Do you remember what you thought you were going to do for a living when you entered college? Back then I thought I was going to teach music or be a drug counselor. I’m in a WAAAAAAY different place now!!!!!
There I was, applying my music theory and social psych, and next thing you know, “IT” happened. During a particularly tough patch in my life, my brother shared some wisdom with me. I remember the exact moment he said it – italian restaurant, corner booth, Pammy’s birthday, Grandma was there. I will never forget those words. What he said was “if you can’t wake up and go to sleep every day with a smile on your face, you need to change something in your life.”
In an instant my life changed. Within a week I was hired at the company that eventually relocated me to Las Vegas, where I would eventually find PartnerWeekly, my wife, and the amazing life I have today.
It’s amazing how “IT” – one little moment – can change your life, huh?
I had another one of those instances this week. Two, actually. They happened on the flights to and from New York for Affiliate Summit. Again, my life was changed instantly and I will never forget where I was when IT happened. Here’s the story:
About a week ago, I noticed that one of my more blunt, type-A friends/clients had completely changed his approach with both his clients and vendors. The change was so drastic that I asked him about it. He told me that he read a couple of books that changed the way he thought about business and personal interactions and that he’d never be the same. He tried to explain the books to me.
They didn’t make a bit of sense.
Then he overnighted them to me. Just like he said, my life changed in about 5 hours. I’m not going to tell you what these books are about, but I will tell you what they aren’t about.
They won’t help you write sales copy.
They won’t teach you to be more influential.
They have nothing to do with anything ending in “.com”.
These books will redefine how you interact with the people around you. In fact, they have displaced Cialdini as my #1 and #2 picks for must read business books. (Unless you’re an affiliate marketer who works out of your home and spends your day chatting with AM’s. In that case, keep reading Cialdini.)
I’m going to make a commitment to you. Whenever I find a book that I really love, I buy a ton of copies of it to make sure I can give it away to my friends and loved ones. I’m so confident that these books are life changing that if you don’t want them I’ll buy them back from you. (You just have to ship them to my house so I can give them away. Hell I’ll even pay for shipping.)
As a final teaser, I will mention that when I finished reading the 1st book I picked up the phone and called my wife and a few close friends and vendors to apologize for how misguided my interactions have been.
P.S. Thanks to Ringo Dingo for the words of wisdom back in ’01 and to my anonymous friend/client for the read. Incredible.
Other Random Stuff
If something in your work or home life seems impossible, it’s probably because you are being stretched to your emotional or mental limits. Humans tend to resist change and challenge. Both of these things are hard to deal with.
Don’t let yourself get left behind by this sort of thinking. Instead of giving a litany of reasons why the project can’t happen, think about all the reasons it can. Or it should. Or it needs to. Write them down and repeat them over and over again. Sell yourself on them. Take what seems impossible and convince yourself why it is possible.
Other Random Stuff
Just opened up the computer and tried to find a wireless network to join……
Other Random Stuff
What makes a marketer/musician/businessman/individual truly “great?”
This is the ongoing debate I’ve had with a friend of mine. He believes greatness (particularly in the political arena) is defined by being “the smartest person in the room.” I disagree.
It’s not just about being the best, smartest, or fastest, or knowing the most notes, or helping others. Greatness is also defined by your limitations.
Can you look at a situation, acknowledge that you can’t pull it off alone, and bring in the pros? Can you hire for your deficiencies rather than just employ people who think like you? Do you play with musicians who are better than you or strive to be the best musician in any project?
I am TERRIBLE at arranging music. I like to write tunes and noodle around a bit with it but when it comes to arrangements I’m lost. Back in Chicago I discovered an awesome piano player and arranger. No matter how uncomfortable I felt with his suggestions, I did my best to implement them because I knew he had a skill set that I did not have.
It is hard to stifle yourself when you disagree with an idea, but sometimes that is exactly what you have to do to grow and become great.
Other Random Stuff
and the internet access sucks here.
if you are going to offer a product, don’t half ass it. offer a good product.
this applies to guitar, music, and business. if it is worth doing it is worth doing right.
Other Random Stuff
A popular guitar forum that I frequent gets a lot of these types of questions:
1. How do I learn how to shred?
2. What scale is this (random notes that have nothing diatonically to do with one another)?
3. How can I make my sweep picking faster/better/whatever?
4. What chords are these (random, again meaningless triads)?
I have advice for those guys – quit it. Your perspective above is wrong. While technique and theory are really important, they aren’t the most critical part of music. The most critical aspect of music is, of course, being musical. It takes time, practice and self-critique to develop musicality. If you aren’t doing that you are missing the MOST IMPORTANT part of development as a guitarist.
If you want 4% of the male population to geek out while you play 64th note sextuplets at 240 BPM, sweet – keep the practice up. On the other hand if you want to have a chance of taking your career anywhere you need make good music, not technical music, so stop being a guitar player and start being a musician. Stop f***ing shredding!
Two quick questions:
1. How many great shredders are there who have made it big? Like “do it for a living” big?
2. How many mediocre guitar players have made it big because they are incredible musicians/songwriters/performers?
If your answer to #1 is less than your answer to #2, you need to adjust your practice schedule so that it is more in line with a long term goal that looks like #2.
One great way to do this is take lessons on another instrument or from a good instructor who teaches on another instrument. Find a great piano player, tell him what you’re trying to do and get him to work with you on musicality. He can’t give you tips on technique because he doesn’t know any. 
Other Random Stuff
….wow. I never thought my guest post on Music Soul and Music Sold would create such a dust-up by fellow musicians. I’ve had people calling me names (although for some reason they all got “G” rated when posting here – wimps), questioning credentials, criticizing my approach, ethics, morals, blah blah blah. Flush it.
In the middle of it all, much to my surprise, some readers are more open-minded than I originally gave them credit for (thank you, Baton Rouge). He gets that – as a band/business person/blogger – you have to be different if you want to be noticed. “Different” might mean unique, controversial, fresh, smarter, better, more obnoxious (as so frequently is the case with me). Sometimes it just amounts to throwing your readers/fans a curveball.
A band that isn’t very good but dresses up like girls.
A “diva” who open mouth kisses another woman on stage.
A guitar player who makes loud, unfamiliar noises on his very loud guitar and ends the night by torching it.
A guy who changes his name to a symbol.
“Wardrobe malfunctions.”
All of the acts listed above were different – intentionally so – and were listened to and discussed. And they sold records. Wait – what? Discussed? Like 8 pages and two weeks worth of traffic on a forum you’ve never been to? Like driving huge traffic to your blog? I guess we can add “sales tips for musicians” to that list, huh?
Here’s the deal – if I sound like I’m cocky it is because my approach works. I have been using it for years. It grew a Chicago-based band and we played some really cool gigs as a result. To be honest, we had NO BUSINESS playing some of the rooms we played - but my client, the owner, was always left happy and I NEVER EVER burned a bridge.
I have set sales records at every company that I’ve worked for.
I use the same sales techniques training new internet marketers. Many of them are the most successful folks in the affiliate marketing space, and several of them manage $20 million + books of business.
That said, know your audience and if you are uncomfortable DONT DO IT! Oh, to address one final question…here’s the point of it all:
Q: What happens when the bar owner realizes what you’ve done to get the gig?
A: Nothing. They don’t care because you have just given them one of their most profitable nights of the season.
If you didn’t pick that up from my 2nd post, you need to slow down on hating and read again.
P.S. Thanks for the inbounds and SERP help guys.
Other Random Stuff
Seth Godin’s blog always makes me think. His post this morning was titled “But You’re Not Saying Anything.” In it, he writes:
I was talking with a buddy about this very subject last week. Some other examples:
- “Objective” statements on your resumé. Weak.
- The majority of executive summaries / introductions on sales proposals.
- 95% of web site FAQs.
The best way to get and keep someone’s attention is to be direct and tell them what you’re looking for, not fill a document with B.S. corporate speak and hype words.
Other Random Stuff
Chad from Dallas requested a list of good sales books. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order:
BGD Says: Cialdini is a genius. This book was co-written by him. Easy to get through, quick to understand.
BGD Says: The book that made Cialdini famous. Required reading for every sales person I’ve ever hired.
BGD Says: Great if you’re doing complex sales with long turnaround times.
Other Random Stuff
(This is a follow up to my post “How to Supercharge Your Band’s Bookings.” You can read it on Steve Nixon’s blog.)
So you got the gig. Awesome! Now you need to make a good impression and get booked there again. If you draw well, this shouldn’t be a problem. But what if your attendance has been spotty? Here are a few of my favorite techniques as well as a word of caution.
WORD OF CAUTION: You can’t expect to spend $0 on marketing and promotion and have a successful show. The venue needs to see that you are spending your own time and money to promote a show – you’ll earn a great deal of respect from them. My fan recruitment techniques necessitate spending at least your first night of earnings IN ADVANCE to get butts in seats. You will make $0, maybe less on your first couple of shows. However you’ll gain professional respect from the venue and your next gigs will pay out in spades.
These techniques fall in to two categories: “More Fans” and “Less Cost to Venue.”
Less Cost – “Insure” Your Gig
If you have a performance contract, request from the venue that you get paid $0 unless you bring X number of covers. If you don’t have a contract, refuse to accept money from the venue owner if your draw is less than stellar. I have turned down money and it resulted in a second chance every single time.
Less Cost- Drink On Your Dime
Many venues comp food and drink to band members. Lots of guys abuse this, particularly at smaller venues (bars, irish pubs, blues clubs, etc). When your waitress arrives, turn down the comp and tell her that you want to carry your own weight. Which brings us to…..
More Fans – Tip, Tip, Tip
The best way to promote your band is to get the venue’s staff working for you. Most musicians are cheap. Waitresses are used to this. They are also frequently the gateway to another gig. So tip the crap out of them. At our first show at a bar outside of Chicago, our draw was ok but not stellar. We took entire $550 check and make sure the wait staff and bartenders were each tipped out. This worked out to $50-$75 per person. It was really really expensive but paid off. We got our “second chance” one month later. The staff promoted our band to every single person they saw for an entire month. When we showed up to load in the bar was already turning people away at the door and their patio was jammed. It was one of the best Fridays in the bar’s history. The booking agent called me that Monday and faxed in a performance agreement for 1 Friday per month for the next 12 months at $650 per show. Not a bad night, and our $550 investment yielded a return of $8,350 plus merch sales. Ten months later we booked an additional year at $750 per show.
More Fans – Party Bus
Although we had a decent fan base in the city of Chicago, tons of our fans were suburbanites. We had a big show at Hard Rock and needed to bring our ‘A’ game. We rented two charter busses, one from the north side and one from the south side. Pickup points were suburban bars that booked us regularly. (Of course they appreciated that since it increased their bar receipts for that night.) Everyone met, bussed in to the city, watched our show, partied, and went home. That night we made 3 venues happy – Hard Rock and the two pickup/drop off locations. We spend $1,000 but it was offset by “passing the hat” for the bus drivers’ tips, on-bus merch sales, and future bookings at the suburban bars.
More Fans – Use Craig’s List
Craig’s List is a great place to get fans, but don’t use the musician forum. Don’t use the activities forum. Use the jobs board. Post an ad that you’re looking for girls to come out to your show and that they’ll get free drinks and/or a few bucks for 1-2 hours’ work. Make sure you let the venue owner know that you would like to run a tab for some VIPs to ensure that it’s ok with them. Ask the girls to bring friends. Then have a friend with a camera take pics, post ‘em on your band’s web site and watch the single guys flock to your shows!