essays & reflections on crafting a creative career
Goal-setting is key to your growth. Sure, you’ll level up eventually, but to do it intentionally, with velocity, requires a plan. You can’t get to point B without knowing where B is. In my monthly mastermind for musicians, Amplify, we talk about “Champagne Wins” – measurable goals that are specific enough that everyone else knows […]
I see a lot of people wondering about their word of the year, or just pulling a word out of thin air, rather than choosing a word that will inspire them for three hundred and sixty five days. The work below is what I do to get a juicy word for myself that keeps me […]
Monetizing your email list isn’t just about selling a few more CD’s every month. Though more sales is certainly a welcomed addition to getting your email list in order! This is about taking your subscriber on a journey from fan to customer to repeat customer to advocate.
I have a story for you about how I fought for $15,000 for an advertisement placement of a song of mine. I’m a hustler. When I make a song, I let people know. When I release a CD, I give it to my friends. One of my friends is a video editor, and works a […]
Emails can be tricky, especially when you’re in between CD releases, tours, or big news. How can you write and send emails without having it take up a ton of brain power and time? (Every time I knew I wanted to send a newsletter out, I would take an entire afternoon thinking, outlining, writing, editing, testing links, re-reading, sending.) Here’s how…
Here’s my suggestion on how to rock your email list for 60 weeks with automation. It starts with a content-creation challenge…
The truth is, there may be a different perspective to take around making money in music. The most successful independent musicians I know are ones that are wearing multiple hats with different sources of income. Each hat is something that inspires and motivates them, gets them excited to get out of bed in the morning, and something that fulfills them. When what you are doing is fulfilling, the money becomes a secondary conversation.
Musicians are master procrastinators; here’s how to stall like a boss.
If you’ve ever done gymnastics, one of the things you learn early on is how to fall. Not because the coaches and teachers want you to fall, but because you’re going to fall. You may as well learn how to do it without hurting yourself. I take this same view with procrastinating. It’s inevitable. So why not develop some skills to procrastinate like a boss?
We procrastinate from doing The Thing we know we need to do for a variety of reasons that can usually be rolled into two categories: The Fear or The Overwhelm.
Half a year ago, I hosted a webinar for musicians about communicating your brand with the help of DiscMakers (maker of CDs and merch for indie musicians). The people who signed up for the webinar ended up on my mailing list. Not the mailing list for my music fans, but the one I have for […]
On January 10th, I visited an old friend and coach of mine. I thought I was doing her a favor… she had recently had knee surgery and was cooped up in her apartment. Yet when I walked out an hour and a half later, I had a new life.
What happened in that Washington Heights two bedroom overlooking George Washington Bridge?
I have no idea.
Except that something in the conversation left me with an overwhelming sense of permission.
Permission to be powerful.
Permission to ignore other peoples’ sh&t.
Permission to do what I need for my career and to stop compromising just for compromising’s sake.
Permission to simple be me and stop trying to explain or fix it away.
I’m on the Grammy’s ballot… And now for the first time in my life, I’m reaching out and pitching my new record… not to my fans, not to music supervisors and film producers, but to my colleagues requesting they consider my music for a Grammy. Other Recording Academy members. Music producers, songwriters, labels. I always wanted […]