How reaching goals as an artist will earn more fans

According to David Andrew Wiebe, the more you accomplish in your music career, the more rewards you will reap.

by David Andrew Wiebe from Bandzoogle

As you accomplish more in your music career, a domino effect occurs. 

But most artists are not aware of it, or are not tapping into it; they’re stuck in some version of analysis paralysis or perfectionism, which holds them back from doing everything they can to grow their fan base faster.

So, let’s look at what happens when you prioritize accomplishing more in less time:

You’ll publish more

We live in a time when it’s very difficult to hold people’s attention for prolonged periods. If you aren’t constantly coming out with new music, or at least new content, you can lose even the little attention you’ve worked so hard to gain.

When you prioritize getting things done, rather than obsessing over the minutiae of a noisy guitar part or slightly out-of-tune backing vocal, you’ll naturally begin to publish more.

Publishing more helps you:

• Find your voice
• Attract an audience
• Engage your audience
• Land new opportunities
• Connect with bloggers, podcasters, influencers, etc.

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Another great thing that happens when you prioritize finishing things is you free up mental resources you didn’t know you had! 

I recently canceled a few of my subscriptions (like Netflix) to free up resources for other needs. But I was also rewarded with a freer mind.

Right now, you’re not even aware of how heavily your unfinished projects are weighing on you.

If you don’t believe me, go and finish something you’ve been putting off – cleaning the junk drawer, taking a trip to the bottle depot, paying a loan back, or anything else that’s been on that lingering ‘to do’ list. Then let me know how you feel.

One of the reasons publishing more creates a virtuous cycle is because it offers a valuable opportunity for you to close open loops.

And as you publish more…

You’ll give up perfectionism

Why? Because inevitably you will have an experience along these lines:

You’ll pore over a new song for 30 hours, pouring your blood, sweat, and tears into the “masterpiece,” only to be met with a lukewarm reception by your fans…

And then you’ll release a song that came together as a fun jam in an hour and watch as your fans go wild!

Almost every marketer or entrepreneur has had this experience. I, for example, was surprised to find how much people like reading my rants.

Put very simply, you have no idea what your audience wants. 

I’m a big believer in hypothesizing and making a long list of topics I think my audience will be interested in, but at the end of the day, I have no idea what’s going to “pop”.

I will say this, though: it’s usually a piece of content that helps people connect with me on an emotional, human level versus a killer how-to piece, as much as I like creating those. So, I need to be willing to be vulnerable.

As you begin testing different songs and different content, you’ll figure this out for yourself too.

Giving up perfectionism is freeing. And when you do…

You’ll gain more confidence in yourself

You trust yourself far less than you think you do. How do I know that? If you were already in a virtuous cycle of accomplishing more, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

As you accomplish more, it’s only natural that you’ll gain more confidence in yourself.

Remember what it was like to get to inbox zero? It may be fleeting, but the sense of victory you get from it is tangible. It’s the same thing with making your bed or folding your laundry.

You’ll also have internalized that some things “pop” while others flop. So, you won’t be so hard on yourself to try to get everything right. You’ll let yourself experiment more.

I have published over 800 posts on my blog alone, and I’m always surprised to discover what content flies and what content doesn’t (unicorns are always in the minority).

Additionally, you will feel better by completing the things you said you were going to do. You will start to trust yourself more. You will like how this feels so much that you’ll be far less inclined to let things slip through the cracks anymore.

Sticking to a routine may seem like torture, but in the long run, it’s very freeing because you won’t need to spend so much time thinking about how to organize your life anymore. 

You can save that precious willpower for something better – like writing your next hit.

Perhaps most importantly, as you trust yourself more…

You’ll have more fun

Chances are you aren’t lazy. But you may be waiting for permission you may never get – the permission to go make a mess.

So, l will give you the permission you need: henceforth, you’re free to go make a mess!

When I started publishing daily in 2020, I felt like I had gotten the permission I needed to do exactly that from marketer Russell Brunson. That’s when I realized some part of me was just waiting for permission to do what I always wanted to do.

Remember when music used to be fun? It used to be about jamming with your buddies and the feeling you got when you played together, right? It wasn’t about fans, and yet people were naturally drawn to what you were doing back then because of your enthusiasm for it.

So, as you publish more, give up perfectionism, and gain more confidence in yourself, you’ll get back to that feeling – you’ll start having more fun! 

And when you have fun, people will start flocking around you to watch.

I’m not saying that the business aspects of your career – branding, marketing, setting up a website, etc. – are unimportant. But if you’re not excited about what you’re doing, why should anyone else care?

So, get the joy back by setting yourself up to accomplish more.

Leveraging the domino effect

And now you know how the domino effect works. It starts with you committing to accomplishing more.

When you publish more, you give up perfectionism. When you give up perfectionism, you gain more confidence in yourself. And when you gain more confidence in yourself, you have more fun.

When you stay in this virtuous cycle, you’ll be surprised at how everything seems to work. Fans will come around from miles away – seemingly out of nowhere – to watch as you shine in your creativity!

The problem is that most artists can’t stay in the vortex. Some get there and stop doing what works. Some give up inches away from the vortex. Most give up long before arriving.

It’s not because it’s too hard. It’s because most artists don’t have structures that support their efforts to accomplish more – coaches, mentors, calendars, schedules, to-do lists, and the like.

What structures are you missing?

If you’re ready to start setting up the structures that will see you accomplishing more in your career and enjoying your creativity as never before, be sure to get your free copy of the Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook.

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Award-winning composer, best-selling author, and long-time podcaster David Andrew Wiebe is the founder of Content Marketing Musician. His eighth self-published book is the Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook, a thorough resource for artists looking to accomplish more in their careers, build a fan base, and create the life they love through music.