How to Write a Plan

Whether you have decided that your passion for music is something you want as a hobby, or something you want to pursue as a career - neither choice is wrong. Nor is it wrong to have your passion for music be both.

If you have decided that you want to make music your career; then you need to recognize that it is a business. Just like any start-up businesss; it is going to take time, money and a lot of effort to create a successful career. If you read the last post with the 20 Brilliant Questions, then you have a good idea of where your career is now, and where you can improve.

I'd suggest that a good next step is to develop a written plan for your career. There is a great series of blog posts on the subject right here ... along with a template for how to write your plan!

http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/2009/7/8/how-to-write-a-music-business-plan.html

As he says, writing a good plan takes time, and it should be re-visited often. If you are simply going to write a plan for the purpose of getting money from a grant program - go ahead. But remember that a plan should be more than a way to get money; it should be something you execute. So read Kevin's blog posts on the subject (his main blog is http://eleetmusic.com/), and take a stab at creating your plan for your career.

As it says in the plan:

"The real value of creating a business plan is not in having the finished product in hand; rather, the value lies in the process of researching and thinking about your business in a systematic way. The act of planning helps you to think things through thoroughly, study and research if you are not sure of the facts, and look at your ideas critically. It takes time now, but avoids costly, perhaps disastrous, mistakes later."

Brilliant 20 Questions

This article asks 20 questions that you need to answer if you are considering trying to make a career as a professional musician, or trying to decide if you should keep on trying to make it.

http://www.examiner.com/x-16453-Salt-Lake-City-Entertainment-Industry-Examiner~y2009m7d22-20-questions-every-band-should-answer

As he says, you need to answer the 20 questions he asks with a simple "Yes" or "No" and you will know where you are on the path to music industry success. The questions are hard-hitting but he has put into words what I have heard at seminars - he just has it summarized and direct!
Answer his questions - honestly, and you will know where your career is headed. Thanks to my friend Kyle who brought this to my attention.


For simplicity, I have copied the meat of the article here. Please note, this is not my material - it was written by Christopher Harding. Here are his questions and how to evaluate your results.


What you do
Simply answer “Yes” or “No” to the following questions (and by the way, if your answer isn’t a solid, unequivocal “Yes,” then it’s “No”—and remember, honest answers will give you more valuable feedback, so tell it like it is):
1. Can you take genuine feedback easily and are you willing to hear ways you could improve without becoming defensive (i.e. are you committed to continual improvement)?
2. Are you willing to push beyond your limitations even when it’s hard and very uncomfortable?
3. Do you talk about how awesome it is when other bands reach a level of success you haven’t yet reached (does it inspire you and stoke you up to do better)?
4. Do you (or your band) regularly write songs that people (beyond your friends and family) are hungry to buy (in whatever format you have them in)?
5. Do you practice at least 3 times a week (for periods of 3 hours or longer)? And yes, gigs can count as practice. So if you're out gigging multiple times a week and are constantly improving by doing so, great! Just make sure you are also spending the time outside the gigs to improve your performances where needed.
6. Do you regularly rehearse your established sets as if you were doing a live show in order to perfect your entire performance (and get it embodied at the cellular level so you have the freedom to effectively improvise)?
7. Are you fully committed to blowing your audience away every time you perform regardless of where you are and how many people are there (i.e. do you perform full out 10 times out of 10)?
8. Do you regularly make wise, well thought-out decisions in life (do you seek advice from people who are more experienced than you)?
9. Do you have a strong, viable, grassroots fan base that promotes you and serves as your Street Team and your die-hard advocates?
10. Are you accumulating a fan info data base that's in a useable format (including email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, whatever you can accumulate from mailing lists, fan clubs, social networks, etc.)?
11. Do you create opportunities to interact with and associate with your fans in ways that also allow you to celebrate who they are and what they’re passionate about while still leaving them wanting more?
12. Do you have a website, Facebook site, MySpace site, and a Twitter following that you regularly update and utilize to build fan loyalty and interaction (a key ingredient of successful communities)?
13. Is destiny calling you so strongly that you are convinced an essential part of your nature has to do with bringing your music to as many people as you can reach?
14. Is your musical career at the top of your priority list (right after your ethics and your key relationships)?
15. Are your ethics aligned with and key relationships enthusiastically and unrelentingly supportive of your dream and goals about a career in music?
16. Do you regularly get into the studio (how ever large or small) and record your music, work out arrangements, master the art of studio performance (vs. live performance) so that your recorded music captures the verve, vitality, and vibe of your live performances?
17. Is your passion for music and success greater than your ego (i.e. can you drop your sense of self-importance or your story and become results driven vs. ego driven)?
18. Are you comfortable not being home and being on the road in far less than elegant circumstances?
19. Do you have a job(s) and/or the lifestyle that enables you to take time off and hit the road?
20. Are you an incredibly dedicated, tenacious, hard working person (or group) who never gives up?

How To Evaluate Your Results
If you answered “Yes” to at least 18 out of 20 questions, your commitment level and your chances of excelling are high (if you’re in this category and also answered “Yes” to Questions 13 through 20, then your odds of expanding beyond a local and regional level are greatly increased).
If you answered “Yes” to at least 15 out of 20 questions, your commitment level indicates that you have a moderate chance of excelling (and you may likely be better served to stay local or regional).
If you answered “Yes” to less than 15 out of 20 questions, it's likely that you are either not ready to “go for it” or may not have the level of passion needed to take your talent beyond friends, associates, or regulars at the bar or local hang out (and that’s fine, by the way—you can still have a very enjoyable experience sharing your music at the level that works for you).
Now, if you scored lower than you’d like, take a look at the questions you answered “No” to and ask yourself why you didn’t say “Yes.” Is this something you’re willing to work on, learn from, and improve? If so, naturally you can increase your score over time and your odds of taking your musical dreams to higher levels. If not, and you think this questionnaire is bogus, that’s okay too. There are exceptions to every rule and I’d genuinely love to have you prove the survey wrong.
Just one thought about that approach, however. In a business that’s already got one in a million odds, do you really want to make the odds even more difficult? Okay, so that makes 21 questions, but you get the point.

Talent Plus Execution Equals Success

Derek Sivers, the original founder of CD Baby had a great blog post about business ideas and success that relates to what you need to be successful in the music industry. I think that many people believe it is about talent. It isn't. It is talent multiplied by execution. Sivers' blog post http://sivers.org/multiply is called "Ideas are just a multiplier of execution" and as he explains "ideas are worth nothing unless they are executed". So it is with your music career. Your musical talent (recorded performance and live performance) is nothing unless you execute. One of the key elements of execution is a career plan. What are you going to execute if you don't have a plan? Plans ARE what you execute.

Sivers places values on ideas and then on execution and says that the success is the multiplier of the two. I would like to change that into the following with talent and execution. In talent - I would include both your recorded performance and your live performance. So let's take Sivers idea to the music industry:
AWFUL TALENT = -1
WEAK TALENT = 1
SO-SO TALENT = 5
GOOD TALENT = 10
GREAT TALENT = 15
BRILLIANT TALENT = 20

NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000

Then as Sivers says, "To make a business, you need to multiply the two". So, to make a music industry career, you need to multiply your talent level with execution. The most brilliant talent, with no execution, is worth $20. I would also add that your talent cannot be stagnant; to make a career, you need to continue to take your talent to higher and higher levels. Because the bar on "Brilliant" will keep going up.

That's why you need to know where you are going and exactly where your career is now - that way you can make the plan to take you from where you are to where you want to go. And then you will need to execute that plan and adjust the plan and execute some more. That's why businesses need a business plan - it is not something that is completed to make the bank happy. It is essential for success. And that's why you need a plan for your career in the music industry.