Biz Booster Hot Tip!

How do you avoid unnecessary touring challenges? We've all heard touring horror stories. As an agent, I've experienced my share with my acts. You must have had your share of challenges over the years as well. You know the kind I'm talking about. There are the travel mishaps like luggage, including instruments not arriving with you on your flight. Or how about the broken instrument discovery after a long flight, always a wonderful surprise. Then there is the cancelled flight or the traffic jam. Occasionally there might be the odd food poisoning right before your show or catching the flu on the plane on the way to the show. How…

Are your methods still working? So, as you review how you have managed your business over the last 4 years, can you identify one thing you have been doing repeatedly to achieve desired outcomes? Is there one way you have been booking your dates or making your calls or marketing your act? Has it been working time and again? Are you satisfied with the results you’ve been achieving? Are your methods still working for you? If you are, then please identify that method or strategy and repeat it often in everything you do. BUT, if it has not delivered the results you are after, then again, identify that strategy or…

Are you missing great opportunities that are staring you in the face? Do you know when there is a great opportunity being offered to quickly recognize it as such and then act on it? If you tour without a support team, everything rests on you, the show, the merchandise sales, the set up, the tech, the schmoozing, everything. With all that on your head, there may be little time or mind-space to recognize the presenter who just handed you a card and said, "let's talk next week," or "call me and let's set up a date." Sure, you may take the card, but you didn't write a note on the…

Do you have fun performing? After all, if you are not enjoying every moment on stage, why are you doing this? When you enjoy yourself onstage, your audience enjoys your performance.   The more exciting your performance is, the more connected you are to your art, your music, the more fun you have presenting your art to your audience, the easier it will be to get future gigs and loyal fans.   I am always sold by a performer when I see them totally enjoying themselves as they present their performance. I go to events to be entertained as most audience members do. I always love seeing them again when…

Are your goals still appropriate for this year since you set those lofty goals a few years ago?   If you're like me, I review and make new goals every year and then revamp them midway through the year. Then I laugh at what might have derailed the whole plan.   If you are still working on goals, you set at an earlier stage of your life and career, are your goals still appropriate for you at your current age and stage of your career now? How often to you review those long-term goals? Are you tweaking your goals regularly to keep up with life's changes and career growth?   Are…

Here are 3 best-practices for the New Year that you might make part of your routine this year and for years to come. The new year is off and running. Holiday travel is winding down and winter is about to kick into high gear. Are you ready? Adopt these 3 best-practices and you will have an advantage over other artists vying for the same gigs. Practice Gratitude: One sure-fire way to build great relationships in business and in life is to demonstrate your appreciation to those with whom you interact. From the business perspective, that might simply mean remembering to send Thank You notes to bookers, presenters, media folks and…

It's time to celebrate you during the holidays.   Take a break from planning, practicing and do some partying. You’ve earned it after a full year of nose to the grindstone, conferences, phone calls, newsletters and emails.   I always take Christmas week and reflect, regroup, re-organize my office and get ready to dive into the New Year. It’s really a great time to celebrate-but not just the holidays. It’s a great time to celebrate all you’ve accomplished over the last year. We don’t do that enough. We don’t congratulate ourselves for what we’ve achieved, large or small.   As independent artists we are most likely not involved with an…

I wish you grateful tidings for a great holiday season and a wonderfully fruitful New Year.   I am so incredibly grateful to be able to work with you, whether in some small way through these Biz Boosters or on a more involved ongoing basis. Your creativity inspires me to continue growing and being creative in my own right. The work I do with your success in mind, keeps me focused and grounded to my life's purpose and for that I am truly grateful.   So, during the holidays as you find yourself caught up in the frenzy, take some time to just sit with a friend or family member…

I want to share a powerful end of year review with you to help carry you forward into the new year.   Every year during Christmas week I set aside time to look back over the last year and see what I accomplished in my business and in my life. Then I look ahead and make some plans for the new year.   I cherish this time as I look at all the new things that I was able to make happen or challenges that I faced head on and conquered. It’s not so much the number of things that were done that makes an End of Year Review so…