keep pushing

In this article I want to focus on the people who are doing their best to achieve their goals. If you’ve done your best, you may have had some success, but not yet reached the point where you want to be.

I want to offer some encouragement, because it is a very daunting task when it seems like you are the only person who believes in you. Remember that it is the hundreds of small steps that make the big difference. Keep working on your business or plan every day. Even if all you can accomplish that day is read a few books or write down your goals. Every bit counts towards the final results.

Never feel like you’re not making progress because other people aren’t coming to you right now. Stay consistent with your plan and that will change. If you feel like things are moving in a circle and you keep facing the same obstacles, then I suggest you try a different approach. For example, you keep sending your CDs to radio stations, but you never get a response. You’ve called and gotten other people to call, but you weren’t so lucky. Maybe next time, instead of mailing in your CD, drive to the station and meet the staff in person.

Someone once shared some good advice with me about promotion. He said that “the best way to open a door is to open it yourself.” It’s much harder for people to say no to you in person. So if you are there, then they have to deal with you and your determination. Most people in the business respect that and you’ll get a different answer.

One thing I like to do is keep something visual that reminds me of my ultimate goal. It can be a photo, a trophy, a magazine, whatever, but its purpose is to point you to the main agenda. Let’s face it, there are so many opportunities that you can get sidetracked and lose sight of the goal. For this reason, I believe that the more focused you can be, the better your chances of success. So if you write songs or play an instrument, then your focus should be writing songs and playing the instrument.

Don’t go out and try to run a real estate business or start a law firm at the same time you want to write songs and play that instrument. I’m not saying you can’t do everything, but manage your time and focus carefully. I know a lot of talented people, and we all have a million ideas that can potentially make money or generate some interest. The fact is that if we never stop to focus on one at a time, we may never achieve any of our goals.

Also remember that you have to love what you strive for or you won’t last. The music business is very difficult to make a living. So you have to be willing to do it just for love. Doing it out of love will help you through the tough times and pay off in the end. My phrase for this year is to keep pushing until the bubble bursts. I encourage you to come up with a phrase or slogan that will help you remember to keep trying and never give up. Thanks for reading, until next time.