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December, 2006
 
Going After a Difficult Goal
If You Asked Me for the World, Somehow I’d Get It by Anne Leighton At www.isound.com/artist_blog, a Canadian writer/promoter named Les Vogt offered very good advice for how you can boost your career. He wrote, "Don't beat yourself up, think of ways to broaden your career experience with new opportunities or skills, take a holiday, find a mentor and set at least one difficult goal." Vogt's idea of setting a difficult goal is to focus on something "beyond your usual goals or other targets and set a professional goal you can achieve within 12 months." This goal is probably something you could control, but with extra effort. In some people's cases, it might be an image overhaul complete with a realistic diet and fitness plan. It might be to plan a two-week fall tour that takes you 400 miles away from home. It could also be writing a great song every week or earning the money needed to create an album. It's not really within our control to change people's minds so they give us a record deal, but we can influence people to give us serious and positive attention if we're developing our careers in a positive way. We're always serious about letting more people know about our music by increasing our industry and media contacts and reaching out to more fans. And that can help us achieve our goals, if we have some and think about them every day. I know a singer/songwriter who was popular in the Midwest and Europe, and who booked shows for himself in the Middle Atlantic, New England and other regions. He started to draw at a venue down south. The promoter said, "Knowing that you've sung in theatre, and live close enough to my cousin's restaurant, he'll pay you about $300 to sing some standards plus some originals at his place." This was a very worthwhile activity for my friend. At the same time, my songwriter friend decided to find different people to sponsor the recording of his next album. He created a brochure on the recording process, how much it would cost, and what a benefactor would receive if they invested in the project. He found a benefactor for part of the process at this special gig. It took having the goal to find the financial help. In setting up difficult goals, we need to figure out what steps are needed to achieve them. We research what has to be done, and write the plan. We give ourselves daily reminders, and then do what it takes to achieve difficult goals. As a publicist, I create outreach plans for my clients. Knowing that my baby artists were touring and created a certain style of music, I had to figure out which media outlets were appropriate. While we wished for the cover of Rolling Stone, we realized that wasn't a realistic goal. What was? In the case of my jam band, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, his market included Relix because this publication believes in covering artists who tour and play festivals. Joe does that and more. My goal was to convince them to cover him by introducing his music to people at the outlet. When artists are unknown, the publicist puts double, triple and often quadruple the follow-up to see if the journalist has checked out the music. While I focus on achieving media attention for my artists, they're working on reaching their goals: being healthy physically and musically by challenging themselves with their music and writing great songs, rehearsing and performing. They're also finding new fans and industry contacts. They need to earn money, sometimes working on someone else's project, either a non-music job or a session. Some artists also have a significant other that lasts till death or even after. It's time-consuming; it can be to keep true love alive. So we remind ourselves to write notes about remembering someone's birthday, making phone calls to help dear friends or to say, "I was thinking of you and just want you to know that tonight I'll be giving you the world." And when the night comes, you can give the world and the stars, and realize you've accomplished something very meaningful. |