One of the pleasures of being a musician is the freedom. Freedom to work when you want and freedom to chose not to. Freedom to keep busy, or the freedom to have, well, free time. These are also the dangers of being a musician.
It’s all too easy to over use your freedom and wind up wondering if you’ll ever work again. Fortunately you’re not alone in this dilemma as evidenced by a terrific set of ideas from DesignersMind.com. Lord Brar offers tips for staying effective no matter what circumstances you’re in. Here’s my take:
- Do something musical everyday. Keep your skills up whether you’re working or not. If you’re a player, practice. If you create music, do so all the time. Not only will you get better, but you’ll have material to pull from when it matters.
- Don’t wait for opportunities. You can’t sit by the phone and wait – and I KNOW what I’m talking about. I did this and believe me when I say it doesn’t work. You have to be proactive in getting your name and reputation out and about. And as someone just told me the other day, it doesn’t matter who you know, what matters is who knows you.
- Have multiple streams of income. Whether they’re all in music or not, just make sure you’re not dependent on one source of income. You’ll have to figure out what that means to you, but even as an employee of a successful company, I’m working hard to have multiple streams of income too. Remember this, it is YOUR responsibility to provide for yourself. Take this very seriously.
- Find your niche. BE YOU!
- Get online. If you’re reading this, chances are you understand, but Social Networking and a web presence are just part of the deal these days. Which brings us to…
- Market yourself. I talk about this plenty, so just know it’s important. Very important. CRITICALLY important.
- Work your tail off pretty much all of the time. Being a musician means your career is your life and vice-versa most of the time – or it at least feels that way. I don’t advocate working round the clock, but you will have to work hard.
I’ve used the post to outline “musician-y” advice, but be sure to read the insights as written.
Your life as a musician must follow the same rules as any business, and the primary rules of business are:
– you must always be innovating – growing, creating, improving, strengthening and stretching.
– you are always marketing – everything you are, say, do, play, make, produce, write and create.
Make it all count towards what you want.
