Tom Hess: The One Thing That Is Needed To Ensure Success In Any Music Career

The One Thing That Is Needed To Ensure Success In Any Music Career

by Tom Hess

What is the primary cause of success in any music career?
Here is the answer: Your mindset. Every successful musician became that way due to the actions they took and decisions they made. Both of these things are determined through your mindset.
Pro musicians who achieve great success in music are not born with excellent musical skills... nor do they possess more potential than other people. Instead, they have developed a positive mindset that enables them to take actions that bring amazing results.


When you have an empowering mindset focused on success, you will take actions and make choices (for the most part) that lead to massive success in your music career. Even if you don’t know what things you need to do to succeed in music, this kind of mindset will help you find out.
With just an average mindset, you might see a bit of success, but it will be limited, and you will struggle for any long term gains.

When you have a pessimistic or cynical mindset, you will never make it in the music industry, and will struggle to make any progress in your music career at all.

I want you to visualize three different musicians who are all equal in every way (they all have the same goals, skills, etc.), except for the kind of mindset they have. Musician one has a pessimistic mindset. Musician two has an average mindset. Musician three has a positive, empowering mindset.
Study these real-world examples to get a better understanding of the difference your mindset can make for your music career success:

Music Industry Challenge Three: Getting Valuable Opportunities In The Music Business:

Musician #1 thinks: “If you want a shot at valuable music industry opportunities, you just have to get lucky, be in the right place/right time or know someone in the business.”
These kinds of musicians take control out of their own hands, and put it into the hands of people they never knew and will probably never meet. They are full of excuses, and avoid taking responsibility for making their musical lives better.

Musician #2 thinks: “If I just put in a lot of hard work, I’ll eventually reach the goals I want.”
This mindset is positive, and showcases a solid work ethic and drive towards success. If you think like this, you have a ton of potential to go far in music.
However, hard work alone is not sufficient for achieving success in the music industry for the long term. Many musicians fail to reach success in their music careers, because they just don’t know what to do or how to do it.

Musician #3 thinks: “I’m not certain exactly how to get opportunities in music, but whatever I have to do, I’ll do it. I will get trained by someone who knows the answers. I won’t just make assumptions about how the music business functions based on what friends and family tell me.”

Music Industry Challenge One: Building A Financially Stable Music Career

Musician #1 thinks: “First I need to have a backup plan in case my music career doesn't pan out.”
This mindset is fundamentally rooted in a fear of failure, rather than a desire to succeed. In most cases, musicians who think like this choose to get a job that is entirely unrelated to music. Then, they eventually become trapped in their day job. In the end, the fear they have takes them further away from achieving their musical goals.
Musician #2 thinks: “I don’t want to distract myself from my music career by having a backup plan. I will only focus on music until I’ve achieved my goals. I won’t do anything else that could get in the way of my musical goals.”
This approach drastically increases your chances of making it in music. When all that is left is either success or failure, choosing success is the best choice for achieving what you want.
However, this approach is also very black and white... which leads to unnecessary risk. Although it increases your chances of achieving your goals, it does almost nothing to eliminate your chances of failure. If you ignore any short-term financial responsibilities or deadlines, you will struggle to build a successful career in music. Tons of musicians have this mindset and give up... never realizing their musical dreams.

Musician #3 thinks: “I need to build my music career without struggling financially. I must earn money using an approach that: 1. Allows a lot of freedom to work on my music, 2. Works hand-in-hand with my long-term musical goals, 3. Doesn’t force me to work 40+ hours every week. By doing this I can pursue my musical goals without any financial struggle or hardship.”
Understanding how to grow your music career in this manner is simple (you can find out how by getting music career mentoring). The difficult part is staying away from the two previously mentioned mindsets.
Test yourself right now to see how close you are to achieving financial freedom in your music career. Complete this music career test and get my feedback on how to improve your music career situation.

Music Industry Challenge Two: Getting More, Better And Higher Paying Gigs

Musician #1 thinks: “I don’t get paid enough to perform, and I’m not making enough income from gigs because the booker/venue owner is selling me short.”
It is very unlikely that musicians with this mindset will ever get a lot of gigs. Bottom line, you’ve got to help the venue earn more money first if you want to do so yourself. You must do much more than simply show up and play your music.

Musician #2 thinks: “I need to figure out how to get more people to come see me play. This will help the venue make more money, and they’ll probably notice and pay me more too.”
This is the right thinking when it comes to getting more/better paying gigs. Grow the value that bookers/venue owners see in you, then it will increase the amount of money they will pay you to perform at their venue.
That said, this mindset can still be improved.

Musician #3 thinks: “I have to get more fans to come see me play AND get them to buy my music and merch at the show.”
This kind of thinking will get massively different results than the other two styles of thinking.
This mindset will help you:

1. Get more people to come out and see you, helping the venue earn more money in the process.

2. Make way more income overall (from the money you make from the gig + music and merchandise sales).

3. Not worry too much about how much money you make from the show itself.

4. Make it easier for you to get the gig, since you can do it for much less money than anyone else.

5. Build solid relationships with the people who book your shows, venue owners and your fans. This increases your chances of getting better gigs in the future.

To find out more about this topic, study this article about getting tons of gigs.
Regardless of much you currently know about the music business, having a positive, empowering mindset will help you learn what you need to know, and put you on the path to success.
Learn how to put your music career on the right path for success. Complete this no-cost music career test and get my feedback on you can become a massively successful professional musician.





About The Author:
Tom Hess is a recording artist, music career mentor and virtuoso guitar player. He trains and mentors musicians of all different experience levels on how to develop a successful career in music. Visit his musician website to get free music career building tools and read professional music business columns.