A few nights ago I was asked, “When is your next trip?” While I know that in late January I’ll be in Orlando to speak at Podfest Multimedia Expo, that’s more than a month off, so I simply said, “Nowhere right now.”
The initial inquiry was justified though, given that last month I went to New York City and then Alabama, and last week was in Nashville.
I remember many years ago when I left the job that I was working in so that I could go all in, full-time, running Now Hear This. And one observation I heard was, “I’m concerned about you being all alone, though, and not having anyone around.”
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Clearly, as evidenced by the many trips I noted above, I operate in anything but isolation.
Heck, tomorrow night I’ll be at this month’s Florida Podcasters Association meeting, connecting with lots of like-minded creators.
The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of opportunities out there – if you go looking for them. I speak from experience, including this most recent trip last week in Music City. Sure, a performance one week ago tonight by recording artist client Kaitlyn Croker was the impetus for the trip, but I saw lots (and lots) of other folks while I was there.
The question I want you to ask yourself this week is, “Am I putting myself in a position to be seen so that I can discover more new opportunities?”
If you get yourself out there performing, you’ll meet lots and lots of people. Don’t mail it in and say, “I’m done for 2023.” There’s money to be made, followers to gain, and guys and gals to shake hands and subsequently collaborate with, possibly.
Perhaps you’ve been writing and writing and writing, but those songs are just sitting in your notebook and/or voice recorder. Get yourself into a recording studio and get something in the pipeline to start into the new year with, and in the process put yourself in a position where maybe one or more people at the studio are going to have something else for you.
And on that boring Tuesday night when you’re ready to just sit home – and now I’ll say it – by yourself, go out and see someone else perform and keep the dialogue going such that perhaps you end up doing something with him or her in the near future, which wouldn’t have happened if you would’ve decided, “Nah, I’m not leaving my house tonight.”
Now is when I will circle back and say yes, while I didn’t want it to make it seem like I was telling you to travel just to network, if the conditions are right, leave the security blanket that is your local area and venture out of town. Go to where the opportunities are. Find the work that you otherwise didn’t know is out there. Meet the people who are going to give you something that wouldn’t have been possible had you not decided to get out on the road.
Don’t just take my word on it. If you’ve been listening to my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast long enough, you hear me asking guests, “How did you get that opportunity,” and at times their answer will include a reference to someone that they met somewhere. In other words, they’re not saying, “Well, Bruce, I was just sitting at home doing nothing and got a random (phone call, email, text message, DM).”
For starters, have you and I connected? Call me through the Owwll app and let’s talk so I can learn about you and what you’re doing. Maybe there’s someone in my network I can introduce you to that would be a good fit for what you’re aiming to accomplish. Take advantage of my almost 20 years helping folks across the U.S. from indie music artists to authors, entrepreneurs, actors and filmmakers, small business owners, and podcasters. I’ll look forward to chatting with you!