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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A little update on this blog, the word “gig” and what it is for me, and what I hope for it can be for you (plus an exploration into allowing curiosity to lead you back to your passion). Living on Gigging I started this blog, Living On Gigging, over 8 years ago while I was […]
It’s Monday at 6:37 am and I woke up to an email, like I so often do, with a link to a new blog post by one of the writers I read. Derek Sivers had just posted part one of his “Do This: Directives” on creating a fulfilled life. I didn’t click on any links, […]
I’m writing this for anyone who has changed his or her plans after graduating from college. For anyone who has studied one thing and has gone on to do something slightly (or extremely) different. And especially for anyone who, like me, has gotten a lot of crap for making those choices.
Published in Discmaker’s Echoes Blog. “Outside the box” is a term that can be both very helpful and frustrating for so many musicians, myself included. I am constantly looking for “what else” when working at my career trying to sell more albums, gain new fans and be authentic, while at the same time being original […]