Female Entrepreneur Musician with Bree Noble

I did a similar episode back in 2015 and I've gotten a number of feedbacks from artists who were really glad they followed my advice and released their holiday CDs. I thought it was time to have an update about this in relation to the present time. Since we are in September, I want to give you 10 reasons why you should consider releasing an album, a single or an EP this year.In relation to this, you might also want to check out my free masterclass, "How to Confidently Plan and Execute Your Next Release Without Feeling Overwhelmed or Regretting Missed Opportunities". You can find it at rockyournextrelease.com. Here are 10 Reasons Why You Should Do a Holiday EP in 2020:#1 - 2020 needs a little bright spot.Terrible things have happened and is still happening this year. With a holiday release, you can allow yourself and other people to take your minds off all these things and give you joy.#2 - You can do this from home.In 2011, I recorded my whole album at home for 2 months and got it out for Christmas so I know this can be done. During this time, we're already home so why not use that to create an album? You have more time to do this now and technology is cheaper nowadays. You can either do this on your own or find someone you trust who has a home studio and can help. #3 - Holiday music is much easier to record especially if you're doing some cover songs.I found an arrangement for one of the songs I included in my album for $60 online.#4 - You can create a fun event around your release.Some places are opening up for events so there may be some opportunities for you do some events during the holidays. If not, you can do an online release party and the good thing is people are much used to these types of online events by now. #5 - Spotify allows you to get free promotion. Having holiday music on Spotify allows you to get more followers through this platform. #6 - Having followers allows Spotify to promote all your music to these people. You can then also find some Spotify playlists to get your songs featured on. #7 - Holiday CDs make such great gifts.#8 - It's great to invest in holiday merch.Since people have not seen them for some time, holiday merch always seem new. It never feels old and always seems fresh.#9 - Holiday music can help you create a new program that you can pitch.I created a program when I released my album, "Gift Beneath the Star". People are always looking for programs during the holidays to use for their events. The program makes it more interesting when you pitch it to people.#10 - Holiday songs are a fresh new way to promote yourself every year.Holiday music is almost always new news every single year unlike other songs or releases which eventually feels tired and old after some point.I hope you guys take my advice and do this. We will be having our Holiday Series on the Women of Substance Podcast as we do every year. We'll be taking original song submissions this year between October 1st and November 10th, 2020. We would love to consider your songs for the show.If you'll be releasing music, I highly recommend my workshop that will provide you chock-full of great ideas at rockyournextrelease.comLink mentioned in this episode: rockyournextrelease.com

I'm excited to be recording this podcast in my new remote office in Maine. We currently have one desktop which I use for my podcast and my husband also uses to teach his students. Good thing he works in the evening. I also have to balance looking after my kids, especially my 11 year old.If you need help in planning and prioritizing things, you can check my Smart Goals Workbook which you can download at femusician.com/goalsBeth Matthew and Cayla Brooke, our Community Managers from Female Musician Academy will share how they balance their lives during this time.Beth shared about having focused time with no distractions. She works for 25 minutes then takes a 5-minute break and literally gets away from her computer, making sure she does something else and not spend time on her phone screen instead. What she does is called the Pomodoro technique. Those blocks of time are called Pomodoros. There are apps out there that tell you when a Pomodoro is over and when it's time to take a break. This works most for people that have a hard time focusing. Cayla talks about some days that felt like managing their business became a total grind but during this time of the pandemic, she is now so thankful for that income. I love how she talks how having gratitude can allow you to be more productive. Having a lot on our plate such as running a business, writing a book, doing speaking engagements, Cayla found that organizing her time is very important. Prior to that, she thought that she had to work really hard in order to get anywhere. She also had the mentality that if somebody else is working and you are not working, that somebody is going to beat you to the goal since they are working and you are not. She realized that it was a dangerous path and we have to realize that it's not all about work. I totally agree with Cayla and that is one reason why we decided to stay here during this time in Maine. Cayla also talks about organizing using her planner. In relation to what Beth mentioned about the Pomodoro, Cayla does some of her chores during her breaks so technically, she still uses those breaks productively. Since she is old-fashioned, she still loves using her Passion Planner. She loves doing a big brain dump and then figure out what she needs to do in chunks. She suggests that you take a look at your life and figure out what you can do to have time for yourself while doing all the important stuff. Like for example, she pays to have somebody do her meal plans for her but that in turn allows her to have more time for more important stuff on her list. She also bought an iRobot to clean her house for her. So for Cayla, doing that has value. One other thing is doing the task part by part during the Pomodoro breaks allow you to finish a task that could have otherwise occupied your whole weekend. Anything you can delegate, automate, plan in little chunks so you can have more time in your life and allow you to get your life back and enjoy it, is worth it.I, too, outsource a lot of chores at home to others or my family. Be kind to yourself so you can show up for things only you can do and delegate the rest. Beth does her own chores and she agrees with Cayla that it is best to do it in small chunks so that it won't get overwhelming. She shares a quote from Steven Cotler, "If we are hunting the highest version of ourselves, then we need to turn work into play and not the other way around. Unless we invert this equation, much of our capacity for intrinsic motivation starts to shut down much of our passion." For those who are working, due to the current situation, everyone else is at home and we may feel that we are actually working all the time. It's a good motivation that if you are productive and did a good job, you will get rewarded for that. Cayla and Beth both agree that doing similar tasks in batches allow you to get them done faster rather than doing one each day or so. You also avoid feeling that you are working all of the time. A good example of such tasks are scheduling emails or creating social media graphics for your business.Aside from using an old-fashioned Passion Planner, Cayla shared about using an online tool which imports the regular things that you do into a calendar.Batching, planning, organizing and basically putting structure into your day to day activities allow you to have more time for yourself and your goals.We should also have a "Stop Doing" list so we can be aware and remove those activities and people that waste our time. Good examples are watching too much television or social media. Once we learn how to do that, we can instead spend that time being more productive and doing something that gives us more energy.Perfectionism can also cause a waste of time. We need to get started instead of just thinking about it. We also need to figure out when we are most productive. If you are more energetic in the morning, you can do more work including the hard stuff during that time. On the time of day you feel less energetic, you can do other things that need less energy from yourself.Morning and evening routines are also important. For Cayla, her morning routine starts her day off well. She also has an evening routine to help her shut down well. When she wakes up late, she still makes sure she does a mini-version of her morning routine.She also plans her week every Sunday. She has her main works and needle mover stuff. Needle mover are little things that allow you to progress your bigger goals. Each day, she schedules 3 main works and 1 needle mover. She also gives herself time for small things that allow her to be happy -- like draw, take pictures, call a friend and other small things that make you feel good. Consciously taking some time for yourself and the little things you want to do allows you to feel better and happier about yourself. In turn, that makes you feel more energized for your work too. You can join our very cool Facebook group which has been named one of the top Facebook groups for musicians. Just go to Facebook and look up "Female Indie Musicians Community". Don't forget to also get my Smart Goals Workbook at femusician.com/goals.Links mentioned in this episode: femusician.com/goals

Amy Barbera has been strategically connecting with people she has been submitting music to. And when she was winning competitions, she was utilizing that to get more publicity and bring her fans on board. I met Amy through the Women of Substance Podcast when she submitted her music. If you are interested to get on our show where we can promote you through our different social channels and our listeners, you can leverage that exposure to show your fans that you are doing something fun and also get to rally your existing fans to share it. You can also connect with other artists who are featured on the show and possibly collaborate with them. If you want to submit to our Review Board, you can do so at www.wosradio.comIt all started when Amy was in elementary school. Though she lacked confidence, Amy joined a talent show where she won money by singing "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. That made her feel that music could be her destiny. Eventually, she joined a choir and musical theater while in college.When she was young, she had anorexia. Through healing, she realized she had to move out of Maryland to seek for opportunities to pursue her passion. She already knew that time that her calling was singing and music. She went to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida. In that place, she also found a local church. The pastor in that church immediately told her she was to be a lead singer and that started her musical journey.She only started vocal training in her twenties. Back in Maryland when she was young, she developed vocal chord nodules when she was a cheerleader and had undergone surgery. All her vocal teachers said it was a miracle that she sings the way she does even after that.Amy knows her calling was to reach people with her original music. Her message through her music is mainly about God's hope, healing, love, grace and other inspirationals like nature and pursuing your dreams. She does not feel the need to stick to the usual genres. She's not afraid to explore other music styles outside of her genre as well. Before the lockdown happened, she did shows with her mom on her Youtube channel. During the lockdown, she was able to slow down, take much-needed rest and became more active in Youtube doing home videos to let people hear her message. Amy advises to step out of the box and stretch to an area you are not that familiar with as an artist. She invested in doing videos over the years and she has submitted them for competitions. Two years ago, she released an album called "Make Me a Butterfly". Her friend, Robynn, used one of her songs, "Breath of Angels" to close out her short film, "You're Never Alone". She was the one who told Amy about Filmfreeway where she can submit songs and music videos. This outlet has thousands of festivals all over the world and this is where she won a bronze medal for the Global Music Awards and got good reviews and wins for other such competitions. She has gotten a lot of exposure due to joining different international competitions. She also creates promo videos and gets a lot of support from her fans. Even if she doesn't win in some of the competitions she joins, she does get other awards like people's choice and is otherwise happy to get nominated. Winning awards has opened a lot of doors for her. People have reached out wanting to work with her and interview her. It also helped build up her credibility. The Global Music Awards is recognized as music's golden seal of approval and they also have affiliations with other big companies. Even big movies are in Filmfreeway. It's an avenue that opened a lot of opportunities for her. It really helps that through this, even during the Coronavirus she has something great to look forward to.Aside from joining competitions, she also promotes her music even behind the scenes so when judges check her videos they are able to see the views. Her attitude is, even if the song has been released, there are still millions of people in the world that haven't heard it. For example, when she has a new follower on Instagram, she sends them a private message introducing herself and encouraging them with a link to her music. Through that, she has gotten some radio interviews among other stuff. She loves doing this apart from doing Filmfreeway.If you want to connect with Amy Barbera, you can find her online at www.amybarbera.com. She is also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reverbnation among others -- just look for her name, Amy Barbera.Links mentioned in this episode: www.wosradio.com and www.amybarbera.com

Motherhood was something central to my music career. I only started pursuing it after I had a 2-year old. I experienced a lot of what my guest, Rachel Mason, will talk about in regards to balancing a thriving music career and being a mom. I would love you to join our Female Musician Academy. The first step is to join my free masterclass on www.musiciansprofitpath.comRachel Mason is a jill-of-all-trades and has helped many people internationally. She has always loved music and song since she was around 4 years old. She has a condition similar to Tori Amos called synesthesia wherein apart from hearing music, she can see it as colours and taste it too. Music has always been a part of her life. She studied it in school and took up classical music in University during the day and at night, she wrote music in the studio. Recently, she took up Masters in Songwriting. After University, she taught voice to students. Although she loved pop, she took up Classical Music since that was the one available in their schools. She felt her voice did not belong in usual genres so she created her own path where she does belong. One time, she had an admin job that she hated. She contacted all the local schools to see if they needed a music teacher. Eventually she found a school that took her and she was able to quit the job she didn't like. She eventually needed to set up a local group for the school and from there, she and her friends set up Euphoria Show Choir. Since show choirs were not common in the UK during that time, that venture opened a lot of doors for her, which included being invited outside of the country for judging choirs.On top of all that, she also manages independent musicians. She won a competition for self-employed people in the UK as "Freelancer of the Year". It was tough competition but the judges loved that she was so diverse and she's come through really difficult things. She works with independent musicians who do not know how to start and she is like their mom who motivates them and support them in their journey. She manages the artists but it is more of mentorship that she provides. If the publicity side is doing really good and the artist feels ready, that is where she prefers to come into her management. Being a mom of little kids, she is grateful to have a good support network that includes her husband, her parents who live nearby plus her sister and her husband. She can be home with her children during the day and does her teaching in the evening. She avoided going abroad too much since that upsets them. She takes it step-by-step since there is no real blueprint for being a working mom. She loves writing for herself and collaborating with other people. She is aware that there are some things she is good at and there are some that she is not and that other person may complement it. Aside from that, she also records music and she did one with her 3-year old.She is also a patron of a Mental Health foundation. She struggled so much going through motherhood, having post-partum psychosis (also known as postnatal depression). Eventually, she admitted to herself that there was a problem and she sought treatment. It's really good that she got the support and treatment she needed and eventually recovered. She also used songwriting to cope with how she felt whenever she was depressed. That makes her really passionate about her company, Lyrical Light. Everyone is welcome to join the group, not necessarily songwriters or singers only. I previously thought I had to give up being a mom after I had a child. You do not. Rachel agrees that it's a difficult balance but it's rewarding. You can have it all just at different points and times. She has a number of income streams she keeps. Her main one is teaching which she does at home which includes teaching choirs. She's had to do the classes virtually during this time. Aside from that, she writes songs and does commission work for choirs and other outlets. She also writes articles for different magazines and does public speaking. Just like Rachel, I always encourage musicians to have 5 or 6 income streams that you build up so that no matter what is happening in the world, you still have something to tap into. There's a lot of opportunities online now which allows us to participate in events outside of our location and still stay in the safety of your home.You can find Rachel on her website at rachelmasonmusic.com, on her Instagram @rachelmasonmusic, her Facebook Rachel Mason Music and twitter @iamrachelmason.Links mentioned in this episode: www.musiciansprofitpath.com and rachelmasonmusic.com

When I did this live stream in the Academy, many people said this is exactly what they needed. We're talking today about fear and how to learn to co-exist with your fear and use it to your advantage instead of avoiding it.If you're interested to get support around your music career, steps on how to build it, what stage you're in and what you need to work on based upon what stage you're at, visit my free masterclass at musiciansprofitpath.com. It will teach you how to attract your 1000 true fans without wasting time and money on the wrong marketing tactics.I know many of you have started a lot of new things in the past few months. When we embark on a new journey, the first thing we feel is fear. I heard this quote on a podcast: "The butterflies you feel in your stomach means that you've got skin in the game." The nervousness you feel means that that thing is actually worth doing and you are invested in it. Feeling that fear is normal and it's meant to protect you. It automatically appears when you don't know how things are going to turn out. There's nothing bad about feeling that fear but we need to learn how to co-exist with it.When you want to start something, it's scary but once you say yes the first feeling that you feel is excitement and exhilaration. Then the feeling that immediately follows that is fear and that is totally normal. Whenever I make a new business, I always feel fear around that. Even if I've done similar things before, it's totally normal. That fear is there to protect us since we don't know how things are going to turn out. There is nothing wrong with that feeling of fear but we need to co-exist with it and deal with it.On a podcast interview with Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote the books "Big Magic" and "Eat, Pray, Love", she talked about having a conversation with fear instead of having to push it away. Invite it in for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Let fear in and listen to your fear as to why you are afraid. You can write things down. Once you've let that have its way and not interrupt it, you can see why you have that fear, the worse that could happen, what you need to address, and look at things more objectively. You're going to know the worst that could happen and know how to deal with it.Sometimes we are so immersed in all our what ifs but once we play them in our mind, we realize that they're not so big at all. Fear doesn't have to hold us back and we just need to understand how to deal with it. "Butterflies in your stomach are just a sign that you've got skin in the game."Link mentioned in this episode: musiciansprofitpath.com

My friend, Michael Elsner, is passionate about teaching sync licensing to musicians to create that passive income and help make our businesses more stable. He will talk about the process he used and why this is the best time to do sync licensing.Michael has a free video series you can subscribe to before July 19th at femusician.com/michaelEarly on, Michael played in a band and had no idea about music licensing. During the 90s and 2000s, he moved to Nashville with a dream to advance his music career. He got turned down many times during the 4 years he stayed there and eventually, he decided to move to Los Angeles and pursue his path there. In 2003, he landed a gig on a tv show playing guitar on "The Young and The Restless" which led to his first movie which is "Ella Enchanted" with Anne Hathaway. He still continued his artist path trying to break into the labels but he got no success. He tried to do sync licensing while pursuing his artist career. It got to a point that he was working for 3 shows at a time and it was a great experience. However, due to the stress in the job, he developed alopecia and decided he was going to change his path. He realized that he should focus on sync licensing alone since he is getting a lot of acceptance and projects with it. He pursued licensing and got really good at it. There are a lot of opportunities for a lot of different styles/genres. Labels may look for the latest sounds which does not suit what you make but sync licensing opens a lot of opportunities for different sounds. Artistically, you get to cover a lot of ground.There are different paths to placements but the reality is musicians do not understand the business enough to close the deal with a music supervisor. Michael has done licensing for a long time but since 2011, he had someone else handle it.A licensing company is like a realtor who sells your music who gets a percentage of your sales. You can choose not to give up the right to your music but allow them to use your music for a certain period of time. Working with a licensing company allows you to continue creating music instead of spending your time selling your music. Traditional Music Process:Finish the song.Send it out.The Music Licensing Process:Finish the song.Recording mixes.Add Metadata.Send it out.Michael created his licensing course because he noticed others talking about what music licensing is but nobody was showing how to actually do it. He shares his entire process on licensing and how to show music producers how you can make their life easier and bring them what they need.Why is this the right time to learn sync licensing?It creates a back end revenue stream.The content world for TV, movies, Netflix, etc. are exponentially growing right now. People are currently craving entertainment.Productions have started back again. In another 2 months, they will start again with post production and will be needing your music.Licensing is a fun and exciting world. It does require work, you have to write good music and your music has to sound good. You're playing in the big leagues. Your music is valued and you're paid accordingly both on the upfront licensing fees and with royalties. For a long time Michael looked at his career as a failure but he is so grateful that he landed in the licensing world. He gets to do what he loves which is playing guitar and making music. In the licensing world, it does not matter if you have been turned down multiple times or if somebody did not believe in you. What you look like or what clothes you wear is completely irrelevant. What matters is that your music complements and enhances a story or emotion that is happening on screen. Other things are completely irrelevant. If you want to know if your music is good enough for licensing, give yourself half an hour to an hour a day, turn on the tv, close your eyes, when it gets to a commercial, listen to the music that is played. You will hear that it is not the same music that is played in the radio, it is a lot of different genres.Sign up for Michael's video series at femusician.com/michael while it’s available. Link mentioned in this episode: femusician.com/michael

My guest for this podcast has truly inspired me and I learned so much more about her in today's interview. Some of you will definitely relate with her, especially since she has been in hiatus for many years. Cayla is one of our Community Managers for the Female Indie Musician Community which is our large free group on Facebook. We talk about why she joined in that group and what she thinks it offers to artists in particular. You can check our group at woscommunity.com. Then we also talk about the Academy and how it's different from the free group, why she joined the Academy and the higher level of benefit she gets from it. If you would like to find out more, you can join my free class at musiciansprofitpath.comAbout CaylaAt 3 years old she wanted to be a singer but her mom told her that she couldn't carry a tune. She was still determined to become a singer. She started to sing professionally at 14. At 19, she has toured and performed in several continents as well as for prime ministers and presidents and even in Lincoln Center in New York. She was brought up in the church and in a Christian community. She joined a contest for her church that had 1000 people in it. From there, she joined her church group that toured in Israel and different countries as well as in front of dignitaries.She also sang gospel music which during that time had various styles and that's what helped developed her music. With her mom's, dad's and musical theater influence, she was a real mixing pot when it comes to music. Cayla experienced a lot of struggles including abuse from her family, controlling marriage, abandoned relationships from family, churchmates and friends. Due to the abuse she endured during her childhood, she lost who she was. Sometime in her 50s, her daughter asked her why she has not pursued her dreams. She explained because she was already old. Then her daughter asked her if she wanted her to give up on her own dreams. That was a wake-up call for her. She realized she was the one who decided to stop pursuing her own dreams and she chose to let life stop her. After that, she joined a gospel choir to get her voice back then it's gone from there. She slowly rediscovered herself and her confidence.Things she learned through her life experiences:Do not be complacent and continue learning and continue bringing ourselves forward.We should not stop living our dreams when we reach a certain age because we think we no longer have value and we have nothing more to say. We should show our children that we can reach and live our dreams no matter what age we are.Listen to your intuition and follow your own dreams and passions.We encounter fears whenever we try something new but your why should be stronger than your fear.Find out who you are as a person and as a performer. Do not follow what others say or what others want. You got to do you.How the Academy Helped CaylaOne way the Academy has helped Cayla was the "brain dump" where you need to write down your plans and target what you want to achieve in 90 days. She also learned about and worked on getting a residual income so she can do the things she wants to do. Ask yourself, "What is it that I really want"?She is working on a free course that works as a good lead magnet. You can find the Chair Workshop at caylabrooke.com.How FIMC has helped CaylaFemale Indie Musician Community is a group where female musicians can join and feel safe. It's not a place where you can promote but you do have a place to put your Youtube link or so. You can celebrate your wins and ask questions. Other artists with decades of experience can give you advice. It's also a great place to make friendships with other musicians who understand you.How the FMA and FIMC differsCayla shares that the free group is like being in a big church while the Academy is like being with your girls who support you and care for you. The Academy also conducts expert workshops to expose members to different things and choose which one you want to use.Learn more about Cayla on her Instagram at @officialcaylabrooke, and on Spotify and Facebook as Cayla Brooke.You can join our free workshop "How to Get Your 1000 True Fans" at musiciansprofitpath.com to have an idea of how I run my Academy.Links mentioned in this episode: caylabrooke.com, woscommunity.com, musiciansprofitpath.com

On this episode, my friend, Kris Bradley, will talk about how she went from wanting to produce her own music at home to save money to now having a full-blown business for producing music as well as teaching other artists how to produce themselves from home with minimal gear and maximum results. We also talk about the free video series for you to learn how to start producing at home with her simple method. If you want to sign up right now, you can go to femusician.com/boss. Kris is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. Early on, she was writing and pitching songs hoping to get them cut, get film and TV placements, and get songs with other artists. Since she needed to have a professional recording for that, she was spending money for producers to help her with the recording. She had difficulty communicating what she wanted so she did not always get the results she wants. Since she also wrote a lot of songs during that time, she did not have enough money to support producing her songs as often as she needed. That was when she decided that she will learn how to produce.She was not at all tech-savvy but she decided to get her first laptop in her late 20's and learn it. She did have technological struggles but she was so determined to do it. She made a lot of bad recordings but she kept on learning until she got to a point that her recordings were good enough for her to start pitching her songs. Then other artists started paying her to do their demos. She suddenly realized she is already a producer since artists were approaching her to produce their songs. Now, she is a full-time producer and also teaches other people how to produce their own songs.Why You Would Want to Learn Producing Songs With Kris:You will save money by no longer needing to pay a producer to produce your songs.You get the results you want. You can either produce your own songs or learn to communicate better with your producer. You can have the freedom to be in the comfort of your own home and still produce your song.You can release your own music.You can beta test your songs with your market and get feedback before producing and releasing them.If you have the right presentation, you get the full potential of how good your song can be.Learning to use the right software like LogicProX will allow you to plug in and play. Kris does a listening party for her course enrollees so she can give feedback to their songs and artists can listen to the feedback and learn from each other. Kris has a video series she just released which is called "Start Producing Your Song Today in 3 S.I.M.P.L.E. Steps". S.I.M.P.L.E. stands for Structure, Instrumentation, Mood, Production Style, Leave It All Behind and Execute. The first step is "How to easily build your home studio". The second step is "Assembling your tool belt". The third step is "Template: How to Avoid the Blank Page Syndrome". The last two steps are reverse engineering a different song to get ideas for your arrangement.Find Kris' free video series at femusician.com/boss.You can find Kris Bradley at producelikeaboss.com, Produce Like A Boss on Facebook, and @producelikeaboss on Instagram.Links mentioned in this episode: femusician.com/boss and producelikeaboss.com

Side Door was created to match artists and hosts for house concerts and alternative venues. They've been called the Airbnb of concerts. I'm a huge fan of house concerts but we cannot do that in this era. What Side Door discovered is they can shift this to online concerts and allowed them to shift to an area they never really thought they could have. Laura Simpson of Side Door will share how musicians are earning income this way.I also share about live streaming on 15 Streams of Income to Tap Right Now. If you haven't yet, you can grab this free resource at femusician.com right on the front page. If you're interested in getting group support within the Academy, you can check out my workshop at musiciansprofitpath.com to see how I set up the Academy and how I run that framework.Starting up as a fan of music, Laura hung around musicians at all-ages clubs. She started by defending musicians to make sure they are getting paid correctly. She eventually did live music photography. She became a journalist for 7 years and after that, she pivoted back to music and worked as a funding officer for a non-profit that helped artists in developing their careers. She also worked in the biggest music market in California where she learned a lot. She was really passionate about doing live music at her own house. She felt that the shows she was able to host at her own house where she helps other musicians earn money was such a beautiful experience. After all that, she put up her first company, The Syrup Factory, which is mainly project management for hire that supports artists in doing their release or putting out a video, etc. Side Door was born out of the idea that Laura wanted to make doing live music a better experience for artists. She saw that her beloved musicians didn't really make that much money on tours so she saw a solution in doing house concerts instead. She had an idea of how to simplify the booking process for house concerts. She met Dan Mangan who was doing a similar thing as she was. They made the business what it is to create a fair and transparent platform for artists. With this platform, the idea was to find the best artists and help them find the best venues like houses, churches, breweries, etc. and Side Door matchmakes both sides. The third part was giving access to the audience. When this pandemic happened, they had a lot of bookings scheduled for the artists and venues so they had to speak with each of them when the bookings were canceled. A week after what happened, Laura and Dan talked about booking shows online. Since then, they've done more than 100 shows and artists' incomes have become triple what they usually had.About Side Door Online Gigs:They have been enjoying Zoom shows for artists since it creates connections with the artists and audiences both being at their own homes, with their kids, and with their dogs. The cap on a Zoom call's capacity creates scarcity for the shows and that makes the shows really special.They put hard tickets on the shows. The average ticket price is between $7 and $8. They have a donate link as well for tipping. Merch can also be sold if the artists prefer. (These items are not currently live. They will be in the coming weeks.) Most people buy more tickets than they need to support their favorite artists. The kinds of fans coming to the shows actually pay for tickets and gift them to others.The average income that an artist takes home for a show is $1600-$1700 a show.They are also currently working on matching with hosts or other people who could contribute to making the show great.Some artists would collaborate with emerging artists. Audiences tend to support emerging artists when they soon have their own virtual show.Side Door responds to support requests if they need to have a conversation with the artist and whoever else is involved pre-show to talk about details such as the date of the show, time of the show, etc.They are also transparent about how much an artist would take home after fees and taxes.Anyone can be a promoter for an artist and that person can earn from this. They are also working on suggestions for similar artists or concerts just like what Spotify does. (This feature is not yet live but in design/development.)Online shows do not replace live shows since it's a different kind of experience. It looks like online shows will stay even after live shows are allowed again.Go to sidedooraccess.com and check out their platform.Links mentioned in this episode: femusician.com, musiciansprofitpath.com, and sidedooraccess.com

My goal when I started this podcast in 2015 was to help female musicians become an entrepreneur. I did an upgrade to our Income Guide and you can grab that right on the front page of femusician.com. We are celebrating our 200th episode and I have decided to talk about money. I want to talk about the mindset side. I have learned that no matter how many practical things you know, if you have not conquered the mindset side over money, either you lose money easily or you block money from getting to you.I want to talk about Money Blocks - I highly recommend the book, "You are a Badass at Making Money" by Jen Sincero - it's really eye-opening on beliefs we have about money that are keeping us stuck. We have these beliefs about money that we don't realize are actually not facts. I want to bring up some common ones that musicians face and I want you to listen with an open mind and think "Are these things that I might be thinking deep down about money?"MONEY BLOCKS#1: Money doesn't grow on trees. This means that money is a limited resource.Thinking this way makes you hesitant or guilty to sell.Money is just an exchange of value. If others think that what you gave was so valuable that they wanted to give you money, you're taking that experience to support you away from them if you think this way.#2: Money is the root of all evil.Thinking that money only comes to the greedy or thinking that money makes you a bad person.Money just amplifies what you already are.#3: You can't be an artist and make money.Thinking that you only want to help people with what you're doing and not make money from it.Money is just a means to an end. It allows you to put your message further.#4: Money can't buy happiness.Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you choices. Those choices can bring you happiness and it can make your life better.Probe and think if you have these deep-seated beliefs. Changing my mindset has really allowed me to have abundance and my business has grown. I want to know your thoughts about this touchy subject. I would love to know what you guys think. Find this on our femusician.com/podcast at the top episode and leave a comment. Or you can also leave me a speak pipe at speakpipe.com/femusician. I would love to hear your thoughts on money, music, and abundance.Links mentioned in this episode: femusician.com, femusician.com/podcast, and speakpipe.com/femusician