Stop Giving Away Your Time and Talents

“If you don't value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know and start charging for it.”

—Kim Garst

I was approached recently by one of the big music publishers to appear on a music business panel. A really big music publisher! I was excited by the opportunity because I'm sure this panel will get some eyeballs.

When I asked them how much the appearance paid they were surprised by the question and said they would inquire with the powers that be. They eventually let me know that they would not be able to offer any compensation and were apologetic.

The others on the panel were tenure-track college professors who will use this appearance in their tenure/promotion files or industry leaders who are paid to represent their companies and their shareholders.

But I work for myself. I can't get promoted and I don't have shareholders.

For the record, I do lots of things for no money. I have done countless hours of music business consulting for people who who didn't have even a fraction of the head start that I had in the business and in life and who would never be able to pay for consulting.

But providing labor for one of the really, really big music publishers for zero compensation beyond a promise of "exposure"? Hard pass.

One of my major income streams is sharing my experience from the last almost 25 years in the music business and I have gotten really picky about when and where to give away my time and talent, as the opening quote talks about.

If I don't value my own expertise (and honor the years and years of struggle that went into earning it) then I can't expect anyone else to either.

-----

Coda: If you are a multi-million dollar company, stop asking people like me to work for no compensation! Thank you in advance.

Quartet #36: Recovering From Creative Burnout, Van Gogh's Advice to a Young Artist, and More!

Van Gogh's advice below is money.

"In order to write a book, do a deed, paint a picture with some life in it, one has to be alive oneself."

I wear so many hats around here that it can be easy to forget that!

And now on to this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. A System for Taking Notes (4-min read)
​
If you are the kind of person who is subscribed to this newsletter then you are almost surely like me and have ideas popping into your head all of the time. I wouldn't say that my system for taking and keeping track of notes is terrible but it's also not terribly good!

This article lays out the system used by author David Sedaris which got me thinking about my own system. I have made some tweaks to good effect!
​

2. Van Gogh's Advice to a Young Artist (2-min read)

This advice needs to be shouted from the rooftops! Every interesting musician I know is also an interesting person!

I know some people who can operate instruments at a world class level yet never seem to use those skills to say anything too interesting. Those people are not always interesting! But the ones who have something urgent to say, they all are to a person.

This quick reading was a great reminder of what's important.
​
​
3. How to Recover From Creative Burnout (2-min read)

Creative burnout is something that is not talked about enough. There's even a chance that I've never dedicated an episode to it before and if so that's not ideal!

This article offers six strategies for overcoming creative burnout.
​

4. Mindful Context Switching (5-min read)

Context switching is the process of stopping work in one project and picking it back up after performing a different task on a different project. I only learned about it recently but ever since I can't avoid seeing how much my multitasking has been holding me back.

This article offers five excellent ideas on how to practice mindful context switching.
​

What's New With TEM

​TEM308 features a great quote from Steve Jobs about how deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do as well as a quote from Brian Tracy about the specific benefits of having clarity about your mission.
​
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

“If I hold back, I’m no good. I’m no good. I’d rather be good sometimes than holding back all the time.”

—Janis Joplin

​
​How %#$&ing good is this quote?!

"I'd rather be good sometimes than holding back all the time" is deeply profound.

Living with one foot on the gas pedal and one foot on the brake pedal is no way to go through life. And as an artist it is an almost surefire way to be irrelevant.

Because being good sometimes is a way to matter to some people. And never being good or bad is a way to matter to almost no one.

I'm going to try to repeat "I'd rather be good sometimes..." like a mantra this week. So good!

Here's to having a creative week!​
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #35: The Power of Being "All In", 40 Time-Saving Google Hacks, and More!

The message from #1 below is quite inspiring. I value anyone with the ability to take a concept that I've heard literally 1,000 times (like the fact that accomplishing anything major takes time) and can put it in a way that instantly sheds new light on it for me.

Can't recommend checking that out any more highly.

Also, I'm a big fan of things like open source software like Audacity and decentralized social media networks like Mastodon. One of the reasons is because someone can then come along and produce a web version of an app like Audacity (#3 below) which opens it up to even more people and continues to level the playing field and allow more voices to be heard.

Wavacity makes it possible to do basic audio editing without even having to download a program which is pretty cool.

And now on to this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. A Toast to the Tiny Steps (5-min read)
​
What a powerful way to convey this message! The author mentions a few major changes she made in her life but then breaks down a long list of tiny steps that led up to each major change.

Seeing it broken down this way sure has inspired some action in me!
​

2. The Power of Being "All In" (4-min read)

This short article by Leo Babauta encourages you to be "all in" in various aspects of life because of the power that comes from it. He also offers some ways to practice being all in.
​
​
3. TEM Tool: Wavacity​

Someone made a browser version of Audacity and it is pretty slick. If you ever need to do any basic audio editing and don't have the ability to download Audacity or something more powerful like Logic Pro, this will do an awful lot. Right in a web browser!
​

4. 40 Time-Saving Google Hacks (6-min read)

I already knew a number of these but a few of these are really good. The tips are for Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google search.

Warning: You have to give an email address to see this.
​

What's New With TEM

​TEM307 features a clip from an important voice in the composing and trumpet world. It comes from Marcus Grant who I interviewed for my other podcast, The Brass Junkies.

Our conversation for TBJ could have been a TEM episode! He was so generous about his successes, his failures, and his creative process.

I actually covered five different entrepreneurial points he made in our conversation, not just the quality and quantity one. You can see the full list in the show notes here.
​
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"Movement is a creativity catalyst."

—Chase Jarvis

​
Let me start by saying that absolutely everything is fine! But my sister and I couldn't reach our mother for about an hour this morning. That is very unusual and she lives alone.

Long story short she was at a neighbor's house and all was good.

But let me tell you how little I was feeling creative or focused to start my week after that stressful hour! So I made what turned out to be a great decision: I hopped in the car, went to Manassas National Battlefield, and went for a hike.

Within 5 minutes on the trail my brain had settled down and I was fully engaged with the week ahead. It was a hard restart to my week which was much needed because I am facing a looming deadline for the next phase of making my Networking for Musicians course and I desperately want to stay on schedule.

I have a rule: When in doubt, get up and move. Particularly outdoors.

So if you're stuck (or you can't get in touch with your 76-year-old mother who lives alone), get moving!

Here's to having a creative week!​
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #34: ​30 Short Morning Habits to Start Your Day on Purpose, Getting Momentum and More!

The two things that are can't miss this week are the graphics in #1 (not that the piece isn't worth it on its own!) and the morning suggestions in #4.

I waste so much time emerging from the fog in the morning and I've been actively working to change that recently. This list has some stuff that has truly given my mornings a jump start.
​

Quartet of the Week

1. Solve the Most Important Problem That You Can Personally Impact (4-min read)
​
If you listen to TEM you have heard me talk about clarity ad nauseam. It is the single most important thing for moving our careers and lives forward.

The second half of this article's title is all about clarity: "that you can personally impact".

This is worth the click even if just for the image of the Venn diagram that elegantly tells you which problems to tackle in life.
​

2. Notes from the Universe (5-second daily read)

What a cool idea this is - an email list that sends a short note to you each day with some sort of message from the universe like this one:

"Next time you feel fear, either right after a major decision or just before one, it usually means you're exactly where you need to be."

Over 1.2 million people subscribe to this daily newsletter including me!
​
​
3. Get Momentum (5-minute read)

This article offers seven ways to get momentum when starting anything like a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog.

I particularly like the first three.
​

4. 30 Short Morning Habits to Start Your Day on Purpose (5-min read)

This is great list. I already do a number of these and plan to try a few more. The most important ones to me at this point in life are #2, #6, #13, and #16.

I'm excited to try some of the other ones!
​

What's New With TEM

​TEM306 was inspired by one of the most badass quotes I've ever heard. It is by Shirley Chisholm and it is about not waiting for an invitation. It lit a fire under me!
​
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"Be a curator of your life. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy."

—Leo Babauta

​
This quote really spoke to me because of how proactive it encourages you to be.

Babauta doesn't suggest simply getting older and wiser and that eventually all that will be left are the things that make you happy.

Instead, he uses the call to action of "be a curator of your life." Curation to me implies intentional and conscious work towards creating a life that is fulfilling.

I like that message much more than passively waiting. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some long-overdue curating to do!

Here's to having a creative week!​
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Your Problem Isn't Actually Motivation

Near the very top of my short list of books that every musician should read is James Clear’s Atomic Habits. I have read it multiple times and each time through it makes me a better performer, teacher, and entrepreneur.

He makes so many great points in that book that I find it hard not to highlight entire pages at a time. But one point in particular has stood out to me each time I’ve read the book.

In the chapter “The Best Way to Start a New Habit”, Clear writes the following about motivation:

“Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity.” 

This applies to the practice room as well as to developing the skills needed to further a portfolio career.

If, for example, you have been telling yourself for months that you are going to build a website and haven’t done so yet, you don’t lack motivation. There is a good chance you are quite motivated to have a website. That’s why you wanted one in the first place.

What you lack is the clarity that comes from having a specific plan that includes a clear next step.

For a long time the website for The Entrepreneurial Musician was just a part of my personal site, andrewhitz.com. There are some benefits to setting it up that way, but eventually I came to the conclusion that it would be best to spin it off as its own website. That was when I decided to build tem.fm.

But in spite of being motivated to make it happen and a decision having been made, it took almost two full years until there was actually a website! So where was the lack of clarity?

I decided I wanted to build this website on a platform that was new to me, Wordpress. There were specific advantages to using Wordpress and having familiarity with that platform was a skill that would serve me well moving forward. I was all in.

Then came all the decisions I had to make. Where would I have my site hosted? Which plan would I sign up for? Should I go for a paid Wordpress theme or a free one? Should I survey fellow musicians to find a theme or would it be best to go with a popular one?

The number of decisions I had to make on this very powerful and new to me platform was many times over more than the websites I had built in the past using Squarespace. In fact, there were so many decisions to be made that I never quite figured out which one should be made first so I barely made any of them.

All of this was complicated by the fact that I am fully capable of learning everything there is to learn about the Wordpress platform. With a lot of work, all of it would be well within my technical abilities.

When I combine the belief that I could learn Wordpress with the feeling that I should learn it and with a lack of clarity about what my next move should be I predictably kept myself busy with other things. For like 22 months!

In retrospect, if I had sought a resource that led me through the entire process from the very beginning I would have checked off each box one by one and made it happen. I’m sure there are countless online courses and YouTube channels dedicated to this very thing. That’s where I easily could have gotten clarity about the entire process.

The main takeaway for me is that when trying to learn about myself and why that process was such a failure for so long it would be a mistake to conclude that I only lacked motivation when in fact it was a total lack of clarity that led to my inaction.

So there is a very good chance that your problem is not motivation, but clarity.

Quartet #33: Overt Permission to Be Weird, 10 Ways to Effectively Use Email Preview Text, and More!

#3 is special and is only 19 seconds long. I looked for an image for "weird" and whatever that is above was the first thing to come up and it was so funny that I had to include it here.

#2 is also a gentle reminder to me that I have to keep showing up.

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. The Past Is Not True (2-min read)
​
A short reading with a powerful personal anecdote about stories we tell ourselves over the years and how profoundly they can affect us, even when they're not true.

"Aim a laser pointer at the moon, then move your hand the tiniest bit, and it’ll move a thousand miles at the other end. The tiniest misunderstanding long ago, amplified through time, leads to piles of misunderstandings in the present."
​

2. Playing the Long Game (1-min read)

Some absolute gold from Seth Godin:

"The body of work you’re creating adds up over time. The consistency and empathy of your vision will seep through. Drip by drip, you’ll create something worth noticing."​
​
​
3. Go Be Weird (19-second watch)

That is not a typo. This is only 19 seconds long and some of the most liberating advice I've ever heard in my life.

Watch this.
​

4. 10 Ways to Effectively Use Email Preview Text (7-min read)

I found this when researching for my upcoming networking course. I had never considered different ways to use preview text.

And there is no doubt in my mind that using this effectively will help get emails opened (which is the entire goal of sending an email in the first place!)

What's New With TEM

​TEM305 is about why failing quickly is by far the best strategy and also features a great quote from James Clear.
​
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"You need to develop, somehow, a huge amount of faith and confidence in yourself, because there's a lot of rejection throughout an actor's life and you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else."

—Stephen Collins

​
This quote is powerful! It's good enough that I asked myself 'Should I save this for a TEM episode since I could easily talk about this for 10 minutes?' But I've decided to eventually share it in both places because it is that good.

My favorite part of this quote is the word develop.

It does not say you have to be born with a huge amount of faith and confidence in yourself. It also doesn't say that you have to wake up one morning and realize you've found it.

According to Merriam-Webster, develop means "to create or produce especially by deliberate effort over time."

So if you don't yet have enough faith and confidence to believe in yourself more than anyone else, you've now got the formula. All you need is deliberate effort over time.

You've got this! (Even if it doesn't especially feel like it today.)

Here's to having a creative week!​
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #32: A Warning About Social Media's Effectiveness, 10 Secrets to Productivity and More!

#1 is must-read if you have any kind of professional social media presence. Things are getting bad and they are going to get worse by design.

But on a more positive note, #3 is a simple question that will reframe what you do and make everything you do better.

Oh and #2 is a warning to not be serving a sad salad like the one pictured above, charging like it's a fancy salad, and then wondering why no one is buying your salad!

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. The Enshittification of Social Media (7-min read)
​
If you click on this you might wonder why a guy who has quit four different college jobs over the years is linking to a piece about academics sharing research online.

The reason is because this piece perfectly encapsulates my relationship with social media today: It does not work for business purposes like it used to.

The author points out how things have changed and predicts how they will change further - and I agree with every word of it.

10 years ago you could make something, share it with the audience you had built up over time and be sure it would spread to the people who had already chosen to hear from you. Those days are gone.

There will be a TEM episode about this in the not-too-distant future because it is really important. If you use social media for your portfolio career I can not recommend reading this enough.
​

2. Two Kinds of Salad (1-min read)
​
First an article about academia and then one about salad. No I have not been hacked.

This super quick read from Seth Godin shares an analogy that is perfect for musicians like us. I swear it feels like he is speaking directly to musicians with a portfolio career about 90% of the time - and yet he is simply talking to all marketers.

"Too often, freelancers end up offering just a boring salad. It feels safer than getting rejected. Or they pretend to offer a fascinating salad, but at the end, they lose their nerve and simply charge more than they should for a boring salad that’s pretending to be fascinating."​
​
3. Constantly Ask What They Really Want (1-min watch)

Here's a big promise for a 1-minute video: Asking this simple question will make everything you do better.
​
4. Casey Neistat's 10 Secrets to Productivity (20-min watch)

This is a video by author Ryan Holiday about his friend and colleague Casey Neistat. This video is a good blend of philosophical and practical advice on how to be more productive.

What's New With TEM

No TEM episode the past couple of weeks but I have been hard at work making my first ever course for Hitz Academy called Networking for Musicians!

The music business has always been about who you know but that has never been the case more than it is right now in today's highly collaborative industry. Our art is dependent on networking with other creators. Finding an audience for our art is dependent on networking. And selling it is dependent on networking.

In this course I will share everything I have learned in a career that has featured gigs is almost 30 countries around the world - the good stuff and the mistakes I've made!

Release date is October 23rd with a presale date that will be announced soon.
​
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"Ideas are cheap. Ideas are easy. Ideas are common. Everybody has ideas. Ideas are highly, highly overvalued. Execution is all that matters."

—Casey Neistat

​
This can be hard to hear for someone like me who has way more ideas than follow through (although I'm making some real strides on that front!) But it is very much true.

If your business doesn't have a hard part then you don't have a business - and the hard part is never having a good idea!

It's having the courage to finish something and to share it with the world. That's the hard part! In a word: execution.

Glad I stumbled onto this quote because it confirmed what I already knew and is encouraging me to keep at it on the follow through front. I'm choosing to celebrate my recent progress today (see an actual launch date for my first course!)

Here's to having a creative week!
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #31: Avoiding the Sameness Trap, 10 Ways to Be More Unbothered and More!

The time that #2 has the potential to save you, even if you only get one or two keyboard shortcuts out of it, could be enormous. And the quote at the end from Desmond Tutu is a beautiful reminder about the power of mindset.

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. Useful Weirdness (2-min read)
​
Lean into what makes you weird! Blending in in today's world is bad.

This article is only a 2-minute read but it is worth the click even if just for the Kevin Kelly quote at the very beginning.
​

2. TEM Tool: Use The Keyboard​
​
Okay this is awesome. This is a list of 85 applications (like Gmail, Dropbox and Slack) with a complete list of keyboard shortcuts for each.

Keyboard shortcuts have become vital to maintaining momentum when I work and I have to admit I'm a little late to the party. I now use them regularly (like Command-F to search any webpage for a term.)

This is a powerful resource and I'm glad I found it and bookmarked it.
​
​
3. 10 Ways to Be More Unbothered (2-min read)

Some nuggets of wisdom that will rewire your mindset - along with some incredible visuals. And only a 2-minute read!
​

4. Avoiding the Sameness Trap (19-min read)

This is long and dense but the subject matter could not be more critical. How many times have I talked about the dangers of blending in? (In my defense this is only the second time I've mentioned it in this Quartet of Ideas!)

I am bookmarking this to one for when I have time to really dig into it because the subject is so important to any musician in 2023.

What's New With TEM

​TEM303 features two insightful quotes from Leonard Bernstein and gets into the most common false objection we give ourselves to justify not doing something that's hard. Bernstein was a treasure!
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."

—Desmond Tutu

​
At first I hesitated to include this quote in this context because I didn't feel right about comparing the inevitable setbacks any artist faces when blazing their own path in this business to the almost indescribable cruelty that Tutu faced as the result of simply trying to exist.

But the way he lived his life certainly implies that he applied this concept not only to the big issues he courageously faced but also to everyday things.

I have been so incredibly lucky in the opportunities I have been given in the music business - one of the luckiest people I know.

And yet there has been some darkness in the form of times when my phone stopped ringing. Or a project I thought would be a success went nowhere. Or a prestigious orchestra I used to sub with stopped asking.

Every musician, even the most famous musicians you can think of, have had stretches of their career where there was more darkness than light. And as Tutu reminds us, hope comes from seeing the little bit of light that is there.

I'll be honest. I am much more wired to focus on the overwhelming darkness than I am on the little bit of light - at least when it is me experiencing it.

Quotes like this, or people who remind me of this type of outlook by simply living it, are quite valuable to me and keep me on the right path. Hope it resonates with you, too.

Here's to having a creative week!
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #30: How to Become an Expert, Climbing the Wrong Hill and More!

Sometimes I can be so busy climbing that I don't take a moment to figure out whether I am even climbing the right hill. #3 is a short and to the point reminder of the value of making sure that we are on the right path.

"Work smarter, not harder" is a cliche that we've all heard before because it's a good one! And climbing the wrong hill is the opposite of working smarter.

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. How to Become an Expert (24-min read or listen)

This is an in-depth look into how to make yourself an expert. I really appreciate how it breaks it down into specific steps.

One nice feature is that you can listen to this article if you'd prefer. And it's read by an actual human! It is worth the 24-minute read or listen.
​

2. Seven Smart Phrases People With High Emotional Intelligence Keep Saying Over and Over, and Why (5-min read)
​
Tips on communicating better are something we can all use! It's not exactly a hot take that good communication skills are important, but with the collaborative and project-based world that the music business is today they are vital.
​
​
3. Climbing the Wrong Hill (2-min read)

An important question to ask yourself to get clarity about your path forward as a musician: Are you climbing the wrong hill?

"He knows (or at least believes) he wants to end up at the top of a different hill than he is presently climbing. He can see that higher hill from where he stands.

But the lure of the current hill is strong. There is a natural human tendency to make the next step an upward one. He ends up falling for a common trap highlighted by behavioral economists: people tend to systematically overvalue near-term over long-term rewards. This effect seems to be even stronger in more ambitious people. Their ambition seems to make it hard for them to forgo the nearby upward step."
​

4. The Magic of Being Alive Today (12-min read)

This article is not about any tools or tactics to make your music career more successful. Instead, it is a giant dose of perspective.

Taking a moment to realize that we are surrounded by problems that were solved by people that came long before us sure made me appreciate the enormous head start that all of us enjoy today. And it also reminded me that problems are solvable!
​

What's New With TEM

I put out a TEM episode and a Quartet of Ideas last week! And it's summer! What is even happening?

​TEM302 features a great anecdote from Derek Sivers about exerting less energy for the same results. I also talk about the single trait which all people who succeed in the music business share (as well as my most successful TEM Coaching clients.)

Success is pretty much impossible without it!
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"For some reason, ever since I was a little kid, I wake with the most energy of the day, and it slowly declines from there."

—Derek Sivers

​
This quote jumped out at me not because I am the same as Derek - and that's putting things lightly! When I first wake up, no matter how long I have slept, my synapses fire at what feels like about 5% efficiency. It's not pretty!

I am passing this quote along because I found it helpful to be reminded of someone who is in tune with their personal creative rhythm.

As I type this it is approaching 4:00 pm. That is an hour when my concentration for focused tasks is at its lowest point of the entire day.

Part of me would love to proofread this and then set it to send on Monday morning and not think of it again. But experience has shown me that I either won't do a good job of proofreading it or it will take me twice the time and energy to do it well as it would sometime later this evening.

Sometimes I get so focused on climbing (in this case, the overwhelming urge to fully cross next week's Quartet of Ideas off of my to do list) that I make life a lot harder for myself. This Sivers quote reminded me not to do that.
​

Here's to having a creative week!
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

What Progress Feels Like

I really needed this reminder!

This tweet completely sums up the creative process for me in 11 words.

And from a storytelling angle, I love how Josh chose to illustrate his point. Not only the words but also the spacing.

This is a powerful reminder for whenever I feel like I am constantly running uphill!

Quartet #29: The Power of a Morning Routine, What Progress Feels Like and More!

Summer is in full swing! I'm trying to balance moving things forward with being present (which is a constant work in progress for me.)

If you have time for only one click this week, please watch #4 (although #3 is so short that you really should make it two clicks at least!)

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. Why You Need to Care About Your Routine (15-min listen)
​
This is an interesting listen. British physician Rangan Chatterjee talks about how a morning routine based on the "Three M's" can help you deal with stress throughout the day. It's compelling stuff.
​

2. Five Tools Creators Can Use To Show Up Even On The Hard Days (6-min read)
​
One thing I struggle with is shipping my creative work when life gets crazy - and being at least a little productive on days where everything feels really hard.

This article gave me some ideas on both of those fronts.
​
​
3. What Progress Feels Like (1-min read)

I didn't realize that 11 words could be so encouraging!
​

4. Having No Obligation to Your Former Self (4-min watch)

This is incredibly powerful and made me tear up. And it has me thinking about my journey as a musician and my journey as a human.

It's not often that a YouTube video makes me just sit there for a moment after it's done - after all, the rest of the internet awaits! This one froze me for a moment.

What's New With TEM

Absolutely nothing is new with TEM this week - and that's okay*!

My father's second (and final) celebration of life was this past Monday in the Berkshires. And the rest of the week was spent with family and my tuba in the middle of heaven.

*I'm reminding myself that this is okay - not shouting it at you :)
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

"The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up."

—John C. Maxwell

​
Sometimes I worry that this newsletter is simply a collection of things that I need to be reminded of over and over again! All I know is that I can't hear this sentiment too often.

I don't control outcomes. I don't control other people. I don't control much.

But I do control my attitude - even though that can feel pretty difficult at times.

Here's to having a creative week!
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.

Quartet #28: Three Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day, Bad Habits Holding You Back and More!

If you only have time to click on one thing this week I would make it #2. I found those three questions to be quite clarifying on a number of levels.

And without further ado, here are this week's ideas...
​
​

Quartet of the Week

1. Relax for the Same Result (2-min read)
​
I love me some Derek Sivers and this short blog post is great. Any piece that can have me questioning how I'm approaching just about everything in less than 500 words was very much worth the time.

He asks the question: Can we let up on the hustle and get close to the same results?
​

2. Three Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day (3-min read)
​
These questions from Max Bernstein are gold. He has them written down on a small whiteboard where he can always see them.

This link includes my very brief thoughts on how these questions help me move forward as an entrepreneurial musician.
​
​
3. 15 Bad Habits Holding You Back From Your Potential (3-min read)

This list from Sahil Bloom is great. #3 is the biggest mistake I see TEM Coaching clients make and most of them were trained to start making it in high school! This list is excellent.

(The link is to a LinkedIn post which for some reason you have to be logged in to see. I'm trying not to use Twitter these days but if you don't have a LinkedIn account you can also read this as a Twitter thread here.)
​

4. Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator (14-min watch)

This TED Talk is deeply profound but could also easily be followed by a 6-year-old. That is not easy to pull off.

The material is great and his sense of humor and presenting skills are top notch. Definitely worth your time (unless you are using it to procrastinate!)

This Week in TEM

There hasn't been a TEM episode in the past week because it's summer and everything is a little harder (for some very good reasons!)

I will be putting out another episode in the next couple of days and in the meantime can tell you that I am planning a group coaching offering for the end of the summer. You all will be the first to hear about it!
​

My Final Thought of the Week

Here's a quote to send you on your way:

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

—Mark Twain

​
For some of you it is something really big and for some, something small. But there is a 99% chance that there's something you haven't started yet which you know deep down that you really should have.

(For me personally, see the group coaching thing I just mentioned!)

But you'll never get ahead if you don't get started. So get started!

Here's to staring that thing that's paralyzed us into inaction for whatever reason!
​

Cheers,
Andrew
​The Entrepreneurial Musician

---

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don't miss what I share next week.