, there’s going to be a lot of things come up that are unexpected and not on your list. So right from the start, the list is going to be a work in progress that’s going to have to be updated on a regular basis. Using the guitarist example from above, if for some reason he becomes unavailable, you’re going to have to make up a new list to include finding a new guitar player or learning the parts yourself or…you get the idea.

The basic point here is that one of the reasons why projects don’t get done is because of the inevitability that things aren’t going to go as planned. The problem that sometimes when things go smoothly, we naturally assume that that’s the way things are supposed to be and when things go ‘wrong’ then something is off. As we’ve seen from the example above, the chances of things going off course are far more likely than things going exactly as planned. So when you start a project and things go wrong, it takes more energy than you thought that it would and adds extra stress to the project. One of the great things about experience is once you’ve been through a certain process, you’re more likely to know what may go wrong and are equipped to deal with it effectively. When building a house for example, a professional is aware of all of the things that can go wrong where a novice would probably get frustrated and quit before the process is even finished. So not only do you have to deal with all of things that can go wrong, you can’t give up or lose sight of what you’re trying to accomplish in the first place.

Building A Career

This is where the musician comes in. The musician starting out is like the novice trying to build the house from scratch. And like building a house, a lot of projects that you may have to undertake are big and demanding; putting together a band, creating a demo, putting together a tour, etc. There are tons of variables like: all of the people involved (band personnel, agents, friends, club owners, studio people, etc.) and the fact that most of these things can take up to a year to accomplish. No small feat even for an organized person. Not only does this apply to the projects that a musician must take on but it applies to his/her whole career!

Career Musician: Where to Start

Getting Things Done

When it comes to getting things done, it would be nice if we could just get to it: do the things that needed to done, when they needed to be done. But it’s rarely as simple as that. First of all there’s deciding exactly what it is we’re supposed to be doing at this moment, then there’s how to go about doing it, wondering if you’re doing it right or wondering if it should be done it at all. Combine this with the fact that our lives are busier with more options than ever and it’s a wonder that anything gets done at all.

If you’ve done any reading on career management you’ve probably come across the same basic concepts: decide what you want to do, make a list of all of the things that you must do to accomplish that goal and go about doing the items on your list one at a time. There are many variations of this but these are the essentials. So even though we know this, how is it that we still have so many troubles getting things done? I don’t know how many to-do lists I’ve made in my life, there must be thousands. Yet when I check these lists months after the fact, very little is done. Why? I’m not lazy or completely unorganized. Let's look at a couple of factors.

Ummm...Now What?

The biggest problem the musician faces is unlike most other careers, there is no one blueprint. As many different careers there are in the music industry, there are paths to get there. The good thing about being a musician in today’s society is that there is more information available and ways of making it than there ever were before. With all of this info comes the problem: what applies to me and what doesn’t? What can I use and what is useless? Since there are so many ways in making in the music industry, it won’t be the same for everybody. What may be good for you may not be good for somebody else.

There are a few general guidelines that you can follow: for example if you want to release an album, there are certain things that need to be done. The specifics though, are up to you. For example how you go about marketing the album is entirely up to you. Since most musicians don’t have much of a budget for marketing, you may have to come up with some creative ways to get your name out there. If you’ve been in a band and that hasn’t worked out, what do you do next? Like I said there is no blueprint. Do you join another band, go out on your own, try to capitalize on another musical talent that you have? The only way to know is to make a decision, then get in there and get dirty. Experience above all, will allow you to make better decisions. Once in there, you’ll gain knowledge and meet other like minded people that will help in your journey. In the beginning, since you don’t have the experience, you may just have to jump in there and see what works. Once you’ve started and got your feet wet, it becomes clearer of what you need to learn and do.

So it can be said that sometimes things don’t get done because we’re not sure what to do and even when we do, there can be so many things that come up that it’s easy to get discouraged and lose focus. One of the things that we’re going to have to deal with on a constant basis on our journey to get somewhere is figuring out what has to be done, and then having the discipline to see it all through. One of the big factors why we don’t get things done is because we may lack long term focus and discipline. You may be saying at this point ‘Wait a minute, I have discipline, I get things done everyday!’ The problem with the music industry is that it takes a long time to get where you want to go. It takes long term focus and commitment. Think about how long it took you to learn your instrument and apply the same principles to the rest of your music career.

You Already Know The Way

You learned your instrument by practicing everyday. This included practicing when sometimes you weren’t in the mood. Sometimes you practiced things like scales and sight reading when you really hated doing them. You also followed a path and tried to go a bit further each day. For those of you who had professional lessons, your learning path was maybe more conventional but even those of you who were completely self taught, had a method by which you learned and grew. If might have been haphazard and sporadic, but it’s there. It’s this same type of method that we’re going to apply to your music career and things that you want to accomplish.

When you first started learning your instrument, you may have bought a book, took lessons, learned from a friend or even just started noodling around on your own. You didn’t know what you were doing in the beginning so you just kind of muddled your way through. The more you played though, the more obvious it became of what you needed to learn and want was missing from your knowledge. You may have learned a couple of chords and were quite proud of yourself until you got together with a friend of yours and saw how he could solo without knowing the song. So you started asking questions. ‘How did you do that? What's a scale?’ You now had a couple more nuggets of knowledge that you applied to your playing. It was at this point that you realized that you needed some help and either set up some lessons or went out and bought a book. Or, maybe you went on the internet and downloaded some tabs of guitar solos to see what they were made of. The point is you took it step by step without really thinking about it.

This is what we've got to do with our music career but we should be more organized and deliberate about it. Every decision will have a lot more impact on your future and be time consuming so we want to be more thoughtful about the steps we take. It becomes a little more daunting when applying all of this to your music career because now you’re going to have to be out there, in the thick of it. It’s one thing to try different things in the safety of your practice, but it’s another to go into a room full of professionals and sell yourself. Like your music practice, there are many different directions you can take, and the ones you decide will depend on you, your talents and personality.

Help, I Need Somebody

So are you going to do it on your own or are you going to get some help. I hate to be the one to tell you but it’s going to be both. So if you’re great one your own and have trouble asking for help or vice versa, you’re going to have to make some changes. Here’s why.

As a career musician you’re going to have to be incredibly self motivated and have a lot of confidence in yourself. At the end of the day it’s your career and it’s a tough industry so you’ll have to keep focused and learn to develop a thick skin. Rejection and disappointment are part of the course, not exceptions. There are going to be times when it feels like everything is going wrong and you don’t have an ounce of energy left to deal with it. It’s then that you’re usually on your own and the only person you have to really depend on to pick yourself up is …you. It’s also easier to get other people motivated and to get help when you’ve got it all together.

Herein lies the second part of the dilemma. No matter how tough, organized and together you are, you’re going to need other people to get where you want to go. The music industry is a relationship industry. Managing a music career on your own is also way too much work for one individual to do it effectively. The sooner you get used to asking for help and getting people involved, the sooner it will all happen for you.

Next we'll look at some principles in project management.

Manangement for Musicians: Intro

I’ve been working on quite a few projects at the same time in the last couple of weeks and decided that I would spend the next couple of blogs talking about management for musicians. I’ve worked on my own and with a lot of artists over the years and I’ve found that most musicians don’t get as much done not for lack of trying but of simple mismanagement. Most musicians these days pretty much have to do it all: write, record, tour and promote. Getting all of this done can be overwhelming to almost anyone never mind the fact that most musicians have never been taught how to properly manage any one of these things. I also have come to realize the value of this discipline and hold it right up there with marketing and promotion. It’s the use of these management skills that ultimately allows me to get everything else done.

Basically when it comes to getting anything done, it’s all about management. There’s time management, project management and career management. No matter what you’re working on right now, all three of these have a place in what you’re trying to accomplish. If you don’t like doing paperwork and feel that you’re not much of a planner, stick with me, nether am I…or at least I wasn’t. I’ve learned how to incorporate some great time and project management skills without becoming a stiff administrator.

In the next couple of blogs I’ll be focusing on project management and how to make sure that you get everything done using your existing skills and habits. I’ve taken courses and read many books on the subjects of time management and project management and they all seem to want to make you fit into a preconceived program that has no bearing on who or how you are. I’ve been making to-do lists and creating planners for years yet never seemed to get very far. I’ve always had a problem doing things on a regimented system and tried to find some sort of way to use the great skills that these courses described but within my own capabilities and faults. It’s all about using what you have and not trying to squeeze into some regimented drill sergeant routine.

More to come…