Do You Need a Musician Coach? Self-Assessment

At this point, you’re probably starting to realize that musician coaching is a real thing, and it could be quite valuable for you.

But are you ready for coaching?

Is it right for you?

Is now a good time to get a coach?

Here’s a self-assessment that will help you determine whether you need a musician coach.

Are You Willing to Invest in Yourself?

If your answer is:

No, I’m not willing to spend a dime to build a fan base and make a living from my passion.

Then I can’t help you, and neither can any other coach.

If it’s unimaginable for you to spend $37 on an eBook, $97 on a course, $127 on personalized coaching, I’m sorry, I can’t help you, and most other coaches would be warped in the noggin to help you too.

Understand – these are minimum prices, not maximum!

It’s unfortunate, but it’s true – we don’t place much value on things we don’t pay for.

If you don’t act on the information offered here, you will go back to old habits, returning to the same rut you tried to claw your way out of.

Here’s something to think about…

You don’t pay a mechanic for working on your car, do you? You pay them for knowing what to do, regardless of how much time and effort it ultimately takes them.

It’s the same with a coach. You don’t pay them for how much time or effort it takes to do the job – you pay them for their experience and ability to guide you (especially since breakthroughs can happen fast!).

Have You Worked on Your Craft & Live Show?

If “no,” you might not need a coach yet.

First, you’ve got to make the leap from amateur to professional and that means making a commitment to improve and work on your craft from one show, one release, one interview, to the next.

If that’s not what you’re doing, you haven’t made the commitment yet, and that’s okay.

But you don’t need a coach if you’re not building towards something.

Cliché as it might be, my coaches often repeated this phrase to me:

You can’t steer a parked car.

What does that mean?

It means if you’re not doing anything in your music career, I can’t tell you where to go or what to do next – it would all be speculation.

But if, for example, you have a live show you’ve been developing for a while and you want me to audit and review it, I’m your man.

Do You Have Career Goals (Even if They Are Foggy)?

If you do, you will benefit from coaching.

The truth is many artists only think they have goals.

But because they haven’t taken certain actions to put their goals into existence, they don’t know what they’re working towards, let alone how close they are to achieving their goals.

Fogginess around goal setting is very normal because what I teach, they don’t generally teach in school. So, it’s not your fault that you don’t know.

Bottom line – if you aren’t working towards something, or don’t have at least partially defined goals yet, forego the coaching and instead come up with three things you would like to accomplish in your music career, so we have something to discuss.

Do it now. This post will still be here when you come back.

Could You Benefit from an Outside Perspective?

For most artists, the answer will be “yes.”

If you can’t see it for yourself, all good, here are some things to consider:

• How often do you record yourself to listen and evaluate your performance?
• How often do you film yourself performing on stage to watch, listen, and evaluate your performance?
• Do you track the number of people attending your performance (as well as how many people were there when you started, and how many were left when you were done)?
• Is auditing your web presence a common practice of yours, and do you take note of how you’re coming across to fans and prospective fans, what’s missing, or what could be improved upon?
• How well do you track your income and expenses, and could you make projections based on the numbers you see?
• This is but the tip of the iceberg…

There’s just so much you don’t see when you’re working in the business instead of on the business.

And yes, I do mean to use the term “business” here because if you take your music career seriously, that’s exactly what it is.

A good coach can see what you’re not seeing.

A good coach can see what you’re not seeing. Click To Tweet

Do You Have a Devil’s Advocate?

I remember calling my friend over one day to share my new business idea with him.

I was excited out of my mind and couldn’t possibly conceive how anyone would think it was a bad idea.

“He’s probably going to want to join my enterprise,” I thought to myself.

But as I started sharing, not only did he not share my sense of enthusiasm for the business, but he also tore apart the idea, systematically, limb from limb.

Although I kept answering his questions in the calmest manner possible, understandably I became frazzled by the end of that conversation!

You’ll never guess what he said to me next:

I was just being your devil’s advocate. Someone needs to punch holes in your idea so you can see all the ways it could fail, rather than getting tunnel vision on why it will succeed.

Wow.

Do you have tunnel vision? Are you seeing what no one else is seeing? Are you imagining a bright future only you believe in?

While you don’t need anyone to tear you down, you do need someone to help you reinforce your weakside.

And oftentimes, the only way to uncover that blind spot is to consult someone who’s equally invested in seeing you succeed in your music career.

Do You Feel Stuck in Your Music Career?

Cheer up.

If you’re feeling stuck, it means you’ve made a lot of progress to get to this point!

The growth curve only gets steeper, not gentler.

But you could literally name a big name you know, and I guarantee you they’ve reached plateaus on their journey to the top too.

Trust me when I say a visit to the rut-ville isn’t a view filled with unicorns farting rainbows.

But here’s the thing:

There’s always some adjustment to be made at this juncture that will make a difference.

The problem? There’s no way to know what that adjustment might be without expert help!

Do You Feel Frustrated in Your Music Career (Because You’ve Tried Everything & it Didn’t Work)?

If you’re stuck, you’re probably frustrated too – the two tend to go together.

And this is a solid indicator you need coaching (before you throw in the towel, call it quits, curse the music business, and swear off passion for life).

But does it seem like you’re trying everything without getting anywhere?

Trust me when I say I’ve spent years spinning my wheels in my personal growth, music career, and business endeavors, sometimes simultaneously.

While I never stopped looking for answers, I stopped putting pressure on trying to find them. Answers started showing up far faster when there was no pressure for them to appear!

You didn’t land on this page by accident. You’re on the brink of becoming unstuck. All you’ve got to do now is make the leap and invest in yourself.

When you invest in coaching, you’re never investing in the coach. You’re investing in you.

When you invest in coaching, you’re never investing in the coach. You’re investing in you. Click To Tweet

Do You Feel Overwhelmed?

Things will go smoothly and even be perfectly manageable in your music career for a while.

You’ll start to get more gigs, sell more merch, get more email signups, and so on.

But then comes a new challenge – in the business world, we call it scaling.

Scaling is where you adjust to the new demands as they come pouring in (usually at an uncontrollable rate).

Everyone thinks fast growth is awesome and it’s what they should go after, until they realize they’re not even ready for it!

To scale, a business must systemize and hire. It’s time-consuming and expensive, especially if you mess up.

Prolific novelty songwriter Jonathan Coulton eventually had to hire an assistant to help with the huge influx of emails he was receiving from fans every single day.

Overwhelm isn’t bad. It means there are new opportunities, and it means there’s greater demand for what you’re doing.

But if you don’t have a way to parse your opportunities and scale with the demand, you will end up in the same position I’ve found myself in multiple times – burning out!

Burning out sucks. It might take months to recover from. What good is opportunity then?

You need a coach, and stat!

Final Thoughts, Musician Coach

In closing, I wanted to let you know about something free I created.

Honesty, I think I might be crazy for giving away this much…

What is it? We’re calling it the PDF Vault.

The Vault includes over 100 independent music career eBooks, cheat sheets, podcast transcripts and interviews to date, with hundreds more to come.

If you’re ready to sign up, simply follow this link and enter your email.

Don't die with your music still in you. Accomplish more with the Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook.