This challenge is forcing me to put into writing my goals. Seems an easy thing on the surface, but when things are written down, it's like a contract, and not working toward those goals is a breach of that contract with yourself.
I have personal goals, but here I will focus on my career goals. Losing some weight is one of my personal goals...although I'm considering Taco Bell for lunch, with a doughnut finish, lol. Be strong!
#1 Branding: Figure out and define just what it is I have to offer a music buyer, concert goer, or venue owner. 9/1/10
#2 Marketing: Learn all I can, and apply it to record sales. 9/1/10
#3 Build a .com site that all my social media outlets link to. 12/15/10
#4 Have 3 songs from Leavers & Non-Believers on college radio stations in Big Rapids, Mt. Pleasant, Grand Rapids, Kzoo, and Detroit. Starting 9/1/10
#5 Book The Automatics for 2011, and have it wrapped up by November...11/1/10
#6 Attend the Taxi Road Rally in LA. (Can I sleep on your couch?)
#7 organize and tweak the songs for my kid's record, and the next rock record. 12/15/10
#8 Sell 1000 CD's by 9/1/11
#9 Earn $12,000 in record sales by 9/1/11
#10 Become an active Taxi member, and write songs for listings instead of hoping my album tracks fit their needs.
#11 Have 1000 True Fans on board by 9/1/12, using live shows, online presence, and word of mouth, and don't forget radio.
#12 Court a booking agent, and transition the band into casinos. 9/1/11
#13 Train band members to book shows the right way, and polish our live show. (keyboards, stage presence, lighting) 9/1/10
#14 Have the whole song list of Leavers 'live ready', including keys, gtr solos, and background vox. 9/1/10
#15 Create a hybrid show with local bellydance group.
#16 Record demos for the songs I've co-written with Janice Hopkins, and have them pitched in Nashville. 10/15/10
These are all fairly short term goals. Down the road, say 5 years, I'd like to have 4 more record released, and be making a decent income with songwriting. My songs are great, it's time for me to push outward into the galaxy! Wow, that sounded cocky. What ever self-motivation it takes, I guess.
On to week two!
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The Automatics / Blog
Please like/follow/stalk His Own Devices
If you dug The Automatics, you'll love His Own Devices. Songwriter Johnny Guest brings forth songs of pure emotion, chunky guitars, made extra super by thick harmony vocals by Tina, Angi, And Jeff. Give them a listen now!
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MSi9W week 8 blog, networking!
is too long for RN, so I put it here: johnnyguest.tumblr.com
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MSi9W week 7 blog, building your email list
I've been building my list for going on 3 years. There have been shows where I never got a chance to mingle and ask for emails. Shame on me! I understand how important my list is to my business, and beginning to understand how to build the relationships that will eventually turn into income.
This challenge, has been easy at times (when I'm doing the right things) and difficult (when I had to build multiple webpages in one week).
This week, there are a few key points.
1. Think outside the box a. Do a giveaway in the middle of your set, pass a hat for emails or business cards, take a picture of the winner accepting the prize, and post them on your website
b. Use a service like broadtexter to get numbers you can send text alerts to. While this is neato, I don't want to give out my personal number to everybody.
2. Trade lists with friendly bands. a. It seems only a few bands would be willing to do this, there's so much competition. I've got a couple in mind to work with though, and will implement when our CD is released.
Speaking of that, the CD release is scheduled for October 21st at a cool local venue, The Vault. I'm bringing in bands I love to make a fun show out of it, and we won't have to play a bunch of covers, and can concentrate on originals. It's shaping up to be a great night...
We're almost done with the challenge...it's been extremely educational, and realistically it will take a while to implement all the ideas in Ariel's awesome book.
Best of luck to the other musicians in the challenge!
Johnny
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MSi9W week 6 blog
Wow...this thing is getting out of hand! Or I'm getting behind, but it seems the ning network is gaining tons of people and I can't keep up. Guess I'm spread too thin already, I just keep telling myself to keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Week 6 Connecting With Fans Via Newsletters
What's great about this week's challenge, is that I've been doing most of these tactics for years. It helps me see where I can improve, and I've got a plan of action that involves: 1. Surveys 2. Growing the list and fan base 3. Telling better jokes of the week
The surveys are tricky I think. I'm not sure how people will take being asked what they want of me, and if they will respond. A bulk of people probably open my emails, read through, smile, and move on. Call them well wishers. They like, but won't buy. This is scratching the surface of the need to speak directly to the people who want to buy and support what we do. I feel like we're just starting to get there, and have yet to reach that goal.
Growing the list most often involves me talking with people at shows. Social media is great, but removes that face to face conversation where people understand us, get our character, and want to be on board. It's easy to click the like button on facebook, and never spend a dime to support the artist.
I'm not sure I can improve my joke telling. I get it from my dad, just plain bad. Although I'm a funny person, my jokes are mostly funny because I mess them up. :)
We had an awesome photo session this week with Jean Wood. Some of the results are here: www.facebook.com/automatics and follow the tags. More to come, and all our sites will get an upgrade on pics!
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MSi9W week 5 blog can be found here:
johnnyguest.tumblr.com
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Ariel is running me ragged! Week 4 of the MSi9W blog challenge
Week 4 is all about social media, and which forms are most useful for musicians. I guess I've done pretty good considering only a few tweaks and one page were required changed for me this week.
First up is Twitter, which I've been using successfully to tie all my most important pages together. I've set it up so all I have to do to update the statuses of FB, Reverb Nation, twitter, and Myspace, is shoot one text to my twitter page! This is very cool, and saves a bunch of time, but more importantly keeps each page fresh while I'm out and about and ignoring the internet all together.
Then is Facebook. I thought I had a pretty good handle on Fb, and I guess I did but Ariel suggests a few apps that are music centric. I've added the Twitter, Youtube, and Polldaddy apps to my band page. There are other suggestions, and if I were starting from scratch I might use them, but most of them do what the Reverbnation MYBAND app does, and I didn't want to clutter my FB page more than it already is!
I think I'm sitting pretty good here at this point, but I am always tweaking things. :)
I have now started a flickr page, but have yet to integrate it into everything else. I simply have not had the time to do it with the release of Leavers & Non-Believers, booking, and having a life. I am excited about the possibility of uploading pics from my phone to flickr, and having it broadcast to my other pages. I think this will be great! So, this page will have to be patient while I sort through my knee high pile of gotta-doos.
The last part of this week's challenge is podcasting. This would be great for me to do...I'm just not sure how I will create the time. I will start though by going to Music Alley and post music there. I think it'd a great idea!
Something rather significant has happened since I've started the challenge. We sat at the 7th place in the RN local rock charts for the longest time. When I started following the challenge, and tying things together as Ariel described, I released our new album for pre-sale/download. These two factors have catapulted us to the number 1 spot over the last 2 weeks! I have to say, Ariel has it figured out!
So, to recap:
Websites and social media are now linked and seemless, Facebook is hot rodded.
Flickr and Music Alley is next on the list, as is finishing my Sonic Bids page.
Good things are coming!
Johnny
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The blogging is looking great! Congrats on raising to number 1 on RN! That's what this is all about. Great work.
Can't wait to see what you have in store for week 5!
Don't forget to post this to your twitter with the hash tag #MSi9W
Ariel
MSi9W Week 3, optimize your web presence...
There is a long list of things one should do to optimize all your websites. For me, I found that I'd done a majority already, leaving the most difficult tasks!
I'm not an HTML guy, so I'm very limited in web based graphic design. but, I did my best to capture a little common thread through all my web sites. Facebook is the ridiculous one...you basically get busy and busier with ads all over. At least it's free!
For this week, I've got a new page up: www.johnnyguest.bandcamp.com and have Leavers & Non-Believers ready to download. I like this site because when people download, they get the song names along with the files, so they go straight into iTunes, or what ever they might use.
Another challengee, Diana from Suede Management and Booking, and I had a convo about SonicBids. I've known about it quite a while, but didn't realize what it's good for. Now I do, and I will be putting a page together there next week.
So...currently I have these pages that don't allow much customization: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1046601 linkedIN bandmix thesixtyone.com/automatics johnnyguest.bandcamp.com reverbnation.com/ihearttheautomatics facebook.com/automatics facebook.com/johnnyguest
And these that I can tweak but don't know how lol: myspace.com/ihearttheautomatics myspace.com/johnnyguest
This doesn't include the ning page for the challenge, and a few others that I didn't follow through in designing due simply to redundancy. But, Sonicbids will be the next site I give attention to. Seems I'm spread very thin now!
Leavers & Non-Believers is turning into some attention for the band. We've got CD reviews in the works, articles, and even a cover shoot in the works. And here I am, ready to write the next record! But, I'd love to play these songs for lots of people, so that's just what we'll do.
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Official track Listing of LEAVERS & NON-BELIEVERS
Unfortunately, when you download from reverb nation, the song names don't come with the files. I will do a running change to my page at bandcamp.com in the coming week or so...but for now, here is the order of the songs:
1. Calmer Waters 03:09 2. Rock In My Shoe 03:40 3. Savannah Moon 03:48 4. Torture You 03:47 5. Drive You Away 02:24 6. Sweet Tooth 05:05 7. Wicked Little Angel 04:00 8. Finished Then 03:48 9. I'll Be Your Mystery 03:57 10. Leavers & Non-Believers 03:44 11. Pure 04:15 12. Diver 05:39
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Music Success in 9 Weeks, week #2! The perfect pitch...
I have worked many hours on this. I realize that I just need to have 2 separate pitches, one for me, one for my band. This made it a lot easier, so here we go:
Hi, I'm Johnny Guest, and I have taught music privately since 1993. I love sharing my passion for music with students of all ages and abilities, and focus on delivering information in a way that ensures each person's success.
The Automatics write, record, and perform butt shaking, sing along alt-rock songs. Imagine Dashboard Confessional, King's X, Tom Petty, and Switchfoot in a dance contest, and Led Zepplin is judging.
I know these pitches are going to evolve over time...but these seem to be right for now.
On to week 3!
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Goal Setting and the 9week challenge
This challenge is forcing me to put into writing my goals. Seems an easy thing on the surface, but when things are written down, it's like a contract, and not working toward those goals is a breach of that contract with yourself.
I have personal goals, but here I will focus on my career goals. Losing some weight is one of my personal goals...although I'm considering Taco Bell for lunch, with a doughnut finish, lol. Be strong!
#1 Branding: Figure out and define just what it is I have to offer a music buyer, concert goer, or venue owner. 9/1/10
#2 Marketing: Learn all I can, and apply it to record sales. 9/1/10
#3 Build a .com site that all my social media outlets link to. 12/15/10
#4 Have 3 songs from Leavers & Non-Believers on college radio stations in Big Rapids, Mt. Pleasant, Grand Rapids, Kzoo, and Detroit. Starting 9/1/10
#5 Book The Automatics for 2011, and have it wrapped up by November...11/1/10
#6 Attend the Taxi Road Rally in LA. (Can I sleep on your couch?)
#7 organize and tweak the songs for my kid's record, and the next rock record. 12/15/10
#8 Sell 1000 CD's by 9/1/11
#9 Earn $12,000 in record sales by 9/1/11
#10 Become an active Taxi member, and write songs for listings instead of hoping my album tracks fit their needs.
#11 Have 1000 True Fans on board by 9/1/12, using live shows, online presence, and word of mouth, and don't forget radio.
#12 Court a booking agent, and transition the band into casinos. 9/1/11
#13 Train band members to book shows the right way, and polish our live show. (keyboards, stage presence, lighting) 9/1/10
#14 Have the whole song list of Leavers 'live ready', including keys, gtr solos, and background vox. 9/1/10
#15 Create a hybrid show with local bellydance group.
#16 Record demos for the songs I've co-written with Janice Hopkins, and have them pitched in Nashville. 10/15/10
These are all fairly short term goals. Down the road, say 5 years, I'd like to have 4 more record released, and be making a decent income with songwriting. My songs are great, it's time for me to push outward into the galaxy! Wow, that sounded cocky. What ever self-motivation it takes, I guess.
On to week two!
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