Mindset

In this category, I discuss all mindset for creative entrepreneurs related topics.

Read more about the article Are You Suffering From Artisism?

Are You Suffering From Artisism?

As an artist coach and music entrepreneurship educator, most of my work with musicians centers around the tension between being self-employed and being an artist. More specifically, the difference between music and the business side of music. However, I also discovered that this distinction can result in some serious side-effects that do more harm than good. By merging these two separated boxes, artists can create a Win-Win: they infuse their business with more personality, purpose, and creativity, which makes these activities more your own, and, increases their career success simultaneously. The music business is often called a people business. Doesn’t it make more sense than to humanize the business side of your music as much as your art?

Is music vs business your default mode? Do you love the one, and strongly dislike the other? Then this article could be a game-changer for you!

In The Eye Of The Beholder

As human beings, we categorize. Case in point, we put art in box A and business in box B. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. There are good reasons why we categorize. It enables us to separate and focus, to dive deeper, to define, and organize things. After all, it’s hard to make decisions in life if there is no wrong or right. However, words are powerful and their impact doesn’t always get noticed. Especially when they’re part of some default mode of being we have internalized.

However, and this is where the trouble starts, based upon our worldview some ideas or beliefs will be more favorable than others. Which in turn influences in large part our level of interest in, understanding of, and the likelihood of putting these ideas into actions. This is exactly what I encounter with certain artists that have trouble creating a successful music career. They associate business with negative values, depersonalize it, and, because of a lack of understanding, play by some other person’s rule book. The result? A vicious circle of ever less motivated artists trying to level up their music career.

I’m here to tell you to play the game by your own rules. It’s possible and more, even necessary for real and meaningful success.

Everything You Do Communicates Who You Are

Let me ask you a question: do you love the business side of music? If your answer is “no”, what would it take for you to love music and the business side of music equally? Think about it. What needs to change?

In my view, the solution is fundamental, it’s how you define ‘business’. It’s how you perceive it to be and what it is for. Remember, business concepts are not tangible, they are abstract mental frameworks that need to be infused with meaning and action by the person utilizing them. Their very definition and intention to be applied with is 100% in your hands. That is an empowering notion.

Let’s take a counterintuitive approach. What happens when you merge the two boxes? Can a business task/objective reflect your art?

It can. And, I might add, it should, because that’s who you are and that’s what will attract people to you.

Let’s Put This To The Test

When was the last time you fundamentally questioned business concepts, like marketing, sales, networking, accounting, branding, or fundraising? Reflect on this for a moment. What do you associate with the word marketing? Or with the word entrepreneurship? If these words don’t resonate positively with you, then I’ve got a challenge for you. Right now, research the 2-3 business concepts you feel most inner resistance to. Why do they bring up so much resistance? Try to pinpoint the core problem. Why do you dislike marketing so much? Why do you hate creating a business plan, or networking?

Now, let’s try a possible solution.

Making It Your Own

I suggest trying two approaches:

  1. Research these career building blocks. What definitions of and approaches can you find? Is there an author/thinker out there with a take on these concepts that reflects your identity?
  2. Think of your core values. Next, look at the business task at hand. How would you execute this task whilst fully implementing your core values? What needs to change?

I Did It My Way

To paraphrase Frank Sinatra: you do it your way. This is a powerful sentence. It reminds me of the Miles Davis quote “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.“

Maybe you never thought about the business side of music like this before. But this is the most important shift you can make when turning pro. Look at business concepts and available tools and ask yourself: how can I use these in my way to express my humanity and serve my audience better?

Let’s play around a bit with an important business concept: marketing. How can you do this your way?

What Is Marketing?

As mentioned previously, there are two approaches, that in my view you have to both implement. Understanding the concept and the different approaches to it and understanding yourself.

Let’s take a basic approach to translate marketing to the reality of being a musician. As a musician, at its core, you have to do two things: one, to create great music, and two, to spread your music. The process of spreading your music from the sender (you) to the receiver (your audience) is where marketing comes in.

If marketing is part of Box B, you might associate marketing with things like buzz, hype, spin, clicks, and likes. At first glance, your goals seem to be to attract more fans, get booked, sell more albums, increase your Spotify streams, build a larger fanbase, and so on. It seems to all be about you. It appears to be about getting instead of giving.

Seth Godin wrote a great book on this subject. It’s called This Is Marketing. In it, he declares that the old model is dead and champions a different approach to marketing. To provide you with an initial understanding, here are four quotes from his book:

“Marketing is our quest to make a change on behalf of those we serve.“

“If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions, you’ve done something worthwhile. The thing you sell is simply a road to achieve those emotions, and we let everyone down when we focus on the tactics, not the outcomes. Who’s it for and what’s it for are the two questions that guide all of our decisions.”

“It’s impossible to create work that both matters and pleases everyone.”

“People don’t want what you make. They want what it will do for them.”

What does this mean for your marketing?

Infuse Your Marketing With More YOU

The above quotes from marketing expert Seth Godin paint an opposite picture to the old self-centered sales-orientated approach. It puts the emphasis on serving others, on adding value to their lives, on creating specific work that matters for specific people, on understanding what people truly need when they visit your concert or buy your album. 

A social media post like: “Buy my latest album. Click here!”, when using his approach, becomes about sharing a track, describing its message or what the track is for (giving hope, dancing, working through trauma, sexy time, whatever).

You humanize your marketing and infuse it with values instead of your needs. Nobody likes needy people, right? By taking this approach, you try to solve their problems. Enrich their lives. Add beauty to their existence. Your own needs become secondary, the focus is on serving others. On contribution. The question becomes: how can this insert marketing action improve the lives of the receiver?

All your ways of communicating have one thing in common … YOU.

That what makes marketing work. That’s how you build deep connections. That’s how you create lasting relationships. By being you.

Merge Box A & B

But there is more.

After having infused your business with more of you, how can you infuse it with more of your art?

For marketing, it’s simple, instead of telling people about your art, you give them the experience. You give them a real taste of your music. You share a music video, you play the lead melody for a new song, you share your new single on Spotify, you create a playlist with your main influences for your new EP, you play an acoustic version in a fitting setting, etcetera. Your music becomes your marketing. It becomes a creative outlet instead of a sales pitch. You give people the experience of your art, instead of asking them for something. You add value to people’s lives instead of asking them to add value to yours. An artist understands that their music is two things: a gift and a commodity.

Business Is What You Want It To Be

Understanding business concepts and being able to execute them in an authentic way brings your music and business together. In doing so, it is my experience that business becomes more like your music; another means to express your humanity. It becomes more fun and a more creative undertaking. You might brace yourself, even start to look forward to your next business to-do. Imagine that!

This approach is empowering and puts you in control of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of doing things. You drop ideology – artisism – and take responsibility for understanding and implementing concepts in ways that bring you closer to your true self.

You will do it your way.

Pieter Schoonderwoerd

Your Jazz Career

Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.

I’ve been coaching and educating jazz artists for years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are a high-performing artist and interested in transformative career coaching, you can read more about it here.

Be More Of You. Be Creative!

Continue ReadingAre You Suffering From Artisism?
Read more about the article Your Ikigai/Portfolio Jazz Career

Your Ikigai/Portfolio Jazz Career

This blog post on Your Jazz Career is part four of a series called ‘The Antidote’ which aims to strengthen your music career against sudden crises. In this article, I merge two interesting career concepts, the “Ikigai” and “Portfolio Career” methods, into an idea-baby: an Ikigai Portfolio. It sheds new light on how to achieve a sustainable and fulfilling music career by being more of you.

Something unexpected will always happen. It prompts the question: how do you minimize the impact of these disruptive changes? We all need an antidote for uncertain times.

The Five Antidotes Are

The five antidotes that are proposed in this blog series are:

  1. Diversify your live-music projects
  2. Your four roles as a recording artist
  3. Six ways to maximize your income
  4. Find your Ikigai Portfolio
  5. Become indispensable and remarkable. 

Let’s dive right into the fourth music career strategy starting with the Ikigai method. Were the Japanese on to something that can elevate your jazz career?

Finding Your Ikigai

There is a Japanese concept for developing a meaningful and sustainable career that I love, called ‘Ikigai’ (pronounced ick-ee-guy). This word started to pop-up in bookstores and on blogs a few years ago and resonated with me. It is a holistic and balanced approach to career development that often lacks in traditional Western career advice. It aims both at achieving a stable income and fulfilling work. Providing you, so to speak, with the best reason, besides a cup of damn fine coffee, of course, to get out of bed on a rainy Monday morning. That makes it worth finding your Ikigai, right?

Sustainable and fulfilling music career

What Does Ikigai Mean?

Ikigai literally means ‘a reason for being‘. That reason is found in a balance between internal (talents and passions) and external (needs and value). The closest thing in Western culture I can think of is a mix of the French ‘raison d’être’ and ‘joie de vivre’. As illustrated in the diagram below, it is the career sweet spot where your talents and passions align with what the people you’re trying to serve need and are willing to pay for. A powerful method to build a more sustainable and fulfilling music career.

The diagram shows four overlapping circles with your Ikigai in the middle. This career sweet spot is the overlap between four essential career dimensions that can be stated as questions:

  • What do you love? (Your passion). If you weren’t concerned about money, would you still do what you’re doing?
  • What are you good at? (Your vocation). Are you among the best in your community, city, work field, country, or even the world at it?
  • What does the world need? (Your mission). Are people willing to part with their resources (money, time, attention) to buy what you’re selling, because it leaves them better off?
  • What can you be paid for? (Your profession). Can you (eventually) make a good living doing this work?

Three Is Not A Charm

As you can see in the diagram, something is missing when you hit three or fewer of these four essentials. To explain the first example on the upper left: when your passion, vocation, and profession intersect, your mission is missing. It results in ‘a feeling of uselessness’. You are doing what you love, what you’re good at, and making money doing it, but it’s not fulfilling. Why? Because the people you are trying to serve, don’t need what you are doing. The result is that you will feel a void in your existence. This dimension is about justifying your own existence. Or to use an MMM-sentence (millennial-meets-meteorite), it is about ‘having an impact on the world’.

Sidenote: as a coach, this is where I would ask my client the question: define what you mean by ‘the world’. Whom are you trying to serve and have an impact on, exactly?

To explain one other danger of hitting three or fewer dimensions. The one on the upper right ‘Delight and fulness, but no wealth‘ is the common one for all creatives. Yes, you love making music. Yes, you practiced countless hours to hone your skills and are good at your craft. And yes, people need music in their lives for whatever personal needs it satisfies for them. However, if you can’t turn it into a profession. If you can’t get paid for it, you will have no income. This will lead to not having any wealth (savings, valuable possessions), and well, it’s tough making music whilst hunting down your grilled squirrel dinner in the forest around your cabin in the wild, isn’t it?

Using the Ikigai concept

To enjoy what you do, serve others, and to make a sustainable living out of it requires you to merge your passion, vocation, mission, and profession. When fewer than four are integrated into your working life, always one dimension will be missing: usefulness, passion, fulfillment or security.

Now, there are several ways to work with this. Either, your one career – e.g. jazz artist – hits all four boxes. Or, you need additional careers derived primarily from music, the music industry, or from other work fields.

  1. You utilize one specific career that hits all four boxes. Cg. you are a performing artist and that is your passion, vocation, mission, and profession. It is both sustainable and fulfilling.
  2. You utilize your broader music-related skills and knowledge to expand your performance career by adding other activities such as teaching, producing, recording, selling merchandise etcetera. Combined these should hit all four boxes.
  3. You utilize your skills and knowledge related to the music industry to hit those dimensions that are missing in your artist career. For example, you also start organizing festivals, become an artist manager, roadie, guitar tech, music publisher, or booking agent.
  4. You utilize your talents and strengths in non-music-related fields such as accounting, IT, hospitality, healthcare and so on.

There is no right or wrong approach. It’s all about understanding yourself, your strengths, and the needs of those you could serve. There is one vital requirement though, to identify yourself in plural instead of singular. To allow yourself to be more of you. To escape the prison of being one thing. To allow a wide definition of what it means to be an ‘artist’ today. It’s about freedom vs an identity crisis.

This way of building a career is called creating a portfolio career.

Building A Portfolio Career

Charles Handy – management guru and author – is the father of the portfolio career concept. He predicted decades ago that in the 21st Century more than 50% of jobs would be part-time, which is currently almost our reality. He describes a portfolio career as:

“A work portfolio is a way of describing how the different bits of work in our life fit together to form a balanced whole” (The Age of Unreason, 1991)

In addition, according to Handy, the portfolio career offers us a chance: “For the first time in the human experience, we have a chance to shape our work to suit the way we live instead of our lives to fit our work. We would be mad to miss the chance.”

To visualize this, for a jazz musician, your Twitter Portfolio Career bio would read something like Pianist/Composer/Music teacher/Entrepreneur. Yes, that doesn’t make it easier at parties to describe what you do 😉

It describes the reality for the majority of jazz musicians out there quite well though. Being an arranger, bandleader, film music composer, multi-instrumentalist, touring musician, and so on is how most jazz artists earn a living. Knowing that there is a term for this kind of life was reassuring for me. Maybe for you too?

Embracing Change

When change is constant, you’ll have to keep changing as well. Or to ‘Be Like Water’ to quote the famous improviser Bruce Lee. Charles Handy champions embracing change and allowing ourselves to be different in each phase of our lives. To put this concept in two simple words: mix and match. Let’s analyze the benefits of a Portfolio Career using the four Ikigai dimensions:

  • Passion: as a creative, you probably have more than one interest. Starting from loving several instruments to different ways of presenting your music (performance, recorded, video), to other art forms and interests beyond art. You will lead a fuller life that will also, I’m sure, lead to interesting cross-fertilization.
  • Vocation: how can you utilize all your strengths to their full potential? You will benefit from increased personal growth.
  • Mission: you can bring change to different kinds of people. One way is through your music. Which other paths integrate your mission more fully into your life? This will result in deeper felt life fulfillment.
  • Profession: which of your other strengths and (love-)interests could be work you can get paid for? This approach spreads risks by not putting all your eggs in one basket. Corona-proof your career!

Your Ikigai Portfolio

Applying both the Ikigai and Portfolio Career methods to your career will result in a deeply personal career path. You can mix your different skills to match what you love, the world needs and what people are willing to pay for.

This more authentic career approach has more benefits. For example, the comparison with others becomes less and less possible which decreases feelings of jealousy, anxiety, and so on. Furthermore, critique from others becomes easier to deal with, because your path is so distinct. Creating your Ikigai Portfolio is a personal and long-term approach where you take full responsibility for all its aspects. It is a path that acknowledges that both you as a human being, your circumstances, and the necessary skills to reach your goals constantly change.

I believe that you will benefit from this generalistic career approach. It’s my own experience that embracing change and seeking new challenges brings me closer to my True Path. You don’t find yourself. You create yourself. And creating your own path is demanding and doesn’t come with a clear How-To guide.

There are many roads that lead to Rome. The reverse is also true. There are many roads that lead to oneself. Why not try more of them to see who you are at the end of these paths?

Pieter Schoonderwoerd

Your Jazz Career

Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.

I’ve been coaching and educating jazz artists for years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are interested in a personal coaching session, you can read more about it here.

Be More Of You. Be Creative!

Continue ReadingYour Ikigai/Portfolio Jazz Career
Read more about the article The Notebook: Mindset for Jazz Artists

The Notebook: Mindset for Jazz Artists

Mindset for jazz artists focuses on your general worldview and your attitude towards being a professional musician. Mindset is about the Inner Game. You take your mind everywhere. That fact alone should make it a top priority for continuous self-work and career advancement for jazz artists worldwide.

The Notebook: explanation

I got inspired by a sentence in ‘The Gift’ by Lewis Hyde, “to possess is to give”. It made me ask myself: why not start sharing notes and the process instead of only the finished end-result? So, that is exactly what this ‘The Notebook’ article is. Structured notes, rough sketches, and initial ideas on the mindset of high-performing jazz artists.

Why is Mindset a career cornerstone?

Your perspective on the world and on your career determines every action and every choice that you make. Perception shapes action. This perspective is called ‘Mindset’. Is your mindset working for you or holding you back? Transforming your mindset is the key to your success as a professional musician. That is why people often talk about the major impact of a paradigm shift. That moment when something ‘clicks’ and you move forward with more clarity and purpose. Your mindset influences what you see. And seeing gives you possibilities. Seeing gives you choices. Seeing makes your goals more clear. It all starts with your mindset.

Mindset for jazz artists: identity

Challenging your own worldview is vital for keeping up with an ever-changing reality. As Bob Dylan sang The Times They Are A Changin. Or as the Greek philosopher Heraclites said: “the only constant is change”. Therefore we would be better inspired by artists like Miles Davis and continuously adapt. Does your mindset as a jazz artist today require the same skills and knowledge as in 1940? Yes, many musical principles still apply. Craftmanship applies. We use the same 12 notes and scales. There is a common artistic ground. But genres develop and cross-fertilize. Defining what an artist was and acting upon it will work against you today.

Mindset for jazz artists: bypassing your lizard brain

For over 2.500 years people have asked themselves the questions ‘what constitutes a good life?’ And we hope to find a single principle for success, happiness and fulfilment. Unfortunately, this single rule doesn’t exist. Why? Over the past two centuries, we have created a world far too complex to understand intuïtively. On top of that, our brain still functions largely the same as during the Stone Age. We still have a lizard brain. And it’s more active than you think! Evolution doesn’t keep up with the fast pace at which our civilisation changes. Knowing all that, is the – often expressed by artists – maxim “Follow your heart” still good advice? With feelings and emotions changing by the hour, you might need something else. You need a mental toolkit fit for the current times. You need a better mindset.

Mindset for jazz artists: mastery

Working on the topics described here will have a fundamental impact on your life. Most people feel this deep-down to be true, but recoil from the introspection and self-work this requires. But just like learning an instrument, mastering your mindset as a jazz artist takes time and effort.

The good news is, you’re an artist. You know this already. Making art takes self-discovery. Mastery of an instrument requires overcoming many obstacles, both physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual. Improvisation takes true listening skills, accepting others, dancing with chaos, … As you know as a professional musician; no growth without failure.

Mindset for jazz artists: purpose

A buzzword for quite some years now is authenticity. The term refers to “how much the work possesses original or inherent authority, how much sincerity, genuineness of expression, and moral passion the artist or performer puts into the work.” (Source: Wikipedia). The question arises, how do you create authentic art? Or live an authentic life for that matter. In short, by aligning both with your values and your purpose. This is your inner compass pointing True North. Formulating your purpose into guiding principles is a great way to bring clarity to your decision-making, your actions and your art.

Mindset for jazz artists: plural

There is not one mindset for jazz artists to achieve growth and career success. There are many concepts and transformational ideas to explore for jazz musicians to benefit from. Most often, they are presented as a dichotomy. This duality of opposite mindsets has a large impact on our behaviour. Often without knowing yourself from which we are operating at the moment. To become aware of these concepts will benefit you more than any other measure because it is your window on the world. Below a list of mindset concepts that could transform your approach to art and business on a fundamental level:

  • Fixed vs Growth Mindset: “A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.” Source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/). The passion for learning that jazz artists have (Growth Mindset) is often not our modus operandi in other areas of our lives. It leads to us saying “I cannot do marketing.” or “I am simply not entrepreneurial.” Since this is often unconscious behaviour, we are mostly unaware of the mindset we’re operating from. The impact however on our life and career is huge.
  • Scarcity vs Abundance: Stephen R. Cover first described this theory as “In life, we can choose between viewing the world as abundant or limited (scarce) in terms of love, relationships, wealth and resources.” As human beings we find ourselves switching between these two states of being often and subconsciously. It takes deliberate action on our sides to step back and analyse which mindset is at work. Are you worrying about there not being enough gigs, not enough music students, orchestra-positions, etcetera? Then the scarcity mindset is doing its destructive work… Results of having a Scarcity Mindset can be:
    • Feeling behind (success = followers/gigs/recognizion), which leads to comparison, jealousy and resentment.
    • Tunneling: a strong focus on solving that scarcity in the immediate term prevents longterm vision (tunnel-vision).
    • From a Scarcity Mindset you will see obstacles instead of opportunities which will decrease your chances of success.
    • Your sense of self-worth comes from comparison to others. Extrinsic motivation. To win means to beat others. This is countereffective, because a big part of becoming successful is sharing knowledge and useful contacts with others.
    Operating from an Abudance Mindset however, makes you think in a Win-Win. You can have enough guitar students and so can the other teacher in town, because you have your own specific method, different geographical location, and so on. Together you enrich and strengthen the town’s music education ecosystem. When you operate on a truly authentic basis, you have no competition.

Mindset for jazz artists: creativity

Creativity is at the core of an artist’s existence, but how much do you understand its inner workings?

  • Flow Theory: flow is the state of optimal experience, as described by psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. “The total immersion in a complex activity of creation that you are intrinsically motivated to pursue where your skill level meets the challenge at hand and time goes by to the point that you do not even notice”.
  • Writer’s Block: the problem is not your creative outlet. Writer’s block is a non-thing. Stop treating art as something else than work. As a professional musician, music is your work. You don’t wait for inspiration to happen. You show up at the studio and put your fingers on the keys. It’s about composing, not contemplating composing. There is something behind this perceived ‘writer’s block’. Do you have too high expectations? Is it your second album and are you fearful of the critics? Believing something gives it power. Stop believing in writer’s block, be honest with yourself about the real problem(s), and simply do the work. The Muses reward those that put the labor in. Trust yourself and surrender yourself to the process.

Mindset for jazz artists: productivity

Getting your work done as an artist can be challenging. Especially in the 21st Century with all those empowering tools at your disposal with regards to recording, communication, distribution and sales. It re-defined what it means to be an artist today. It also made it more complex and added opportunities to your music career that require new skills to be learned. Balancing all these different work dimensions and your other responsibilities in life can be daunting. Hence, the explosion of literature on Time Management. Here I’ll list concepts that might help you with prioritizing and managing your time.

  • 80/20 Principle: 80/20 Rule: also called the Pareto Principle. The 80/20 Rule states that most things in life are not distributed evenly. Translated this means that 80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of your clients. Besides business, it actually applies to most aspects of your life. For example 80 percent of negativity comes from 20% of the people in your life. Figuring out which 20% of your work generate the largest impact is vital for making better decisions on how to spend your time.
  • Priority is singular not plural. Having several priorities is counterproductive and not true. One action will always have the biggest impact of all. What is your single most important priority today or this week? Do that one first. Forget the rest, for now.

Mindset for jazz artists: fear

The journey of an artist compares best to being on one hell of a rollercoaster. Showing your work takes guts. Creating it can mean to come face to face with your inner demons and angels. There are many challenges to face prior to and during your creative process. Here you’ll find the most common negative mindsets for jazz artists:

  • Imposter Syndrome: facing your inner critic. Who am I to teach the guitar? I just finished my studies… Are you waiting for permission to start to insert dream? If yes, by whom? Choose yourself and accept the reality that nobody is 100% ready or qualified for important work.
  • Overcoming Resistance: The ability to overcome resistance, self-sabotage, and self-doubt is way more important than talent. (Steven Pressfield).
  • The Perfectionism Trap: as you know as an artist, 100% perfection doesn’t exist. In fact, aiming for it is is more likely to stop your creative flow. Instead, focus on doing it well enough (80%) and getting it out in the world. Do you want to learn (Growth Mindset) or do you need affirmation (Fixed Mindset)? Focus on the process and just launch your project. Don’t give fear and resistance a change.
  • Fear of rejection & criticism:
  • Fear of bad ideas:

Mindset for jazz artists: show your work

You have recorded your album, done your international tour, released your EP or created your drum academy website. No more mental challenges, right? Wrong. Besides overcoming fears during your creative work, there are also common problems all creatives face after their work is done. Here certain mindset skills come into play. Especially, once you have been through the circle several times, and start to notice the similarities in the experienced emotions.

  • Resilience: when in pursuit of one’s passion and by experiencing your career as a ‘calling’, musicians show incredible resilience in the face of many challenges (research by Psychologist Sasha Dubrow). Musicians work hard because of their creative work and because their goals give them meaning.

Mindset for jazz artists: suffering artist

We all have assumptions. Things we take astruth, as the way the world works. Opinions on what a true artist or ‘real’ jazz is. Below, you will find the most commonly held ideas about being an artist that might limit your potential. Things you never questioned or followed the group consensus in. The stuff songs are written about and blog posts trying to limit the damage are made of.

  • The Suffering Artist. This is one of the great art killers of past and present. The myth of the mad and suffering creative genius personified by painter Vincent van Gogh or writer Virginia Woolf. Yes, we draw inspiration from suffering and meaningful art is made of it. In my view though, the more artists suffer, the less art gets made. Stress is a proven creativity killer. In addition, according to psychological research, creativity stimulates happiness and well-being which should lead to the opposite state of mind.
  • The Starving Artist. This myth has several faces. The general conception that artists per definition are poor. Hence, parents encouraging their kids to rather study engineering instead of the saxophone. However, linear career paths are scarce today. Creativity, adaptability and leadership are what’s needed. Attributes jazz artists have trained since day one. Another side of the coin is the complicated relationship artists themselves have with earning a good income and words as commerce and business.

Mindset for jazz artists: exclusive creativity

Writing art with a capital A. Putting art on a pedestal. Attributing art and creativity to the sole domain of artists. There are many mental traps when thinking about art. These create often unintended damaging side-effects to yourself or our jazz culture at large. Below a list of common traps for jazz artists that might ring a bell.

  • Creativity is solely the domain of the Arts. Clearly, creativity is part of the artistic process of artists. However, several authors, such as Astrid Baumgardner, highlight that creativity is, in fact, an essential 21st Century skill for problem-solving and generating new ideas. The medium and end-goal might differ, but an entrepreneur and jazz artist can both be creative. So can a plumber and an accountant. Creativity is a human skill. According to some scientists, it is, in fact, the sole aspect AI will have a hard time replacing humans with.
  • The Eureka! Moment. The light-bulb became the symbol for a flash of genius inspiration. Started by the myth of Thomas Edison developing the light-bulb out of thin air. In reality, Edison built on the work of many scientists before him. This myth highlighted the worth of inspiration and downplays the reality of hard work and slow progress. It gave artists – and everybody else that creates – the biggest excuse to not do their work: “I don’t feel inspired today.” Or as Seth Godin says: ‘You can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones.’ The act of sitting down to compose is what will bring good ideas forth. Jazz is about mastery and ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’. Art is a verb. That’s why almost all the great jazz artists that I encounter are very humble. They understand the lineage and origin of their ideas and are grateful to all lessons learned from past and present masters.

Pieter Schoonderwoerd, Your Jazz Career

Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.

I’ve been coaching jazz artists for three years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are interested in a personal coaching session, you can read more about it here.

Continue ReadingThe Notebook: Mindset for Jazz Artists
Read more about the article Role Management for Jazz Artists

Role Management for Jazz Artists

In this post, I show you how time-management is actually role-management in disguise. Understanding the different roles in your music career and personal life will strengthen your decision-making and productivity. Furthermore, you might have an outdated concept of what an artist is and does which is working against you.

Read this post to find your ways of balancing and managing these roles more efficiently.

Words are powerful.

We use on average around 27.500 words as an adult. We give these words meaning through our specific worldview, by the culture we’re part of and the Zeitgeist we live in. Sometimes vital words get cemented in meaning when we are teenagers and remains mostly unchanged and unchallenged through adulthood. Often, we find ourselves even today unaware of how these often narrow and out-of-date definitions impact our current concept-of-self and decision-making on important matters.

Without asking you to analyse and reshape your entire worldview, let’s take a closer look at one specific word: artist.

I Am An Artist

During your teens and young adulthood, you probably build an image of what an artist is and does. Do you remember yours? Depending on your expectations built on this image, attending music academy and experiencing the reality of being a professional musician was somewhere between a smooth proces and a total shock. Expectation-management they call that. For young artists, a more correct term would probably be Dream-Management.

Maybe you had musical idols whom you saw live, read interviews about, hung posters of in your bedroom or watched videoclips of. Is it safe to say that you developed an idealised version of their lifestyle and career?

On the bright side, if we are similar in this sense, it got the fire burning and got you on the track of becoming an artist.

Turning Pro

Great so far, but it has a downside when turning Pro.

Defining yourself as an artist is a statement of identity. An artist creates art. At first glance, it brings clarity and purpose to your actions. But, on further exploration, it also creates a dichotomy between Art and Everything Else. And that Everything Else is where the trouble starts, because that second part makes the full story of being an artist.

What it means to be an artist today

The technological advancements of the last decades gave artists unparalleled independence. Now, you as a DIY jazz artist can obtain tools for distributing your own music, building a fanbase and recording your music in high-quality at home, just like Jacob Collier. And all this and much more, for a fraction of the investment this would have cost less than thirty years ago. Empowering developments indeed.

However, on the flipside, it also means that previously separated responsibilities shifted from the specific professionals (cg. publicist, distributor) to the artists themselves. This is possible because platforms changed. From a physical press kit to a website/EPK, from MTV to YouTube, flyers and billboard to Social Media, FedEX to Mailchimp, and from physical global distribution to Spotify.

Artists are now in control of their own platforms and it changed what it means to be an artist.

Did your definition of being an artist catch up to this current reality?

Role Management

I prefer the word role over task.

Tasks are chores. Things you have to do. They can feel external. Not a part of who you are and what you (want to) do.
Roles, however, are personal. Roles are parts of who you are. That gives them meaning and makes them essential to being you. It makes them easier to accept and harder to ignore.

So, what are your basic roles as an artist to balance and perform?

Three Main Roles

I recommend distinguishing three main identities when analysing your different roles. You as a human being.
You as an artist.
And, you as a business.
Each of these interconnected identities has different fundamental needs, goals and relationships.

For you as a human being, the ‘7 Dimensions of Wellness’ offer a clear starting point with which to build a holistic sense of wellbeing. These seven dimensions are: Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Spiritual, Social, Occupational (Financial) and Environmental. At some point, neglecting any of these dimensions for too long will get you crashing down. So yes, reading a good book (intellectual), doing sports (physical) or spending time with your friends (social) matters. Make these priorities in your life and allocate time for them. Not only your work needs planning.

For you as an artist, to be fulfilled and successful, you need to create (great) art. Which requires you to, among other things, rehearse, perform, record, compose, write lyrics, and do artistic research. Most of these need larger blocks of time to be effective, like composing for 4 hours.

As a professional artist you are also a business. Most jazz artists are registred as Sole Traders and operate as a mix of being a freelancer (services for hire) and as an entrepreneur (cg. starting your own music school). According to the Business Model Canvas, as the CEO of YOU, there are 9 building blocks to work on. These are: Customers, Value Provided, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partners and Costs. Understanding these building blocks in your specific business will give you an overview on which to prioritise your daily work. To explain the Business Model Canvas in more detail is beyond this blog post. However the below video is a great introduction to this powerful and visual method.

The Balance Myth

I know. Balance in life is a myth. There is no way that you can keep all these dimensions balanced all the time. Things happen. Like Corona. And we’re not machines that can dutifully carry-out our daily routines 365 days a year. I also believe in the healing power of ‘doing nothing’, daydreaming and aimlessly wandering around. Not every single action and thought needs to have a purpose.

However, to be a professional artist means making a sustainable living of your art and related strengths. These foundational building blocks are what will enable you to create art. To be an artist with all your creative strengths at your disposal. Therefore, taking care of your human needs, artistic needs and business needs should be non-negotiable. In fact, why don’t you call these dimensions non-negotiables? Things you have to do to be you. That way, you will have a music career and a family. Or, a music career and a healthy body … You get my point.

Time-blocking

Create a week plan with blocks of allocated time for these different roles in life. This technique is called Time-Blocking. For time-blocking to happen effectively, it’s important to know yourself and what times throughout the day would work for you in order to best fulfill that specific activity. As an artist, it’s important to experiment until you have a good idea of when you’re most creatively productive. Once you figure this out, you can plan the rest of your daily activities around these times.

Pieter Schoonderwoerd
Your Jazz Career

Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.

I’ve been coaching jazz artists for three years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are interested in a personal coaching session, you can read more about it here.

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Read more about the article The Shape Of Habits To Come

The Shape Of Habits To Come

In this post, I’ll discuss how building empowering habits into your professional life will get you through challenging times. Understanding your Circle of Influence and spending less time on your Circle of Concern will strengthen your proactive mindset and self-confidence. We can all do with some confidence and clarity these days.

With festival cancellations, jazz clubs closings, and countrywide advisories to stay home in quarantine, jazz artists face perhaps the biggest challenge since the 40’s when the Germans decided they preferred Wagner over jazz music and put the whole genre ‘in quarantine’.

This blog post is for all you jazz artists that are feeling overwhelmed and unable to shift gears.

Time to build better habits

We don’t have to all start singing “Always look at the bright side of life“. Corona is having a real negative impact on the jazz sector and the cultural sector at large. I am not denying that. I simply want to try to figure out how to make the best of it.

Often when occupied between work and family obligations the balance in life gets lost. To be at your most creative, to feel confident enough to start something new and to truly give to others you need good habits. Habits that recharge you and re-centre you.

When I lose track of those empowering habits things go south fast. For example, in 2018-19 I lost myself in my work. By obsessively working 7 days a week slowly my creativity diminished, tunnel-vision reared its ugly head and sirens started singing their burn-out hymns. On top of that, time for things that truly mattered seems to be more and more sparse. Like time to play music, time for sports and time for my friends and family. It really is a downward spiral and the reason many seemingly successful people are actually feeling miserable. They, like me in those years, are successful in only one vital dimension of their life… However, it’s not too late to change your behaviour and start new habits.

Cultivate your inner fire

Instead, cultivate your inner fire. That flame of creation attracts people to you and your work. That fire that gets you up in the morning to make a cup of coffee, grab your guitar, compose and plan your next album.

How do you keep the fire burning? Well, how do you keep your heart pumping? Is your mind sharp? Are your emotions stable? By investing time in each of these dimensions on a weekly basis.

So these weeks or months of COVID-quarantine, spend time on your emotional self, your physical self, your mental self and your spiritual self. Read a good book, go cycling, phone your mother, study something new that you always wanted to learn, thank somebody that made a difference in your life, sleep eight hours, read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse or any other spiritual book that has your fancy, try eating vegan for three days, breath deeper or start writing a song each day.

Giving your four selves sufficient attention is, in the end, the most productive thing you can do. It will bring more clarity and guide your actions towards a better place. A place out of this Corona mess.

Right now, to bring this into practice myself, I make daily long cycle tours with my girlfriend, cook something new, started writing blog posts, expand my mind by reading The Gift – a classic for every artist to read by Lewis Hyde – and I am learning a new skill: website design.

So, what will you do to keep your fire burning?

You Can’t Stop Corona, But You Can Start new habits

Have you read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey? It packs some deep insights and practical tools on how to deal with uncertain times like these. In my modest view, it is the best business book ever written. My tip of the day 🙂

Many people get anxious about things that they cannot affect. Fear can cripple us and cloud our decision-making. It’s been always like that.

The Stoics – some 2.000 years ago – formulated a core principle for achieving “tranquillity”. According to philosopher Epictetus, we should always be asking ourselves: “Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?”

Another great quote by him is: “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.“

Read more on Covey’s 7 Habits here.

Expand your circle of influence

Author Stephen Covey was inspired by the Stoics and wrote about the things that affect you, and the things you can affect. He visualised this into two circles:

  1. The Circle of Concern
    includes everything that affects you and is outside of your control. From corona to the government, shifting global music trends, the environment, if people will like your music or the economy. These are things that happen to us.
  2. The Circle of Influence
    includes all things you can affect through your actions. Like what you buy, what you read, what instrument you play, which gig you say yes to, which friends you spend time with, what food you eat, etcetera. These are things you internalise, such as your worldview, attitude, spirituality, habits and goals. Ideally, these actions are based upon your most important principles.

Of course, there will always be more things out of our control. We’re not masters of the universe. But how do you deal with these externalities?

Are you reactive or proactive?

When I feel overwhelmed with life there is a good chance I am focusing on issues I cannot control, issues within my Circle of Concern. Taking a step back to evaluate this can change these feelings and provide a course of action to expand my Circle of Influence.

Covey separates in this ‘circle’ context being reactive from – the desired – being proactive.

Reactive people focus on issues in their Circle of Concern. Which right now would be the Coronavirus. Reactive people are often influenced by their physical and environmental surroundings. If it rains, they feel bad and if people treat them well, they feel good. This attitude increases feelings of helplessness, stress and causes anxiety.

Proactive people take responsibility for their own lives. They focus on issues they can influence. These are their own actions and thoughts. By acting upon your Circle of Influence you actually expand this circle. You make it bigger and leave less space for your Circle of Concern. Doing this will make you more confident, more creative and will make you feel more in control.

That means you have to do two things:

  • Realise what issues are actually in your Circle of Control.
  • Examine what issues – concern vs influence – you spend most of your time on and adjust accordingly.

By spending more of your time on your Circle of Influence you focus your attention and efforts where you can make the biggest difference.

What can you do today to act upon your Circle of Influence?

Acting upon your Circle of Influence means taking (as much as possible) responsibility and control for your own life. Try doing any of the following things:

  • Set goals and turn them into actionable and achievable steps.
  • Act upon above-set goals. Create music, compose, rewrite your artist biography, create an art manifesto, make a three-year career plan …
  • Turn the above actions into productive habits
  • Ration your news and social media intake. It makes your Circle of Concern bigger, which is the opposite of what you need. There is a difference between being informed and being obsessive.
  • Take a step back and look at your big picture. Are you still aligned with your purpose/personal mission? If not, what could you do these weeks so that your inner compass points True North?
  • Start each day by asking yourself ‘What is in my control?’ What change can I make today to expand my Circle of Influence?
  • When you do get anxious, analyse your fear. Is it based on your Circle of Concern or on your Circle of Influence? If it’s the first, is there something you could do that would make you feel better about it?


Pieter Schoonderwoerd
Your Jazz Career

Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.

I’ve been coaching jazz artists for three years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are interested in a personal coaching session, you can read more about it here.

Continue ReadingThe Shape Of Habits To Come