entrepreneur – Fiona Z – The Musician’s Five Star Assistant

Take the work out of networking…now.

I hope you are having a beautiful Saturday. It is absolutely GORGEOUS here in the NYC and I’m ready to a great day outdoors. How about you?

This week I challenged myself to get out and do more during the week outside of work, ultimately not saying no to any invites. I took on the persona of a ‘Yes Man’. This ended me up at having friends of a friend who were visiting for the first time in NYC crash at my place, sharing cabs from New Jersey, trying new restaurants, going to a concert and the one thing I wasn’t looking forward to, a networking event.

I wasn’t completely dreading it, but I just didn’t feel good at that sort of thing. Meeting, talking about what you do and promoting yourself to a group of strangers. But I had promised myself to go out and say yes to every opportunity. And I remembered, I’m not going to meet new possible friends or be able to access new ideas staying back at work.

Something amazing happened the second I switched my mindset and started going in and introducing myself. I met people interested in similar industries, freelancers, musicians and even younger students looking for career advice. It was thrilling! And it was really great to get a feel for the words of what I do – a musician’s virtual assistant.

After that night, I made a new friend and freelancer connection, a student looking for virtual business advice, and a band in need of support. Three substantial connections that would not have happened if I had stayed home.

Why am I telling you this story? Well it got me thinking of my clients and if or when they do networking as well and if they have any struggles with putting themselves out there. The truth is, YES! Musicians have to network just as much as the next person to gain followers and spread their music. You have to do it to keep people coming to your shows.

It’d be impossible for you to have a successful career, thousands of listeners and do what you love if you’re hiding in the studio or hiding behind the laptop. You have to get out there! It is just as important as practicing, performing, recording, etc. all the other parts of your career.

I have a client who has been in the recording business for over 40 years, so when I do go to events or conferences with him, I’m really seeing a master at someone who selflessly promotes. And I believe it is because the ‘why’ behind his promotion is so strong. He has a clear vision of why he wants to share his latest album or his latest project with the person in front of him. And I don’t see him as a person being an annoying pusher on his music, but I see him as the hardest working artist in the business.

Self-promotion is a necessary component to your career, so here are some key tips that might help you step out of the door.

1) Just say yes – Say yes to the next networking event you can go to. The people you meet in person and share your story/music with in person is so much more effective than a tweet or a post.

2) Remember your ‘why’ – Remember why you are sharing your music. Is it because your music can help others? Is it therapy for them? Is it because you love playing to packed shows?

3) Get to know the other person – Make sure you ask questions and find out about the person your chatting with, too.

4) Stay humble, but be confident – Set any pride you might have and remember why you want to grow your career, why you want to connect with this person.

5) Follow up – When you talk to the person, promise to email them a song. And then do it! Contact them within 24 hours, stay fresh in their minds and send them a gift and ask them if you can add them to your mailing list.

I hope this helps you to say YES to more things and to not be afraid any more of the ‘hate’ people have for musicians who self-promote. Now go out there and connect!

Have a great rest of your Saturday and I’ll see you next time!

Cheers,

12 things to check off before every show [FREE TEMPLATE]

This week was about back-end work with a lot of organizing and creating checklists to organize several processes for my clients. This may sound like the most boring and tedious thing to do, however, I am one of those weird people that like creating checklists, spreadsheets, and step-by-step instructions.

Why do I like these checklists so much? Because I understand that we can’t rely on our brains to remember everything. It’s impossible! I have a pretty good memory, but I wouldn’t be able to handle everything that I do without some way to keep it organized. These lists are a way to ensure everything gets taken care of and nothing is overlooked. And you know what? It also makes you move faster in the process because you aren’t asking yourself, did I ask the band if they can make this date? Did I reserve my flight? Does the presenter know I’m a vegetarian? A checklist in front of you can answer those questions right away and you can move on to what you need to do.

One mistake I made starting out changed everything for me and is the reason why I started developing and creating my checklists. Here’s how it went.

For an upcoming concert, I had thought the entire time that the presenter was covering hotels. When I was pulling together an itinerary for the band a few days before, I realized I didn’t have any hotel reservation confirmations from them. So, I emailed the hospitality contact asking, “Hey, do you have the hotel confirmation numbers? Much appreciated!” His reply? “We didn’t make reservations, it is stated in the agreement that you would reserve and handle hotel.” CRAP is exactly what went through my head. How could I have overlooked something this important?

I checked the agreement again and sure enough, the words were there: Artist is responsible for hotel. No reservations were made and I was struggling for the rest of the day searching to find 8 available and affordable hotel rooms. Sure, I made it happen, but it wasn’t a pretty day and honestly, I could have totally been out of luck. I told myself, I can’t let a detail like that slip away again.

I learned quickly that details for shows get lost in emails and documents (like what had happened to me), so it’s important to find a way to check off what you have done and what you need to do to make sure you’re prepped for every show, every time.

What should you be checking off in prepping for a show? Here’s a list that I’ve developed over the years:

1) Presenter contact name, phone, email and phone day of show.
2) Hospitality contact name, phone, email and phone day of show.
3) Production contact name, phone, email and phone day of show.
4) Contract/Agreement Status – was it sent? Was it signed by both parties?
5) Rider Status – did you send them your rider?
6) Advance – did you go over your tech requirements? Did you send them your stageplot?
7) Soundcheck – what time is load in, soundcheck and when do doors open?
8) Airfare – who’s paying? Have you reserved your ticket?
9) Hotel – who’s paying? Have you reserved your room?
10) Ground Transportation – who’s paying? Who is picking you up and taking you to the hotel/venue/anywhere else? if you’re driving yourself, are you receiving gas reimbursement?
11) If you are driving in, where can you park your car or bus and where do you go to load in?
12) Meals – who’s paying? If you are receiving a buyout, how much?

I know as a musician you KNOW what you need to check off before the show, but with this list in front of you, you can make sure you get the most important things checked off. This is about making it easy and saving you time.

Take a few minutes and build your checklist of what you need to know for every show, every time. Those 10-20 minutes of creating the checklist WILL save you hours, stress and your well-being in the future. Another plus, you can share this checklist with your assistant and they can check it off for you. You’ll feel confident that nothing will be overlooked when delegating the job.

Do you need a checklist for your shows to help you prep? As a gift, I’m offering a downloadable PDF checklist that you can use for your shows. If you’re like me, I like to print and check off these things on paper. If you like to do everything online, I also created a Google Doc spreadsheet that you can use! Click below to get your access today.

Every show is different, so you may need to add or change a few things on the checklist I use, but this will definitely help you start somewhere.

PRINT MY CHECKLIST

LINK TO AN ONLINE GOOGLE DOC SPREADSHEET CHECKLIST
(Make a copy to your google drive and it’s all yours!)

I hope you find this checklist useful, and if you add anything to it or if you created your own and want to share with me, I’d love to see it! Just hit reply and I’ll be happy to help you build yours. It’s what I do! 😉

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

(Checking off sending you a letter this Saturday),

Blog - 09/13/2014