Are You the Player or the Performer?
Think of two musicians.
One is a talented man who is playing on a busy mall on a Sunday afternoon.
He has gotten the correct permit from the right authority. He has his business card and CDs (that he created himself). He runs a few social media channels himself and posts updates about upcoming performances, how good his last performances were along with teasing new songs and material to his small but passionate fanbase.
These are all the skills he had to learn himself.
He unpacks all his gear from his van and wheels it to his favorite spot, making several trips and running back and forward to get it all done quickly. Then taking half an hour to set up and do a sound check. He plays for a few hours, smiles for photos with some fans and gives out a few business cards (with QR codes to his social media channels).
As the sun starts going down, he checks his hat, which now has a few hundred dollars cash in it and his Venmo account, which also has a couple of hundred dollars in it, starts to pack up his collection of speakers and instruments and then heads home.
He had a great day playing music for his audience on a local main street corner.
He will now spend many hours this week updating his social media, responding to new comments from audience members and getting ready for his new album launch.
All of which he will do himself.
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Another musician is a lead guitarist. That’s all he does. He plays in a well known band and travels the country and sometimes to other countries six to nine months out of the year. He is paid a reasonable salary and his schedule is booked out months ahead for him.
While he has little control over where and when he needs to show up for performances due to his contract, he does enjoy traveling and being in a new city multiple times per week, while meeting fans and hanging with friends from far away places.
He does miss his family and friends back home who don’t get to see him too often.
As show time rolls around, tonight is a larger performance than most, at one of the biggest cities on that side of the country. He goes through the same pre-show routine, double checking with his technicians and managers. Everything is good. His system, as well as the band’s, is flawless. He contributed to creating such a tight and perfect routine and now just has to show up.
He and the whole band crush it to a sell out crowd like they do every night, playing the same songs in the same order, using the same jokes and “We love you”s. Afterwards they all go backstage for beers and an after party with a few local celebrities, VIPs and competition winners and receive pats on the back about how good they were and answer the same questions (like “where do you get your inspiration?”) that they do from fans every night.
He had a great day playing music for his audience.
He then heads to bed in the tour bus while he gets driven several hours throughout the night to the next city, before he wakes up to do it all again. He has four more months of this until he will return home.
Which one of the above would you rather be?
Does one sound like hard work more than the other? Does one sound more easy, rewarding and inspiring?
Success can come in many forms. Money is not the only metric and the impact we have on others and the value we receive to ourselves can be measured in many ways.
And the beautiful thing is that we get to design our life the way we want.
Onwards and upwards, my friend, as you design yours the way you want.
~ Brett Solomano
