This is the season when music students are hearing about the results of their auditions: from graduate schools, fellowships and summer programs, as well as professional orchestra and other ensemble auditions. With so much competition for a limited number of spots, rejection is a common phenomenon. In two of my recent coaching groups at the Yale School of Music, we went …
Finding Your Passions for Success: Think Expansively To Find Your Sweet Spot
I am a huge advocate of doing what you love and finding passion in your life’s work. Passion is at the heart of entrepreneurship. Not only is it incredibly motivating to have your work reflect what you love but chances are that you will be more successful if you are able to able to find happiness in your life, including …
Find Your Life Purpose in 4 Steps: Your Compass for Navigating Career Success
As someone who has experienced many career transitions, I know what it is like to feel at sea and unsettled by not knowing what direction to take your career. This feeling to “stuck” can happen at any stage of your career: in the early stages of your career when you are not sure which of the many options to follow. …
LOCAV: 5 Top Communication Skills for Today’s Musicians and Leaders
Effective communication is critical in all aspects of your creative, professional and personal lives: for creating powerful connections with your colleagues, friends and loved ones; for teaching; for getting your points across and being understood; for interacting with audiences, donors and supporters; and for heading off conflict. As a savvy music entrepreneur or arts leader, communication is an essential skill …
Managing The Unpredictable: 5 Steps to Help Manage Your Freelance Finances
If you are a freelance musician, you undoubtedly love the fact that you are making a living from your passion, together with freedom that comes along with being in charge of your own life. And yet, that life is fraught with uncertainty, particularly related to your finances: Can I really make money as a freelancer? How can I make money …
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The Elements of Career Success: 6 Steps towards Fulfillment
What are the common elements in creating a successful and fulfilling career? This question is at the heart of my work with professional musicians and arts leaders, as well as creative business professionals—in short, anyone who is committed to incorporating her passions into her work. Here are the 6 steps to creating a career that is not only fulfilling but …
Live Your Values Part II: 3 Steps To Help Music Entrepreneurs Find Fulfillment and Create Success
In my last post, we examined how values can help music entrepreneurs make smart and empowering choices. Values are the principles for which we stand and the most effective way to live those values is to bring those values into your life and take actions that manifest your code of principles. Living your values is how you “walk the talk”. …
Live Your Values Part I: How Music Entrepreneurs Make Smart Career Choices
“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same but you leave ’em over everything that you do.” Elvis Presley Values are your qualities of intrinsic worth and the principles that run your life. Core values help to define who you are and what is truly important to you. In the words of one musician: “Values will help you to create …
SMART Goals for SMART Music Entrepreneurs: How to Make Your Dreams Come True
Musicians abound with passion and creative ideas. For many, however, this abundance of ideas can be paralyzing since they find it hard to figure out which ones to harness, let alone how to make them happen. Here are two ways to help take those great ideas and make them happen: 1. Write down your goals 2. Set a SMART Goal …
The Magic of Group Coaching: Yale Music Entrepreneurs Discover The Power of Group Wisdom and Support
This semester, I launched a new program at Yale: group career coaching. What is Group Coaching? Group coaching is a magical process whereby a small set of peers who share a common goal meet under the guidance of a facilitator/coach to learn new information and share their experience on topics of interest to the group as a way of advancing …