Mining the Gold from Your Contacts
This class will cover the heart of relationship marketing (pun intended). Making that initial contact with a prospective client, customer or fan is just the beginning of a long and beautiful and hopefully productive relationship. Knowing how to turn an initial contact into a relationship is a key success skill.
Managing Conflicting Priorities
At any given moment, on any given day, you could be doing a hundred different things, right? And at any given moment on any given day, you probably see half a dozen things that seem to be of equal urgency and priority. But you’re just one person. So how do you choose the right action?
Top 5 Twitter Mistakes
I’ve been using Twitter for just over a year, now. And I admit it, I’m hooked. Twitter represents an unprecedented opportunity for connecting with your fans, creating new fans and promoting your music or business for little or no money. But I see a lot of people making the same mistakes over and over. And it’s such simple stuff to fix. Here are the top 5 Mistakes and how to fix them:
How to Manage Conflicting Priorities
In our complex, day-to-day lives, we have a multitude of priorities calling for our attention. Some call in a whisper. Others scream from the rooftops. And the soft voice of the things that we most long to accomplish is often drowned out by the fires and clamoring of these conflicting priorities. No matter how good your time management structures and systems are, if you don’t figure out how to manage these conflicts, you will be hard-pressed to maintain those systems. So how do you decide where to spend your resources for the best outcome?
Project Management – The Performance Results Description Tool
The PRD allows you to visually link your goals to your daily activities as well as develop a working plan for how you’ll reach those goals.
How to Get Started on Twitter
I’ve done several calls over the last 2 years that refer to Twitter directly or indirectly, and there have been folks on those calls who either JUST started or have not yet started their Twitter account. If this is you, what are you waiting for? Feeling overwhelmed and just don’t know how to get started? Well, this is the call for you.
How to Integrate Social Media into Your Multiple Streams Business
With Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Reverbnation, My Space, Youtube and on and on), you have an unprecedented opportunity to connect with, interact with and deepen your relationship with your fans, clients and customers – FOR FREE!
For every artist who is taking great advantage of these tools, there are hundreds of you who are using them poorly, quitting after a few weeks, or even avoiding them all together. And I say, what a wasted opportunity!
An Act of Willpower – the Process of Perseverance
The skill of applying your will to your choices consistently is critical to making your systems work (including, time management, organization, marketing) and creating consistent and sustainable success. Start developing your will power today!
Marketing for Musicians
This is a post I put up on the FAR-West list-serve (Folk Alliance Region-West). It got a fair bit of reaction and so I thought I’d share it with you. Warning – a bit of a rant here… And I expect I’ll be flamed, but that’s just fine with me, because one of my jobs […]
2 Lessons from American Idol – Top 7
Got behind in my blogging again – here are the two lessons from American Idol – Top 7. In Idol 7 – Alicia Keys was the Mentor and she talked about how she intended to help the contestants find out what they’re made of. And that “Idol Gives Back” will help them discover what their character is and how to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Transitioning to Full-time With Your Art/Music Business
Whether you’re working a day job in the corporate world or teaching within your craft to sustain yourself, many artists and musicians dream someday they will earn enough to go full-time with their art.
And just as many have given up on that dream, because it seems out of reach. Or because they tried to go full-time but ended up having to return to the day job, because they just weren’t earning enough to sustain themselves and their family. I’ve worked with many private clients in different lines of work to make that leap from part-time to full-time in their businesses. And I’ve found that the process for success through this transition is similar no matter what business you’re in.
3 Lessons from American Idol – Top 10
This was a very juicy week for Lessons from American Idol!
The first 2 lessons were pretty clearly expressed by Usher in his role as mentor. I have to say, I think Usher is my favorite American Idol Mentor so far! He wasn’t just interested in the arrangement, he really gave the Contestants constructive and immediately applicable lessons for their performance as well.
2 Lessons from American Idol – Top 11
In last week’s episodes, I felt there were 2 themes worth exploring. The first has to do with the choices the Contestants were making – and you’re making as an artist whenever you create.
How to Use Feedback and Criticism Constructively
The most successful artists (and people) have made an art of receiving and implementing feedback. But for the rest of us, feedback can be really hard to hear. It can be painful. It can trigger all of our negative beliefs both about our own worth and about the probability of our success.
2 Lessons from American Idol – Top 12
The format of American Idol requires artists to create cover versions of other people’s music. This is only slightly artificial as many independent artists perform songs written by someone else. And so, the ability to take a song written by someone else and make it your own is a critical skill for your success in the music industry.
No Failure – Only Feedback
Over the last few months, I’ve been doing a series of calls for the Artists Marketing & Business Academy based on Christopher Howard’s Assumptions for Empowered Leadership. For this edition of the Words to the Wise Newsletter, I’m focusing on Assumption #9: “Only feedback – no failure; therefore utilize everything” I’ll go much deeper into […]
7 Lessons from American Idol – Top 16 Results
In the writing of this blog series – I will not be commenting on who stays and who is voted off, no matter how tempted I may be. My purpose in writing this blog is to help you in your serious pursuit of success doing what you love.
2 Lessons From American Idol – Top 8 Male Semifinalists
In Wednesday’s American Idol episode there two lessons that can help you be successful as a performing musician or artist.
3 Lessons from American Idol – Top 8 Female Semifinalists
In last night’s episode of American Idol, I saw a few themes that you can apply to your musical performance.
3 Lessons from American Idol – Top 24
For Season 9, I will be commenting on AI every week, so I’ll catch up shortly. I’m sure many blogs will be talking about this – but I will be looking at what lessons a music business professional can learn about how to create success promoting your career and your music.