Amateur to Professional = Think and Dream Bigger

There are three foundational facts to a business:

1) The business: It is the core foundation.
2) The product: It keeps the business foundation intact.
3) Marketing: It keeps the product and business foundation intact.

Without these three it is my opinion that the business will not reach its full potential.

The easiest way to go from amateur to professional is to create an outline of your goals, where you see yourself in the future, dream up the entire layout, write it out and then...

That goal will be your model and your business plan. Many things will try and steer you away and discourage you. That is why it is important to write it down and be wary of any opportunities or distractions that dont' adhere to your business plan.

See some people it takes 4 years in College and lots of drunken nights to finally choose against getting distracted and focus on these simple facts, START NOW. Put something together little by little each day. It's about progress not perfection. A career, especially in the music business takes patience, determination, drive, perseverence and most importantly belief in yourself. We practice these things every day. God, the universe and the world are so much bigger than us. Step into a new creativity and hope and THINK BIGGER!

START AT THE FOUNDATION:
-First, make yourself a valuable producer, artist, engineer, etc. Take your time perfecting your craft to the next level. A great product is the start to a great business.

-Second, know what you want to do and where you want to be. Dream and follow what gives you joy, hope and encouragement.

-Third, get your business together. Invest time and money in yourself. Have a creative business card, website, myspace page, professional CD demo and most importantly great material. It’s time to retire the writing on scratched CDs. If the package doesn’t have any effort in it, chances are the music will be judged in the same manner. No one will take interest in your career as much as you will so it is very important to have great material AND great looking CD graphics, pictures and business cards.

This is the start of what a music business plan can look like for you. It requires the time to stop thinking, worrying, doubting, fearing and instead, get started.

How? Take 10 minutes each day, then move to an hour of planning. Just sit and listen to your favorite music, get inspired and dream. Write everything down and organize it later.

Get the full destination: Sometimes you'll need to sit with it for days, weeks or months. Be patient.

Construct how to do it:
After you have the full destination, the next layer is imagining the details of how it all is going to get done and what the time frame will be to accomplish it. Write notes and organize it later.

Whats the Cost?
Determine the best prices with research and networking on how to get it all done. From there determine what is best to do yourself and outsource.

Execute Daily:
Now just work on the organization and order of priority to execute everything. Start with one little thing at a time daily. Resist distractions caused by fear, doubt and worry. Remember, stress and anxiety is really just fear with a different name. Stay focused, keep making daily accomplishments and you'll start seeing things move. Unexpected resources and contacts will come from no where to help assist you. Its an amazing thing that can easily be missed if we let fear and discouragement win.

Additional details can be found under "Selling Beats and Getting your Music in the Right Hands"

More to come...