Why so many good musicians struggle to begin their music career. If you are like most people who want a career as a professional musician, the first question you ask is probably, “What do I have to do?” You ask this because you are not sure what you need to do first, second, third, etc. And it seems obvious that you must actually do things in order to move forward and launch your own music career.
It’s not about what you must do… It’s about who you must become.
Some years ago, I had a great mentor who was a very successful entrepreneur. At that time, I was not yet very far along in my own music career. I asked him all the usual questions like, “How can I get on a world tour?”, “Where should I send my CDs to?”, “Who do I need to talk to at the record company?”, “How can I make more money with my music and talents?”, “What do I need to do to sell my music in other countries?”, etc.
He replied, “Tom, you aren’t ready for any of that yet. You might be ready as a musician, but you haven’t really prepared yourself mentally. When you “do things” now, you will make some progress along the way, but that isn’t success - that won’t create a lucrative and stable career over the long term. Successful people are successful not because they are intelligent or talented, nor do they succeed simply because they ‘do the right things’. When you become ‘success-minded’, you will have the power to achieve success in anything you want to do. Don’t worry now about ‘doing things’. Let’s begin working on ‘who you must become’. Your success needs to be built from the inside first, then the external things you must do will fall into place much more easily.
I only proved him to be right when I reacted by saying, “I already know all this positive thinking stuff, I need specific advice on what, when, where and how to do things now.” His response back to me was, “Ok Tom, if you really know this then I challenge you to show me at least 25 ways in which you have already implemented these mental concepts (on your own) into your music career.” I didn’t have an answer to that. He continued, “The entrepreneurs and business people in any industry will know you are not really ready. They will smell your inferiority like a lion smells fear in its prey. And when they do, it generally won’t be good for you. It would be like going into the jungle without a weapon, without shelter and without a guide.”
After our discussion, I became convinced it was time to work more on who I needed to become before concerning myself with what I needed to do. Our first major task was to define exactly where my mental skills and preparedness for general success were.
To discover your mental preparedness for launching your own music career, take this 3-minute quiz to find out.
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