No other way.
Whether you see yourself as an independent musician, a painter, or a developer selling your own software. These days, you must learn the craft of entrepreneurship.
Yes -- tough call. But look: most new businesses fail. Scores and scores people who always let their 'trade' take precedence over the business side.
And yet, you can find people who start from scratch and succeed multiple times. Like all of us, they still fail. But every now and then, they nail it.
Do they just get lucky? No. Here's the thing: they never stop improving their business. They earn their black belts in entrepreneurship and thus dramatically raise their chances of success. Even in tough, chaotic markets.
Take Robyn Cage, for instance. Succeeding as an independent musician -- a fiendishly difficult industry. Worked with Grammy-nominated producers. Ran a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Named one of the Top 25 artists in Music Connection Magazine. Solid revenue and growth. You name it.
Best part? She's an entrepreneur, fair and square. Learned the craft from scratch.
How can you do this? Simpler than you think: just start with a few key parts of entrepreneurship. Small, determined steps.
Before Cage jumped into the world of independent music, she worked as an actress in New York City.
"I had no idea what I was getting myself into! No idea."
Many other artists just take the leap and hope for the best. But Cage took a different turn: instead of settling for lukewarm action on the business side, she gave it her best shot.
Learn Entrepreneurship 101 -- like crazy
If you've ever made anything and tried to sell it, you know the following situation: you spend months to create your product, pouring all your heart and mind into it, only to find out nobody cares.
The good news? Almost everyone starts this way.
"I knew absolutely nothing about the music industry. And so for the first couple years, I just wrote songs and played out and kind of learned the ropes just a little bit, to figure out how to do this job."
"But it didn't start to go anywhere until I began approaching my music as a business, and being strategic about it."
Whoa -- slow down. Do you stand in the same position? You follow your trade, build things in the dark, rather than seeing your work as a business?
Try this: buckle up and learn entrepreneurship as hard as you can. Don't just do a little bit. Start with a dozen great books. Devour articles aimed at beginning entrepreneurs. Take classes on specific topics.
Before long, you just might realize the world of entrepreneurship and business never gets boring. As an artist, Cage saw it as a creative opportunity.
"As it began I only took online classes, but the classes were so helpful, I just kind of became addicted to the classes. I was so hungry to learn more and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the business side of things. I didn't think that I would enjoy that. But there's a lot of room for creativity in building a business."
And beyond this, you can make use of an even faster way to learn: throw a mentor into the mix.
Get a mentor (not optional)
Realize this: you have blind spots. Things you just can't see by yourself. So unless you want to waste a ton of time on rookie mistakes and spinning in a circle, you need a mentor. Somebody who already walked the path ahead of you and who cares enough to keep you on track.
Bottom line? If you do only one thing to improve on the business side, let it be this. A great mentor relationship can change your life, permanently.
When Cage got herself a mentor who focused on helping indie musicians, her world changed.
"A few years ago now, I found my music business mentor who started coaching me in things like setting goals, building a team, managing my money, figuring out where my income streams will come from, and getting set up as a business."
"That's when everything started changing for me."
Mentors can let you see things you can't even imagine right now. Makes sense: while you look to the future, a mentor applies experience from the past. You look at chaos and uncertainty; they recognize patterns and opportunity.
Even better? You can hook up with fellow entrepreneurs and share ideas and frustrations with others in the same shoes.
Take part in a mastermind group
Why bother with this? Because no matter how unique your business problems, other people struggle with much the same thing. Knowing how they deal with them can mean life or death for your work.
Cage joined a mastermind group and gained a ton of value from it.
"We all share success stories with each other. So for instance I say 'Hey, I did this and it worked out great, and my numbers grew and I made this much money.' So we can share the success stories and learn from each other's experiences and it just accelerates the growth of the entire group."
You want a head start? Start with three key pieces of entrepreneurship. Spend a good chunk of your time learning the craft itself. Find and build relations with someone who can mentor you. And finally, create or join a mastermind group of entrepreneurs.
Do this and your world will start to change. Your business starts coming to life.
No longer loathing the craft of entrepreneurship, you can at last do what you love and get recognized and paid for it.
Hi, I'm Harry--a fellow entrepreneur. Keen to help you stay focused on your best potential customers. Let's connect.