It’s a HARD Business … or is it?
Dear Subscriber,
Does this sound familiar to you?
- It’s hard to make a decent living from your art
- It’s a tough business
- There just aren’t enough paying gigs out there
Or as Hunter S. Thompson put it:
“The music [film, publishing, art, etc.] business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
It’s the truth, right?
… Or is it?
Joy and Success,
The Coaches of Artist’s EDGE – Debra Russell and Wendy Keilin
Please note that Wendy is no longer with Artist’s EDGE
Challenge of the Month
It’s a HARD Business!
This month, we take on the fundamental belief that it’s hard, if not impossible, to make a prosperous living doing what you love.
Fasten your seatbelts – here come the “reality” busters!
Wendy’s Solutions
Build Your Own Pond
I believe that a big part of why it seems so hard to make a living from your art is because there are so many artists trying to be successful doing the same things in the same way. If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll be one of very many small fish in a very crowded pond, fighting for extremely limited resources.
By applying the same creativity to your business that you bring so naturally to your art, I assert that you can find or create a new pond of your own that’s perfect for you, your talents, preferences, values, and lifestyle – a “pond” where you can earn as much money as you desire doing exactly what you most love to do.
Jeri Goldstein speaks of a musician, a former nurse, who discovered a lucrative niche performing for nursing conventions – large gatherings, with big budgets, of people she can uniquely connect to with her music. She now makes a very comfortable living singing targeted songs for big, appreciative audiences, with little competition. She’s the star of a pond she created just for her.
My client Mark Holdaway is busy building such a pond. A talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Mark’s wwweloping his passion for the kalimba, the African thumb piano, into a thriving business.
Mark’s vision of world peace through millions of happy people playing kalimba together, is so infectious, people buy kalimbas just to be a part of it. He’s writing books, selling instruments, performing, creating kalimba clubs, working with young children and music therapists … the possibilities continue to open up, and business is booming.
Mark’s experience points to another key to a successful creative career: Multiple Streams of Passive Business Income.
We’ll be discussing both these key points, and nine others, in this month’s Artist’s EDGE Membership Toolbox Teleclass. I hope you’ll consider participating. See below for info on how to do that.
Please note that Wendy is no longer with Artist’s EDGE
Debra’s Solutions
Competition – Fuel for the Fire!
Do you believe competition is bad? Do you believe that in order for you to win, they must lose? Or that to compete you must hurt, betray or damage your competitors?
Do you see how these beliefs could get in the way of your ability to compete?
I say – competition is what makes the game of life worth playing. So, let’s look at these beliefs.
First – the Win/Lose paradigm. This idea is based in scarcity, that there just ain’t enough to go around. If you get a gig — that’s one less gig for me.
I believe that what you put out in the world comes back to you three-fold. If you offer opportunities to others, opportunities will open for you. And you can be generous without sacrificing yourself. In fact, the more you sacrifice yourself, the less generous you are able to be.
You cannot give what you don’t have.
So if you create success for yourself, you will be better able to offer opportunities to others – You win; they win! And their wins don’t block your wins.
Second – the belief that you can only win by hurting others. Or, in other words, you aren’t good enough to win on your own merits. You have to make your competition less than you in order to win.
If this is your belief, then the answer isn’t to avoid competition. The answer is to build your skills, wwwelop yourself as an artist, and wwwelop your belief in yourself as an artist.
The bottom line is this — if you stay true to your values, if you maintain your integrity, if you believe in yourself — then you won’t damage others by competing with them.
The essence of competition is personal excellence. It’s about being the best you can be – the best artist and the best human being. So don’t shy from competition. Welcome it. Use it to play bigger.
And compete with others. Because competing with them is challenging them to be the best they can be. So you can celebrate your competitor’s success as well as your own. Their success is just a challenge to you to step out of your comfort zone and come play on the next level.
Contact Debra for a Complimentary Coaching Session
Coming Up in the Artist’s EDGE Membership
Invest in Your Success
Our March Toolbox Teleclass, on The Prosperous Artist: The surprising truth about what it really takes to make a great living doing what you love, and why so few artists ever do, takes place Wednesday, March 29th at 4pm EST / 1pm PST.
In this popular workshop, first led by Wendy at the Independent Music Conference, we lay out the 11 Keys to Outside-the-Box Success.
Come prepared to have your thinking expanded, and leave inspired and armed with concrete actions to take your career in a whole new direction. Get where you want to be faster, more effectively, and with a lot less effort.
This month’s Q&A Session is TODAY, Thursday, March 16th at 2pm EST / 11am PST. The Q&A Session is your opportunity to bring your specific questions about how to make a prosperous living doing what you love.
Issues covered in previous Q&A sessions include:
- Time management and prioritizing
- Living a balanced life
- How to handle fears, considerations, and roadblocks
- Choosing a contact management system
- Radio promotion – is it worth the money, and how to pick the right person for the job
- Should you put all your energy into the career of your passions, or have a “Plan B”?
The monthly Toolbox Teleclasses and Q&A Sessions are open only to Artist’s EDGE Members. You can become a Member today for only $1. Participate in this month’s calls, and hear recordings of all our past calls on the Members-Only site.
Join the Artist’s EDGE Membership
Featured Resource – MasterWriter
The most powerful suite of writing tools ever assembled in one program
While this system was wwweloped for songwriters, we believe that it can be incredibly useful for any kind of writer – novel and non-fiction, screenplay and ad copy.
This revolutionary software won Best of Show at MacWorld Expo, receiving rave reviews in every major music magazine. MasterWriter is currently used by some of the world’s leading songwriters, including Gwen Stefani, Jimmy Webb, Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, and many more.
In our daily conversation and in our writing, we tend to use vocabulary that we are familiar and comfortable with. When you use MasterWriter, your references and vocabulary begin to expand. And as they do, you will find new and colorful ways to paint word pictures.
MasterWriter is a triple threat: A great source of ideas pre-inspiration, a wonderful tool during inspiration, and invaluable post-inspiration, when editing your work can make the difference between good and masterful.
This is a serious tool for the serious writer. Windows and Mac compatible.
Regular Price: $289
Artist’s EDGE Discount Price: $279
Artist’s EDGE Members-Only Price: $219
Use discount number 4010 to receive your $10 discount
or Join the Artist’s EDGE Membership for only $1 and save $70 on the software.
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