So You Want to Make a Living at This Part 2

So You Want to Make a Living at This

Survival Strategies for Classical Guitarists, Part 2 of 3

by Daniel Roest - August 2007

Ready to take the leap and make guitar your full-time gig? Already working but barely making it? This month’s column covers ways successful guitarists are paying the bills in music, not out of it.

GET TO WORK

Let’s continue last month’s theme of “Get real.” The point I want to stress, especially to younger artists, is that unless you are born with a silver spoon and/or a trust fund, you are going to have to figure out what works in your particular case. Older musicians have gone through this process and are supporting themselves and their families, and you can as well. The first piece of information you must be willing to use is that a portion of your time must go to “marketing” – promoting your service or product. Before rushing off to print flyers and paint the town, give serious thought to what your product means to others, why and how you’ll get paid for it and how you may improve it. The normal process of “hanging in there” yields answers to these questions, but you’ll progress faster if you focus on it now.

When at one point in my early career my confidence faltered and family concerns about money increased the pressure to step it up, I tried non-music sales. Actually I did well, but not so much that I could retire early or anything. Two important things happened during this short stint outside of music. First, a fellow sales associate helped me realize that simply applying business basics to a career in music made more sense than a non-music career. The money is there if you get organized like we were, selling something I didn’t really care about. Second, I learned what goes into a sale – things like supply and demand, problem solutions, trust and rapport, overcoming objections and closing. And guess what, I also realized that talent is not something to give up on, because it is a blessing, a gift.

USE THE WEB

Before the internet, I made countless trips to the post office or office supply store, sending out cassettes and CDs and large envelopes to clients en route to more gigs. Since putting a website together, it is extremely rare that I send out a CD, because clients are able to hear enough online to make a decision. If you don’t know how to create a website yet, don’t put off putting up a rudimentary site with just contact information. Then set about learning to upload basic elements of photos and sound files. After you have a site you’re willing to unleash upon the world, you have another challenge. No one can find you if you don’t appear to the search engine they use. Submit your site to search engines and decide what “keywords” to list for the search engines to see. Earlier this evening I received a call from someone who typed in “guitar lessons” and the name of my town – and came up with my site first. We’ll be starting lessons next week, and my income just went up over a hundred a month. Most of my gigs are generated by someone’s internet search.

BUILD PHONE SKILLS

When someone calls you, you must be able to meet their expectations as someone they would like to hire, be it for lessons for them or their child, or being entrusted with their wedding ceremony music. I found out long ago that I wasn’t a morning person, and yet the public didn’t seem to know in advance that I functioned better later in the day. Calls can come in anytime, whether you’re wide awake, fuzzy-headed, exhausted or just average. To help appear reasonably intelligent, for gig calls I typed up and duplicated an INCOMING CALLS sheet. This allows me to ask the person a number of important questions, including their names and all their contact information, the date, time and location of the event, whether it is for solo guitar or ensemble, and how they got my name. Get this information quickly without pushing, and they will appreciate your professionalism. Be confident and readily mention the services you can provide that appear to fit their situation. Speak clearly and confidently, thank them for calling and end the call. Now follow up on the call if you offered to send out demo materials or other items. For teaching queries, it may be simpler, but you still must have ready answers for the usual questions of what openings you have and how much you charge, as well as what your policies and special skills are. Have your calendar near the phone – don’t make them wait on hold while you go searching for it. I keep mine on an Excel spreadsheet, as well as Outlook.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS

As I pointed out last month, any business involves the service or product, marketing and accounting/administration. You must generate some routine, dependable forms for the marketing part of your work. Everything your client receives from you should affirm their impression of you as someone they can trust to be a professional and talented musician. For wedding gigs, I rely on two forms that I tailor to the gig – the Contract Close Letter and the Contract. The letter includes an area for quotes from previous clients who wrote glowing words of appreciation – this enhances the new client’s confidence. The contract includes the date, time (actual clock hours inclusive), location and compensation of the event, as well as specifics about the format, type of event, when payment is to be made, and places for us each to sign. You can include demands for shade, electrical power, armless chair, blue M&Ms or whatever as needed. Keep adjusting and improving your template. My templates always include my logo. “Logo?” you might ask. It may not be the first item in your marketing campaign, but early on, some kind of graphic that communicates what you’re about adds professionalism. Be prompt in your written communications to maintain momentum in the process leading to a returned, signed contract and deposit.

I keep a Contracts Binder for contracts and pending sales with tabbed dividers for each month. I keep Incoming Calls Sheets with pending sales up front, and I monitor them to keep current with each client. If a contract has been sent and I’m waiting for its return with deposit, I put it in its place in the right month. That way, when someone calls to inquire about a particular date, I can flip quickly to that date to see if it’s free. I’ll let the caller know if there is a competing date and it is pending, then contact the previous client to act now or let go of getting my services (tactfully, of course.) Build a network of referrals so that if you are unavailable, you can refer the client to a friend.

TEACHING AS AN INCOME BASE

For performers, teaching can be a base that really works wonders to support other ambitions. Combining teaching with performing provides a steady source of income while performing gigs come and go. Method books and related materials that you enjoy – and which work for students – can form the basis of your work in the studio and are structured to make it easy for the teacher. The promotion of your lessons outside teaching hours should steadily increase your load. A very important element in this strategy is a positive attitude, both in the lessons and outside the studio. This comes naturally if you adopt a “service” style in your relationships with students. It should also be reflected in your marketing of your service.

TEACHING MATERIALS

As for teaching, in addition to the books you and your students use, you may produce your own written materials, and your teaching will become more routine as you use them. I have all of my students, at the very beginning, purchase a binder I make up with eight dividers and dozens of original pages. The sections are: Studio, Practice, Scales, Chords, Reading, Theory, Technique and Supplements. The three ring binder format makes it easy to put scale and chord sheets and the like in the appropriate section. The logo and consistent look of the original sheets build the studio identity. The students fill out a Survey Sheet which asks questions like what they wish to accomplish, how much time they plan to devote to practice and what their tastes are. To keep students, it’s important to know what motivated them to come to you in the first place.

CD SALES ADD UP

I used to be disheartened at the classical guitar section of the giant music stores because it seemed like newcomers stood little chance in the ocean of other CDs. One friend invested ten grand in self producing her debut CD. Hundreds of CD sales later, she recouped her investment and went on to begin to make a profit. My approach was different. I realized that I had been chasing an image of perfection cultivated by Bream, Williams, Parkening and others, artists who recorded in studios and had record companies handling artwork, distribution and promotion. I also realized that the normal non-audiophile listening environment for consumers included ambient noise – enough that the extra thousands spent on a studio with the very best mics, engineers and signal processing would not be clear to most consumers. Further, home recording kept becoming more and more viable and products and prices encouraged this approach. After recording my first CD at home and putting literally everything together by hand at home, I recouped my costs very quickly, and the rest was profit. You can do this as well, but take the time to search for and obtain the very highest quality of sound available in your home studio before putting it out for sale – you’ll be glad you did. Every time you play out, have your CDs ready when asked for one, and have them available online through distribution services such as CDBaby.

PRESENTING OTHERS

The owner of a chain of music stores in my area told of getting his band sweet gigs, including opening up for Jimi Hendrix, by booking and arranging for marquis acts and taking the opening spot for his band. I’ve used that idea many times, opening for someone I really liked, including great players like Laurence Juber, Peppino D’Agostino and Muriel Anderson. Because I put the show together, I make sure it works for everybody – the other artist, the audience, the venue and myself. Event by event, you will build up a reputation for artistic quality and trust from the artists you present. A nice perk is to hear compliments on your own playing from these players. A great thing about presenting concerts, apart from the music and supporting artists you admire is the rich learning environment. You can see how they speak to the audience, what they play, how they bring product – CDs, video and books – and what gear they use. It was after many concerts of seeing others put out their product and take in several hundred dollars over their artist fee that I finally made a CD of my own to sell.

THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Any time you paid to hear someone else perform, you got directly in touch with what makes our economy function. As you enjoyed the performance, you made mental notes of everything about the event and probably thought of yourself onstage. We’re not all destined for the top tier of entertainment dollars, but there is a place for you if you wish to perform. The question is, will it generate enough income, or does it have the potential to? A main point of Part 1 was that income is a function of supply and demand – embrace the concept – don’t resist it. Each of us is blessed with different skills, talents, circumstances and opportunities. What you can add to the cards you are dealt is an absolute determination to make it. And that takes two things: information and the willingness to use it. Next month I’ll get into more detail on what to do and how to do it in performing, including repertoire, gear, clothes, and how to adapt to the many situations you’re likely to encounter.

Daniel Roest (pronounced “roost”) started playing the guitar at the age of seven and never stopped. Today he has performed in countless solo and ensemble events in nearly every kind of venue. His CD Great Guitars! 2004 has received only 5-star reviews. His concerts are praised for being entertaining and informative. For ten years he served as President and Artistic Director of the South Bay Guitar Society based in San Jose, CA. He is recognized for supporting gifted guitarists such as Laurence Juber, Peppino D’Agostino, Muriel Anderson, Jeff Linsky, Franco Morone, Michael Chapdelaine, Richard Gilewitz, Chris Proctor, Sharon Isbin, Carlos Barbosa-Lima and many others.

Roest earned three degrees in music performance and participated in dozens of masterclasses. He taught guitar and music fundamentals at California State University Stanislaus and De Anza, Foothill and San Jose City Colleges and now maintains a full-time teaching studio. He has adjudicated several multi-instrument competitions, presented music clinics and introduced many new audiences to the art of the classical guitar.