Degrees From Center
If your style of music is only one or two degrees away from the kind of music that is successful and famous and generates lots of revenue…then it probably makes sense to stick with what you’re doing and simply wait for those markets to shift toward you.
However if your style of music is nine or ten degrees away from the kind of music that is successful and famous and generates lots of revenue…you might be waiting a long time for that shift. It might make sense to adjust your style to make it more likely enough people will latch on.
»» Worth noting…if you’re way off-center, having a plan (and patience) to build slowly will always give you the best chance to bridge the gap to larger markets.
Adding To The List
Brushing your teeth, taking out your contacts, washing your face, locking the door…the day doesn’t feel complete without these things. There’s a nagging awareness of incompletion until they’re complete. So you do them, without fail, every day.
The secret is you can add other things to this list. Whatever you want to add. Everything on that list is completely made-up and put into place by choice. And that nagging feeling is a gift of a reminder…use it to your advantage.
Three Beatle Things
The Beatles had two mics out front but three people singing. Think about that for a minute. It wasn’t because they couldn’t afford another microphone.
In The Beatles Get Back documentary there wasn’t much, if any, complimenting each other as they were coming up with these incredible, historic songs. Perhaps the real affirmation was the others taking the idea and running with it. I’m sure their egos were as fragile as any but there wasn’t a constant ‘you’re doing a good job’ going around. But rather, there was a general trust (albeit fractured) of musical instinct between the members and that they would get to where they needed to go.
Not even The Beatles knew (or know) how they did what they did. For every controllable element of a career there are fifty uncontrollable elements.
So That
You write the song so that you can make a record.
You play a show so that you can impress all the right people.
You sign the deal so that you can get a big marketing budget.
You do the interviews so that more people will check you out.
So often the primary focus is on ‘so that’ rather than on the actual thing. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging how the thing right now fits into a bigger plan and picture…but too often our whole world becomes one giant so that.
The thing will lead to the next thing on its own. Don’t forget to enjoy the thing while it’s happening.
I Don't Have Anything To Wear
The truth is we have plenty to wear…We just say this when we don’t like any of our options. So what is the next move? Shopping. Pouring through several new options until we find the one that we like.
And yet so often in business when we don’t like any of the options we feel the need to hurry and pick one of the bad options because that’s all there is and that’s all there is ever going to be.
If you don’t like any of your clothing options…no need to go shopping, just pick one.
If you don’t like any of your business options…find more options, don’t just pick one.