We talk a lot in the music industry about having persistence and going forth with your goals regardless of how many times you’ve fallen down if you really believe in yourself.

Seth Godin posted a couple of days ago about persistence and it struck a chord with me. He says it so simply in just two lines. Here it is:

Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying.

Persistence is having the same goal over and over.

If you think you’re being persistent, stop a minute and check. Are you being persistent with your goals or with your tactics? Tactics should change. Strategy should be flexible. Goals shouldn’t, if you really believe in them.

This was and is my first business and first love. I have worked long days and nights over the last year and have only in the last year started to share responsibilities and only allow myself to interact with you musicians. I love that part the most. In any case, it wasn’t always like this as there are many things I didn’t know about when I jumped into business. Here are 15.

1. Activity isn’t progress, and isn’t always productive.

2. Don’t do the boring stuff. Share it with your staff so they can do it (because they don’t find it boring).

3.  Get their e-mail. Provide them huge value.

4. Emulate, don’t imitate. Model, don’t copy.

5. If they want you, they’ll find you. No need to go find them.

6. Forget about publicists. Create enough success stories to attract publicity naturally.

7. The major source of income is ideas.

8. Don’t be stuck behind a desk. Take a walk. That’s where the best ideas come from. (Learned from Sol) 

9. Integrity wins in business. Live and work from integrity and the profit will take care of itself.

10. State your fee confidently and don’t doubt.

11. The map is not the territory. (Credit: Topher Morrison) 

12. Don’t talk too much. Listen more.

13. Writing is the essence of business success. Keep a journal.

14. Make yourself incredibly clear in communication. This minimizes pointless enquiries.

15. Become one of the few experts in your field as fast as you can. 

This is about music business. In an upcoming post, I’ll share a few things I wish I knew before I got started as a musician.

The way in which I coach and can be the catalyst to help musicians move towards and achieve their goal is based on what I call the Certainty Philosophy.

——————————————————–

0                                                                 1

The number line above helps visualise the Certainty Philosophy which simply states that if you are at 1 on any particular goal you have, you’ll be absolutely certain about achieving it. Call it 100%. Anywhere below 100% shows uncertainty and there is something in the way, so to speak.

Like my friend once told me, the root cause of everything in the way is fear, and that is why I believe it is the millionaire secret. Get rid of the fear, and the remaining obstacles become much easier to tackle. Other things stopping you from being at 1 on the scale could be negative obstacles, lack of energy, lack of confidence, lack of focus, lack of abundance, lack of money, no concentration, not knowing how to promote your music, etc.

One question I am asked quite a lot is “how is a musician supposed to do their own marketing when they haven’t got enough hours in the day and want to make music?” Although I give a selection of answers to this question when asked, in planning this article, I wanted to put them all out here because it leads nicely into what I want to write about today.

(1) If you haven’t got the big bucks to spend on a marketing firm, you can’t change that. You’ve got to do your own marketing. If you don’t market, no-one will hear of you.

(2) There’s not enough hours in the day? Ha! The truth is, you have as much time as you need. You just need to make it. Most don’t. They just spend most that time complaining.

(more…)