018 - Career Update: October 2016 - Music Entrepreneur HQ

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I’m back with another career update in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, and discuss everything from my music, my performance schedule, all the way over to the podcast, my books, what I’m learning right now, and more.

Table of Contents

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Another month has come and gone
00:18 – Moving into a new season
00:34 – What’s new since last month
00:47 – Issues with my computer
01:45 – Acting on things I’ve been putting off
03:25 – How things are coming along with my music
03:37 – My performance schedule in October
04:27 – My next single
04:47 – What’s new with the bands – Adrenalize and Long Jon Lev
05:09 – What “YYC” means
05:22 – Adrenalize to play in movie theatres
05:32 – Long Jon Lev is discussing an upcoming tour
05:49 – Progress with the podcast
06:43 – Progress with my books
07:21 – Promo cards for The New Music Industry book
07:54 – What I’m learning right now
07:58 – Current challenges
09:07 – Being growth-oriented
09:15 – Being honest without being insulting and offensive
10:02 – What’s next for TME
10:06 – My goals
10:36 – Despite setbacks, some things are coming together

Transcription:

Another month has come and gone. How was October for you?

For a lack of better way of putting it, mine was multi-faceted. There’s been a lot of good, a lot of challenge, and a lot in between.

Even as we moved into autumn, I could feel myself moving into a new personal season as well, but that’s something I’ll cover in more detail throughout this career update.

I’ll start this thing off with…

What’s New Since Last Month

I’ve already talked a little bit about my house sitting assignment on the podcast. Even though it’s been several weeks since I’ve returned home, life has been anything but business as usual.

For one thing, my main desktop computer has been having some issues. First, all of my programs started crashing repeatedly, and pretty soon I was also getting Blue Screen of Death errors.

I ran just about every scan imaginable, and even updated all of the drivers, but I was still getting errors. That led me to believe that the problem was hardware related. So, I took my computer into the shop, and now I’m waiting to hear back.

It’s fortunate that I purchased a backup laptop before my house sitting duty began. This was in anticipation of my main laptop giving out, but I wasn’t prepared for my desktop giving out first. Now I’m forced to work from my new laptop – which is pretty smooth, by the way – whether it was something I intended for or not.

I suppose I shouldn’t bore you with the excruciating details of falling behind on work and email, but in case there’s anyone waiting to hear back from me, it’s worth mentioning. Feel free to send me a follow-up message, because it’s entirely possible that I didn’t get your first one.

What’s interesting to me is that, despite some of the obstacles and challenges that have emerged in this season, I’ve been prompted to take action on some of the things I’ve been putting off. For example:

I’ve been meaning to put together a black book for my business – an analog notebook where all of my online credentials are stored. Now that I’ve seen how fast a stable computer system can quickly go haywire, I’ve felt the importance of this, and I’ve started recording all of my login information and updating passwords as necessary. Since I recently had my Instagram account hacked, this also alerted me to the need to create a central place for sensitive information.
I’ve also been wanting to consolidate my email. At this point, I’ve almost managed to get everything down to two email addresses, but I’m still using three. Don’t even ask how many I had before. In addition, I’m unsubscribing to unwanted emails left, right, and center, because I don’t want a cluttered inbox. Most entrepreneurs waste too much time in their email inbox.
Finally, I knew that I would need to back up my work. Again, with a computer constantly crashing, I didn’t have much of a choice but to load everything onto my external hard drive before reinstalling the OS, and trying to get the computer to work again.

With each of these goals, I had previously run into roadblocks that prevented me from moving forward with them. But now, I’m closer to having everything in order than I was before, and that’s one of the good things that has come out of this inconvenience.

Good things can come from inconvenience. Click To Tweet

I don’t think it takes a rocket surgeon to see that my computer issues have also extended into the work I do here at TME. I have a bit of catching up to do at this point.

Now I’ll share about…

How Things Are Coming Along With My Music

I know I’ve mentioned my new single “Hope” before, but I really haven’t had much of a chance to get it out there, for some of the reasons I’ve already mentioned. Interestingly enough, my personal October performance schedule also kept me otherwise occupied.

First, I played at The Circle on the 5th with Frederick Tamagi and Laurie Anne Fuhr. We honored Leonard Cohen on this occasion, and also got to collaborate on each other’s original music. It was a pleasure playing with you guys. I also performed at an anti-bullying event called “Erase The Label” on the 16th with Anna, as well at Vern’s with Taylor on the 22nd, and we shared the stage with Martini Tango and a couple of other great acts. I did get a chance to play “Hope” on the 22nd, so that’s the one thing I was able to do for the new single. Thanks again for inviting me to play, Darryn! Here’s a shout-out to Mike from Treemansion as well.

It’s been fun playing my own material in live settings again, and this is something I will be doing more of moving forward.

Not surprisingly, I haven’t really had much of a chance to think about my next single. If I hadn’t run into some of the problems already mentioned, I likely would have been able to put something together for October, but that’s clearly not happening now. November is shaping up to be another intense month, but I am going to be putting some thought into what to record next.

I’ll also share…

How Things Are Coming Along With Adrenalize & Long Jon Lev

Adrenalize had one show at Red Bush Tea and Coffee Company in October. Red Bush has fast become my second home in a way, because many of the communities and bands I’m involved in – from Listening Room YYC and The Question, all the way over to Adrenalize and Long Jon Lev – have been holding regular events there.

By the way, in case you were wondering, YYC is the airport code for Calgary, where I reside. I don’t know why, but here in Canada, we’re sometimes in the habit of referring to the cities we live in by their airport codes.

Adrenalize is currently preparing for a string of shows at movie theatres, and this is something I’m looking forward to. I think it could be a great fit for the band, and will likely be very profitable.

Long Jon Lev also had a few shows in October, but beyond the fact that we’re discussing an upcoming tour, there isn’t a whole lot more to talk about – not to understate the importance of what I just said. Overall, the band is in prime form, and I think the next step for us is to game-plan how to play more outside of Calgary.

And now I’ll talk about…

How Things Are Coming Along With The Podcast

The progress with the podcast has been steady. I think some of the former listeners of DAWCast: Music Entrepreneurship are finally finding their way over to the new show, and that’s good to see.

I said before that I wanted to publish two episodes per week, on Tuesday and Thursday. I have yet to return to that schedule since starting series two, and I’m not sure that I will be, at least for the time being. The main thing right now is to release new episodes regularly, and I have been keeping to that.

If anything, I would love to be sharing more interviews with you. Not to suggest that there is a shortage of guests to have on the show, as that is not the case. It’s more a matter of time and scheduling. But I do anticipate getting back on a regular schedule in the near future, so it could just be a matter of time.

And as much as I love to write, I know that many of you love audio and video content, so this is what I’ve been prioritizing more and more.

I’ll also share a bit about…

How Things Are Coming Along With My Books

Sales continue at a trickle for The New Music Industry. There’s also a great review of the book on Earthling Adventures. I’ll be sure to put the link in the show notes.

Overwhelmingly, the sentiment on the book has been positive, whether online or off. I’m glad to see that this is the case.

As far as finding a specific outlet for promotion, I have yet to settle on any one service. But I have been learning quite a bit from James Altucher on the subject of self-publishing. He has a lot of great resources on his website, and it’s likely that I will be implementing some of his suggested strategies moving forward.

I also continue to hand out promo cards wherever I go, and if you’d like to have one, and you don’t live in Calgary, feel free to drop me a line. My email address is: david@dawcast.com. The promo cards are free.

I’ve also made some progress on my upcoming book, Flashes of Elation, but not as much as I would like. I feel like I’m in a season of restructuring at the moment, so first, I’m going to need to get myself reoriented, and then begin pushing in the direction I need to go.

Will this look any different than it did before? I can’t say for sure, but that is what my instincts are telling me.

And now, here’s…

What I’m Learning Right Now

I’m learning that life as you know it can change in a hurry. One moment you could be enjoying a season of relief, and the next plunging into a season of testing.

This isn’t something I haven’t experienced before, but it’s a little different every time. And as someone who is mission oriented, and as someone who is constantly seeking personal growth, I’ve found that you basically end up inviting these challenges into your life.

I don’t necessarily know what the testing is about. What I do know is that it’s a season, and a season always has a beginning and an end. I also know that I will be – and already have been – encountering circumstances that will derail me from being the best version of myself. I think I would be naïve to think that I could rise to the next level without some of my flaws and past disappointments rearing their ugly heads.

On the one hand, I do think it’s about determining what the best course of action is in any given situation, but on the other hand, I’m aware that the challenge itself is designed to throw me off course. Can I be honest, understanding, and or encouraging in the face of mounting consequence? Can I make the right decisions, knowing that the decision might not be advantageous for me in any way? That’s part of what this is all about.

Can you make the right decisions in the face of adversity? Click To Tweet

It’s not in my nature to stop and stagnate, which is one of the reasons why I am where I am right now. That’s my perspective, anyway.

I’m also learning to be honest without being insulting or offensive. That is a tough balance, and I wouldn’t say I’ve found it. I’ve always wanted to be liked, and I’ve tried so hard for that. As result, there haven’t been many people directing criticism in my direction as well. In a sense, I’ve played it safe.

If criticism is constructive, and if it’s coming from the right place, it’s helpful. It can shed light on our weaknesses, and it can show us where we could be better.

Support is good. We all want support. But support in the face of a lackluster product is detrimental to one’s progress. If someone believes they’re good at something, and they really aren’t, you’re not doing them any favors by skirting the issue. We all need time to develop, but without a mirror in our face, sometimes we can’t see where we need to grow, let alone that we should grow.

Finally, I’ll share briefly about…

What’s Next

I have all of my goals in front of me on my whiteboard, and there’s quite a bit I’m looking to accomplish by March 2017.

These goals are connected to selling resource packs, book sales, pre-orders for Flashes of Elation, making podcast appearances, and so on.

Setting these goals in front of me seems to have had a positive effect, as I’ve already done one podcast interview, and I was invited to do a second one just today. I’m also going to be featured on a new website for transparent entrepreneurs in the near future, which I’m very excited about.

Despite some setbacks, a lot of things are coming together, and I’m looking forward to creating more great content to entertain, educate, and inspire you, right here on TME.

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David Andrew Wiebe

Founder & CEO at Music Entrepreneur HQ

Award-winning composer, best-selling author, professional musician coach, and podcaster of over 10 years. Wiebe helps musicians like you unlock your full potential. If you'd like to be notified whenever the blog is updated, click here to subscribe.

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