Celebrate your Indie-pendence!

Cheesy? Yeah, probably, but who cares. The fact is that you can't be extraordinary if you're normal. That's right, average people are average. Does that hurt your feelings or does it make you want to look at what makes you, you, and revel in it?

To really stand apart in this world you can't blend in with the pack, you have to have something about you that draws the attention of the average joe, to make them want to know more about you. To make them want to delve into anything you do, just to find a little glimpse of what makes you shine.

A perfect example of this is Michael Jackson. The Dude was different, from a very early age. He stood, head and shoulders, above the crowd from the time he hit the stage. He could sing, he could dance, and he could write. Most importantly though, he had the determination and drive to capitalize on those abilities, and a lack of concern about what the general public thought of him. He dared to be different, and it worked for him.

I just recently read a quote from a fella by the name of James Ray, that said "If you stand 10ft in front of the crowd, you are a leader. If you stand 10 Miles in front of the crowd, you are a target." That's probably a little paraphrased, but I'm going on memory here, cut me some slack. His point is valid though, it's one thing to be a leader, but to be a legend sometimes you have to make yourself a target. You have to draw that attention, and it's not always going to be positive because, let's face it, people like to tear down those they don't understand.

One thing that you'll find in the history of any "Legend", is that they were independent spirits. That's right, they marched to the beat of their own drum, they followed their gut instinct instead of the latest trend. They created markets for their art, they struck their own path in the wilds of Pop Culture and found that their path was the straight line between point A and point B. They reveled in their independence.

As Indies, we have the luxury of not having a label exec standing over our shoulder telling us how to write, how to stand, how to dress.............but, that means that if falls squarely on our own shoulders to make sure that we conduct ourselves in a manner that is going to intrigue, and attract the numbers and types of people that we need to help elevate us to the place we want to be. Art is not a game of chance, it's a game of strategy. We need to celebrate our Indie-pendence and put it to work for us.

Be Yourself

Hey Heroes,

You know, this last week has been a study in knowing my Self. It's a funny thing that a lot of the time we just run on auto-pilot, just reacting to situations as they arise, rather than shaping the situations that we're in. I know that I'm guilty of that a lot of the time.

Part of really getting on top of ourselves is to really know who we are, what we're willing to do, what we're NOT willing to do, what we'll compromise on, and what we're unmoveable about. To be able to enter any situation with a solid faith in ourselves to be able to handle whatever comes.

This has been a big problem for me in the past. It's a real easy thing, when we're in this state of mind, to feel that the actions of others are meant as a direct slight toward us. It's hard for us to grasp that, as worried about our own interests as we are, everyone else is in the same boat.

By being on top of our game, and having a strong sense of self, we can steer the course of any situation we find ourselves in, and in most cases we can steer it in our benefit.

Use every moment

Hey Heroes,

So, I've talked before about taking every opportunity, and making the best of it. Let's talk a little bit about taking a moment, just every now and then, to evaluate our own progress and make the little tweaks needed to get ourselves steering true.

The greatest thing about having come out of a punk background is the solid need to question everything. Couple that with several years of Buddhist study, and I've also developed a strong need to question even my own motives. Kind of a constant self diagnostic test. What do I really think, and why? Does my answer hold water with me, or have I been fooling myself again? Yep, it happens. A lot, sometimes.

What it comes down to, for me, is the need to evaluate where my activities have lead me and determine if I'm on the road to where I want to go. It takes just a little bit of time each day, and yes, it's another EVERY DAY thing. In case you haven't figured it out yet, all of my solutions are a never ending, every day, necessity.

Take just a minute to really look at your progress. Are you reaping the benefits you expected? Is there one aspect of your plan that's keeping you from achieving your goal, or is the plan even working at all? By doing this daily evaluation it allows you to realize any shortcomings early in the process, and make the changes you need, and it might even save you a lot of wasted time and money. Resources that most of us don't have a lot of.

So, make your plans and check on them often, make changes as needed and save yourself time and money. I like it.

Stand out!

Hey Heroes!

Do you ever get the feeling that you're drowning in a sea of competition? I mean, there are millions of bands all over the US, all looking for recognition from the same finite grouping of reviewers, and magazines, and websites........right?

What do you do to make yourself stand out? In what way do you ensure that your band isn't just another white t-shirt an ocean of white t-shirts? How do you plan to avoid the feeding frenzy and make yourself stand alone?

I'm pretty sure just following the established way of doing things isn't going to do it. I talked with a guy the other day who told me the way an Indie tour should be set up and carried out. The unfortunate thing is that this same guy was also telling me how he just didn't want to do it anymore because it doesn't work. Hmmm......imagine that.

So, what are you willing to do to stamp your tag on the world? Are you just going to do the spray and pray tactic of finding fans, or are you going to really nail down who your ideal fan is and target market, directly to them? Do you even know who your ideal fan is?

Why should you care? In music, isn't the idea to sell your music to whoever likes it? Yep, but I bet if you took a long hard look, you'd find that the biggest portion of your followers fit into an age/gender demographic, at the very least. You could even go further and pick out lifestyle characteristics, favorite haunts, favorite foods, movies..........get the picture?

It's time to get smart about it. Think of it as a race. Think of it as a game. Think of it however you need to think about it to make sure that you stay motivated and THINKING when it's time to market your music. Oh, and don't think you're too good to market your music. That bullshit about "build it and they will come" is just that, bullshit. They won't come unless they know about it, and a little bulletin on your Myspace page isn't going to cut it. Hell, the old flier on the light pole trick does a better job.

Figure out who your ideal fan is, find out where they are, and make yourself interesting to them, but don't hound them! Converse with them, get to know them, make friends with them.

It doesn't have to take that much time either.....................................

What IS Freedom anyway?

Hey Heroes,

There's been this thought running through my head over the last few days, and today I got another reminder of it and I thought I'd share.

The original quote that I'd heard is "Be free of the good opinion of others", and I heard it in a seminar given by Dr. Wayne Dyer. The meaning behind it is to not be concerned about what other people think. Live your life to your expectations and don't get caught up in the opinions of your critics. This is especially important for us sensitive, artistic types. : )

Today, I watched a great piece (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1314973523&ref=profile#/video/video.php?v=82764303769&ref=mf) by a fantastic artist named Kirk Nugent, and in it he has a line that goes something like "Someone else's opinion of you is none of your business". What a great thought!

Now tell me, is there really anything more freeing than that?

Someone else's opinion of you is none of your business.

Who cares if the critics, reviewers, the boss at the day job, or your Dad don't like what you do? As long as you love it with a passion, it will come across that way to the people who listen to it.

That is success right there, and that is Freedom. So find your Freedom, find your peace, and use your gifts to make the world a better place.

Later,

Cause ya gotta have Faith

Hey Heroes, sorry for the delay on getting this one out to you all.

This time around I promised to talk about finding our faith in who we are and what we do. This is the hardest part for me, and may have lead to dragging my feet about making this post, only slightly less important than having faith in oneself, is having personal responsibility, and I promised. : )

So, how do we find the faith within ourselves that may not have been instilled in us growing up?

How do we overcome the lack of faith that may have been instilled in us as we were growing up?

Well, the fact is that many people turn to religion, some feeling that that is the only way to find TRUE faith, and others just because it's easier for them to let go to a concept like God than to face their inner power. I would argue that the inner power that most of us have a hard time facing is, in fact, God. It's just easier to put it all on the Great Bearded One In The Sky, than it is to accept that we have all the power of God right inside of us. I'm not going to go any further on this course though, because we all have differing ideals about God and Religion and all that stuff, and to be honest, I think we all should find whatever path takes us to the place were we feel the utmost faith that we can do anything.

The fact is that Faith is nothing more than the knowledge that things will be just as we feel they will be. 100% Guaranteed. No doubts.

The processes I've talked about the last few posts can all help get you there. Visualize where you want to be. Attract into your life the things needed to accomplish it. Act on those things when they manifest themselves. Be grateful to God, The Universe, and Yourself for making it happen. Don't forget Yourself. Opportunity shows up every day, in every way, but if you don't make the conscious decision to look for it, it will go on to the next person who may well be looking for it. Think I'm wrong? OK, but how many of you have seen someone else capitalize on an idea that had crossed your mind last year and you just let it go because it would cost too much, or it would take too much time, or, or, or? Yeah, we've all had those moments. Those moments when we didn't have enough Faith in ourselves to be the success that we want to be.

By visualizing the things we want, and affirming to ourselves daily, that we can have them, we can make big things happen in our lives. I'm here to tell you though, it's a never ending process. You can't do it once and expect it to work. You can't get to the point of feeling "oh, I've got this", because the moment you let it go, it goes. It has to be a daily process. But, I'm also going to tell you that by keeping up these processes, you're building yourself, and your Faith in yourself, and a person who believes in themselves is unstoppable.

Do you want to be unstoppable? I know I do.

Fake It Till You Make It!

Hey Heroes,

So, we've been through how our environment impacts our mindset. We've decided to change our minds about how we're going to look at our situations. I think it's time to talk about a couple of great tactics to help us hit the mental "Reset" button so we can get on with achieving our dreams.

"One may conquer a million men in a single battle; However, the greatest and best warrior conquers himself. Conquest of one's self is the greatest victory of all." - Buddha

One thing that we have to look forward to, every day, is a fight. Yep, and epic struggle with ourselves. We are the only thing in this world that can stand in our way.

Every morning our mind tells us that we have to go to work and listen to that co-worker who's hell-bent on pointing out how we're a "lifer" with the company and we'll never take the step into the world of our dreams. Every morning our mind tells us that it's no use getting started right off, we've got an appointment in a couple of hours. Every morning our mind tells us that our back hurts a bit too much to carry that amp into the practice space. Every morning our mind tells us that no one likes our music anyway, so why make more of it? Do you know what? Our mind is absolutely right. If we listen to it.

What we're doing is rationalizing to ourselves. As one of my mentors, John Assaraf, is fond of saying, we are telling ourselves "Rational Lies". These things are only true if we accept them, because we are capable dismissing those thoughts and creating the reality that we want.

Here's where you throw out that "Bullshit!" again, and you're right. That is, unless you can convince yourself otherwise, because these tactics will never work if you don't give them an honest chance.

Our beliefs are nothing more than an established series of neural pathways in our brains that are used to firing in a certain way, but the cool thing about it is that we know that our beliefs are learned traits. Yep, that means that we can learn new beliefs, and replace the old ones. Sounds simple doesn't it. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not. In fact it's one of the hardest things I've done in my life, and it's an every....day....process.

Step one. Affirmations. Yep, there's that Stuart Smalley image coming into your head again! I can assure you that if you give this a chance you'll be amazed at how well it works, but be warned, it does take time. I think I was told that it actually takes 90 days of daily affirmation before you've created a solid, new belief. Yep, three months. This is what I call the "Fake-it till you make it" phase.

Affirmations are nothing but a series of statements that you would like to hold as beliefs. Every morning find a nice quiet place and read these, out loud to yourself, then repeat before bed. If you're really adventurous, record them in your own voice and listen to them while you work out, or drive to work, or sit in the park watching the ducks, or whatever. The point is that you need to tell yourself these things until you believe them. At first it's going to seem like you're lying to yourself, and guess what! You are!! So what? Within a few days to a week, I've found that I start asking myself, why not? Why can't I have these things? That leads to the certainty that you, in fact, can have the things in life that you want, but how?

Step two. Visualization. Yep, like I talked about last week, visualize yourself doing the things you would do if your dreams were realized. If it's playing a certain venue, close your eyes and picture yourself looking out over a sold out crowd. Visualize yourself playing your music and seeing the crowd go crazy. Use this technique after your affirmations, in the morning, and again at night.

Step three. Meditation. Despite my Buddha quote up above, I'm not advocating any religious practice here. Meditation is nothing more that clearing your mind and allowing your energy to flow. Hell, you should be doing this to facilitate songwriting anyway. Simply close your eyes and clear your mind. Pay attention to your breath. If any thoughts come up, and they will, just gently put them aside and go back to following your breath. 15 minutes to half an hour a day.

The three of these things combined will help you see that you are worthy of the things you want in life and open you up to seeing the opportunities to make those things a reality.

Try it a while and see what it does for you. If you stick with it and don't talk yourself out of it, you'll be amazed at what it can do for you.

Here's some suggested reading if you want to dive a little deeper into HOW it all works:

The Answer - John Assaraf and Murry Smith

The Success Principles - Jack Canfield

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield

Later,