Want
to Become A Professional Musician?…Start Here.
7 Things You Should
Do Now to Begin Your Music Career


By Tom Hess

 

Why
so many good musicians struggle to begin their music career.

If
you are like most people who want a career as a professional
musician, the first question you ask is probably, “What
do I have to do?” You ask this because you are not sure
what you need to do first, second, third, etc. And it seems
obvious that you must actually do things in order to move forward
and launch your own music career.

Whether
you are just starting out, or already have some experience in
the music business, there are important steps you must take
and many things you will need to do. However, the order in which
you take each step will make a big difference in the results
you get.

It’s
not about what you must do… It’s about who you must
become.

Some
years ago, I had a great mentor who was a very successful entrepreneur.
At that time, I was not yet very far along in my own music career.
I asked him all the usual questions like, “How can I get
on a world tour?”, “Where should I send my CDs to?”,
“Who do I need to talk to at the record company?”,
“How can I make more money with my music and talents?”,
“What do I need to do to sell my music in other countries?”,
etc.

He
replied, “Tom, you aren’t ready for any of that
yet. You might be ready as a musician, but you haven’t
really prepared yourself mentally. When you “do things”
now, you will make some progress along the way, but that isn’t
success – that won’t create a lucrative and stable career
over the long term. Successful people are successful not because
they are intelligent or talented, nor do they succeed simply
because they ‘do the right things’. When you become
‘success-minded’, you will have the power to achieve
success in anything you want to do. Don’t worry now about
‘doing things’. Let’s begin working on ‘who
you must become’. Your success needs to be built from
the inside first, then the external things you must do will
fall into place much more easily.

I
only proved him to be right when I reacted by saying, “I
already know all this positive thinking stuff, I need specific
advice on what, when, where and how to do things now.”
His response back to me was, “Ok Tom, if you really know
this then I challenge you to show me at least 25 ways in which
you have already implemented these mental concepts (on your
own) into your music career.” I didn’t have an answer
to that. He continued, “The entrepreneurs and business
people in any industry will know you are not really ready. They
will smell your inferiority like a lion smells fear in its prey.
And when they do, it generally won’t be good for you.
It would be like going into the jungle without a weapon, without
shelter and without a guide.”

After
our discussion, I became convinced it was time to work more
on who I needed to become before concerning myself with what
I needed to do. Our first major task was to define exactly where
my mental skills and preparedness for general success were.

To discover your mental preparedness for launching your own
music career, take this
3-minute quiz to find out.

7
Things You Should Do Now to Begin Your Music Career

1.
Don’t get caught speeding. Listen to the advice already
given above. Focusing first on who you need to become is more
important to your long term success than focusing on ‘what
actions you should take’. Don’t get caught speeding
through step 1 in order to get to step 2 faster. Who you will
become will dramatically influence the results you receive when
you are busy doing things in the future.

2.
‘inspect’ what you ‘expect’. What do
you expect from yourself? What do you expect from life? What
do you expect from others? Your entire life, up to this point,
is a reflection of your own expectations. You alone control
your own expectations. Only You can choose to expect greater
things out of yourself, your life and your surroundings –
when you do this you will become ready for the next step…

3.
Demand and Command. To expect greater things from yourself and
life is an important step. But expectations won’t have
real power until and unless you demand from yourself and command
yourself to do what is necessary for you to move forward no
matter what obstacles, challenges, fears and setbacks you may
encounter along the way. More importantly, you must demand and
command even more from yourself when things ARE going well.
Success often causes some people to lose their momentum. This
happens to people who are not truly ‘success-minded’
but have only been granted some shorter term success. When you
become ‘success-minded’ you will maintain high levels
of demand and command in your life in all situations. This is
key for long-term success (especially in the music business).

4.
Shoot Fire! How do other people perceive you? As a quiet, private,
introverted or reserved person? Or as someone who is so filled
with passion, intensity and commitment that they can see flames
of fire shooting out from the back of your head? You already
know that passion is the fuel which drives your actions to move
toward what you want. Beyond this obvious point is another important
component. When you are on fire, other people notice it and
become attracted to you, what you do and what you have to offer.
Highly successful people have an intensity about them which
most people do not possess. Many successful people will look
for this quality in you as an indicator of what they perceive
your success potential may be – this is especially true
when you first meet a person who may be in a position of power
to either help or hurt your career.

Of
course, be cautious not to come across as arrogant or obnoxious.
Show people your attitude of expectancy, confidence, passion,
determination, conviction and…. FIRE!

5.
Get Congruent. It should be your goal to align all (or most)
of your daily thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, plans and actions
with what you want to be, do and have. Although this might seem
obvious, very few people truly focus on this in their daily
lives. Typically, we may want to manifest a particular outcome,
but we divide our mind into opposing directions. Here are two
common examples…

1.
A guy constantly thinks about becoming a touring guitar player,
but does not really expect it to actually happen. The lack of
‘expectance’ leads to further incongruity, because,
by wanting but not ‘believing’ he will really become
a touring guitarist, he won’t make the necessary plans,
contacts, and other actions which could take him there.

2. College students, who want to become musicians, often major
in a non music related (and non entrepreneurial related) subject.
In this case, most of these students’ time and energy
are spent doing things which take them only further from their
musical aspirations…. As a general rule, the more congruent
you are, the faster and easier you will get where you want to
go.

6.
Weed your garden….You might not always have the freedom to
choose the physical location of where you live, but it is not
always necessary to relocate your home. You can find success
from virtually any physical place. In addition, not all of us
have been blessed with supportive family environments. Although
we cannot choose our family, we can choose our friends and other
people we associate with (both on and offline). If the friends
you have don’t support you, find new friends who will.
The environment where your mind lives is very important. You
must find supportive, positive and empowering peer group environments.
People who have similar aspirations, ambitions and experience
in the areas you seek are like good soil for which your career
can develop and grow. Negative, pessimistic and disempowering
people are like weeds. Do people around you build you up or
tear you down? Associate with other success minded people, surround
yourself with them…. It’s hard for flowers to grow
among weeds….. so weed your garden.

7.
Don’t depend on the sun and rain alone…. use fertilizer!
Your musical skills (no matter how great they may be) will not
be enough to create and sustain a significant level of success
in the music industry (sad but true). You may even already have
a reasonably decent understanding of how the music business
works today (though most people don’t). Becoming a successful
professional musician is a lot like being a gardener. To be
sure your career grows, you need high quality seed (your mental
preparedness), lots of sun (knowledge and skills), rain (physical
action), and fertilizer (a mentor). Yes it is possible to grow
a blooming flower without fertilizer, but the chances of long-term
life and maximum healthy growth go way up when you use fertilizer.
The same is true with your level of success as a professional
musician.

Copyright
2008 Tom Hess Music Corporation. All rights reserved. Used by
permission.