TAG: best self

Career Planning for Music Entrepreneurs: Tapping Into Vision and Going for Plan A

The past two weeks, I have had a great time working with the future stars of concert music and talking a lot about how to create a successful career as a musician. First, I spent two days with the Fellows at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, located in the picture-perfect hills of Northwest Connecticut on a beautiful estate where the …

Networking for Music Entrepreneurs: Using Your Head and Your Heart

I love teaching networking because it is such a valuable skill for musicians.  And my recent networking class at Yale was such a treat because for the first time ever, I had a group where nearly half of the students enjoy networking! As a result, my “experienced” networkers were able to share their successes with their colleagues which both reinforced the importance of networking and showed other students what to do in order to incorporate networking into one’s arsenal of career-building tools. 

The bottom line:  networking involves both your head—being strategic—and your heart-being intuitive and sensitive to building quality relationships. 

Let’s take a closer look at what worked.

What’s Working for Music Entrepreneurs?: The Power of Living at Choice

Spring Break is here.  My students are on overload.  They have been performing a lot, as well as auditioning for DMA programs, summer festivals and orchestra jobs, interviewing for internships and jobs on top of all their schoolwork.  We began our last class before Spring Break with a check-in on what’s working.

What’s working is a great question because you focus on the positive aspects of your life.  It is another way to change your perceptions and use the forces of positive energy to motivate you.

Here’s the way it works:

1.    First you identify what is working in your life.

2.  Then you figure out what about it works, analyzing the steps you took to create your success.

3.  Finally, you apply your methodology to areas of your life that are not working as well so that you can overcome your challenges.

Let’s take a look at what is working from my class.

 

Top 10 Tips for Music Entrepreneurs: How to Create Sustainable Career Success

With the year coming to a close, it is time for top 10 lists.  My contribution to the field is a top 10 list for Music Entrepreneurs on how to create career success.  This list reflects my belief that successful music entrepreneurs align who they are with what they do  .

The short answer is be authentic, be unique, and master the skills that will enable you to create big dreams and make them happen. Not surprisingly, this list reflects the topics that I will be covering in my class next semester at YSM on Creating Sustainable Careers in the Arts.

Here are my top 10 tips for musicians who are committed to creating and sustaining authentic success:

How to Develop the Mindset of a Music Entrepreneur: 5 Tips on Positivity

I was quite taken with a recent blog post in Music Career Juice on how musicians should not look to businesses as a model for how to operate but instead to aspire to be expressive energy grids – generating, transforming and distributing energy continually.  Since I teach musicians how to create career success, this got me thinking more about the kind of energy that one brings to a situation in order to be successful.

We have all heard about “negative” and “positive” energy.  Think of what it is like to be surrounded by a group of people who complain and bemoan the state of the world, which we hear a lot of these days in the world of the arts:  orchestras like Philadelphia declaring bankruptcy, fewer spots available in orchestras, the weak economy.  I could go on but I don’t want to add to the doom and gloom!  That’s what negative energy can do-bring you down.  And because energy is transferred, if enough people in the room are spinning out negativity, it tends to drag down others.
Let’s look at another scenario:

Using Your Brand to Write Your Professional Bio: Top Tips to Help You Stand Out

One of the great things about having a brand is that it can be used in so many ways.  A brand is fundamentally a marketing tool that connects the best of you with your ideal audience.  Your brand has a practical application as follows: Logo and tag line Website Promotional Materials Career Materials, including a professional bio, resume and CV. …

Managing Career Transitions: How to Make the Most of Your Career Cycle

 

“The only constant is change.” –Heraclitus

When you think about life, we are constantly changing. This includes our career paths. Many people believe that once you find your “perfect” career, you are set for life. That only sets up an unrealistic expectation that leads people to feel frustrated that they have not found “it” and to ignore the marvelous process of growth and change.

Cultivating the Positive Mindset: Using Your Best-Self Flow Affirmation

We all have a “best or Flow self”.  That is the side of us that comes alive when we are in the Flow, doing what we do best, feeling confident and joyful and successful.  You can discover what your best Flow self is by following this simple process.

The great thing about this Flow Affirmation is that is draws on actual experience.  Having the affirmation is the reminder of who you are at your best.  This affirmation can be a powerful way for you to make choices to live that best, Flow self.  And by doing so, you are incorporating Flow into your life and cultivating a more positive, success-oriented mindset!

What are some ways to do this?

Tap Into Your Best Self: Create Your Flow Affirmation

Taking charge is a mindset of positivity.  It means that you believe in yourself and your vision and you are committed to taking the steps that will make your vision a reality.

This is leadership in its purest sense.  Leadership is essentially the ability to inspire yourself and others to create success.  And entrepreneurship takes the concept of leadership a step further by instilling the notion of taking charge and being the driver who makes things happen. 

How do you develop the positive attitude that enables you to take charge?

It starts with embracing the concept of Flow.

Take Charge: Creating a Mindset of Positivity

Taking charge is a mindset of positivity.  It means that you believe in yourself and your vision and you are committed to taking the steps that will make your vision a reality. This is leadership in its purest sense.  Leadership is essentially the ability to inspire yourself and others to create success.  And entrepreneurship takes the concept of leadership a …