Quartet #17: 23 Ways to Make 2023 a Miracle Year, Great Mareting Summed Up in One Tweet and More!
Hello and Happy New Year!
I'm not traveling for 20+ days this month so January is when I'm getting back on the TEM horse: both the newsletter and the show.
The first week of 2023 is off to a good start on that front!
And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
Quartet of the Week
1. 23 Ways to Make 2023 Your Miracle Year
This is a really good list from Sahil Bloom that is separated into categories: work, health, money and personal.
They are all good but the seven listed in the work category are all things I am going to try. Some food for thought!
2. Seth Godin on the Trap of Trying to Do Everything Yourself
Almost all of Godin's daily blog posts are quite good but every once in a while it's like he is directly calling me out!
These three paragraphs really resonated with me and are exactly what I need to be thinking about as I plan my year.
3. Great Marketing Summed up in One Tweet
This tweet shares the same message three ways. The first way is how I see 98% of all musicians market their goods and services.
The second way is how I see probably 1.9% of musicians market their goods and services.
And I'd say it's about .1% of musicians who market the third way (which means it's really easy to stand out if you work at it!)
4. How to Monetize Your Expertise
One of the keys to a successful portfolio career is having multiple income streams. This post presents six questions to ask yourself in order to help monetize your expertise.
Monetizing your expertise as a musician with a portfolio career could take the form of a teaching studio, selling online courses, presenting master classes, doing residencies, writing books, hosting a podcast... the list goes on and on.
This is a great time of year to think about adding an income stream to your portfolio career and this post is a nice place to start.
This Week's TEM Episode
TEM284: My Productivity System for 2023 is my return episode after the entire month of December off! As I mention at the beginning of the episode, we weren't able to purchase our family Christmas tree until the afternoon of Christams Eve. It's been a little busy!
I thought a nice place to start was the productivity system I am using in 2023 which is a combination of some old ideas and some that are new to me.
It felt good to back behind the mic!
My Final Thought of the Week
Here's a quote to send you on your way:
"The problem with New Year's resolutions - and resolutions to 'get in better shape' in general, which are very amorphous - is that people try to adopt too many behavioral changes at once. It doesn't work. I don't care if you're a world-class CEO - you'll quit."
—Tim Ferriss
This quote aligns with pretty much every single anecdote in James Clear's incredible book Atomic Habits. We set ourselves up for failure when we try to change too many things at once.
I have made two resolutions: The first is no fast food in the month of January and the other is going on 100 hikes in 2023.
Because of teaching at West Chester University last semester I feel like I lived out of my car for the first time in literally years. And that was especially so in December. January is a month where I'm mainly home so this is going to be an easily attainable goal.
The other goal sounds aggressive but I already go on close to that many hikes a year and I live less than 10 minutes from a National Park. So 100 hikes is a little aggressive but is doable with a little bit of intention.
Ironically, if I had set a goal of going jogging once a week, which on the surface is twice as easy, I would have set myself up to fail since I've gone jogging around 50 times in my life. Total.
I also hate jogging and love hiking.
Goals are all about knowing yourself and being realistic while challenging yourself. I'll let you know how these two go!
I hope your 2023 is off to a happy start!
Cheers, Andrew The Entrepreneurial Musician
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