Touring gigs and the creator economy

Holy crap.

I’ve been playing music for 20 years. That is mind blowing. 

When I started as a kid, I would play for 12-14 hours a day on the weekend.

It didn’t feel like work, even though it was. 

I just really, really loved it. Still do.

But I didn’t start making real money at it until I was 17, about 5 years in when a good, touring band took a chance on me.

One thing I’ve learned about the music business: being really good gets you to the party, but what you do with that skill determines how far you will go.

I’ve seen incredibly great musicians try and fail to create a career around their music. 

And I’ve seen mediocre musicians create TONS of money and fame out of seemingly thin air.

So there must be more to the equation than skill, right?

There definitely is. 

I am working on growing my business, Ghostletter, through outreach currently.

At this point I’ve interviewed around 10 business owners over the last month. Trying to create a better offer based on real world business needs.

What I’ve found is that these business owners want results. They want:

• More money

• More leads

• More eyeballs on THEIR offers

Now this may seem like common sense.

And it is. But working in the corporate world for large organizations, it’s been easy for me to lose sight of the real world.

See, I’ve been focused on learning how to write online. 

My first offer was something like this: “I’ll write your newsletter for you! Think of how much time that’ll save!”

And it worked! For my 3 free clients. But switching to a paid service has been tougher.

Because as it turns out, people with a business are more interested in leads and money. Less interested in the DFY model.

So unless you can provide them with one of those 2 more directly, you won’t get very far.

But, how does this tie into music??

Well, as in music, a skill like writing is just table stakes. It gets you to the party.

Unless you put in the work and figure out how to tie that skill to making other people money, then you won’t get very far.

In music, I’ve had to learn:

• To network, 

• To be a cool person to be around on long road trips,

• How much money to charge and if/when to charge in certain cases, etc

There are so many factors that extend beyond playing an instrument or singing. 

And you have to learn them all to be successful.

It’s the same with starting a business online with the skill that you learned.

You have to:

• Learn and do outreach

• Systemize processes

• Figure out how run a business that makes other businesses money

Otherwise, someone will hire you to just write, and you are back in a job.

While this is a good place to start, we aren’t here to be employees. 

We’re here to create our own businesses, freedom, and manifest destiny.

So, get out there.

Do the hard work.

Figure out how to tie that valuable skill you just learned into an offer that business owners feel stupid saying no to.

I’m learning that’s the key.

Will keep you updated.

See you tomorrow,

Swanagan

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