It\u2019s also a great excuse to set aside some time to get organized. In addition to cleaning out your closet and making some literal space in your studio or wherever you do your best work, we encourage you to organize your business assets, goals, and plans for the year ahead.<\/p>\n
Here are some ideas of things you can do to set a strong foundation and roadmap for your music business and career this year.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a huge fan of end-of-year reflection lists. Every December, I sit down and make a list of accomplishments, milestones, and\/or notable events from the previous 11 months. If you haven\u2019t already done that, I encourage you to do so now.<\/p>\n
Creating art can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be difficult to the point of causing turmoil if you let it. Perspective is crucial. Take a step back and reflect on what you\u2019ve accomplished, lessons you\u2019ve learned, and how much you\u2019ve grown in just a year. You may surprise yourself.<\/p>\n
Not only is it fulfilling to take a moment to celebrate your hard work, but this can also provide clarity around what you do and don\u2019t want to focus on in the new year. What brought you the greatest joy? What resulted in the highest return \u2014 financial or otherwise? What are you proud to have accomplished but don\u2019t necessarily need to continue or do again? Let this list motivate and drive your intentions and goals for the next year.<\/p>\n
You saw this coming. Use your reflection list to start brainstorming what you want to accomplish this year. Take some time to meditate on it. Where do you see yourself and your music career in one, five, ten years? What\u2019s most important to you? What kind of life do you want to live in the long run, and what will help you get there?<\/p>\n
Start with this vision, then work backward. We suggest identifying just one to three big, dreamy, immeasurable goals first. Things like \u201ccreate an album that\u2019ll make my audience feel seen\u201d or \u201cbecome more proficient at music production.\u201d Or even something that\u2019s inherently measurable like \u201cget one of my songs placed in a film or commercial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, work backward to define what needs to happen for you to accomplish those goals. Using the above examples, that could mean writing for one hour each day, practicing once a week, taking a production course, or hiring a sync agent.<\/p>\n
Continue breaking these down into stepping stones \u2014 increasingly actionable to-dos that can be accomplished in shorter periods of time. Eventually, you\u2019ll be left with to-do lists for each month, week, day, etc. We cover how to measure these goals below.<\/p>\n
Full disclosure: I personally have a hard time thinking far into the future, so I focus on key things I want to accomplish in the next six months and break them down from there.<\/p>\n
Accountability is crucial for reaching goals, whether you lean on yourself or check in with someone else. The first step to creating a foundation for accountability is to set benchmarks, goals, and milestones to measure progress against. Where are you now and where do you want to go? Document these in a spreadsheet, google doc, notebook, app, or whatever else suits you best.<\/p>\n
Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n
Songwriting<\/strong><\/p>\n Touring<\/strong><\/p>\n Following<\/strong><\/p>\n Your milestones are for tracking your progress. The first two examples would be measured by activity that gets you closer to your goal. In the last example, the milestone is both activity and metrics-based. Because streaming and social media platforms provide analytics, you can see how well a specific tactic works.<\/p>\n Once you know your milestones, put a time in your calendar every week, other week, and\/or month to review your progress either by yourself or with a friend\/mentor. Report on whether you\u2019ve reached your milestones and what got you there or what held you back. You may learn that your goals were a bit too ambitious and you need to scale back, or if you\u2019re exceeding your milestones, perhaps you can push yourself to aim higher.<\/p>\n Do you know where your stems are saved? Do you have the instrumentals for all of your recordings? Are your samples organized by instrument, genre, or feeling, or is everything all over the place?<\/p>\n You\u2019ll save your future self tons of time and frustration by organizing your samples and files in whatever way that makes it seamless to access them when working on a new project. The same goes for emails, lyrics, notes, whatever else you need. Here are more tips<\/a> for making your ideas session-ready.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re organized and know what you\u2019re focusing on this year, set up your workflow so you can get to work. Clear off your workspace or add whatever inspires you. Then, when inspiration strikes or an opportunity arises, you\u2019ll be ready to create.<\/p>\n Is one of your goals this year to learn how to produce? Or to improve on an aspect of production, like mixing or mastering<\/a>? It\u2019ll be far less overwhelming to learn something new with a plan. Research programs, courses, or workshops that could fast-track your education, and identify the times in your schedule you can set aside for learning and put them in your calendar.<\/p>\n No matter what you do for work and in life, it\u2019s important to know what income is coming in and what expenses are going out. This will help you budget for the future, save, and allocate funds to the things that will have the greatest impact. Create a spreadsheet (ilovecreatives offers a helpful template<\/a>) or use a tool like Quickbooks\u2019 Self-Employed program.<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
4. Get organized and set up your ideal workflow<\/h2>\n
5. Create a learning plan<\/h2>\n
6. Get your finances in order<\/h2>\n
7. Determine your dream team<\/h2>\n