TEM131: Jeff Nytch Quotes (TEM Short)

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TEM131: Jeff Nytch Quotes (TEM Short)

This TEM Short features thoughts on my favorite quotes from Jeff Nytch in TEM130.

Quotes:

  • “The lesson that I try to share with my students about that is that no educational experience, no thing that you throw yourself into, is ever wasted. Even if it might seem at the time like it's a dead end, or you pursue something for a while, and you say, "Well, I guess that's not what I want to do." It still has intrinsic value, and you'll be amazed at how sometimes things can come back to serve your career in new ways, in ways you never would have guessed at the time."

  • "I would look at them and say, 'There's no way that I could ever be as good as they are as teachers' not realizing, of course, that they'd been doing it for 30 years.”

  • "I spent a lot of the book talking about things that musicians do already that are, in fact, entrepreneurial, to help dissolve this idea that these two things are mutually exclusive. So, I talk about customer focus, for instance. Well, that just means that we are trying to reach our audiences. Isn't that what we all say we want to do? Entrepreneurship gives us a vehicle for doing that.”

  • "One of the most important things that any entrepreneurial venture has to have is that there's something distinctive about it, something defines itself as being different from or better than whatever else is out there. And if that's at the core of thinking entrepreneurially, then for us as artists, that means our artistic voice, our whatever it is that I personally bring to the world that is uniquely mine, that's my most valuable asset. I don't want to compromise that. If I compromise that, that's not only quote-unquote 'selling out' or 'hurting myself artistically.' That's just not good business.”

  • "Entrepreneurs are constantly asking questions. Both, 'How can I do what I'm doing right now better or differently' But I think even before they get to that point, young musicians need to answer the question, what is it that they're really passionate about? And not just the music. What else are you passionate about?"

  • "Yeah, and that's entrepreneurship, really, at its core, because it's about identifying that opportunity that solves somebody else's problem."

Links:

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

1. Help me get to my goal of $50 per episode on Patreon (I'm getting close!) by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. I'm up to 62 ratings and 42 reviews on iTunes. Help me reach my goals of 75 ratings and 50 reviews by taking just a couple of minutes on iTunes!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz

TEM92: Steve Dillon of Dillon Music on passion, becoming an authority and always thinking long-term

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TEM92: Steve Dillon of Dillon Music on passion, becoming an authority and always thinking long-term

Steve Dillon of Dillon Music talking about his 30+ years in the music business. He touches on passion, becoming an authority and the importance of always thinking long-term.

Topics Covered:

5:30 - A summary of Steve's store, Dillon Music

7:23 - The story of how Steve painted a room for his grandmother and when he was in middle school and took that money and bought his first instrument which he immediately traded for two others

11:03 - Steve's lifelong passion for instruments and selling them and how that passion is contagious to anyone he comes into contact with

15:21 - How his passion has helped him become an authority on certain subjects which in turn has helped him to solve problems for people

18:40 - Why trying to monetize the research he's doing to become an expert or the time he spends building relationships with customers is the incorrect way to frame it

23:30 - The keys to why he has done such a great job of hiring people over the years (and why finding a partner to start a small business is the same thing as hiring your 30th employee)

30:45 - What direction he sees things moving on the manufacturing side of the music business

36:08 - How he thought long-term even when he first opened a retail store and was forced to think about short-term things like cash flow (and how that relates to a performer just getting their career off the ground)

47:57 - He talks about the Survey of Music Business course he teaches at New Jersey City University (and why he doesn't spend much time teaching stuff that the students can easily google on their own)

54:30 - Why networking is so vital to success in business (and how so few people are any good at following up with someone they meet in a class or some other professional situation)

57:42 - How Steve was the kid (way before email) that was always calling people asking them questions and how almost all people are looking to help others

Links:

Dillon Music
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
Scott Hartman: Episode 48 of The Brass Junkies
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie 
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Dillon Music Facebook Page

Favorite Quotes:

"My business is my life and my life is my business."

"I think (my passion) has made me become an expert at certain things, thus made me become an authority."

"You have to get out there. You have to be personable and connect with everyone you can."

"When I hire a person I understand that there's gonna be good qualities and bad qualities. My job is to take them both and go to work with it."

"You always have to look long-term unless you're in it for the short-term."

"If you can get along with people, you can succeed."

There are two ways you can support TEM!

You can help me reach two specific goals I've set for TEM:

1. Help me get to $50 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show:  https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

2. Help me get to my goal of 50 ratings at iTunes by leaving a rating and review.

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM91: Cursing gravity

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TEM91: Cursing gravity

History is riddled with examples, both inside and outside of the music business, of people fighting reality and it not ending very well.

Topics Covered:

0:20 - The best blog in the world for entrepreneurs
4:54 - Cursing Gravity
5:40 - Some examples from the music business of us collectively "cursing gravity" and why fighting reality never works out

Links:

Seth Godin's Blog
TEM Blog

There are two ways you can support TEM!

You can help me reach two specific goals I've set for TEM:

1. Help me get to $50 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show:  https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

2. Help me get to my goal of 50 ratings at iTunes by leaving a rating and review.

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM85: Dana Fonteneau on figuring out your "Why", holding yourself accountable when you work for yourself and how she got her first paid clients before she had a proven track record

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This episode featuring Dana Fonteneau of the WholeHearted Musician will leave you energized and inspired! She said a lot of things I needed to hear and gave me lots of ideas for how to move forward with my own career.

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TEM84: Should deadlines be flexible? (TEM Short)

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TEM84: Should deadlines be flexible? (TEM Short)

This TEM Short is in response to my interview with John Beder in TEM83.

Is a lack of a deadline holding your project back?

Topics Covered:

  • 1:22 - How John had some flexible deadlines throughout the process but had a very hard deadline at the end of the project (with consequences for not meeting it!) which brought it across the finish line

  • 4:09 - How we can apply this to each of our own projects like making a website and why deadlines are important

  • 5:21 - Seth Godin's insistence that any project have a hard ship deadline that will be met no matter what

  • 6:10 - How freeing it is to realize (like John did while making this film) that your best work is still ahead of you

  • 7:30 - Do you have any projects that are floundering because they don't have a specific, immovable deadline for shipping (Spoiler: I do!)

Links:

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM83: John Beder on self-awareness, having performance anxiety as an entrepreneur and battling his inner resistance

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TEM83: John Beder on self-awareness, having performance anxiety as an entrepreneur and battling his inner resistance

Musician turned filmmaker John Beder talks about making the the film "Composed" and all the entrepreneurial lessons he learned along the way that can also apply to any musician.

Topics Covered:

  • 7:13 - John's background in music and the self-aware moment that led to him transitioning to becoming a filmmaker

  • 12:00 - The six-year period where he didn't pursue either music or filmmaking and entered the corporate world including working for Apple in multiple countries (and the lessons he learned)

  • 16:52 - John gives some details into his film, Composed, which is about the how and the why of performance anxiety in music

  • 18:30 - Which lessons about performance anxiety he learned from the movie that can be applied to the entrepreneurial side of being an artist

  • 25:37 - How he used deadlines throughout the filmmaking process (and if they moved or were firm)

  • 31:53 - What lessons he learned about himself through the process of making the film and the importance of battling "the resistance"

  • 38:15 - How he took a great idea (which we all have!) and actually turned it into a film that was shared with the world

  • 44:28 - Did he ever want to quit?

  • 53:22 - How he raised money to fund such a big project

  • 1:02:03 - Why he couldn't have made this film without being a musician first

Links:

"Composed" Documentary
Parker Mouthpieces
Ranaan Meyer: Episode 1
Jeff Nelsen: Episode 5
Linchpin by Seth Godin
(le) poisson rouge
Casey Neistat YouTube Channel

Favorite Quotes:

"There would be times when the camera would be shut off and I'd be putting away all of my stuff and I would have these mini-conversations with people and tell them 'Just so you know, you are helping me to create this film. You're giving me advice on how to create a piece of art and present it to the world and how to prepare for that.'"

"This will be a representation of me as a filmmaker on October 1, 2016. If I make another film, the first one doesn't have any bearing on that, for me personally at least. It will be better and I'll be a better film maker."

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM82: "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" (Book Report)

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TEM82: "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" (Book Report)

A brief overview of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, a book that changed how I view marketing and even informed the art I make.

(If you have a book you would like for me to read and feature in a future Book Report segement, please email me through the email link in the upper righthand corner. Thanks!)

Topics Covered:

  • 2:20 - Arts marketing is the exact same thing as marketing anything else

  • 4:30 - Law #1: The Law of Leadership

    • It's better to be first than to be better

    • Everyone knows Charles Lindbergh and no one knows poor Bert HinklerTime for Three is the first classical string trio with two violins and a bass to cross genres

  • 9:15 - Law #2: The Law of the Category

    • If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in

    • Amelia Earhart is not known as the third person to fly solo across the Atlantic but rather as the first woman (a new category)

    • Cirque du Soleil blended the circus, opera and ballet to create their own category

  • 11:50 - Law #3: The Law of the Mind

    • It is better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace

    • This doesn't contradict the Law of Leadership - The Law of Leadership just makes it easier to be first in the mind

    • Canadian Brass is synonymous with brass quintet in spite of coming many years after the Chicago Brass Quintet and New York Brass Quintet

  • 13:45 - Law #4: The Law of Perception

    • Marketing is not a battle of products but a battle of perception

    • Amanda Palmer is probably not the best singer in the world and yet she became the first artist to raise over a million dollars on Kickstarter

    • Hands on a Hardbody was an award winning Broadway musical that closed after just 56 performances so was not perceived as a great show in spite of the accolades

  • 17:00 - Law #5: The Law of Focus

    • The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind

    • David Cutler of The Savvy Musician owns the word "savvy" in the musical world

  • 18:40 - Law #6: The Law of Exclusivity

    • Two companies can not own the same word in the prospect's mind

    • Canadian Brass are known for wearing full tails and white sneakers. Many years later Dallas Brass tried to tap into that by wearing cowboy boots as their trademark but it never stuck because Canadian Brass already owned unique footwear in the brass quintet world

    • Like a political campaign, as soon as you are on your opponent's message you are almost certainly going to lose that election

  • 20:35 - Law #17: The Law of Unpredictability

    • Unless you write your competitor's plans you can't predict the future

    • Boston Brass made some very unpredictable changes to their show about 20 years ago (like singing barbershop quartet tunes) which differentiated their show from that of other brass quintets

  • 25:00 - Law #19: The Law of Failure

    • Failure is to be expected and encouraged

    • Sam Walton of Walmart fame used to say "Ready, Fire, Aim"

    • Cirque du Soleil had a show in 2009 called "Banana Shpeel" that lasted less than a year which cost them millions but they have gone on to premiere numerous hit shows since then

    • The only failures that are bad are failures you don't learn from

Links:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Parker Mouthpieces
Ranaan Meyer: Episode 1
The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler: Part 1 and Part 2
The Brass Junkies: JD Shaw

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM81: Make yourself famous

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An episode about the different ways to make yourself famous (and why it's important!)

Topics Covered:

4:00 - The two ways to get famous (and which one is a lot easier!)
6:20 - The definition of branding (that's actually useful)
8:30 - Identifying exactly who your audience is and what do they value (and where you can best reach them)
15:10 - Why content marketing is a good strategy for making yourself famous
17:30 - How I became well-known in the tuba community (Spoiler: It had to do with circumstances and not being great)
19:20 - Why making yourself "famous" has nothing to do with ego

Links:

The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler: Part 1 and Part 2
Ariel Hyatt: Episode 49
The Savvy Arts Venture Challenge
21CM
Parker Mouthpieces
The Brass Junkies Episode 3: Michael Parker

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM79: Emilio Guarino on action steps, the constant of change and the challenges of self-publication

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TEM79: Emilio Guarino on action steps, the constant of change and the challenges of self-publication

Topics Covered:

  • What inspired him to write his first book, "Make It: A Guide For Recent Music Graduates"

  • How 90% of the book is based on personal experiences beginning with graduate school (when he was first on his own financially)

  • The in my opinion awesome fact that every chapter of his book ends with "Action Steps" for the reader to take (I wish more books like this did that!)

  • How your body is going to make a routine for yourself whether you set one or not

  • The incredible percentage of any given day which is just comprised of habit

  • How he keeps a daily journal of all of his thoughts throughout the day and when he goes back and reads them he tries to translate them into actions he can take

  • The importance of blocking out time for something important each and every day where he tells the world to go away and just focuses on that task

  • Change is the only constant

  • The Gig Triangle (the metric I use to decide whether I am going to say yes to something today)

  • Why if you have no entrepreneurial experience, designing and selling a sticker for a project (like a band you're in) will teach you a lot about business

  • The many things (like a book mockup) you have to do when you self-publish

  • What he would do differently if he publishes a second book

  • The importance of customers finding your product in the channels they're already hanging out in

Links:

Favorite Quotes:

  • "Use routine to your advantage. Set small, daily goals that are realistically achievable for you that inch you toward your desired outcome."

  • "I think the master habit that you need to get in place is the habit of reviewing your habits."

  • "I wouldn't recommend writing a book for money. There are better ways to go about that."

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including links to all books and websites referenced in this episode can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM78: The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler (Part 2)

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TEM78: The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler (Part 2)

David Cutler offers up 10 unusual and incredibly thought-provoking tips for 2017. Part 1 is the first five. Guaranteed to make you think and give you some actionable ideas to move your art forward in 2017!

6. Success isn't what it used to be
7. Whatever you do, don't earn as much as possible
8. Build your portfolio (career)
9. Hang out with the wrong crowd
10. Avoid working your way up

(Check out Episode 77 for Tips 1-5)

And don't forget to click on the link below for the 2017 Savvy Arts Venture Challenge. It is a phenomenal, career-changing event and scholarships are available. 

Links:

Savvy Arts Venture Challenge
Parker Mouthpieces
Lauren Pierce: Episode 57
Susan de Weger: Episode 71

Favorite Quotes:

"I am a big advocate of having specific concrete numbers that you write down so you know what constitutes success and then you can see how you did. So you actually know whether you were successful."

"Make yourself famous."

TEM77: The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler (Part 1)

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Dr. David Cutler is one of the most brilliant people I have ever had the privilege of working with in my career. He is the author of The Savvy Musician and is filled with ideas for how to be remarkable in today's music business. This and TEM 78 are some great ideas to help anyone figure out what their next move should be.

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The problem with school

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In a couple of hours I am going to talk entrepreneurship with students at my alma mater, Northwestern University (which has me in one hell of a great mood!)

I'm going to start with some bad news for them:

The skills required to excel at school bear very little resemblance to the skills needed to "make it" in today's music business.

At the beginning of every college class, each student is handed a syllabus which contains everything they will possibly be asked to know for a grade. In fact, if a professor ends up lowering a student's grade for something not on the syllabus there is an appeals process that students can undertake to get their grade restored. It involves committees and panels and lots of paperwork.

A syllabus is basically a checklist. Everything you will be tested on. Everything you will need to read. Every deadline. When the class will be completed. They are all neatly contained in one place.

How nice.

But the Real World (which we capitalize to scare you) looks absolutely nothing like this. There isn't a checklist. There isn't a reading list. There aren't deadlines established for you that can't be moved under any circumstances. None of it.

Here's the good news: Just because you aren't required to use these skills (to not only complete a college degree but to actually excel) doesn't mean you aren't allowed to use them. As with playing the drums or composing music, when you first start to utilize some of them you won't be very good at them. At all.

Which is exactly why you need to start before the world requires you to start. As in today.

Anyone who is any good at charting their own path wasn't good at it before they got good at it. (Deep, right?)

So what are you waiting for?

TEM68: Start small but start now

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TEM68: Start small but start now

Topics Covered:

  • You don't need to go to school for four years to learn marketing - you have to market stuff

  • Don't wait for things to be perfect - you have to start somewhere

  • Don't talk about things instead of doing them

  • The importance of networking a lot so you can get good at it

  • Market for a small charity as practice

  • How soon can you start

Links:

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM51: Are you just checking the boxes?

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TEM51: Are you just checking the boxes?

These are my thoughts on making sure we are not just checking the boxes.

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

Links:

TEM19: Ron Davis

Want to help "keep the lights on" and make future episodes of TEM possible? Please visit our Patreon page to see how you can help: 

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass

TEM43: Know your risk tolerance (TEM Short)

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TEM43: Know your risk tolerance (TEM Short)

In Episode 42, Nate Zeisler of The Colburn School talked about his risk tolerance as an entrepreneur.

Everyone's tolerance for risk is different depending on a lot of factors: finances, age, family situation, and many others. Knowing your risk tolerance is an integral component when charting your career path.

Links:

You can help offset the ongoing costs of producing the show by making a small donation at http://www.pedalnotemedia.com/support-the-entrepreneurial-musician. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass

TEM12: Always say yes (TEM Short)

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TEM12: Always say yes (TEM Short)

This TEM Short features thoughts about my conversation with composer Jim Stephenson in Episode 11.

What struck me most about Jim's interview was how many times in his career he has said something to the effect of "Yes, I can do that." And some of those times were when he in fact had no experience at all doing what he was volunteering for.

The word yes is a powerful word.

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

Links:

Jim Stephenson: Episode 11

You can help offset the ongoing costs of producing the show by making a small donation at http://www.pedalnotemedia.com/support-the-entrepreneurial-musician. Your support is greatly appreciated!"

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass