Do It Yourself (DIY) vs. Do It FOR Me (DIFM) As an independent artist you’ve likely become grossly aware that there is a mindset you need to RID yourself of entirely to survive in the New Music Industry. I’m of course talking about the DO IT FOR ME Attitude. Now, i want to distinguish what the “Do It For Me” attitude IS, in relationship to what the “Do It Yourself” attitude is. It is glaringly obvious that MANY MORE of us musicians need to seriously embrace the Entrepreneurial Mindset, and AT LEAST understand BASIC Business and Marketing, if not outright devote a YEAR OR MORE of your life studying and applying the principles of genius marketers and leaders… It appears though, that the majority of musicians i talk to to, want to do just that… Talk about it. The root of this problem seems to be a that there still is a bit more of the DIFM mentality prevalent and contagious, than the DIY mentality. DIY does NOT mean you have to learn adobe photoshop to create your own album cover… It DOES mean you have to MANAGE that project. DIFM means… Here, some random person, you go and take the responsibility of creating my cover image, getting people to my gig, marketing and promoting my music… The primary thing to remember is that this is YOUR BUSINESS. Do NOT, rely on someone else to “take care of this or that” unless you FULLY TRUST them and KNOW that they are the best person, or the RIGHT person to do THAT job. You can let go of “control” of actually DOING the thing, but you still have to MANAGE each project, and part of the project. You are the LEADER. You have to be a BUSINESS PERSON as well. You have to coordinate ALL the things AROUND actually getting the BEST RESULT you can. Whether that is creating a CD, the Artwork, the Marketing Campaign… You STILL have to be INVOLVED. You do NOT get the luxury of peace of mind until you REALIZE THIS concept. Because until you do, you will not have the systems and education, and the experience to know that things are working efficiently and THAT is YOUR job.
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The missing skill seems to be PROJECT MANAGEMENT. This is something i’ve had a rude awakening to, and realized IT’S importance, and thus, took it upon myself to learn THAT skill. I encourage you to think like this. To remember that there a ton of critical skills that you are going to need to be continuously learning and adopting as you navigate your career, and if you DON’T get this, then you are going to wake up one day wondering why you are still playing for peanuts and why that career you’ve dreamed about never really “happened.” This is a HARD reality, and i say it VERY reluctantly… I try not to be negative most of the time, and i love life. I am NOT yelling at you. I am NOT trying to say… BE LIKE ME, or you’re an idiot… So don’t interpret it as such. What i guess i AM saying is that EVERYTHING is a PROJECT. You need to be the LEADER in your career, and you need to MANAGE the people who you are going to be apart of each of them. I am actually working on an article series that’s literally taken me YEARS to learn and define, but it is simply defined by these three little words… MODERN Project Studio. The Modern Project Studio is the future of the Artist/Entrepreneur, and the SKILLS you need to be successful with your Modern Project Studio are clear and defined, BASED on the goals and focus areas set by YOU. Two questions for YOU. 1. Do you currently look at and approach your career as a bunch of PROJECTS? Please explain. 2. What SKILLS do you think you need to learn, but don’t yet have?
Be Brilliant, Jamie
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