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Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

While having the skills and talent to potentially make it in the industry, it is almost impossible to comfortably generate income as a musician when you lack the tools that will help you become more financially successful. 

As musicians, we tend to spend more time focusing on the music, and less time focusing on the fact that the music industry is a global business like any other. To tackle the issue of starving musicians, it is essential to have an entrepreneurial mindset. According to oberlo.co.za, an entrepreneurial mindset is “… a set of beliefs, thought processes, and ways of viewing the world that drives entrepreneurial behaviour.” 

Having an entrepreneurial mindset is therefore an essential step towards ensuring that your music career or music business becomes one that not only excels creatively, but is also profitable and sustainable. This way of thinking will ensure that you are ready to attack challenges such as a loss of clients or gig bookings; and dealing with competing music schools, producers, artists, etc. Adopting an entrepreneurial mindset will help you to achieve success by allowing you to form simple, yet healthy and helpful habits. These habits will have a positive impact on your decision making; make you more adaptable to changes in the industry; and improve your creativity, as you continue to learn and evolve.

Here are six simple habits to adopt, that will help you to achieve an entrepreneurial mindset and ensure that your music career allows room for financial freedom.

1. Be a risk-taker

The first step to developing an entrepreneurial mindset is not to shy away from the challenges you will face when learning new business skills. What sets a good musician apart from a great one, are the risks that you are willing to take to learn new business skills and implement them within your career, despite the possibility of failure.

Whether you’re a freelance performer/artist, or want to start a music business such as an agency, record label, music school, etc, an entrepreneurial mindset requires you to take business risks. These risks could include scenarios like applying for a loan to buy equipment to start that music school you’ve always dreamed of, despite the chances that your music school could not work out; or quitting your comfortable office job with all its perks, to pursue music full time with the risk that it might not be the right path for you.

One of the biggest hindrances you will encounter in your music career is doubt – in your skills, in your ability to make a good living with your music and in yourself. Instead of giving up when it gets hard, allow yourself to take risks that will aid the success of your music career or business. 

"As musicians, we tend to spend more time focusing on the music, and less time focusing on the fact that the music industry is a global business like any other."

In order to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, you must train your brain to see every challenge as an opportunity to learn, grow, and better understand the industry in all its complexities. To do this, you need to be sure that you have properly weighed out the pros and cons, and assessed every possible outcome to come to a decision that is best suited for you and your career.

Taking risks is therefore an essential part of developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

2. Allow yourself to make mistakes

After taking those business risks, there is always a chance that your plans won’t work out or that you’ve made the less beneficial decision. Maybe you bought poor quality equipment for your music school so your students start setting their eyes on other places to take lessons. Maybe you were sure you had enough capital to start your business when you left your office job, but realised you should have stayed a bit longer, to save more money to start your business. When things go wrong, it is normal for you to get a little despondent and doubtful of where the journey is leading you. These moments, however, are the ones you should cherish the most because they help you to build character and improve your problem-solving skills.

Artist Bob Ross said “we don’t make mistakes, we have happy accidents.” This quote is an example of the attitude you need to have towards your mistakes, in order to build your entrepreneurial mindset. It is important to see these “happy accidents” as examples of what not to do next time, or to learn how to problem-solve, rather than seeing them as reasons to quit. Overcoming these difficulties will be a great confidence booster, and will motivate you to work even harder towards understanding the music industry and your value within it.

3. Have confidence

As a musician, it takes a huge amount of confidence to deliver a great performance or to properly teach a student how to reach the right notes or play the correct chords. Your confidence is always felt by your audiences and students, and the same applies to business. Your clients will easily sense whether you’re confident in your skills or not. When you first start out, you don’t completely know what you’re doing and that’s okay, but do it anyway. The fact that you’re confident in your skills, your craft, or your business will instantly drive people your way and will make your music or music business more appealing to potential clients.

4. The responsibility is yours and yours alone

You are responsible for what happens to your music career, and you are certainly responsible for the potential failures you could endure along your journey, regardless of the reasons.

Your clients do not care about the external factors that may hinder your progress or performance. All that they care about is that you deliver the product or service that you have offered to them.

It is therefore absolutely imperative to let go of the tendency to make excuses or play the blame game – especially when things go wrong. You need to hold yourself accountable. Just like a musician is forced to improvise when a singer misses their cue, you must take immediate action when things don’t go according to plan, because there won’t always be time to second guess yourself. Adopting this habit will ensure that you always get things done, no matter what life or the industry throws at you.

5. Be adaptable

Believe it or not, the chances are that no matter what your business model is or what your performance style is, you are most probably not the only one doing it, and if you are, someone will most likely use your idea and adapt it to suit their target market once they notice your success. What will set you apart from them is your ability to adapt to change and whether you’re able to provide the same or a similar product, but with a fresh perspective.
 
The fast-paced world we live in today makes it very difficult for new entrepreneurial ventures to take off. You have to be willing to change what is no longer working for your target audience, even if you worked hard on your strategy and were convinced that it would work. Many businesses in the music industry have closed down because they refused to let go of old traditions while failing to adapt to contemporary solutions.

We also saw this happening during the hard Covid-19 lockdown regulations in South Africa, especially in the restaurant industry. Many restaurants closed down because they were unable to have sit-down patrons, while others provided door-to-door delivery services, to ensure that they still have a flow of income, and have therefore managed to survive the pandemic.

The same adaptability should be applied within your music career. Music schools hosting online classes instead of physical ones, and performers hosting online performances, are just a few examples of how people in the music industry have had to adapt to the times.

To ensure that you are successful in the music industry, you need to remind yourself that things will most likely change, and you always need to be willing to change them and make the necessary sacrifices.

6. Provide value first

Lastly, in order to develop a successful entrepreneurial mindset, you need to be open to giving. Giving your knowledge, your time, your energy and your effort. Even if it means giving more than you initially receive in the beginning of your career, you need to understand that it is only through giving that you will slowly start to reap the benefits.

Whether you’re performing at a few open mic nights – free of charge; or posting piano tutorials on your social media accounts, creating a product or service and giving it to your target audience allows them to see value in what you do. Once people find value, they keep coming back. By creating and giving, you ensure that you’ll have a select group of loyal supporters who will invest their interest and money into you and your entrepreneurial venture.

It is important to note that your success in the industry cannot be measured by money alone. Do you have a fan base? Is what you’re offering of any value to people? Does your target audience trust you enough to keep coming back? None of these can be determined by how much money comes into your bank account each month, yet they play a crucial role in your success, especially at the start of your journey.

"...Music schools hosting online classes instead of physical ones, and performers hosting online performances, are just a few examples of how people in the music industry have had to adapt to the times."

 
Let go of the idea that you will immediately have a steady flow of income. Many musicians spend years building trust in their audience and will initially spend more money than they’re generating. This may feel like a waste of money, but what you’re doing is giving your audience a reason to keep coming back for more. The benefits will come once you’ve put in the work and effort, even if that means spending a pretty penny at first.

The curtain call?

Though your musical abilities play a big role in your success as a musician, your mindset determines the trajectory of that success, especially from a financial standpoint. In order to avoid being just another starving musician, focus on improving your business skills such as learning marketing, personal branding, etc. Most importantly, however, it is imperative to start thinking like an entrepreneur to ensure that your music career is profitable and sustainable.
 
Adopting an entrepreneurial mindset will help you in times when you need to take risks, when you make mistakes and when you need to think on your feet, as it improves your decision-making abilities, and allows you to be creative with your approach. Developing and nurturing your entrepreneurial mindset will also help you to identify opportunities within the industry, but also within your own music career and the challenges that come with it. This will ultimately make you an all-rounded musician, with great potential to grow financially, and guaranteed success.