Two Simple Questions. One Simple Answer

Do I like this?

That’s a simple question to answer. It’s personal taste.

Is this any good?

Simple question but now it gets a bit more tricky. Good is relative. Good in relation to bad. Good compared to what? And ‘good’ could mean many things…viable in a certain market, up to a certain standard of quality, technically sound, emotionally connecting, income producing, respectable, safe, cutting edge, the list goes on.

Depending on what session or meeting or studio you’re in, it might be helpful to consider which one of these questions the other people are asking themselves. And if it’s the second one, remember that it gets complicated very quickly.

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Greatness And Famous

There’s no show business squad or music business brigade that is going to show up at your door and say, ‘we’ve had secret cameras watching your progress as a singer and songwriter and performer and we’re here with your rocket ship to take you to the top’.

You can be great behind closed doors but if you open those doors, being great is only one of the necessary steps toward that rocket ship.

Are you great behind closed doors? What about when the doors are open? The game changes when you open the doors.

Greatness does not equal famous.

And famous does not equal greatness.

But if you’re great, we’re cheering for you and we’re glad when we hear about you.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Plans And Excitement

Winning the lottery, very exciting.

Working a plan, not so much.

So are you hoping and waiting for pure excitement or are you willing to give up the amazing (yet unlikely) excitement of winning the lottery, getting picked, catching a huge lucky break in favor of working a plan that isn’t nearly as exciting but a much more probable way to get what you’re hoping for?

»» Here’s how to spot someone who says they’re working a plan but in reality they’re banking on winning the lottery…they complain a lot.

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MJ And Coaching

While he was a kid and just getting started and wasn’t very good, Michael Jordan had a coach.

At the pinnacle of his career, while he ruled the world, Michael Jordan had a coach.

You know who also has coaches guiding their performances? Beyonce, U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Bruno Mars…the biggest acts in the world have a coach (a show director) or two helping them. Constantly improving and refining. And not just improving and refining the production and lights but the actual physical performance, delivery, and the artists’ presence and spirit.

And yet so many artists are content to wing it, to ‘see what happens’…because somehow they have all the tools and magic they need to pull off a great performance, while the artists listed above don’t.

Great artists understand how to develop great performances.

(And ‘great’ doesn’t have to mean famous.)

If the best in the world have coaches and directors by their side, you might consider giving it a shot.

»» These days I probably can’t help too much with your jump shot or analyzing defensive strategies…but if you have a show that needs building feel free to drop me a message.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

New vs. Repeat

How many customers (or fans) do you need before you put your focus on repeat customers rather than new customers?

Because the marketing and strategy for getting new vs. repeat are really different. So different in fact that a strategy to get more customers in one category might turn off customers in the other.

The easy answer is that you want both. And for a while it’s necessary to do things for both groups.

But if you always need more, you’ll always need more.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Art and Credit and Responses

A great song or painting or joke disguises the immense work that went into making it.

That’s the point.

Hard work is complex. Complexity is beautiful and beauty is simple.

It’s why great art often elicits simple responses. We play the song again, we look at the painting an extra thirty seconds, we laugh at the joke.

Great art isn’t about getting credit for the hard work. It’s about giving people an invitation permission to respond in a simple way to something that resonates deeply. Even if they don’t realize it.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple