In this episode, Jared Judge dives into the importance of mindset and how it can either hinder or propel your music career. Drawing from his own experiences, Jared emphasizes the need to believe in your worth and to recognize that success in the music industry requires more than just musical talent. He challenges conventional paths and encourages listeners to forge their own unique journeys to success. Jared shares insights from a book he's reading, "10x Is Easier Than 2x," which explores the concept of setting audacious goals and making transformative shifts to achieve them. He highlights the importance of focusing on the 20% of activities that yield 80% of results, and he challenges musicians to step outside their comfort zones and pursue higher-paying gigs by connecting with private event planners and venue managers. Jared invites listeners to explore the Gig Vault, a comprehensive resource of over 24,665 private event venue owners and event contacts, available with a free 30-day trial of Fulltime Music Academy. Ultimately, Jared reminds musicians that their success hinges on their mindset and the actions they take to proactively shape their music careers.
In this episode, Jared Judge dives into the importance of mindset and how it can either hinder or propel your music career. Drawing from his own experiences, Jared emphasizes the need to believe in your worth and to recognize that success in the music industry requires more than just musical talent. He challenges conventional paths and encourages listeners to forge their own unique journeys to success. Jared shares insights from a book he's reading, "10x Is Easier Than 2x," which explores the concept of setting audacious goals and making transformative shifts to achieve them. He highlights the importance of focusing on the 20% of activities that yield 80% of results, and he challenges musicians to step outside their comfort zones and pursue higher-paying gigs by connecting with private event planners and venue managers. Jared invites listeners to explore the Gig Vault, a comprehensive resource of over 24,665 private event venue owners and event contacts, available with a free 30-day trial of Fulltime Music Academy. Ultimately, Jared reminds musicians that their success hinges on their mindset and the actions they take to proactively shape their music careers.
Hey, what's up gigging pros! It's Jared Judge. Welcome back to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. Today, I want to chat about how your mindset is most likely the thing holding you back. And I say this, because this has been true for me too. It's been true for almost everybody who comes into this game of being a professional musician. And the thing that holds most people back is their mindset. It's the thought patterns, the beliefs they hold, that literally prevent them from having success. Now, you might be thinking, Oh, crap, here's a, here's one of those woowoo podcast episodes. And it might be a little bit, but I promise you, I'm not the typical woowoo personal development coach like Tony Robbins or anything like that. I am a gigging musician, just like you. And I've been in this game for a long time. And I've been making a lot of money from music for a long time. But it wasn't always that way. Back when I was in college for music, yes, I studied music twice, and got two degrees in it. And the thing is, every musician goes through this, the same training process, like we all start with our instruments, or our voice, and we start to take lessons. And we develop a real passion for it, the creativity of it, the artistry of it, and that never goes away. The problem, though, is that solely focusing on that, and being around others who solely focus on it, creates this mindset that really does hold us back. And I wish that I was more cognizant of this earlier, back when I was, you know, in college, studying with my peers, because I see a lot of my peers now struggling with this, where they're working, non music jobs that they hate, and they see me gigging all the time, my posts, me making money with my music. And I do sense a little bit of, I don't want to say like resentment, but like, you know, thoughts about Jared is not a good musician, how is he getting all these gigs. But I will say like, the the big thing has been mindset, which starts with belief that you deserve it. It I am of the mindset that any musician who picks up an instrument, or, you know, sayings or anything, they deserve it, as long as they're willing to put in the work to get it. So it's this belief that you deserve it. And I think all musicians deserve it. And I think you have to believe this yourself, you have to believe I deserve to make money with my music. But then the mindset of, you know, this isn't just going to happen. For me, like, just by playing music doesn't mean it's innately going to become a career in music, I have to do things that are not musical to get myself there. So that is one of the biggest differentiators between those who have success and those who don't know, if you're listening to this podcast, that's an activity that is not a musical activity that will serve your music career. Because you believe that you have to do non musical things to advance your career. And one of the big things is mindset work, we have to believe that we're deserving of it, we have to believe that there is a path to do this. And we're not going to follow the the same path that others that we see in music following. Like, for example, there are so many professors of music that I personally experienced, who really don't have successful music careers. So why would I follow their path to a music career when they themselves have not arrived at the destination, so to speak. So that is kind of a discerning mindset as well is, you know, choosing the right mentors, having the filter to know that I'm going to follow the people who have what I want, who have figured out the path, and who have pursued it relentlessly, rather than those who just are like everybody else. And you know, this even relates to when you're scrolling on Facebook and Instagram, or Tiktok. And you see ads for all these different music gurus who are like, I'll get you on Spotify playlists, or here's the directory of booking agents. Like those are the paths that every musician is following. It's a very saturated market. And the right mindset is to say no, I'm not going to follow the cattle to the slaughter. I'm not going to do what every other musician is doing. I'm going to forge my own unique path. I'm going to become as skilled had the business MUSIC As I am at the art, and I'm not going to just wait for others to do this for me, I'm going to do it myself. And then, you know, that's the thing is like, I've had so many opportunities land in my lap, because I was in momentum, and had this mindset of getting into momentum. And then once you get into momentum, you know, it's kind of like a gravitational pull, you start to attract things to you. I mean, I mentioned this wasn't gonna get super woowoo. This is where it is going a little bit. But there is a book called the law of attraction, which, basically, one of the Theses is that you will attract to you the opportunities and the people that are, you know, at your level that you're worthy and deserving of. And so in order to attract those opportunities that you truly do want, you have to be the person that is worthy of them. And that boils down to a lot to having the right mindset. Now, it's all boils down to putting in the work. Right, I see so many music crews that that fail to get started. Because they're so focused on what happens in the practice room that they fail to get out of the practice room is so incredibly important and urgent for you to get out of the practice room right now, if you don't want your music to be relegated to a hobby, if you don't want to spend more on your music than you're making from it, you've got to get out of the practice room, like music is expensive. Gear is expensive instruments are expensive. I know this because I'm in the process of upgrading my gear, I just got into your monitors a month ago, I'm in the market for a new PA system. And it's expensive. Not to mention traveling, like the gas and the wear and tear on your vehicle. And by the way, you have to have a vehicle. So otherwise, how are you going to get to the gigs, by the way you need a wardrobe. Because I played a gig recently that I realized the day before that my pants didn't fit, I started to get new fans. And all these expenses add up. Not to mention, if you actually want to make your music, your career well, crap, you got to pay for your housing, where you're going to live, you got to pay for that. If you want to eat, you're going to pay for food. If you've got a spouse, you're going to need to support them with money. And so there is a true urgency for you to actually figure this out and make the money side happen. You know, one of the things this is another mindset is that it's not all about the money. Money is a tool, right? We need money to equate value, like we're creating value with what we do. And I believe that our music helps people. I was just talking to my wife the other day or yesterday about one of my professors at grad school who was like, hey, this professor and I butted heads. Because I made a statement in class that he disagreed with, which was that I said that music solves a problem for people. And that's a mindset in itself. By the way. Music solves a problem for people. People want to be entertained. They need entertainment to serve different purposes. Right, that's getting back to the four gig types. Weddings need music, to create memories. corporate events, need music, to retain their clients, and attract employees and nonprofit events need music to help raise money. private parties need music to help commemorate an occasion or celebrate somebody's life. And those are problems that music solves its own. That's why I butted heads with this professor was he was just like, music exists for its its own sake. Which is true except that, you know, we're operating in a reality kind of situation where, you know, we're not all just in an ivory, white ivory tower of academia, like we need to apply what we're learning to the real world. And, you know, music for its own sake, and exposure, do not pay the bills. There is real urgency for you to figure that part out. And if you really want it. And trust me, society wants you to succeed. I want you to succeed. But you've got to figure out the non musical sides that allow you to do music. So, yeah, these are kind of my ramblings. I'm in the middle of reading a book right now. It's a great book. It's called 10x is easier than to x. And it's all about how they describe it. They say that The book says most people in their life are focusing on to axing where they're currently at. Right to x thing overall, getting twice as good as they are right now. Whereas these guys, they've coached over 7000 entrepreneurs. It's Dr. Ben Hardy, and I forget the other other gentleman's name. But they've coached over 7000 entrepreneurs, who all are trying to improve and get better, right? That's kind of the the mindset is, I will always improve and get better. And what they've discovered is that two axing what you're currently doing takes a lot of work, because you're basically like maintaining and improving slightly. Whereas what they found out is that going for 10x. So making your goals 10 times, where you're at right now requires a gigantic transformational shift, and actually requires you to stop doing a lot of what you're doing right now. Because what you're doing right now will get you to x results. Versus what are your 10x goals? What are the big goals, and there are a few key, almost outrageous activities that will get you to your 10x goals that are a lot less effort than to x goals. So they say you have to actually cut out 80% of what you're currently doing right now. Which if you're listening to this podcast, what is that 80% of effort that you're putting in right now, that's really not getting you closer to your 10x goals? Can you cut that out? For some of you who might be pursuing bar gigs. In fact, I hope a lot of you this is a bold statement, I hope a lot of you stop playing bar gigs, unless you truly enjoy them. But I do find it hard to to balance both a monetary goal. And a purely like music for that. I don't want to say pleasure, because trust me playing music and getting paid for it is so much fun. But there's something else that I guess I haven't played enough bar gigs to know exactly what it is. But I feel like it's hard to balance that with, with the goal, the 10x goal of making a true living with your music. And so for a lot of you feel like pursuing bar gigs, coffee shop gigs, even open mic nights are a total waste of your time. And yes, this is the podcast getting a little bit more controversial. And I'm sure I'm gonna lose a couple people by by saying that. And I'm okay with that. Because I want to find the musicians who are comfortable putting themselves out there for these 10x goals, the ones who wants to make a living with music, the ones who believe in themselves, maybe if you're, you know, if you don't have the confidence yet, that is okay. In fact, the book 10x is easier than 2x addresses this because if you're setting a 10x goal, that obviously implies that you haven't gotten there yet. So you're not expected to have the confidence or even the competence to reach those goals yet. But you have the commitment to pursue them. And in your pursuit of them, you will actually gain the confidence and the competence to get there. So again, it's all about mindset like that also kind of reminds you of build the plane as you're flying it. Because if you you don't have the competence to get there right now, you got to start, you really do have to start, it's time for you to make a big change. I know I'm going to make a big change. And I've been making big changes by focusing a lot on marketing of my act. It's been paying off actually a lot of my full time he's had me students have been very impressed with all the pictures and videos I've been posting at my corporate event gigs that I've been playing. How did you do that? And you haven't even been in Colorado a year yet? It's like, well, I've been focusing on the 20%. That gets me 80% of the effort. That's the 8020 rule that this 10x is greater than 2x book has been talking about the 10x shift of, you know, blowing up your music career by focusing on the stuff that most people won't dare to focus on because it is not comfortable. It is not easy. But it is also less work. Interesting. So hopefully this was not not I hope this wasn't too rambley hope you got something good out of it. And yeah, I apologize if I've offended you. But it's the reality of the situation. It's time to make a big change. And I invite you if you're ready to make a big change, that first thing that I would do what is the the 20% that would get me the 80% of the effort of breaking into these higher playing gigs that actually require a ton less effort. And a ton less time would be to start to connect with the private event planners and the managers at the venues that host these events. And that is all information that I would give you for free in the gig vault. So I invite you to check out the gig vault. You vault is a treasure trove of over 24,665 private event venue owners and event contacts. And that comes with a free 30 day trial and Fulltime Music Academy where I will show you exactly how to use that and how to spend your time so effectively, that you're not wasting a single minute of it, pursuing gigs that don't pay you what you're worth. And, yeah, check it out at open the GigVault.com I just tested it. That's a new domain I bought and it works. So open the GigVault.com and grab your free copy there. And I would love to see you on the inside of Fulltime Music Academy. Alright, thanks for tuning in. Remember, "Your music will not market itself!". Bye everybody!
