Everything They Didn't Teach You in Music School
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TEM53: Driving without a map (TEM Short)
This TEM Short features thoughts about part two of my conversation with Sam Pilafian, tuba player for Boston Brass, in TEM52.
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Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass
"I don't think there is a shortage of remarkable ideas. I think your business has plenty of opportunities to do great things. Nope, what's missing isn't the ideas. It's the will to execute them."
—Seth Godin from The Purple Cow
This is especially true in the music business and in the arts in general. Artists are by definition creative people. We produce creative ideas for a living.
You have plenty of great ideas, many of them quite creative. The problem is so does your competition.
Execution is the name of the game.
It is infinitely harder to get your great idea for a chamber group booked for concerts than it is to come up with the group in the first place.
It is a lot harder to write a book than it is to come up with a good idea for one.
It is much easier to think of a great idea for a website than it is to actually build it.
If you are wondering why you are not having the same amount of success as your competition the answer is almost certainly execution. The X's and O's but also the will to execute.
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TEM40: David Cutler of the Savvy Musician on being a creative problem solver, living in a golden era for artists and the link between impact and income
David Cutler is the author of The Savvy Musician and Associate Professor of Music Entrepreneurship at the University of South Carolina. He is one of the world's foremost thought leaders in the field of arts entrepreneurship and his enthusiasm for the subject is contagious.
David is a great friend and I enjoy busting on him throughout this interview. I hate saying nice things about my friends but I can't deny that he truly is one of the experts in the field and that he was one of the main people who inspired me to take my career past simply trying to play the tuba well.
This interview will give you a little bit of insight into how his brain works and how he thinks about and approaches problems. It's a great lesson for all of in our quest to try to create something remarkable, just as David has done with The Savvy Musician.
But please don't tell him I said nice things about him. Thanks in advance.
Topics Covered:
How he took his skills as a classical musician and applied them to being a creative problem-solver when it came to his career
Why he thinks artists are living in a golden era
The importance of having both big ideas and follow through
Why he always starts with a dream and not with logistics
Why you should start with the why rather than the what
Why school is the time to be building your platform
Why doing your job well may not be enough to leave a mark on the world or to create a viable business model
How impact and income are linked if you do it right
How to make yourself indispensable
Why it is frequently not remarkable today to do one thing really well
Links:
Books:
The Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Leap First by Seth Godin
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Favorite Quote:
"Musicians are usually good at doing their job well. But there are generally speaking a lot of people who do their job well so you probably need to do more than that to be indispensable."
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.
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TEM39: Going with Plan B (TEM Short)
Setbacks are inevitable. Will you have the courage to act on your Plan B?
The story of ChopSaver's Dan Gosling's reaction to losing an orchestral audition for a position he had held for the last three years is truly remarkable.
He didn't just make a decision to pivot in his life. Within 48 hours he was taking actions towards that end. Truly inspirational stuff.
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
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TEM38: Dan Gosling of ChopSaver
Dan Gosling is the musician turned entrepreneur behind the incredibly popular ChopSaver lip balm. His story, from making the finals but then losing a professional orchestral audition to inventing a lip balm that is now sold in over 7,000 CVS Pharmacies, is truly incredible.
This interview was so great that I don't even know where to begin. Dan's story isn't just filled with lessons in entrepreneurship or the music business. His story is filled with life lessons. As you will hear, his pivot from intense professional and personal disappointment to going 100 mph down the road with his Plan B is quite inspiring.
And the business skills he has acquired through trial and error (rather than through getting an MBA) over the last two decades shows us that truly anyone can do this entrepreneurship thing.
He got me fired up!
Topics Covered:
How he did market research before he knew that that's what it was called
How he ended up developing the skills on the fly that he would have gotten from getting an MBA
How he applied the skills he already used to systematically approach his practicing to develop his product
The value of believing that things (and in particular, failures) happen for a reason
Learning from the bad decisions of other people
Life is constant trial and error
The importance of "getting beyond the idea" by taking some action
The constant need to continuously be honestly assessing what you can't do and realizing when you need to reach out to others for help
Why a smaller number of passionate people who will evangelize for your product is better than a larger number who won't
Why pitching multiple companies is just like being on the audition circuit
Rejection is inevitable in business just like in music
The power of collaboration
Why you need to get other eyes and ears on what you're doing
Why career pivots are not failures
Links:
Books Referenced:
Leap First by Seth Godin
All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Favorite Quote:
"Are you going to learn from the rejection you get from an audition-like situation or are you going to go home and pout and say 'Oh those people don't know what they're talking about. I nailed that audition.' Well, you probably didn't."
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
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TEM14: Let them tell you no
The Entrepreneurial Musician is now posting weekly!
I will still be posting an interview every other week but the following week will now feature a very short episode with me discussing one of the topics the previous guest touched on.
In this week’s episode, I am reflecting on my interview with Alan Baylock from Episode 13. Alan emphasized not shying away from opportunities because you might not feel ready or qualified but in reality, that is not something for you to decide. “Let THEM tell you no.”
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TEM10: Jonathan Kuuskoski, Director of Entrepreneurship and Community Programs at Mizzou
Jonathan Kuuskoski is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Community Programs at the University of Missouri and is one of the brightest people I have ever spoken.
This conversation is packed full of information. I found myself pausing it a lot on my relisten to process everything he was saying.
Topics Covered:
How becoming a successful artist is contingent on creating a community that is based on reciprocal value
How he was able to take a year to create his current position at Mizzou based on the specific needs of the community and the pre-existing assets of the school
On the current state of academia particularly in relation to the arts
The importance of getting into the Build->Measure->Learn feedback loop as quickly as possible
The power of huge, audacious goals
Links:
Books Referenced:
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
You can help make future episodes of TEM possible by visiting our Patreon page. Thanks for listening!
Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass