Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

One of the cool things about my new book, Guerrilla Music Marketing, Encore Edition, is that at the end of each chapter I include three action steps -- things the reader can do immediately to implement the concepts in each of the 32 sections.

Here are the three action steps from a chapter called "The Three-Step Music Success Formula" that I think you'll find useful, even without reading what came before it.

• Write a clear description of who you are. Now that you've absorbed the ideas in this chapter, let me ask you: Who are you? And along with it, what adjectives would you use to describe your state of being? Are you optimistic and upbeat? Or depressed and frustrated? Are you successful and always evolving? Or stagnant and struggling?
  
  However you define your lot in life, realize that you are putting a label on yourself. Focus on any label long enough and it becomes your reality. (Note: We're not talking about a record label here. This is about your self-image.) The good news is, you get to choose the label that describes you. So why not purposely pick an empowering one? Brush aside mental states of lack and struggle, and replace them with attitudes of growth, excitement and learning.
  
  
• Understand that success can happen only in the present moment. No matter how hard you might try, it's impossible to "should have been successful" at an earlier time in your life. That time unfolded naturally the way that it did and is now gone. Likewise, you can plan for and expect a bright future, but you cannot be successful at a date in time that hasn't arrived yet.
  
  That leaves you with only a single way to BE a success: Right here, right now. If you truly get this concept, it could change your life, along with the way you define yourself.
  
  
• List your top being and feeling priorities. Remember, what you do with your music and what you acquire along the way are simply steps to the real payoff: How those things make you feel and who you become in the process. To get the most out of your career and your life, it will help to know what emotions and states of being are most important to you.
  
  Do you want to be happy, creatively fulfilled or passionate? Or does confident, content or respected ring truer for you? Perhaps three or four of these words hold equal meaning, or maybe five others not even on the list. Dig deep and ponder what values and feelings are most important to you. Once you zero in on the states of being closest to your core, make sure all of your music career activities bring you into alignment with them.

For more info on the new Guerrilla Music Marketing, Encore Edition, pay a visit to bob-baker.com/buzz/encore-music.html

-Bob