One of my favorite
things about running my business is learning how to grow my business into
something that, at least so far, has grown each year since I started in
2008. When I was first starting out I
was very focused on how much money I was making from my site. I used to track my sales daily so that I
could monitor the growth of my sales.
Over the last couple
years I've shifted the way I do business fairly dramatically. Although I still track my sales for tax
purposes, I don't really focus all that much on how much money I'm making on a
day to day or even week to week basis.
Instead, I focus on improving and growing my site. I focus on things like blogging more, doing
more podcasts, interviewing more interesting guests, learning more about the licensing
business and so on. In other words, I
focus on the very tangible things that I can do to make my site and training
better.
The results have been
pretty amazing. My site and business has
continued to grow despite my not focusing directly on sales and profit. There is a very noticeable connection between
the effort I put into improving my site and my "bottom line". As I improve things more and more sales
naturally increase as a result.
What does this have
to do with the music business? Well I've
noticed a similar pattern in my music career as well. This year I've made a pretty conscious
decision to relax about the business side of music and focus more instead on
improving as a performer, songwriter, etc.
As a result I've performed more shows this year than any previous year
and many opportunities have come as a result of simply getting out there and
playing music and focusing on being the best musician I can be. I'm currently in the Dominican Republic
getting ready to play a pretty large four day long blues and rock festival on the
north side of the island, an opportunity that came to me through simply playing and
meeting several connections that came as a result of playing so many live
shows.
Sometimes it's easy
to become so results oriented that we lose sight of the many things we can
actually control. Every day there is
something you can do to improve as a musician and songwriter. What are you doing today to improve? I got up and practiced my vocals for an hour
this morning before I started working on my business. In an hour or so, when I stop working for the
day I'm going to practice my set for tonight.
Then I'll practice improvising for an hour or so. There's always something to do!
When it comes to
licensing, focus on the things you can control.
Write great songs. Perform them
well. Produce them well. Market them well. Rinse.
Wash. Repeat. The better you do
these things the better your results will be in the long run. If you focus and
improve the things that you can directly control, your end results will naturally
improve. Focus on growth, not on
results.
Comment on my blog:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/blog/focus-on-growth-not-results
Did you know that my website has a ton of free resources to help you learn how to license your music in tv and films?
If you haven't already, be sure to check out the following pages on my website to learn even more about how to license your music in tv and films:
Free Audio Interviews - Listen to free audio interviews with music licensing experts:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/free-interviews.php
Blog - Access dozens of free articles and posts about music licensing:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/blog.php
Podcast - Listen to all the episodes of my podcast, "Music, Money and Life":
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/podcast.php
Music Licensing Forum - Join the new music licensing forum and discuss all things related to music licensing here:
http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com/forum.php#/
Premium Products
How To License Your Music.com also offers premium one of a kind courses and programs related to different aspects of the music licensing business.
Here are a few...
The A To Z Of Music Licensing
If you're serious about licensing your music and learning how to stay ahead of the competition, be sure to check out my program "The A-Z Of Music Licensing". It's the most comprehensive program I offer and explains very clearly EVERYTHING you need to know to start licensing your music. I also offer the program with one on one coaching
where I work with you directly to help you get started. I'll work with you personally both via the phone and email to help you develop a game plan based on your own unique situation that you can implement immediately.
Get "The A To Z Of Music Licensing" here:
2013 TV And Film Music Licensing Directory
If you're already pretty business savvy and understand how the music licensing business works, I also offer the 2013 Industry Directory that comes with my program separately. The directory is a list of over 1,000 supervisors, publishers, music libraries, etc all working in the music licensing business.
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