So I finally heard back from the person I contacted about possibly creating synth patches for. In a nutshell, I was told that they’re not what he’s looking for. End of story. So after getting knocked back down to the ground, I got up, dusted myself off and I’m moving on.
It’s not easy to do, trust me. If you’ve ever been in a similar situation you know how demoralizing and frustrating it can be to be told that your work just isn’t good enough. With very few exceptions, it’s been the story of my life.
This is more a psychological pep talk than anything else because if you think I have the magic keys to the kingdom of success, you’ve come to the wrong place. The only thing I can offer you is some advice on how to rebound from setbacks mentally. As for what to actually do with your life, that’s in your hands. I’ve got my own headaches.
First thing you have to do is forget the past. Don’t dwell on it. Yeah, you’ve had bad breaks. We all do. Get over yourself. There’s somebody out there with worse problems than you.
Oh no?
Just the other day I was reading about an Illinois news anchor who reported on the air that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has 4 to 6 months to live.
Still think you’ve got it worse?
Moving on.
Next thing to do is take stock of yourself. What skills do you have? What do you REALLY have to offer others? Don’t limit yourself to listing only things that you’re an expert at. Most of us aren’t all that great at anything if we’re honest with ourselves. If you’re waiting to get so good at something that you’re the best in the world doing it, you’ll be waiting until hell freezes over.
After you’ve made your list, go through it. What interests you the most? What interests you the least. A lot of people say to just pick something that will make you money, no matter how much you may hate doing it. I don’t believe in that philosophy. If you hate doing something you’re not going to be very good at it. Eventually, you’ll get sick of doing it no matter how much money you’re making. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing you’re only making things harder on yourself.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t take an odd job here and there to make a few bucks to pay for some software that you might need for your business. If you’re in the royalty free music business like I am and need that new VST to make all the cool hip sounds, you may have to do something, anything, in order to pay for it if you’re broke. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve done to make money this year. No, nothing illegal or immoral. Just stuff that you’d probably never guess in a million years. Point is, you do what you have to do. But you don’t make it a business if you don’t enjoy it to some degree.
After you’ve gone through your list of skills, you pick one. It’s very hard to juggle multiple things, especially when you’re just starting out. Pick one thing. Personally, I’d pick the one I’d enjoy the most but that’s just me. You do want to make sure that there is at least a market for this thing, whatever it is. In other words, are there people out there spending money on it? If not, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of frustration trying to sell something that nobody wants.
You will then need to research this area. See exactly what it is that people want. Scope out the competition. What are they offering? Can you offer something better or at least as good? Can you maybe offer it for a better price? You don’t want to work for slave wages but if you can undercut your competition, that might bring you the budget minded customer.
Of course you can always go the other route. You can offer a product or service that gives more than the competition gives and charge a premium for it. Of course it better be rock solid and really blow the competition out of the water as far as quality. Otherwise you’re going to have an expensive product or service that nobody is going to buy.
Finally, when you’ve decided what it is you’re going to do, the next step is to do it. That means going through the entire creation process in detail. Don’t leave out anything. That includes not just product creation but also marketing the product. Just because you put something on the Internet doesn’t mean people are going to find it. The Internet is a big place. Without advertising, you’re sunk in the water.
Now, advertising itself is a whole other animal. I used to be very good at it but have really fallen out of touch with the times. Had I not, I wouldn’t be in the mess I’m in. So you’re on your own there. But you will probably want to concentrate a lot on social media marketing that I know nothing about. That’s where everybody is today; Facebook, Twitter and God knows where else. Social sites are where most people on the Internet now hang out. Even my wife goes to Facebook almost every single day.
One last piece of advice. You will want to keep up with changes in the industry. Don’t do like I did. I didn’t keep up with things and it cost me, big time. The Internet changes almost daily. What worked in 2013 may not be working today. At least not all of it. If you bury your head in the sand, you’re going to get buried by your competition.
I wish I could give you a magic pill to take for all this, but I haven’t found that magic pill myself. All I have to offer is some sound advice from somebody who has been through a lot.
But most of all, whatever happens, whatever goes wrong, whatever blows up in your face, when you get knocked down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.
Otherwise they just might find your cold dead body buried in the sand someday.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim