TEM217: A simple process to give any project clarity

TEM64: Andrew Hitz of Pedal Note Media on leveraging your unfair advantage, using a business model canvas and transitioning from one main gig to doing lots of things

The tables were turned for this episode of TEM and I was the one interviewed for a change! I thought this would give those in the audience who didn't know my entire backstory the chance to get to know me a little better.

A huge thank you to Lance LaDuke for interviewing me!

Topics Covered:

How I got started playing the tuba
The moment I realized I wanted to become a professional musician
How instrumental my parents were in my success
How my lack of being even remotely entrepreneurial while in undergrad lead to me playing only two paid gigs in four years despite receiving a lot of praise
At what point in my career I started to veer from focusing primarily on being an orchestral player
What my two college teachers instilled in me that "gave me permission" to follow my own path
How I got my first big break in the music business and how my training had me prepared for it
What led me to start thinking like an entrepreneur after many years in Boston Brass
Why my first two ideas for a website were failures
How Lance and I used a Business Model Canvas to come up with the idea for Pedal Note Media
How we identified our "unfair advantage" to give us a head start
How the Band Director's Guide Series came about
How and why Hitz Publications has morphed over the last five years from selling through traditional channels to directly selling to customers
What's next for Pedal Note Media (Spoiler: It's ecourses)
How both Lance and I have gone from doing one thing 100 times a year to doing a whole lot of things a few times a year and how that is a different challenge

Links:

Favorite Quote:

"The key to having great ideas is having lots of ideas."

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 Joey Santillo

TEM34: A Conversation with Lance LaDuke on marketing

February 02, 2016 by Andrew Hitz in TEM Podcast, Show Notes

Listen via:

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TEM34: A Conversation with Lance LaDuke on marketing

For Episode 34 I welcome back my partner at Pedal Note Media, Lance LaDuke.

Lance is fresh off of an appearance as a Thought Leader at "Marketing Chamber Music: A Savvy Strategy for Success", an event arranged by David Cutler as a part of the Chamber Music America Conference in New York City.

Lance has some really great ideas about marketing and shares with us a bunch of groups that he thinks are really doing the arts marketing thing well. It's a list that really made me think!

Topics Covered:

Using a business model canvas to hone your product and determine exactly what problem you are going to solve for whom
If 99% of people are going in one direction with their marketing that you should be going in the other direction
How marketing is everything (and everything is marketing)
Why you or your product need to be remarkable in the literal sense
Why you must be incredible before you ramp up your marketing
Why only competing on price to make a name for yourself is a losing game
Why how you are perceived is reality
Why you shouldn’t assume that anyone cares that you can do something better than it has already been done
The importance of finding someone who is having success in your corner of the music business and figure out how they’re doing everything they’re doing

Links:

Books:

The Purple Cow by Seth Godin
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Favorite Quote from the Interview:

"Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. Everything you do should be with an eye towards it."

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

TEM30: Can you withstand an avalanche of no's? (TEM Short)

January 05, 2016 by Andrew Hitz in TEM Podcast, Show Notes

Listen via:

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Spotify
SoundCloud
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TEM30: Can you withstand an avalanche of no's? (TEM Short)

Links:

Peter Seymour of PROJECT Trio: Episode 29

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

Lance LaDuke guest blog post

December 14, 2015 by Andrew Hitz in Guest Blog Post

Today's guest blogger is Lance LaDuke, my partner at Pedal Note Media and Thought Leader at the 2016 Savvy Musician in Action Retreat:

I have spent many years and countless hours creating "to do" lists for myself and they have taken many forms, from handwritten lists to sophisticated apps.

They always center around the thing I want to, need to or should do. I have gotten better (thanks largely to the book "Getting Things Done" and the Wunderlist app) at breaking things down into actionable items and prioritizing my tasks.

One area I completely stink at is recognizing when an item no longer needs to be on the list. It could be that my priorities or interests have shifted. Or that what I thought I "needed" to do was an illusion. Or that what I REALLY need to do is to let go of things, instead of adding them.

So I have created a different sort of list. A "to don't" list. I'm not perfect at any of these which is why they are on the list. For the purposes of this post, I am limiting myself to "to-don'ts" related to practicing. They can of course be generalized or modified to fit pretty much any need.

Here's my current "to don't" list:

I don't compare myself to others (only to my own potential or progress).
I don't worry about new toys (or techniques or fads) over basic foundation building.
I don't waste time on unimportant stuff, or things I can already play or do.
I don't beat my head against a wall once I inevitably hit it (breaks the wall and gives me a headache).
I don't let fear control what I do or don't practice.
I don't assume I know how I sound w/out recording myself.
I don't practice haphazardly without clear goals for each year/season/month/week/day/session.
I don't sacrifice practice quality (tone, time, technique) for practice quantity (time on face).

What is your list? What can you stop doing TODAY, that will help you take even a small step towards your goals?

Ignore Nike! Just DON'T do it!

Feel free to fire off questions or comments and grab a free PDF of my book "Music Practice Coach" by visiting me at musicpracticecoach.com.

TEM17: Lance LaDuke of Pedal Note Media

October 06, 2015 by Andrew Hitz in Show Notes, TEM Podcast

Listen via:

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Spotify
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TEM17: Lance LaDuke of Pedal Note Media

Lance is not only one of my best friends but one of the sharpest business minds I've ever encountered in the music business.

This guy has quit the US Air Force Band. He has quit the River City Brass Band. He has quit the Boston Brass. Every time he quit was because he figured out he was on what Seth Godin calls a cul de sac and he had the courage to do something about it.

This is a fascinating interview about having the courage to pull the trigger, making things happen rather than sitting back and waiting for it to come to you, and how his family environment growing up led to him being so good on the mic.

This interview is all over the map and yet is completely cohesive. If you don't know Lance you will quickly figure out why I wanted to start a company with him after we both got out of Boston Brass.

Lance's entrepreneurial endeavors have led him to a career in consulting, performance, media, and academia. He does a little of everything and amazingly does it all well.

There is so much actionable advice in this episode you'll want to take notes!

Topics Include:

How the point of differentiation that won him the Boston Brass gig was his business expertise and vision and not anything musical
The importance of being yourself and speaking your mind in interviews
His approach to programming and how every aspect of it is intentional and considers a number of factors
How Lance and I used the Business Model Canvas to create Pedal Note Media

Links:

Books Referenced:

Music Practice Coach by Lance LaDuke
The Lean Startup by Eric Riles
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port
Bold by Peter H. Diamandis

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