Why I FAILED

More on Pricing

One of my most dreaded questions during my career as a professional musician was “how much do you charge for…?” I hated it for two main reasons: first, I hated to have to draw attention away from the music and onto money. Second, I always felt like no matter what was said, I’d either ask too much and not get hired or worse, get hired easily and suspect that I could have asked for more money.

Either way, my thinking was wrong.

One, if you’re playing music for a living, you’re PLAYING MUSIC FOR A LIVING! Sorry to yell, but it does come down to money. Put simply, your very life depends on earning money through playing music. Don’t be ashamed of it, run from it, deny it or forget it.

With number one out of the way, we’re left with number two: which is how to determine exactly how much to charge for…? I’ve written on this before, but I came across a post from Brian Fling at Blue Flavor that suggests some very helpful tools. His basic point is to “price what it costs”. He’s basically flipping the question back around to the fact that music is your living. Whether you realize it or not, it costs you money (time) to do anything in your life. If you know what it costs, then what you charge for your time starts to makes sense.

Of his two tools, we’ll start with Brian’s second. It’s a tool he uses to determine your hourly rate. expenses ÷ hrs worked per yr. + margin = hourly rate

Sit down with a pad and paper and write out all your expenses. Ask yourself what it takes to live your life and include everything from food to internet access and everything in between. You can do this for a month or a year, just make sure you’re consistent across this whole equation. Also, make sure you’re being realistic (I do encourage you to dream of the life you’d LIKE to be able to afford, but not at the moment). Now, divide that amount by the number of hours you’ll most likely work during the same time period. Take that last number and multiply it by 10% (0.1) and add that to the same number. You now have an hourly rate that covers 10% over your expenses.

Next, use this: task x time(complexity x effort) x rate = price

I’ll illustrate this from personal experience: I was a drummer who was often hired to play on people’s records. So, one task would have been recording the drums for one song. Typically, I could record one song in about 30 minutes. 1 song times 30 minutes.

However, there’s no such thing as “typically” and that’s where (complexity x effort) comes in to play. One example of complexity would be who the other musicians were. If it was a team I worked with all the time, the day would require little effort. If it was an unknown bunch of folks, there was no telling! In the first case, I could record 3 or 4 songs an hour. With the second bunch, it might take an hour or two to get one track done.

If your answer to equation one is $100.00 per hour, and you’ve been asked to record 4 songs with people you know take a long time to record, your answer might look like this:
4 songs times 30 minutes (easy songs times inexperienced musicians = 30 extra minutes per song) times $100.00 per hour = $400.00.

How much do you charge to record 4 songs? $400.00

There are a few challenges to what’s said here, but I’ll save those for another day…

More About Me

As I start this post, I’m reminded of the dialogue from the movie “Beaches” where the self-absorbed character who’s been chatting endlessly about her accomplishments pauses and says:

“Well, enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do YOU think of me?”

I’m not like that person and that’s why I’ve neglected to say much about me. I’ve realized though, that nothing I say here means much without some revelation about who I am and what I’ve done. So, here’s a link directly to more about me.

Let me know if you’d like to know anything else (within reason).

Preparing for the top

Isn’t the top where you want to be?

I mean, don’t you want to be a, um…ah……STAR?

Don’t get hung up on that word, a star can mean anyone of a thousand different things to two thousand different people. All I want to say here is that I hope you’re shooting for the top. And if you are, there are some great insights here about what executives need to be aware of in order to move to the top levels.

How does this relate? In my opinion, if you are a working musician, you are just like a mid-level executive in a company. If you think across the entire music business, you’ll begin to see what I mean. You might not even be making a lot of money, but the business cannot be run without you and all the other working musicians.

Now, just like in a big corporation, some people move out of those middle ranks and move to the top. In talking about how that happens, this article has some great points for you too:

Here’s the first sentence paraphased: “You may be an outstanding musician, but making the move to stardom needs careful preparation and an honest look at your skills and leadership style.”

Here are some more excellent points:

–often it is the individuals themselves who cause the career stall by
failing to appreciate and understand the different skill sets, behaviours and
mindsets needed to continue to be successful at the top. Limited self-belief can
also be a reason for career plateaus.
–Start with honest self-assessment; how self-aware are you, and of how
other people see you?
–Be constantly learning.
–Is your work environment conducive to the growth and personal development
that you aspire to?

There are many more too. Enjoy!

A Book

I realized two things over the past week. One, there are many, many people using blogs to work through ideas for books - and that’s a good thing. Two, I’m writing a book yet I’ve never discussed it on my blog. So…

I used to be a professional musician in Nashville, TN. I had a very good career and had quite a bit of success. Someday I’ll post on all the things I did, but the point here is that I failed to reach a number of my ultimate goals. I was always puzzled as to why I was unable to do what I wanted at the level I wanted to, until I left the music business.

Every step since then has answered questions I had. In the process of changing careers and succeeding, I’ve learned many things I wish I had “known back then”.

Which all leads to this blog, this website (which I hope to update soon) and a BOOK.

I know it’s not terribly original to write a book these days, but I really do have something to say that I know is needed. I know it’s needed because what it takes is generally NEVER taught to artistic people. Instead, we’re encouraged to believe that all we need is talent and we’ll be fine.

I failed because that’s simply not true.

Sorry, it’s not.

Changing Your Product

Came across something of interest here. JS Logan recommends “repositioning” if what you’re doing isn’t working. Of course, that’s more difficult in music when the product is you, but there’s still some good advice:

2. Change markets. If you can’t sell it in the market you’re in, move it to
another market. Try a new prospect and see if your results and feedback change.

3. Change your position. If you market your offering as one thing, change
your position and market it as another. For example, instead of marketing your
offering as a money saving solution, market it as a money making one.

5. Reconfigure it. Similar to repositioning your offering, maybe you’re
better off stripping it down and selling it as something different than you do
today. For instance, maybe you have a business management solution that isn’t
selling, but an accounting module finds some interest. In this case, strip
everything away but the accounting piece and sell it as a financial reporting
tool.

So, what do these mean to a musician?

2.) Where is there less competition? Are you doing EXACTLY what others are already trying to do?

3.) Always think in terms of the other person’s problem that you can solve. I was a drummer. People did not want a drummer, they wanted a steady tempo, a groove, etc. What solution can you provide?

5.) More of a stretch here, but using me as an example again, I might have rented out my drums, or other equipment. Was that my career goal? No, but sometimes it can get you in the door.

Best of luck

Finally Back w/Some Good Stuff

Been away for a while, but I’m back and ready to go again. Jumping back in is easy with a great post like this from Mark Cuban. Here are the money points - no pun intended, it’s all about money:

1. If interest rates stay where they are or go higher, look at 5 year or shorter
maturity vehicles. It doesnt matter if its a bank CD, a money market fund, a tax
free fund, treasuries or combinations there of. Bottom line is this, 4plus
percent taxed, or up to 6 plus percent tax free equivalent (depending on your
tax bracket), is not a bad way to go. If rates go down, do the same thing,
evenif you earn a lower rate. At the end of the year, you are guaranteed to have
more than you started with.
2. Evaluate your lifestyle. People forget that
sometimes the best investment they can make is in wisely buying things they know
they will use. If you track what you use and consume, whether its gas vs bus
fare, buying bulk quantities or other discretionary spending, you can save more
and earn a far greater return than you could in the stock market. If you can
save 10pct per month on a hundred dollar per month budget, thats 120 bucks you
can put in the bank. Thats the equivalent of earning 12 pct on a 1k dollar
investment. If you can cut 100 bucks per month off 1k dollar monthly budget,
thats like earning 12 pct on 10k dollars. Thats pretty darn good. Spend
smart, put your savings in risk averse, interest earning offerings.
3. Invest
in yourself. Do the things that can get you closer to your goals and dreams. It
wont come from a brokerage commercial. It will come from preparing yourself
, working hard and standing apart from your competition. You Inc is the
best stock you can ever buy…if you are willing to do the work.

Number 3 is the one I’ll discuss all the time here. Invest in yourself, if you can learn and grow, you’ll always eat.

C ya!