Written by Art Licensing Coach J’net Smith

Rule #3 Know your skills.

Art talent isn’t enough to make it in the Art Licensing industry. Even more interesting is the fact that you may do very well in Art Licensing for any number of other reasons. For example, your art skills may be good; they may even be awesome!  But you could be incredibly successful in Art Licensing because you can market yourself better than other artists. Perhaps you have the innate ability to capture the attention of various media outlets, or you have a large following of active and demanding fans (which would be is very appealing to manufacturers).

I’ve seen artists make lots of money because they appeal to a certain niche audience (not a small niche, but one that’s large enough to warrant mass market attention) that is peaking and has a current need for art. Maybe an artist loves creating holiday themed art, for which there is always a need. Art Licensing is a commercial industry, so artists who have a distinctive style, enjoy creating a certain theme, and who also appeal to huge audiences have more potential for income than others.

Other skills that affect your Art Licensing business potential are:

Technical Skills

You definitely need computer and technical skills, or access to them. If you don’t have them, you need to get them or find a partner that does, because people will no longer put up with artists not having internet access, high resolution scans, layered files, etc.

Product Design Capabilities

If you can envision your art on products, then show your art to manufacturers on product mock-ups to help them. This is a really important skill set today and is going to help put you in the league of serious art licensors.

Trend Watching

Not everybody is going to be a trendsetter, because that takes a lot of forward thinking.You may have that, or you may just love to watch trends, and can keep up with them. Either way, don’t avoid learning about trends and seeing how your art can interpret them.

Entrepreneurial Abilities

Artists need entrepreneurial skills more than ever!  And we’ll talk more about this later…

About J’net Smith

Jeanette Smith is the consummate art licensing coach—she is passionate about helping you achieve a level of success beyond imagining and definitely knows how to do it! In just six short years, J’net turned Dilbert™ from a relatively unknown syndication-based comic strip into a 200 million dollar a year global brand. Then in 2000, J’net translated and expanded on her extensive experience to train, advise and license all types of creators. She has helped hundreds of artists, graphic designers, painters, photographers, authors, illustrators, design firms, fine artists, creative companies, non-profits and agents to maximize the power of their brands and talents.

J’net is best described by her combination of specialties—she is one of those very rare people who possess a balanced combination of creative sensibility and extraordinary business acumen. It is this combination that has served J’net over the span of a very impressive career,and has garnered her equally impressive press and testimonials!

From her early days in New York building new divisions for such corporate giants as Official Airline Guides, MacMillan Publishing, Paramount Communications, and VIACOM International, to her six years of work at United Media spearheading the astronomical growth of Dilbert, Jeanette has compiled a long list of satisfied clients and has gained an enormous amount of respect and experience in marketing, licensing, advertising, PR, agenting, negotiating, and much more.

Written by Art Licensing Coach J’net Smith

Rule #1 Learn all you can about art licensing before committing your time and efforts.

Licensing is big business. According to the 2011 annual Licensing Industry Survey released in June by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), global licensed product royalty revenues reached $5.065 billion in 2010. Character licensing, from all types of entertainment venues, represents the lion’s share at 47%, while art licensing equals about 2.5%. Art licensing is by itself a $128 million dollar industry.

Licensing is the simple concept of taking your copyrighted art, and contractually arranging and agreeing to lease the rights to one or more images to manufacturers who develop product with the artwork and then sell product to retailers to market to consumers.

So, licensing is really both a business and distribution model. It’s simply one way of getting your art onto product, and out to the consumers. The licensing model is especially appealing to artists, since it doesn’t require you to invest your money up front in production, or to learn the complex in’s and out’s of manufacturing and retail distribution.

The basic players in an art licensing agreement are these:  the artist is Licensor—the owner of the copyright. The licensor may market their art through self-representationor utilize the services of an agent. The Licensee is the entity (company or individual) who licenses the rights from you.  Most often it is a manufacturer, but it could also be a retailer, or an advertising sponsor. The contract—the legal agreement between the two of you—is the Licensing Agreement.

Like any business venture you might be considering, I recommend you study the industry to see if it is right for you and learn all you can about what it will take to succeed in art licensing.  So Rule #1 is that you must learn all you can about art licensing before you commit significant time and efforts. I can’t guarantee it will be easy, but if it’s right for you and you are willing to put in the effort, it can be rewarding and lucrative. Reading this blog series is a great place to start and here are some additional resources that also may be helpful.

About J’net Smith

Jeanette Smith is the consummate art licensing coach—she is passionate about helping you achieve a level of success beyond imagining and definitely knows how to do it! In just six short years, J’net turned Dilbert™ from a relatively unknown syndication-based comic strip into a 200 million dollar a year global brand. Then in 2000, J’net translated and expanded on her extensive experience to train, advise and license all types of creators. She has helped hundreds of artists, graphic designers, painters, photographers, authors, illustrators, design firms, fine artists, creative companies, non-profits and agents to maximize the power of their brands and talents.

J’net is best described by her combination of specialties—she is one of those very rare people who possess a balanced combination of creative sensibility and extraordinary business acumen. It is this combination that has served J’net over the span of a very impressive career,and has garnered her equally impressive press and testimonials!

From her early days in New York building new divisions for such corporate giants as Official Airline Guides, MacMillan Publishing, Paramount Communications, and VIACOM International, to her six years of work at United Media spearheading the astronomical growth of Dilbert, Jeanette has compiled a long list of satisfied clients and has gained an enormous amount of respect and experience in marketing, licensing, advertising, PR, agenting, negotiating, and much more.

According to this week’s Time Magazine, a new poll suggests we are at another “malaise moment,” with more Americans pessimistic about our country’s decline and their own future.  I happen to think we have our best bet of getting out of our malaise the more we engage creatively with our own lives.

So we’re taking the next step with Malaise County Fair, an interactive musical that breaks the wall between performer and audience in new ways, and are having auditions next week here in Chicago.  Please spread the word to actor-singer-improvisers or other local creative friends who might want to be part of an exciting new project:

CALL FOR AUDITIONS…

— — — — — — — — —
Malaise County Fair
An Interactive Musical Experience
about relationships, choices and getting out of our malaise
— — — — — — — — —
Audition Dates: July 13 and July 16
No Pay at this stage

Overview: Unlike any theater show you have been part of, the Malaise County Fair is a love story, musical and community experience that breaks down the wall between performer and spectator, offering numerous opportunities for audience members to participate.  Elements and exercises from Malaise have been successfully featured in teambuilding and innovation sessions by the Kreativity Network (www.kreativity.net) and “Creativity Jams” hosted by founder Adam Shames at Old Town School of Music and elsewhere.  Our current goal is to workshop this original musical with a performance team over the next few months, leading to public performance(s) in late September.  While the script is already written, roles will be tailored to individual performers, and we embrace a collaborative process to improve the show.

Roles: We’re looking for 4-5 male and female performers of different ages—particularly actor-singer-improvisers who are also comfortable as facilitators helping audience-participants get involved.  We love those who play a musical instrument (percussion included) or have a special talent (we can integrate).

Auditions: Come meet us, learn more about Malaise, and be ready to sing, act, improvise and jam from selections of songs and scenes from our script.  Bring your standard HS/resume or an appropriately creative substitute. Dates:

• Wednesday, July 13^th at 7:00pm at Arts at Large Studio, 3318 N. Lake Shore Drive, on the inner drive just north of Belmont; and
• Saturday, July 16^th at 3:30pm location TBA.

Please RSVP to info@kreativity.net to let us know you’re coming and for further instructions.  Phone: 773-388-2880.

Malaise County Fair is created and directed by Adam Shames, accomplished singer-songwriter and founder of the Kreativity Network (www.kreativity.net) who brings experiential learning and leadership programs into organizations. Learn more on the Malaise website or visit/like the Malaise County Fair Page on Facebook.

Written by Peter Spellman, Berklee College of Music

Put on your marketing hat for a moment.

Market position is often related to niche. The “mass market” has given way to a market of niches. The music market in particular continues to segment and each segment has beome a “world”, a cultural/economic portal, through which niche companies can create value and success.

Maybe your specialty is tube amps, or Latin jazz arrangements, or songs with a nautical theme. Whatever it is you can create a niche from it, a distinctive offering that stands out in the marketplace of useful things. As the saying goes, ‘Dig a hole an inch wide and a mile deep,’ and work it.

In order to help you strengthen your distinction, here are ten questions you should ask of your market positioning strategy:

1. Is it relevant? Relevant means applicable, connected, germane. The distinctions you create must be valued by a sufficient number of fans and customers.  Your distinction needs to con _nect.
2. Is it different? Being different for the sake of being different isn’t enough. Offerings must be genuinely different. What compelling reason is there for customers to switch their attention from existing brands to yours?
3. Will they care? Your point of difference must be truthful, authentic. Truth cuts through the clutter. Claims must not be empty, otherwise your audience will see through your ‘spin’.
4. Get emotional? Customers and fans must make a lasting emotional connection with your brand.
5. Are you the best? Superior quality alone is not enough to ensure market distinction, but it’s crucial. Quality is relative to consumer expectations. Raise expectations by delivering the best.
6. Can you say it? Every aspect of promotion should contain your differentiating idea presented in an easily digestible form. Creative concision is challenging but always effective.
7. Who are you? You are ultimately offering a human experience to fans and customers. Define your brand’s values, identity and personality in light of the experience you want them to have.
8. Are you innovative? Competitors will think nothing of stealing your ideas and calling them their own. Pre-emptive positioning based on innovation cannot be easily copied.
9. Can they afford it? Can buyers afford to pay for the difference? Improvements to products and services can be costly, but value is what you’re after and value transcends mere “price”. People pay for uniqueness.
10. Can you make a profit? The reverse of affordable—there must be sufficient profit margin once you have created your differences. After all, this isn’t a hobby you’re involved in – it’s your bread and butter!

Run your own positioning strategy through these ten questions and see it get stronger.

For more great food on this topic see, The Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKains (2009) and Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand by William Arruda and Kristen Dixon (2007).

About Peter Spellman
Peter Spellman found his way into music as a guitarist in various New York bands and then switched to drums after seeing the Police perform in the late 1970s. Since then he’s performed and recorded with reggae outfit, The Mighty Charge, world music ensemble Friend Planet, and now with the Underwater Airport crew. He’s scored films for the National Science Foundation, composed video games for Massachusetts General Hospital, and coaches music entrepreneurs at Berklee College of Music. He is author of “The Self Promoting Musician” and “Indie Business Power: A Step by Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs”. Find him at mcareerjuice.com

Written by Peter Spellman, Berklee College of Music

Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short in all management of human affairs.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unless you were born under a rock, you probably are familiar with the name Crayola. It is the most popular and recognized crayon brand in the world. Every year, Binney & Smith, the company that makes Crayola products, manufactures nearly 3 billion crayons, at a rate of 12 million a day. That’s enough crayons to circle the globe six times!

The company was founded by Joseph Binney in 1864 as the Peekskill Chemical Works. In 1885, the founder’s son, Edwin and his cousin, C. Harold Smith, became partners and changed the companies name to Binney & Smith. Up to the turn of the century the company focused on producing items such as red pigments for barn paint and carbon black used in making lamp black and automobile tires. And their primary method of product development? Simple: ask their customers about their needs and then develop products to meet those needs.

In 1900, the company began making slate pencils for the educational market, and they found that teachers seemed happy to tell company representatives what they desired. When teachers complained about poor chalk, Binney & Smith produced a superior, dustless variety. When they complained that they couldn’t buy a decent American crayon (the best were imported from Europe and very expensive), it developed the Crayola. The company introduced the product to the market in 1903, as a box of eight colors that cost a nickel.

Once the company found its niche in the children’s market, it became incredibly focused. For a hundred years it has manufactured superior art supplies for children. Today it dominates the market – even in the face of the electronic revolution. In The Five Faces of Genius, Annette Moser-Wellman assessed the company by saying, “The biggest threat to Crayola’s business has been the entry of computer games for kids. Instead of drawing and coloring, kids are tempted by interactive CDs and more. Instead of trying to dominate computer games, Crayola has chosen to flourish within their limitations. They do children’s art products better than anyone.”

Binney & Smith could have lost focus in an attempt to chase new markets and diversify itself. That’s what toy manufacturer Coleco did. The company started out in leather goods in the 1950s and then switched to plastics. In the late 1960s it was the world’s largest manufacturer of above-ground swimming pools. It had found its niche. Yet in the 1970s and 1980s, it chased after the computer game market and then low-end computers. (You may remember ColecoVision.) Then it tried to capitalize on Cabbage Patch dolls. This ultimately drove the company into bankruptcy.

It would have been easy for Binney & Smith to chase after other successes, but it didn’t do that. The company has remained focused. And as long as it does, it will continue to excel and sell more crayons and children’s art supplies than any other company in the world.

Focus assumes attention. The expression “pay attention” should alert us to what focus and attention exacts from us. In these times of multi-tasking/attention-deficit/split-my- brain into a billion parts, it takes a greater level of concentration to achieve that focus.

Forward Padawans!

About Peter Spellman
Peter Spellman found his way into music as a guitarist in various New York bands and then switched to drums after seeing the Police perform in the late 1970s. Since then he’s performed and recorded with reggae outfit, The Mighty Charge, world music ensemble Friend Planet, and now with the Underwater Airport crew. He’s scored films for the National Science Foundation, composed video games for Massachusetts General Hospital, and coaches music entrepreneurs at Berklee College of Music. He is author of “The Self Promoting Musician” and “Indie Business Power: A Step by Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs”. Find him at mcareerjuice.com

Yesterday there was cool rain pounding the streets once again out my window, as Chicagoans like me continue to wonder when summer will fully arrive.  But no matter.  The days are long, the trees are green, and it’s time once again for me to urge you to let your creativity bloom.

With the extra daylight and outdoor opportunities, what might you be able to bring into the world this summer that only can come from you?

Perhaps you need a spark or a support group to take a summer creative plunge? Like-minded creativity rabble-rouser John Dillon – he is also a radio host, author, and Albuquerque-based speaker and singer-songwriter — has put together a free video series to inspire your creativity. Click here for the first of his four free videos.

John has several websites and resources for you if you’d like help engaging your creativity. And if you like his mellow and passionate style, I encourage you not only to watch his four free videos (and listen to his “Art of the Song” radio show and get his book, left), but make a commitment for real creative change by taking a leap and signing up for his 7-week Creativity, Passion and Purpose TeleCourse. Watch the 4th video for more information and sign up using this link so he knows I referred you. Deadline to sign up is this Sunday.

Here in Chicago, I continue to develop Malaise County Fair, an audience-interactive musical and show dedicated to helping us all get out of whatever malaise we are in and creating a space to jam together as a community. We welcome more creativity rabble-rousers to join us — please like us on Facebook, and contact me directly if you’d like to be involved as a performer or behind the scenes.

Let this be the summer you become a musician — let me help you make that happen with my music coaching and you’ll be jamming to songs in 6 weeks or less.

Whatever you choose to do, I want to encourage to move from being just a spectator to more of a creator in your life. As John Dillon and I agree, creativity can change lives — and it is just what our society needs right now. It starts with you.

Darkness was descending as we pedaled toward the great desert Playa. A sandstorm kicked up out of nowhere, and we put on our goggles and masks and headlamps, as we had done several times in the past few days. But the airborne sand thickened to such an intensity that we soon had to abandon our bikes and set out by foot. Unable to see more than a few inches in front of our faces, our hands on each other’s shoulders so not to separate, we slowly walked in what we hoped was the general direction of the Mausoleum.

Now, the truth was, even during daylight, the Mausoleum had been extremely difficult to find in the vast desert. We kept walking, assuming we would run into some of the thousands of other Burning Man participants we believed to be nearby. But minutes turned into miles. The sand was unrelenting, and we came across no one. I drank my last sandy swallow from my water flask. We had lost all bearing of where we came from and where we were heading.

“Do you think we should turn around?” Aaron asked, slight panic creeping into his voice. It was hard for us to hear each other, both because of the sand muffling all sound except its own blowing and because we spoke through surgical masks or bandanas over our mouths.

“Does anyone even know how to get back?” asked Bea. We would have looked at each other for the answer but we could see nothing and already knew the answer was no.

* * *

The adventure began a few days before: We were lucky to find perhaps the last available RV in all of Northern California, and six of us first-timers packed up and headed out from San Francisco to Burning Man, the week-long festival-carnival in the otherwise uninhabitable desert of northern Nevada. Read the rest of the story here.

For recent creativity insights, click here or here. For more on creativity from Adam, use search field (top left) or click on keywords (bottom right) on his Innovation on my Mind blog.

In my 20s, I remember reading the 20th century spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, which introduced many westerners to eastern enlightenment through the life of Paramahansa Yogananda, the first yoga master of India to take up permanent residence in the West. Maybe, I thought, I needed to revisit Yogananda’s wisdom to find a renewable power source.

I started by going to several yoga classes, which have generally revealed that I am pretty fat and lazy, with an unfocused mind that tends to drift and fall into its default, un-warrior-like patterns of distraction and complaints.

So to up the ante, I visited the local Kriya Yoga center here in Chicago to get some inspiration from Swami Kriyananda, the foremost living disciple of Yogananda. I was witness to a live feed via Skype of the old bearded man himself, who has many thousands of followers throughout the world.

I listened intently to him for a message that could fuel me or at least steer me in the right direction. The Warrior within awoke as Kriyananda suggested that a life worth living is one in which you discover and pursue a mission worth dying for. You can’t let yourself be limited by the “web of words,” he said, referring to the cultural mindset around us. “Instead, create your own mantra.”

Create my own mantras. Yes.

My inner guidance flickers and changes its message too often. Becoming a warrior is in large part mental, I know, and right now the natural “mantras” of my monkey mind are not empowering me. They change, they doubt. They point out how ridiculous I am. They sabotage with excuses and grievances that sound legitimate but do nothing to improve the quality of my life.

I know that to be equipped to battle for my own aliveness and the aliveness of others, I must think differently and be fueled by a different mindset. But, as Kriyananda reminded me, I have to create it. I have to choose this mindset. I have to rewrite my mental script in such a way that loose wiring becomes hard, and doubt insists on clarity. My power source must, at least in part, come from newly created mantras of my own design.

All right, Warrior, time to create.

Written by Jeffrey Nytch,
Director of The Entrepreneurship Center for Music, Univ of CO- Boulder

I’m a golf nut. I’m terrible at it, but since I was a kid I’ve loved the game and been fascinated with its colorful history, its sometimes arcane rules, its etiquette, everything about it. Someday when I win the PowerBall and retire to a life of indecorous wealth I’m going to live on a golf course, get some lessons so I can stop embarrassing myself, and play golf every day.

Until then, I enjoy watching the pros. The Masters Tournament is the highlight of the year for me, and this past Sunday was the Final. Tiger Woods was in the hunt for the title, so I saw quite a bit of him during the course of the coverage. It was interesting observing him: even when he was playing well, he seemed completely deflated to me. It was like the game didn’t bring him any joy anymore. He was desperately trying to do better because that’s all he’s ever known: get better at golf. WIN. But ever since his personal life went so publicly  down in flames a year ago – and with it, his winning golf game – he’s just not been able to find himself. At one very telling moment, a camera shot revealed the grandstand behind him: this golfer who once attracted crowds so enormous that golf courses had to close their gates was playing to empty seats.

As I was pondering this I got to thinking about the power of joy. By which I mean the power that is apparent when you’re doing something you genuinely love, something you’re driven to do for the shear joy of doing it. Take someone like Yo Yo Ma: what is it that makes him such a popular performer? Is it because he’s the best player in the world? I’ll wager that’s not it; there are lots of great cellists out there. What makes him so compelling is the unbridled joy that positively pours out of him every time he’s on stage. You can tell that making music for him is the coolest, funnest, most joy-filled thing imaginable. Half the time it looks like he’s about to burst out into tears of ecstasy. And that makes us want to watch him, makes what he does connect with us. And it’s also what makes his music-making special, so it’s a two-way street: his joy not only makes us enjoy him more, it makes him a better artist. Contrast Yo Yo with Tiger, who’s lost his joy – and with it, lost both his game and a lot of his fans.

So what about you, dear reader? Where is your joy? Sometimes we can get so busy practicing and studying and striving for perfection that we can lose sight of what it is we love about music to begin with. We lose track of our joy. This is a lot more common than perhaps we’d like to admit, yet we all know players who might be technically clean but who, by all appearances, look like they’re getting about as much joy out of playing as a root canal…do we care about watching them at all? I mean, let’s be real: if nobody is getting any joy out of the proposition, then what’s the point?

If you’re not sure where your joy is, I’m willing to bet it’s in there somewhere. Most likely you wouldn’t be a musician in the first place if music didn’t bring you some joy. So if you’ve lost track of it, take some time to go find it. It’s not only the key to connecting with your audience, it’s the key to keeping your musical game vibrant, alive, and meaningful.

About Jeffrey Nytch
Jeffrey Nytch comes to the Entrepreneurship Center for Music having built a diverse career as a composer, teacher, performer, and arts administrator. For 15 years he has continually created fresh ways to support and nurture that career, whether it be through developing commissioning opportunities, establishing residencies with community organizations, or building relationships with patrons. He has also run a small business, helped found a non-profit service organization in Houston, performed a wide range of repertoire as a vocalist, and served five years as Managing Director of The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (“PNME”), one of the nation’s premiere new music ensembles.

jeff.nytch@colorado.edu
http://music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm/
www.jeffreynytch.com

In February, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn selected Groupon co-founder Brad Keywell to be part of a new Innovation Council, dedicated to find creative ways to boost the economy. Primary founder Andrew Mason (left) has become the poster boy for innovation, quoted often, pictured playfully and suddenly a high priest of all that’s creative.

Groupon is everywhere, not just in my inbox every morning and beeping me with its latest update thanks to an app on my smartphone (yes, I’m a user), but referred to constantly throughout the culture. Recently on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart examined Obama’s latest budget cutting attempts: “From now on when we buy office supplies,” he mock-quoted the President, “we will join up with Canada and Mexico to look for deals on Groupon.” The viral rise of copycat companies has reached absurdity levels, not just limited to those offering local deals of the day. “It’s like Groupon, but with a twist,” explains WeedMaps founder Justin Hartfield, offering deals, I kid you not, on medical marijuana. Check it out, as reported in Fast Company. National articles about Groupon are written everyday, including this one recently in Time magazine.

The hype indicates how desperate we are here in Chicago and in our country to embrace, understand and promote innovation. Groupon has become the start-up model of the kind of innovation political and business leaders refer to: a creative idea with real value, in this case leading to impressive money-making, job creation and investment hunger so great that Groupon recently resisted Google’s attempt to buy it for $6 billion. Yes, $6 billion for a company barely two years old.

Groupon does have a creative business model, which is primarily based on getting a large group of people to buy a discounted voucher (You have to pay for it, more like a gift certificate than a coupon from the paper) to various restaurants and local attractions. But there is some real question about its future — given that many businesses suffer real losses and have other problems. Check out this Chicago PBS television segment, entitled “Losing money with Groupon,” which describes some issues. As customers, we like the deals but many of us are already at a saturation point, annoyed by expiration dates and too many offers we can’t keep up with. So to call it one of the most innovative companies in the world seems a bit hasty.

I have found Groupon’s technology to be top-notch, which is no small secret to its success. But overall I do have to give it real credit for brimming with creativity, from the wacky improvised descriptions of offers to its attempts to take risks and playfully try new things. Groupon originally came out of an altruistic attempt to bring people together for social causes and according to founder Mason, “There was a kind of freedom that came with not caring if it failed.” And fail it has, included the offensive Superbowl ad campaign (click here) which pissed a lot of people off and Mason later apologized for.

From its visuals to its relationships with customers and companies, Groupon embraces creativity in a way that bodes ongoing success. It’s playful, snappy and engaging, and working on personalizing the experience more and more. And Mason, who acknowledges his own and the company’s immaturity on different levels, seems to have the right attitude for innovation going forward. “One of the challenges of innovation is figuring out how to wipe your mind clean about what you should be doing at any given moment,” he says, “and not having a religious attachment to what’s gotten you there thus far.”

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today” says Robert McKee.

Who is Robert McKee? Probably the world’s most recognized expert in commercial storytelling. An accomplished writer, director, playwright and writing instructor. He is widely known for his popular Story Seminar. For over 25 years, Robert McKee’s Story Seminar has been the world’s ultimate writing and story class for over 60,000 screenwriters, novelists, playwrights, filmmakers, TV writers, industry executives, actors, producers and directors. His students have racked up 32 Academy Awards  (106+ Nominations) and158 Emmy Awards (500+ Nominations).

Consider how stories are being used to persuade you to act.

Politicians tell stories to get across their positions and policy points. President Obama is a master story teller.

Advertisers tell us mini-stories every day to move us and motivate us to engage and purchase.

And now, more than ever, business leaders must be compelling and authentic storytellers.

“A big part of a CEO’s job is to motivate people to reach certain goals,” said McKee in a Harvard Business Review interview in June, 2003 [download the PDF] “To do that, he or she must engage their emotions, and the key to their hearts is a story.”  And I would that applies to motivating customers, as well.

Clearly, being able to tell a good story is a must-have skill for business leaders. But where can business practitioners learn about and practice the craft of storytelling?

To help answer that question I’m producing the first Business Storytellers Festival at The Stuart School of Business on April 22. The details are online at http://tinyurl.com/IITfestival We are seeking stories of up to minutes in length.

The categories are:

• My Worst Boss (every one should have a story to tell about this topic!)
• I Love My Job – Sometimes
• Office Romance
• Business Travel
• Business Blunders
• Miscommunication
• Hire Me
• Wild Card

There will be a $50.00 gift card for the best story in each category and a $100.00 gift card for the “best of the fest.” The competition is open to all, not just members of the IIT community.

Here’s a great article on storytelling and business, “Once Upon a Time” from Strategy+Business (No 27, 2002) that also has a list of resources.

So step up and tell a story. Stories aren’t just for bed time any more.

Written by Jeffrey Nytch,
Director of The Entrepreneurship Center for Music, Univ of CO- Boulder

As much as I would have liked to have taken off to the mountains for Spring Break – or, better yet, somewhere warm – I stayed home and had a very satisfying time catching up on various projects. It wasn’t the most glamorous of weeks off, but it felt good to cross a whole bunch of things off my “to-do” list, things I’ve needed to get to but for one reason or another hadn’t found the time yet.

This is a frequent problem for anybody who has a lot going on in their life, regardless of their professional path. It’s particularly true for entrepreneurs, though, because they frequently are responsible for a variety of things in their venture. These can range from content creation to marketing to keeping the books to stocking office supplies. And the more that’s going on with your venture, or the more things you have up and running in conjunction with or in addition to your venture, the more it can feel like you’re juggling a lot of things all at once. And as soon as making your living is tied up with those things, the more it can feel like a high-stakes game of juggling chainsaws: drop one, and you lose an arm (or worse).

Unless you have a penchant for living on the edge, such an image might scare you off from considering the entrepreneurial path. But let me offer some thoughts that will help you look at this from a different perspective:

1. The things you’re juggling might appear to be chainsaws, but they rarely are. Of course things are important; you can’t carelessly let things drop that must be attended to. But as artists we often have a tendency to overly-dramatize things (after all, we’re ARTISTS!), and I’ve found that things will tend to sort themselves out as long as I work steadily and consistently toward my goal. Learn to prioritize the things that DO need to be done NOW, do those first, and then work out a plan for the rest. Which brings me to:

2. Break things down into manageable bits. Have you ever watched a juggler? They have amazing focus – and at any given moment they are fixated on a single point in space. They’re not looking all over the place trying to take in all these moving objects at once. I think the same thing goes for our multi-tasking lives. Oftentimes when we look at the totality of what we need to accomplish it can seem overwhelming, perhaps even too big to even be possible. When that happens, I try to break down the task into smaller, manageable bits. And then I focus on simply achieving those bits. Step by step, bit by bit, we make real progress: suddenly that overwhelming thing turns into something manageable after all!

3. Working with chainsaws might be dangerous, but that’s where the power is. An entrepreneurial venture that seeks to meet the needs of the marketplace with something new and innovative is a powerful thing. Whether it’s a for-profit business, a non-profit entity, or an individual career, the individual who takes an entrepreneurial approach to their life’s goals has the potential to unlock great things for themselves and others. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the payoffs are commensurate with the effort. The arts marketplace is undergoing tremendous change right now – which means there are tremendous opportunities to be capitalized upon. Where will you be in that process?

Oh, and one more thing about my Spring Break: yes, I got a lot of work done, but I also promised myself I wouldn’t set my alarm in the morning and that I’d do some hiking as well. So even in the midst of hard work, finding time for self-care is a vital part of the juggling process as well!

About Jeffrey Nytch
Jeffrey Nytch comes to the Entrepreneurship Center for Music having built a diverse career as a composer, teacher, performer, and arts administrator. For 15 years he has continually created fresh ways to support and nurture that career, whether it be through developing commissioning opportunities, establishing residencies with community organizations, or building relationships with patrons. He has also run a small business, helped found a non-profit service organization in Houston, performed a wide range of repertoire as a vocalist, and served five years as Managing Director of The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (“PNME”), one of the nation’s premiere new music ensembles.

jeff.nytch@colorado.edu
http://music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm/
www.jeffreynytch.com

Written by Jeffrey Nytch,
Director of The Entrepreneurship Center for Music, Univ of CO- Boulder

Last Thursday at the CU New Venture Challenge Finals I was asked to speak briefly about the ECM before awarding the prize for the best plan in Music. I started by mentioning that I love being involved with the NVC because it gives me the opportunity to work with some terrific folks from across campus, as well as spread the word that, “Musicians are Entrepreneurs, too!” I love Finals Day in particular, though, because I get to see all these great teams from every imaginable discipline come together to pitch their ideas.

And man, there are some amazing ideas!

There were the guys who are going to return to their native South America and market kettle-cooked potato chips to a wide-open market that is craving quality snacks. There was the team with a passion for helping orphanages in Rwanda, and so were going to help them sell dried fruit they grow at the orphanage to markets in Europe (no child labor involved, they were quick to assure us!). There was the guy who had a passion for Green building and affordable housing – and figured out an ingenious way to serve both those passions and make a handsome profit in the bargain. And then there was the winning team, who hope to be first and only sellers of locally-made organic soil specially formulated for gardening in Colorado’s notoriously terrible soil.

Who knew there was a winning entry in dirt??

What was the common denominator in all these ventures? Passion. In each case, the budding entrepreneurs’ desire to serve their passion was paramount. Sure, they had to design a sustainable business, and in the case of the for-profit ventures many of them had high hopes for considerable wealth down the road. But in none of the cases was money a primary motivator: accomplishing something they believed in was the main thing.

This is something worth remembering as artists. As I’ve written and spoken about many times before, there’s often this misconception that pursuing an entrepreneurial idea with your art is somehow corrupting of the thing we hold most dear. But it isn’t – as long as you keep the thing you’re passionate about at the center of your venture. It’s your most valuable asset, because no venture is going to succeed without the passionate belief of the entrepreneur to sustain it and inspire others to buy into it. So if you’re not sure what you might do with your art once you’re out of school, if starting an entrepreneurial venture feels foreign and intimidating, then start by asking yourself: what am I most passionate about? Now: spend some time mulling that over in your mind – you might be surprised at what you come up with!

About Jeffrey Nytch
Jeffrey Nytch comes to the Entrepreneurship Center for Music having built a diverse career as a composer, teacher, performer, and arts administrator. For 15 years he has continually created fresh ways to support and nurture that career, whether it be through developing commissioning opportunities, establishing residencies with community organizations, or building relationships with patrons. He has also run a small business, helped found a non-profit service organization in Houston, performed a wide range of repertoire as a vocalist, and served five years as Managing Director of The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (“PNME”), one of the nation’s premiere new music ensembles.

jeff.nytch@colorado.edu
http://music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm/
www.jeffreynytch.com

Written by Peter Spellman, Berklee College of Music

Serendipity often plays a role in our unfolding careers. Just think about the “hinge” moments, significant events and unexpected encounters that set you along the path that brought you to where you are today.

 

In one study of university graduates almost 70 percent reported that their careers were significantly influenced by unplanned event – in other words, the ‘butterfly effect’ (Krumboltz and Levin, 2004).

My gig at Berklee College of Music came about this way: my pregnant wife went to hear a certain speaker at a La Leche League conference (LLL is an educational and support organization for nursing mothers); the female speaker was delayed and replaced unexpectedly by a gentleman who spoke in her place; after his surprise talk my wife cornered him to ask some questions; over the course of the conversation he asked what I did for a living (freelance musician and business coach); after my wife telling him so he related to her that his wife was heading a search committee at Berklee that was looking to hire a music career development specialist; that evening my wife told me about this opportunity and I reluctantly called the following day. I inquired about the position and the gentleman’s wife told me they had received over sixty resumes and that the deadline was the following day! I quickly cobbled a resume together (my first – hey, I’d always worked for myself), dropped it off the next day, eventually got called in to two separate interviews, and then was finally offered the position.

I, of course, accepted it and it has turned out to be the closest thing to a ‘perfect fit’ I could imagine.

What should our response to this be? Is all the career planning we do – the job exploration, self assessment exercises, and role modeling -  all in vain? Not at all. The words of scientist Louis Pasteur come to mind here: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”  We must plan to be lucky and prepare ourselves -  mentally, emotionally, spiritually – for that surprise out of left field.

What are your thoughts?

About Peter Spellman
Peter Spellman found his way into music as a guitarist in various New York bands and then switched to drums after seeing the Police perform in the late 1970s. Since then he’s performed and recorded with reggae outfit, The Mighty Charge, world music ensemble Friend Planet, and now with the Underwater Airport crew. He’s scored films for the National Science Foundation, composed video games for Massachusetts General Hospital, and coaches music entrepreneurs at Berklee College of Music. He is author of “The Self Promoting Musician” and “Indie Business Power: A Step by Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs”. Find him at mcareerjuice.com

Written by Jeffrey Nytch,
Director of The Entrepreneurship Center for Music, Univ of CO- Boulder

This past weekend I was back in Pittsburgh to help judge the biennial Harvey Gaul Composition Competition, sponsored by my former employer, The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. (I’m still on their Board, and PNME will be premiering a new commission of mine this summer.) In two days we reviewed over 150 submissions from all over the country, and a few things really jumped out at me as we proceeded through this mass of music. The first was that the technical quality of what we were reviewing was by far the highest it’s ever been (I’ve been involved with this competition for nearly 10 years now). Clearly the American system of educating young composers (most of our entrants are 35 or under) has made great strides. Submission after submission was technically solid writing.

And yet very few of these compositions caught our attention. And that’s the second thing that was very obvious to me, and it just confirms something I’ve said again and again (here and elsewhere): the most important thing you can do as an artist is to find your voice. Figure out what unique thing you have to say, and how you want to go about saying it. Technique is merely a tool – and before I incur the wrath of any of my teacher colleagues, it’s an absolutely critical tool that cannot be shortchanged: without technique, you won’t have the capacity to express your unique self at the highest level of artistic and expressive polish.

But the technique can’t be where it ends. In fact, it’s just the beginning. What comes out of that has to be an authentic expression of your very self – because only YOU can be uniquely YOU. Or, said another way, if you wish to say something unique then you have to start with who YOU are. That’s the foundation of everything.

This applies to all musicians, not just composers. If you’re wondering how to build success for yourself “out there in the world,” you have to begin with what it is you want to say, what it is that only YOU can share. It might be a composition, or it might be a novel idea for presenting concerts in a different way. Perhaps it’s a knack you have for connecting with your audience through speaking to them before and after pieces, or maybe you have a new vision for how video, lighting, or other media can be employed the enhance the concert experience. Maybe it’s a burning passion to figure out how to use music for social change. It doesn’t matter what it is, but you need to find out what it is for you.

Because ultimately, if you’re wanting to be a professional musician, you have to have a product that people are willing to pay for. And since you want them to pay YOU for your product, then your product has to be something they can’t get anywhere else. In other words, you are your greatest asset.

Think about that. How does that change the way you view your career options, and how you’ll go about exercising them?

About Jeffrey Nytch
Jeffrey Nytch comes to the Entrepreneurship Center for Music having built a diverse career as a composer, teacher, performer, and arts administrator. For 15 years he has continually created fresh ways to support and nurture that career, whether it be through developing commissioning opportunities, establishing residencies with community organizations, or building relationships with patrons. He has also run a small business, helped found a non-profit service organization in Houston, performed a wide range of repertoire as a vocalist, and served five years as Managing Director of The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (“PNME”), one of the nation’s premiere new music ensembles.

jeff.nytch@colorado.edu
http://music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm/
www.jeffreynytch.com

Written by Peter Spellman, Berklee College of Music

“The worst assumption you can make is that your interviewer already knows everything about your major. In fact, it’s possible that not only is your interviewer not familiar with your major, but he or she may even harbor some negative or inaccurate views of it. So you need to become a star salesperson for your major and college degree.” (You Majored in What? By Katharine Brooks)

This is something I often encounter as both a career adviser and hiring manager at Berklee College of Music Those who major in music, in particular, don’t always understand their value as music majors.

This is an interviewing blind spot and can sell a student short.

So much of what makes up a literate musician is ‘first nature’ stuff, like the air they breathe,  and is often under the radar of conscious thought. In my humble opinion, I believe musicians leave school with a set of skills both unique and highly relevant to employment in today’s mercurial economy.

For example…

Besides general skills like analytical thinking, written and oral communication, and problem-solving, and music-specific skills like notation, instrumental performance, harmonic technique, transcribing, and arranging, musicians develop additional specialized skills unique to those steeped and trained in music.

These include:

• technological fluency (stemming from curricular requirements involving digital             communications and production technologies);

• the mental ability to synthesize disparate pieces into a “whole” (flowing from the nature of musical literacy which encompasses both formal analytic and creative intuitive aspects of thinking. This has been termed ‘Symphonic Thinking” and is explored more fully in Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind);

• an internal flexibility (due to the nature of musical work activities which are often characterized by improvisation and a network of flexible alliances.  This has been dubbed the “Hollywood model” and is considered by many in business to be the emerging model for the New Economy);

• highly developed listening skills (stemming from music’s demand for strong ear training);

• a familiarity and comfort level with “multi-tasking” (evolving from the nature of musical work which often involves listening, writing, organizing, creating, and expressing simultaneously);

• the ability to build coalitions (related to the collaborative nature of so much musical work that involves heightened interpersonal skills with the ability to strike compromises among a diverse group of people);

• an appreciation for and interaction with diverse cultures (derived from the collaborative nature of musical work and the fact that most music colleges have a large percentage of international students).

All these specialized skills are highly valued in the contemporary business world, from micro-businesses to multinational corporations.  Sometimes I feel like I am introducing the student to herself because this knowledge often lies hidden. But once a student becomes fully aware of each skill, then learns to articulate the skill in words, she then can apply it to the real and potential needs of companies she is interviewing for.

I hope you find this list helpful in your own music career advising and would love to hear other music-specific skills you have noted that can be applied to career development and employment success.

About Peter Spellman
Peter Spellman found his way into music as a guitarist in various New York bands and then switched to drums after seeing the Police perform in the late 1970s. Since then he’s performed and recorded with reggae outfit, The Mighty Charge, world music ensemble Friend Planet, and now with the
Underwater Airport crew. He’s scored films for the National Science Foundation, composed video games for Massachusetts General Hospital, and coaches music entrepreneurs at Berklee College of Music. He is author of “The Self Promoting Musician” and “Indie Business Power: A Step by Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs”. Find him at mcareerjuice.com

Perhaps like me, you are constantly working to clear – your physical space, your head, your email inbox, your to-do list — so that you have an uncluttered springboard from which to leap creatively forward. I call it trying to get current. It’s hard to invent something new when you feel cluttered with unfinished business. It’s hard to drive if you haven’t scraped that ice off your windshield.

While the snow has pretty much stopped falling here in Chicago, the digital distractions (or are they now requirements?) still beckon and I find myself creating less while engaging in the sisyphean pursuit of always trying to get current. Are you too waiting for your to-do list to be handled before you finally move forward with the things you’ve been wanting to do? What to do if you want to be a creator and not just a clearing-upper?

Time magazine humorist Joel Stein recently captured this dilemma well, as he examined the great 21st century contributor to our never-can-clear state–the digital mess–in a column called the Mess Manifesto:

In the past few years I’ve become a compulsive organizer…I have been sucked into hours of deleting pictures on iPhoto, then organizing the rest into little titled folders…I’ve lost days fiddling with the bottom of my Netflix queue, which is the section that should be labeled ‘movies I will never see.’ I could have read a Tolstoy novel in the time I’ve spent managing my songs on iTunes, putting old e-mails into folders, watching TV shows I don’t really care about just to get them off my DVR and moving the downloaded Tolstoy novel from my computer to my iPhone and then to my iPad.
        We are all OCD now. We do these things not just because digital filing gives us the satisfaction of cleaning without the unpleasant feeling of getting up from our chairs. It’s because we’re constantly confronting the onslaught of information, and our brains are trying to make patterns out of the randomness.

 

In order to create something new, we need to move out of our OCD state and clear the mental decks in some way. In the classic creative process model, new insight (the “Aha!”) is preceded by a period “preparation” and “incubation” — we need to first prepare our mind for a new solution and then let it stew for a bit before an answer will appear. But I’m not sure we do good stewing when our minds are so overloaded. It’s usually during an incubation period of uncluttering — the most common being in the shower or while driving — that a great insight comes to us.

In more psychological and spiritual circles, the process of change leading to authentic creativity might be said to follow this process: 1. Clearing, during which you cast out blocks and worries that are keeping you stuck, 2. Connecting, during which you get in touch more deeply with your genuine wishes, desires and passion, and 3. Creating, during which you activate those desires in a form of expression.

Okay. But that doesn’t help if we get stuck in the constantly clearing mode, does it? Stein, though, does offer us a possible solution. The subtitle for his column: “Why we need to stop worrying and learn to love digital disorder.”

We need a digital Zoloft, something that will force us to allow messiness into our digital lives…We need an app–I’m calling it 1-Year-Old Boy–that grabs stuff out of our folders and throws it around, possibly while laughing, possibly while pooping, probably both. It will hide a few episodes of 30 Rock from us when we have more than five to watch, and it will hide them in its mouth. And it will remind us that anarchy is the best way to actually enjoy things: it’s the newness of watching a movie we didn’t know about, of hearing a song we didn’t set up on a mix, of seeing a cat do something stupid right in front of us instead of on YouTube.

Ahh. I think there is something here–more than just tongue in cheek. Let me leave you with some questions: Can you find a way to clear your mind despite the messiness, despite the unfiled emails and unfinished business? Can you accept the clutter in such a way so that it can be ignored at certain times and you can feel clear and able to move on to new pursuits? Can you dare to insert creative time during your day, periods where you are able to instantly melt the ice that you thought needed to be chipped first simply by deciding so?

Can we learn to love the disorder and overload so that we can ignore it and create anyway? 

 

Want more from Adam? Check out his Innovation on my Mind blog.

No shame in anxiety The last few weekends have been Audition Days here in the College of Music, and as always I give a little spiel on the ECM and what we’re about. I like to start these things with an informal survey of the prospective students (and their parents) who are in attendance, so I start out by asking for a show of hands from parents who are experiencing some level of anxiety about their son or daughter attending music school. Usually about half of the hands in the room go up. Then I pose the same question to prospective students, and again about half of them raise their hands. In both cases, there are two things that I find interesting. The first is that more hands don’t go up (sometimes it’s as many as 2/3rds of the hands, but it’s never 100%). I found myself thinking of that scene from Return of the Jedi where Luke tells Yoda that he’s not afraid, and Yoda ominously replies: “You will be. You will be….” Because let’s face it: there are NO guaranteed careers these days, particularly in the arts. Some level of concern about that is reasonable.

The second thing is that I usually get a lot more hands raised once I do a little coaxing of my audience: parents and students alike seem reluctant to admit to any anxiety about pursuing a music career. It’s as if they equate anxiety with a lack of commitment or conviction about pursuing this path.

But here’s the thing: the fact that there are challenges for artists pursuing a professional career is simply a fact. Denying it is not going to help us engage those challenges constructively. So rather than ignoring the elephant in the corner, let’s call it out. Let’s go ahead and identify not just our anxiety, but the source of that anxiety: is it fear of failure? Fear of letting down our parents and loved ones? Embarrassing ourselves? “Wasting” our education? Or simply the fear that we won’t be able to earn enough to build a life for ourselves? Whatever the source of the anxiety, bringing it to light is the first step. The second step is to define the challenges and barriers that exist and devising a plan to overcome them.

But first ya gotta raise your hand.

Jeffrey Nytch, DMA
Assistant Professor
Director, Entrepreneurship Center for Music
University of Colorado – Boulder

Office: 303-735-1272
Fax: 303-492-5619

Imig Music Building, N105
301 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309

jeff.nytch@colorado.edu
http://music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm/
www.jeffreynytch.com