4 Fears That Make Building A Music Career Difficult And How To Avoid Them
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Most musicians self-sabotage their ability to start building a music career by living in a constant state of fear.
Fact:
Fear is the #1 thing that holds people back when they want to start building a music career that lasts.
It's not about lack of musical talent, lack of music industry connections, lack of opportunities or lack of money. Your success also has very little to do with where you live (you can start building a music career virtually anywhere).
You cannot start building a music career by living in fear.
Many musicians let their fears control what they do (or don’t do).
By submitting your info, you agree to send it to Tom Hess Music Corporation who will process and use it according to their privacy policy.
Some fears are felt on a conscious level, while others are subconscious and are only obvious to the trained eye. Yet the results of fear are as predictable as they are ironic: the very things that you are afraid to start building a music career that succeeds.
As a music career mentor to hundreds of musicians, I have seen this scenario play out countless times.
Here are some of the most common fears that musicians face, how they end up sabotaging your career before it even starts and what to do instead to NOT let this happen:
Musician Fear #1: Fear Of Going Broke (Not Being Able To Make Money As A Musician)
What’s the most common warning you hear from friends and family when you start building a music career?
- “You’d better have a safe and secure job as a backup plan when you start building a music career.”
- “You can never make good money working as a musician”
- “All musicians are starving artists”
Although the above statements are generally told to you with good intentions, they could not be further from the truth (I explain why this is so in great detail in my other music industry articles). It’s really “not that hard” to make a VERY good living in the music business if you know exactly what to do to earn money as a musician (and actually DO it).
It’s precisely because the above myths are so common. As a result, this people's fear leads to taking actions that are exactly OPPOSITE to the steps needed to start building a music career that is financially stable.
Here is how “trying to avoid” financial hardship in the music business (due to fear of going broke) causes failure:
- You never even try to earn more money in your music career. The absolute worst thing you can do is simply settle for and expect financial struggle as a musician.
- You run full-speed ahead away from building a music career. By expecting financial failure and struggle, many musicians falsely think that they will be better off first getting a college degree in an unrelated field, getting a “safe and secure” job and THEN start building a music career on the side. Learn why this leads to failure virtually 100% of the time in this article about music career backup plans.
- You eat the goose that lays golden eggs.
Note: What I will write below may seem entirely as “self-promotion”, as I will be talking about my music career mentoring programs to illustrate a very important point. There is an important lesson for you here, and my words would be 100% true regardless of whether or not I had something to sell. The lesson for you here illustrates how the very fear of going broke often ENSURES that you STAY broke.
I sometimes hear from musicians who hesitate to join my Music Careers Mentoring Program or attend my Music Career Money Magnet live event (where I show musicians how EASY it is to make HUGE amounts of money in music), because they think “they can’t afford it”. Even when I show them the overwhelming proof of how all my programs have literally transformed the lives of musicians I’ve mentored, they are STILL skeptical and full of fear. This skepticism is rooted in the same mindset I described above - that it’s useless to even “try” to start building a music career, since musicians are “destined” to be broke and struggle.
How To Not Let This Fear Ruin Your Music Career:
1. Realize that the belief that all musicians are destined to struggle financially is false and it does NOT have to be this way for you. This realization alone will empower you to move towards what you WANT in your career, instead of what you “fear”.
2. Instead of worrying about how to “not struggle financially”, commit to learning how to BECOME financially successful as a musician. There is a VAST (and fundamental) difference between these two mindsets and the results that each one leads to are polar opposites.
The single best way to make more money in your music career is to teach music.
Here is why:
When you teach music, your income comes from lots of independent sources (your music students).
Your income is spread out among all your students, each of whom is paying you monthly. This makes your income way more predictable compared to a business that relies on one-time purchases (like, say - a guitar store) and has its income “start over at zero” every month.
If a student quits – you still have most of your income (and you can easily replace the income you lost).
This makes your music teaching income way more secure than most day jobs (where your entire livelihood depends on a single paycheck).
In addition:
A music teaching business (when run the right way) is free from many of the headaches, risks and uncertainties other businesses have.
You don’t need to take out loans or raise capital to start teaching music. All you need to make money teaching music is a room and a few chairs.
There is no inventory to pay for and no salary expenses (until you have way more students than you can handle on your own).
All that means - instead of being eaten up by expenses - …
A huge chunk of your music teaching income is PURE “Cash-In-Your-Pocket” PROFIT.
But it’s not ‘just’ about the ability to make money teaching music.
It’s also about the freedom to actually build your music career.
And giving you ‘freedom of time’ is where teaching music REALLY shines.
Here is why:
- You (mostly) work from home. No time and money spent commuting to and from the office. (You can start teaching and earn deep into 6-figures doing it right out of your house).
- When you become a music teacher, you choose what days of the week and what hours in the day you teach.
- You can change your work schedule whenever you want, because you answer to nobody but yourself.
And of course, you can always stop teaching music at any time (or do less of it) as your music career takes off.
With that kind of flexibility, your teaching business is serving your life’s (and music career) goals instead of distracting you from them.
So, if you’re not thinking yet about teaching music to fund your music career – start!
Musician Fear #2: Fear Of Failing In Your Music Career
You sabotage your music career by being afraid that:
- They are too old to start building a music career
- They are not talented enough to make it with a pro music career
- They don’t live near a big music scene
- They don’t have a music degree
- Their musical style is not popular in their city/state/country
- There are not enough dedicated musicians in their city to collaborate with in order to start building a music career that pays the bills
- If they fail, they will look stupid in front of everyone who "told them so"
Besides the overwhelming number of reasons why these fears are COMPLETELY irrational (I’ve explained why in great detail in my other music industry articles), realize the following:
- Your beliefs BECOME your reality. If you believe that you have some valid “reason” (read: “excuse”) for why you cannot become successful as a musician (such as any of the things above), it becomes so easy to rationalize why things do not go your way and blame external factors for why you haven’t yet taken action to start building a music career. When you do this, you are GUARANTEED to fail in the music business. The reverse is also true: if you believe that you WILL build a music career no matter what, and that you are in control of your life and destiny, you are going to find a way to do what needs to be done to reach your goals."
- If you don’t even try to start building a music career - you have already failed…by default. Even worse than the guaranteed 100% failure rate, you are going to live your life wondering “what could have been”.
Musician Fear #3: Fear Of Success In Your Music Career
Think it’s impossible to be “afraid of success”? Think again. While the above fear of “failure” is common to less-experienced musicians who are just entering the music business, fear of “success” is common to more experienced musicians who are just on the brink of a huge breakthrough while building a music career.
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These musicians sabotage their music career by worrying about how their lives will change as they start building a music career that succeeds, what other people will think of them, or thinking subconsciously that they do not “deserve” success. As a result, many musicians do things that they themselves know are against their own best interest.
How To Not Let Fear Of Failure (Or Success) Ruin Your Music Career:
1. Realize that all the stories you tell yourself about why you can’t start building a music career in your situation are just that…stories. You have infinitely more potential for success as a musician than you realize, no matter how old you are, what your musical background is or where you live. Read my other music career articles to learn the right steps to start building a music career.
2. Think like successful musicians. As explained above, there is a difference between “playing to WIN” (when you start building a music career) vs. playing “not to lose”. Successful musicians do the former and they do not base their music career strategies on “avoiding fear” - and you shouldn't either.
3. Stack the deck of cards in your favor. You will maximize your odds of success in the music industry (and overcome your fear of failure), if you don't navigate the music business blindfolded. Instead, speed up your progress by getting guidance from an expert music career mentor who has already helped hundreds of musicians start building a music career that lasts.
Musician Fear #4: Fear Of Being “Screwed” By Record Companies, Promoters And Other Music Industry Executives
The music industry is full of stories of failed musicians who claim that someone in their music career has forced them to sign an unfair contract, refused to pay them more money or in one way or another “screwed” them - causing their careers to fail. Stories like this make many musicians fearful of entering any business deals in the music industry and often prevent them from building a music career entirely.
Here is a big music industry secret that nobody will tell you that will turn this fear into a golden opportunity for music career success:
Contrary to popular belief, most music industry companies are NOT out there to rip off musicians. Instead, they are HUNGRY for new talent, for win-win partnerships and for ways to leverage their resources to grow everyone’s career.
At the same time, these companies are also fearful of investing HUGE sums of money to help a musician start building a music career if they:
- Are emotionally or mentally unstable
- Feel “entitled” to the company's money and resources simply because they may be good musicians
- Are lazy and unreliable
- Do not help the company earn money in a mutually beneficial way
…and a huge list of other factors (take this test to learn what the music industry wants from you).
Music companies put up tons of time, money and other resources to start building a music career for musicians. They have a lot to lose in an unprofitable business venture that most musicians don't, so they are selective of the musicians they work with.
How To Not Let This Fear Ruin Your Chances To Start Building A Music Career That Lasts:
Realize that what you just learned is a massive inside tip into how the music industry REALLY works that can make all the difference. Instead of being afraid that companies in the music business are out to scam you, realize that you have a huge opportunity to get ahead of the competition.
What you need to do is:
- Learn EXACTLY what music industry companies want from you (this goes FAR beyond your musical skills).
- Acquire the pieces of value you need to have to make yourself the #1 choice for the best music career opportunities.
- Communicate your value to the companies you want to work with by building a rock-solid reputation for yourself as the musician who adds value with minimum risk.
When you do this, music companies will fall over themselves to work with you on opportunities that other musicians will only dream about (and will compensate you handsomely for the exceptional value you provide).
Now that you know what fears make it impossible to start building a music career, take mental inventory of your thoughts and beliefs regarding working in the music business.
As you become aware of the fears that hold YOU back, take action to change your mindset.
To start building a music career you've always dreamed of, read this page right now about music career training.
Start building a music career by training with a music career mentor.
