Why I FAILED

How to Create Customers

The title of this post might strike you as odd, but I mean it quite literally.

Customer (from Wikipedia): “someone who makes use of or receives the products or services of an individual or organization. The word historically derives from “custom,” meaning “habit”; a customer was someone who frequented a particular shop, who made it a habit to purchase goods of the sort the shop sold there rather than elsewhere, and with whom the shopkeeper had to maintain a relationship to keep his or her “custom”…The word did not refer to those who purchased things at a fair or bazaar, or from a street vendor.”

People who hand over their hard earned money for music are customers in the full sense of this definition. They are quite literally frequenting a particular shop - you, or your band - out of a habit to purchase the goods of your sort - your music or talents. But before you can “maintain a relationship to keep his or her “custom”", you must first find, woo and win over people to your “products or services”. You must market.

But despite the fact that everything I’ve said here makes sense to us all, marketing is often the last thing we attend to on a daily basis. Which brings us to a a powerful post from Two Hat Marketing entitled Do Something Vital. Not only does Steve Miller present a compelling argument for marketing itself, but he outlines a plan for “regular, ongoing, daily marketing activity.”

Here’s a taste: “What’s the answer? It’s a lot easier than you might think. Tomorrow morning when you start your work day, don’t even look at your To-Do list for the first hour. Invest that first hour on the Vital task of Marketing…Do something that markets your products or services”

Be sure to check out the whole post, it’s well worth your time.

Preparing For The New Year

There will be lots of post like this as we move towards 2007 and here’s mine. Hop on over to Success From The Nest for the full post, but here’s what caught my eye:

A dream, a wish, and a goal walk into a diner. The dream says:

“I’d love to have a big juicy cheeseburger and a side of hand-cut fries. Man, wouldn’t that be awesome.“

The wish says: “That would be great. I wish I could have a cheeseburger. Maybe someday.“

The goal says: “I’m going to get a burger and fries. You guys want anything?“

Make sure you set GOALS for your life and have a Happy New Year!

Blessings For The Season

I want to explain why I write this blog: I write this blog because I believe in people and I believe in them because I know their Creator.

I believe you to be uniquely endowed with talents, gifts and abilities for specific times,
places and situations. I don’t mean in the sense of “being in the right place at the right
time”, I mean life. A life that is needed. Your life is needed by the world and the people
that surround you. If you do not live this life, those needs will go unmet. You fill a
specific place in history that is yours and yours alone.

I also believe that we - individually, corporately, religiously - have fallen tragically short in encouraging you, and all people, to live life. Oh sure, we scream “you only live once, so go for it”, “just do it” and “live life to the fullest”, but I am not talking about reckless abandon and partying until dawn.

I am talking about boldly answering the cry of your heart. Boldy living a life that manifests the power, glory and effectiveness of the Creator. A life that the world desperately needs you to live.

So I write this blog to encourage you to live your life, and live it to the full. Whether you pursue music, another area of the arts, or accounting does not matter to me. I only hope to encourage you to look inside and find your heart’s cry. And once you’ve found it, I hope the tools, skills and principles I share will make your journey success-full.

With all that said, I wish you an especially meaningful Holy Day’s Season. A season of insight, encouragement and personal commitment to live the life you were meant to live.
God Bless,

Steve

How to LOVE Self-Promotion

As I mentioned here, I always hated networking. I simply hate to brag about myself and would much rather skip anything remotely resembling self-promotion.

Which explains why I’m writing a blog from the perspective of a failed musician…

Whether you’re like me or not, John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing - a blog I quote frequently - has exactly the right thoughts on this subject when he says “If you know in your heart that you have something, a product or service, that can really help someone get what they want, transform their life, or move to the next level, shame on you for keeping it to yourself…Holding back may actually be a sign that you don’t really believe in the value you have to offer.”

Amen.

I would have to say my problem was the second. For a multitude of reasons, I didn’t really believe my offering was special enough to matter. I always said “I want to make a living playing music” and “there are many great drummers”. In my attempt to be humble, easy going, and supportive and encouraging to others, I never stood up and said “YOU NEED ME” because I can give you what no one else can.

I should have because that is what I believed - and still do. Which brings up another point too. Not only did I not communicate my belief with my words, I didn’t communicate it with my playing either.

The best marketing you have as an artist is the work you do. Make sure it SCREAMS who you are and the exceptional value you bring.

Oh, and speaking of make sure you read the whole post, every word counts. While you’re at it, subscirbe to John’s blog. It’s always full of gems you can use.

How to Deal With Life’s STUFF

We all have things that come at us all day long, everyday. Some are small and some are big, but they can all be distractions that keep us from focusing on what matters. Over at The Happiness Project I found a terrific idea for managing the small ones, and in my experience, it’s the small ones that most need managing.

It’s called the “one-minute rule” and I’ll let the author, Gretchen Ruben, explain:

“It’s very simple: I must do any task that can be finished in one
minute. Hang up my coat, read a letter and toss it, fill in a form,
answer an email, note down a citation, pick up my phone messages, file
a paper, put a dish in the dishwasher, replenish the diaper supply by
the changing table, put the magazines away…and so on.”

Think about it, most of us throw our coat on a chair, put the mail on the couner, set aside forms, save e-mails ’till “later”, etc., etc. Soon, we have hours of tedious (and often useless) tasks to do, and who has hours to spare? I’d not heard this suggestion before, though I can vouch for the success of the “two-minute e-mail rule” from David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (which I heartily recommend). My e-mail box is usually completely empty due to this rule. Yes, empty.

Kudos to Gretchen for a great blog and terrific insight into organizing your life.

Everything You Need To Know About Money

Thanks to Scott Adams of Dilbert fame for this succinct, accurate and easily understood 129 word checklist for financial success:

1. Make a will

2 .Pay off your credit cards

3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support

4. Fund your 401k to the maximum

5. Fund your IRA to the maximum

6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it

7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account

8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index
fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch
it until retirement

9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going
on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based
financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

Just ’cause I can, I’ll add one more:

If, and ONLY if you accomplish all that, invest in cashflow generating real estate and/or businesses. And the key words are cashflow generating.

Writing Love Songs for Money

Writing songs is a lucative corner of the music business. In fact, it’s where most of the money is found. However, like every other corner, it’s difficult to get the breaks that it takes to get your songs heard, picked and recorded.

So here’s a creative way to keep busy writing while funding your eating habits until your number one song hits it big. Or, it could simply be yet another alternative way to earn money in the music business (what a concept, huh?).

Armet Ertegun’s Passing

Great article in the New York Times about the recently deceased Ahmet Ertegun, “the music magnate who founded Atlantic Records and shaped the careers of John Coltrane, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others”.

There’s a wealth of information in the article, but the ending jumped out at me:

He told a group of students once that while in college studying Medieval Philosophy “almost every night, I went to the Howard Theater and to various jazz and blues clubs. I had to decide whether I would go into a scholastic life or go back to Turkey in the diplomatic service, or do something else,” he said. “What I really loved was music, jazz, blues, and hanging out.” And so, he told the students, he did what he loved.

So, what do you love?

Thoughts on How To Network

I’d like to thank Bruce Wallace for the following quote:

“It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you”

It’s the best statement about networking I’ve ever heard. Networking is NOT about meeting people, networking is about people meeting you so they’ll know who to call when they need a person who does that, is that, looks like that, sings like that, or whatever.

I always hated networking and I had the failure to prove it. So, when I read this article today about the subject, I had to pass it on. I SO WISH I had read it 20 years ago, but you get to read it now. My favorite tip?

“Don’t spend too much time on it.
If you wear yourself out, you won’t ever want to do it. Accept your
limitations and just do 1 or 2 events a month. It takes a long time to
build these relationships, so it’s better to stick with a few groups
over the long haul than 10 groups for two months.”

Excellent advice because it allows you to treat this important part of your career as just that - an important part of your career you need to PLAN into your life.

Non-Music Cashflow, Part 3

In my last post on cashflow, I highlighted a collection of financial terms. Today I want to talk a bit more about three: cashflow, earned income and passive income.

I’m using the term cashflow in these posts for a specific reason: the fact that cashflow is different than, and often unrelated to, earning money. Think of cashflow as when the money you earn actually enters your life. Here’s an example: My son just started his first job at a local Blue Coast Burrito this past Monday and he’ll work three weeks until he sees his first paycheck. Even though he’s earning money now, he won’t have cashflow until later. This would be a dire situation if he were paying rent or buying his own food.

When I worked as a musician, I made very good money, but we often struggled to pay the bills. The reason? Cashflow. I worked for individuals and companies with various payment schedules and spent many a day hoping the mailman would diliver a desperately needed check for work performed weeks or months prior. This is, of course, why I’m advocating non-music cashflow. Even a small amount of regularly delivered cashflow can make a huge difference in living your life.

With that as a backdrop, I also want to make sure you understand the significant differences between earned and passive income and why they matter.

• Earned income - money that you earn in a one-to-one exchange for
  work. “I’ll pay you $100.00 to play drums for a wedding this Saturday
  night.”
• Passive income - money you earn beyond a one-to-one exchange. “I
  won’t pay you to record the song, but you’ll get 10 cents for every
  copy that’s sold online.”

Most people consider earned income to be the best way to earn income. Why? The immediacy of the exchange and a perceived sense of security. Even in the case of my son’s new job, three weeks is not that long to wait. He’ll see the return on his time investment very soon and that is motivation to work in the mean time. He’s also secure in the fact that there are plenty of income generating jobs in this world. As long as he can work, he can make money.

Conversely, passive income frightens or confuses most people because it delays gratification and usually involves risk. In the case of earning 10 cents for the sale of every copy sold online, there is the possibility that it won’t sell at all. What then? But what if it sells 10 million times? What then? Could you use a million dollars over the next two to three years?

Which brings us right back to non-music cashflow. The primary reason to explore non-music cashflow is choice.

There are great and terrible earned income gigs. And there are risky and certain passive income opportunitites. But if you are constantly struggling to eat and pay your bills, you will ALWAYS seek earned income whether great or not. A major reason for the mediocre career I had is that I often took mediocre work. The fact that I HAD to take the work didn’t matter, I was the one playing the gig and therefore associated with mediocrity. Is it any wonder that I got only occasional calls for great work?

Non-music cashflow (read: a regular job that pays regularly) gives you options. When you don’t NEED the money everytime the phone rings, you can stay true to your visions and goals . You can actually build a career peice by carefully chosen peice.