Goals & Planning

This week I’ll begin a multi-part series to help you make result-based career decisions. So often we make decisions just because we see others engaging in some particular activity. We think they’ve discovered something that works so we better get on board and do it as well. It must be the right thing to do, right? But how do you know it’s the right thing for you? How do you know it will produce the results you need? So over the next few Biz Boosters I’d like to offer some new ways to think about how to decide to engage in some very specific activities that may come up during…

Just how do you go from good to great as a performer? It occurred to me that this is something that might be of interest to you as your career evolves. I would put this topic under the heading, Goals For Your Show. I want to focus on one goal in particular that will help your show go from good to great. This topic is Responsibility—Responsibility for your audience's enjoyment of the event. Perhaps you haven't thought about it in this term, maybe you've never used the word Responsibility to define your job up there on the stage. And yet, isn't that exactly what you hold in your hands, within…

Defining success for your career and life must be based on your success parameters only. Let's get one thing straight from the start, everyone's definition of success is going to be different. And that really goes for musicians and performing artists. When it comes to touring, your definition of what makes a successful gig or tour could also be unlimited. Perhaps it was a success because you lost less money than you thought you would, or broke even. Perhaps you sold more CDs than you anticipated or even got more PR coverage than ever before. To define success you enter into an evolving process and each project requires you to…

Making hotel reservations for tours while planning your tours is one way to make sure you get the rooms you need, when you need them. It's only June, but I'll bet you have gigs booked for the fall. Do you also have your hotel reservations made for those tours? Here are some tips to help you get your hotel reservations on the nights you need, during your upcoming tours. These ideas will be useful no matter when you tour. And even though they may fall into the common sense category, you may be as surprised as I was to know that most artists don’t think about hotel reservations until they…

Defining success for your career and life must be based on your success parameters only. Let's get one thing straight from the start, everyone's definition of success is going to be different. And that really goes for musicians and performing artists. When it comes to touring, your definition of what makes a successful gig or tour could also be unlimited. Perhaps it was a success because you lost less money than you thought you would, or broke even. Perhaps you sold more CDs than you anticipated or even got more PR coverage than ever before. To define success you enter into an evolving process and each project requires you to…

Blow up the to do list accomplish more each day by incorporating these two best practices into your life. We are so consumed by our attempts to manage our time and squeeze tons of things into our day. And yet, at the end of each day we wonder, "What did I accomplish?" Instead of beginning with long lists of things to do, calls to make, how about if we blow up the to do list accomplish more. We do that by re-framing our vision of the day and stop trying to manage time but rather begin to manage our energy. Our energy ebbs and peaks throughout the day. Using those…

Plan for positive results each time you contact potential venues. Impossible you say! Perhaps not—when you plan appropriately! OK, so how exactly do you do this? I believe it’s all a matter of setting your expectations to meet the situation properly. How many times do you sit down to make booking calls or write booking emails and expect to get the gig on the first call? C’mon, deep down, you are all geared up to book that tour in one sitting. I know, I used to be that person, all filled with confidence, totally believing that I’d get this tour booked in the morning and could rest on my laurels…

The devil's in the details? Or perhaps it is really a matter of semantics. Let me explain. The term Artist Manager as it is used in the entertainment industry will most often mean the person who oversees the “Big Picture” for the artist’s development and forward movement toward career success. This means they deal with all the people involved with the artist from agents, publicist, record companies, publishers, travel personnel, group members and in turn deal with all the millions of details related to every one of those team members. Now according to the dictionary, the word manager has 5 potential meanings: to succeed in accomplishing to take or be…

Here’s a great organizing tip to prepare for the New Year. Each year during the week between Christmas and New Years, or the first week in January, I go through my most used files and organize for the New Year. This process coincides with my tax prep each year, so in one exercise I accomplish two tasks: Getting my files ready for the New Year and getting my taxes ready for my accountant. Cool! Here’s how I Organize for the New Year: I keep some of those collapsible storage boxes with covers up in my attic or get a new batch from a local office supply store. Then, I make…