What do you really believe about your music career? If your thoughts about your music were announced to your audience on the P.A. system through which you perform, what would we all hear?
Do you only think great thoughts? Or do you catch yourself thinking ‘I’ll never make any money at this’, ‘It’s too hard!’, ‘There’s too much competition’, ‘No-one notices me’, ‘I wish a major label would sign me and make life easier’, ‘No-one likes my kind of music’, ‘I make Un-popular music’ ‘I’ll be poor forever’ ‘Musicians don’t make money..’ ‘I’m just one in a million other talented songwriters’
If you have negative beliefs about yourself and your career, you will always feel like you are climbing your mountain of musical success with a bungie cord strapped round your waist pulling you back to the bottom. Wouldn’t it be great to get rid of that cord and just be free to ascend unhindered?
I suggest you take some time this holiday to find a comfy place, where you won’t be disturbed. Take out a notebook or journal, and get really honest with yourself about this. Don’t hold back. Get those thoughts and feelings out. Without judgment, let your emotions take over for a bit and write it all down. Find out what you have been rehearsing in your head that is contrary to the desires of your heart. Ask your self how any negative beliefs are affecting your ability to make money from music right now. Write that down too. And how will they affect you in the long term?
The thing about beliefs is that your subconscious mind will orchestrate your life to reinforce your beliefs. You will unwittingly make choices and decisions, and adopt behaviors and expectations, that re-affirm your beliefs. For example: ‘No-one notices me’ used to be a big one for me. It manifested in audiences literally ignoring me. When I realized that I was subconsciously communicating ‘Ignore me’ to the crowd, through my tone of voice, my body language and my lack of interaction, I saw how I had created my own reality. Then I took action to change all of that behavior, and it hasn’t been a problem since – Every crowd chants for an encore!
I also notice musicians struggling with this one ‘Musicians are badly paid’. When I probe a little deeper and find out who negotiated the deal and agreed the fee. I find the it’s musician who chose the win-lose scenario!? Doh! What would it be like to believe ‘I am a professional performer who is well compensated for my efforts’? How would that have affected the outcome of the deal?
By bringing these beliefs up and out into the open, you can begin to address them and swap them for beliefs that are going to help you reach the top of your mountain faster and more easily. So once you have found out what you believe about your music career, write down a corresponding, more empowering belief, so that you can notice next time that thought pops up, and choose to think the more empowering thought instead. You’ll be able to change your thinking and change your life. ;0)
Here are a few examples:
‘Musicians don’t make money in music.’ becomes, ‘Many musicians don’t make money in music but many, many do, and I am employing the proven techniques and strategies they have used that will grow my career and result in financial return.’
‘I’ll be poor forever.’ becomes, ‘I’ll be poor forever if I don’t change my thinking and my expectations!’
‘There’s too much competition!’ becomes, ‘There are 7 billion people on this planet, that’s audience enough for everyone!’
‘No-one notices me,’ becomes, ‘No-one notices me while I’m sulking in the corner, instead I choose to engage and interact with my audience.’
Sometimes just shining a light on a negative belief is enough to make it change. Your conscious mind will realise that it’s silly and ‘poof!’, it’ll disappear, sspecially if you can see how it’s going to negetively effect you in the long term. Other’s will take a little practice but persist, the change will be worth it!
You may never have given voice to the negative feelings you have about your career, they may have just sat like a knot in your stomach while you carry on regardless but your beliefs are the foundation of your ability to make money from music. If you can get into the habit of noticing and changing the negative ones, you can re-align your beliefs with your career goals and have your whole being moving in the right direction. Then all the practical stuff that you have learned about making money in music from Ariel Hyatt, Bob Baker, John Oszajca and the like, will be so much more effective!
So before you go making your New Year’s resolutions, set yourself up with some new beliefs and see what a difference it makes to you this year!
Happy Christmas!
Love
Nikki,
12 Days of Monetization is a 12-part series designed to help you make more money. Ariel and team Cyber PR asked 12 of their favorite colleagues to contribute and we hope you enjoy this series.
Truth! It works like this for goals, too. If you don’t know where you wanna go. How are you gonna get there?