How To Figure Out What You Want To Be

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Many musicians don’t know what they’re doing.

I talk to these people often.

They’re not sure what type of musician they want to be. They don’t have a clear end goal. 

But it’s a common problem, so I don’t blame them. How do you figure out what you want to be in the music world?

Well…

By the end of this post, you’ll know what you want to do as a musician.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Questions To Ask Yourself

Instead of trying to brainstorm your long-term music goals, ask yourself questions.

You have to go all “Sherlock Holmes” on yourself.

Here are a couple of questions I’ve found super helpful…

What are you doing when you lose track of time?

When you’re doing music and you lose track of time, that means you’re doing what you love. You’re in the zone. This is also called flow state.

For me, my flow happens when I’m writing and recording songs. I might be in my studio for what seems like 20 minutes, but it turns out to be two hours. 

What are you doing when you get into the flow? That will probably tell you what you want to be.

What do you really want to do all day?

Imagine something with me. 

Imagine one of your super fans comes to you and says, “I want to pay you an annual salary. But you have to do something every day to move your music career forward. Treat music as your new career.”

If that happened, what would you do all day?

If money were no concern and you could do music 7-8 hours a day, what would you fill the time with? 

Your answer will tell you what you want to be.

Still not sure what you want to be? Take the 2-minute quiz below…

TAKE THE QUIZ

How To Make Money In Your Niche

After asking yourself the above questions and taking the quiz, you now have a solid idea of what type of musician you want to be.

Now it’s time to make money from it. (If you’re still not sure what you want to do, this section will probably help).

Here are four basic categories every musician falls into. Four basic aspects of music that different musicians love doing.

Below each category, I’ve linked to resources that will get you started making money.

Writing and recording songs

Performing

Playing your instrument

Making beats

Business-y Stuff To Help You Be What You Want To Be

The business side of music scares away some talented musicians. That’s why I call it “business-y stuff” to make it more palatable.

First, try to divide your brain and your time into “artist” and “music business person.” 

Then you can do the below things to help you make a living from what you love doing. 

Launch an official music website

Every musician needs a website. 

Here’s why:

  • It’s a central hub where your fans can learn more about you and see what you’re up to
  • It shows music industry people that you’re serious about this whole music thing

I use Bandzoogle for my music website and highly recommend it. 

Even if you don’t make money from music, you can have your own site. Wix and WordPress both offer free website builders. You won’t be able to get your own domain name for free (www.yourname.com), but you can at least have a professional-looking website for your music. 

Create a music email address

Like having an official music website, having a music-specific email address shows you’re serious about pursuing music. 

But mainly, it keeps you organized. 

If your personal emails hit the same inbox as your music emails, things will get chaotic real quick. You could miss important emails. Or you may just get completely overwhelmed at the number of emails. 

Site builders often offer a customizable email address, but you can also just create a free Gmail address.

Have a separate bank account

You need a music-only bank account for the same reason you need a music-only email address. To stay organized and avoid chaos. 

You don’t want to mix music income with personal income. I’ve done it. It gets confusing and frustrating. 

Now I use Simple Bank, a completely online bank with a sleek mobile app. They have totally free checking accounts that are super easy to open. 

You can also separate the money in your account into Expenses and/or Goals to stay super organized.

Use docs and spreadsheets

Get used to using docs and spreadsheets. I prefer Google Drive, but you can use Microsoft Word.

Docs are good for:

  • Quickly jotting down song lyrics
  • Keeping track of project ideas
  • Using as a to-do list

And spreadsheets are great for:

Plus, docs and spreadsheets are easy to share with collaborators. These could be co-songwriters, band members, or friends. 

With Google Docs, just hit the “Share” button within the doc or spreadsheet. With Microsoft Word, you can use Resilio Sync to easily share files.

Start an email list

If you don’t yet have an email list, you need to start one right now. It’s free!

Here’s why you need an email list:

  • Keep your fans updated and converse with them
  • Communicate with them directly sans any algorithm
  • Your subscribers have committed more than the people who just like your page on social media — that means subscribers could be true fans

I use MailerLite to email my fans — it’s as simple as possible and totally free.

Now You Know

After all of this, you now know what you want to do in music. You know what type of musician you want to be. 

And now you can use a FREE resource called The One-Thing-A-Day chart (scroll down↓).

I use it for myself and it’s changed everything for me. 

Now I know what type of musician I want to be. I’m moving toward attainable goals, baby step by baby step.

FREE One-Thing-A-Day Chart

DO WHAT YOU CAN TODAY

Grab the FREE One-Thing-A-Day chart below.

Figure out what you want to be and start moving toward it.

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