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#39 | The Team Who Makes the Dream Work

Who’s on first? 

Sick of doing it alone, but lost as to what help you need or who you can afford to bring on? Learn ways to do more in less time and where to start when it’s time to build your team.

You’ve got to learn to think outside the confines of the music industry business model and look at your team as your customizable collective.

You’re listening to Episode 39 of the Music-Preneur Mindset Podcast.


Hey there! You’re listening to Episode 39 – The Team Who Makes the Dream Work.


I’m your host, Suz – a mindset coach helping music-preneurs see past their next single or project in order to work towards creating a sustainable career in music.


Last week, during our Season 2 premiere, I shared 3 mindset shifts that enabled me to find greater success and sustainability in my business – the less tangible but nevertheless powerful tools that can get us passed those mental roadblocks that keep us from reaching our goals.


Today’s topic is about something a bit more tangible – building a team. I touched upon teams a little bit in Season 1. I discussed the differences between Mentors, Coaches, and Peers in Episode 27, I talked about what to do When the Band is Out of Sync in Episode 21, and I touched upon the importance of having a team in Episode 6 – The Art of Being a Music-Preneur.


I’ve noticed what keeps a lot of people in this industry from building a team that serves them is 1 of 2 things: 1) staying confined to the team roles the industry has had in place for generations and rather than find people who meet their specific needs and/or 2) their lack of funds keeps them from hiring the people they need to help get them to a spot where they can make more money.


It makes total sense as to why this happens – how can you move forward when you need resources to build a team but you need a team to help get you more resources?


How many times have you felt you needed help so you immediately go looking for a manager to represent you or a label to notice your talents and sign you?

How many times have you struggled to complete a project because you believe “If I only had someone to help me carry this out I could get it done”?


Many of us “industry experts” say all the time, “D-I-Y doesn’t mean Do It Alone.” But to those of you who aren’t trying to do it alone but don’t see any other solution it’s like, “Yea, thanks – that solves nothing for me.”


Managers, booking agents and others often take a percentage of what you bring in, and if you aren’t brining much in right now, you’re stuck.


But really, you’re not stuck so much as you’re stuck in an old way of thinking.


When you begin to build a team, you’ve got to learn to think outside the confines of the music industry business model and look at your team as your customizable collective.


Don’t start with “Who do I need?” Start with “What do I need help with?” You may be struggling with something that someone outside of this industry could help you with, like understanding graphic design better or ways to cut back on the time you spend running errands.

You may be struggling with something that your best friend does well and that friend needs help with something you do well.

It’s important to take time to think about # 1 where you want to go and #2 the type of help you’ll need to get there, and the 2 may not always seem obviously connected.


For example, maybe you’re getting ready to book your first tour. Your instincts tell you to hire a booking agent, but you’re nowhere near ready for one in terms of the types of numbers you’ll need to show them to make it worth it to them to take you on as a client.


But, what if you actually tried to sit down and book shows yourself? I know, it’s tedious work and it takes a lot of time and focus. You may not be able to hire PR or a booking agency, but I bet you could hire a maid to clean your house or purchase a meal plan to make grocery shopping a no brainer or use Fiverr to take care of a few personal errands at an affordable rate.


Having someone run errands for you has NOTHING to do with a tour but it has EVERYTHING to do with freeing up time so that you can focus on what matters.


Don’t be so quick to dismiss your abilities in carrying out the work required to be a music-preneur. Take a moment to think about what other tasks in your life suck up your time and energy and how that time could be better used.


Here’s another example. You’re so overwhelmed with everything you have to get done for an upcoming release party. There are so many microtasks involved and so many moving pieces, you’re at your wit’s end trying to hold it altogether.

You’ve got a separate day job and that’s taking its toll and by the time you get home all you want to do is relax, but you can’t when there’s so much left to do!


You think to yourself, “I need a manager to handle this all for me.” But a manager works on commission and you’re still giving away a lot of your music for free. The cover for this show is $10 and it’s all going to fund your next music
video, so you’ve got nothing to offer a potential manager in exchange for their time/expertise.


But what if you hired an intern? The college down the road from you has a kickass video production department and the seniors are currently looking to get on board with something for their senior project.


What if you asked your local college for students who want to gain experience executing a music industry event while earning a small stipend? What menial tasks could you give them?


Creating promotional content for social media, documenting the process, coordinating with special guests to confirm all details for the event, the list goes on if you sit to think about it.


Again, event coordinator doesn’t exactly come to mind when you think “music industry team,” but who cares?!? If it helps you get done what you need to get done, what difference does it make?


It’s YOUR job as an music-preneur to assess your situation and decide what jobs need to be done and who will do them. There’s no right or wrong way to build a team, except if you’ve brining on people you’re not ready for simply because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do.

With all of the options out there to barter, pay per project, and/or outsource to more affordable teams outside of this industry there is no reason you can’t find support when you’ve got a full plate.


Another overlooked option is hiring a virtual assistant. Again, not a common role in the music industry, but soooo much of what’s on your plate right now is not music-specific, which is part of the reason for your frustrations, right?


So delegate it!


Virtual assistants are basically people who work remotely and who can carry out various administrative tasks for you. Fiverr, Task Rabbit, Upwork and other sources like Virtual Assistant Facebook Groups or even Twitter can help
with finding one. I’ve listed links to these in the show notes.


The one main thing to be mindful of when hiring a virtual assistant, or anyone really, is to be clear on the type of person you’d like to work with and how you want the work to be done.


Fiverr is super affordable, but it’s also not best for layered or complex tasks. The people you hire require EXTREMELY clear and exact directives and if you leave anything open to interpretation you will be paying a lot more than you bargained for to go back and make changes.


It’s how the business makes it’s money, in my opinion, as so many people delegate larger tasks without much thought to the directives they are giving the new people on their team and revisions can add up.


So, if you’re looking for help with booking your tour, maybe start out with requesting someone find contact info for all music venues in a certain region who have hosted bands/artists who are in your genre.


You’ll want to be as clear as possible when explaining your genre and some examples of artists to look out for if you are delegating this on a per-project or per-task fee. Always remember, you get what you pay for, so think this through.

If you decide to work with an intern or someone who will come by and work along side of you, start out working together on the project. Make sure you both understand what is being asked of them and that the goal is clear.


If you’re bartering with someone, make sure you’re clear on what’s involved on both ends and what each person’s expectations are and that the barter is fair.

Nothing is worse than bartering with a peer and you’ve given your very best for what they’ve asked of you and they’ve treated the work for you as an afterthought.


It can be scary stepping into a leadership role, especially if all you want to do is sit and record your music. But always remember that your career isn’t going to build itself and it’s important to practice being a good leader – it will make you a better artist as it’s all about improving communication.


Delegating work for the first time can be stressful and you may not see any time being saved right off the bat. It’s a process and it’s going to take time to get into a groove with someone new. In the long run it will be worth it, as long as you’ve chosen good people.


Another thing to remember when building a team, whether it’s one other person or a group of people you’re bringing on {also, side note – try not to bring on a group of people if this is your first time expanding/delegating roles – stick with one person and then fold others into the mix as you go}, is to remember that not every task on your plate is super important and some may not even be relevant anymore.


Before you start assigning tasks, purge the work off your plate that’s not relevant to what you’re doing right now – the work that you’ve taken on because you thought you needed to – like learning SEO or purchasing the high-end
microphone and lighting set for your YouTube videos you haven’t made yet.


This will help you not only save time, but also money – buying equipment just because it’s the best doesn’t mean it’s the best way for you to use your funds.

Keep in mind where you’re at right now in your career and accept the fact that you’ll have time to grow into the more expensive equipment.

Think back to last week’s episode where I discussed the importance of “Done is better than perfect.” Do you need the highest quality audio equipment for your YouTube videos if it means you won’t have money to pay someone to help carry out a more pressing task?


Building a team is about being honest and clear around your priorities. Don’t get distracted by the fancy studios and the courses on being #1 in a Google search before you’ve gotten to a place where you know enough about who the hell your audience is {as improving your SEO requires you to know who you’re targeting}.


Pump the breaks on the shiny things and think about where the holes are in your current operations.


The last thing I’ll say about building your dream team is to be clear on your systems. Just as important as purging tasks that don’t belong on your plate just yet, is knowing what tasks can be automated and streamlined.


Before you start hiring additional people, you may not need an extra set of hands as much as you need a better system for carrying out your tasks.


Being an entrepreneur requires you to understand the systems that make up your company – such as your fan/client-onboarding system {how/where do you find these leads?}, your email system {what’s your process for addressing inquiries and sending out information to your community?}, your content creation system {how and how often are you creating new content}, and so on.

It can feel overwhelming, but sites like ITTT, Calendly, Convertkit, Loomly, and others can help automate some of your tasks and free up your time to do the stuff that matters – like create music.


In order to help you make sense of it all I’ve decided to share with you one of my more popular guides – The Rock/Star Systems Guide.


If you visit the show notes you can download the guide to help walk you through a lot of what we went over in today’s episode. Simply go to www.therockstaradvocate.com/ep39 and download your copy.


I hope this episode has helped shed some light on all the options available to you when you’re looking to build your team.

Head on over to the show notes and download your free guide today and let me know in the comments what system you’re committing to flushing out and tightening up!


That’s www.therockstaradvocate.com/ep39.


Thanks so much for tuning in. If you’re looking to figure out your next steps, find time to balance everything on your plate, or work on creating some of the systems I mentioned today, let’s talk!


Email me at anytime: suz@therockstaradvocate.com


Until next time, Rockstar! Have a wonderful week and I hope to see you back here next week so we can get grounded to get rising! Take care.

Key Highlights

  • Why you feel you can’t build a team yet [01:09]
  • Where to start when building a team [02:19]
  • What to remember when bringing on a new team member [05:52]
  • Purging tasks from your plate [07:59]
  • The importance of systems [09:08]

Links/Rocksources

  • Theme music brought to you by DC-based Indie/Pop band Sub-Radio
  • More podcast episodes can be found here
  • You can download a copy of the episode’s transcript here
  • Convertkit is great if you’re ready to start automating more specific email sequences (otherwise stick to Mailchimp)
  • Loomly is a great tool for scheduling posts on all social media channels
  • Calendly takes the guess work out of scheduling meetings/rehearsals
  • IFTTT helps you “set & forget” certain tasks between various apps
  • Fiverr, TaskRabbit, and Upwork are all places you can find additional help for administrative tasks

Create a system that works for you by learning which tasks to break apart, which ones to “set ‘n’ forget,” & which to pass onto others.

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