excellent advice from Brian Austin Whitney Options

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here is some excellent advice from Brian Austin Whitney from www.jpfolks.org

This is the time of year where folks love to give out advice and suggest resolutions for next year we should consider. I guess I am not different, so here goes:

My advice for a successful New Year:

1. Nurture your relationships, all the other factors pale in importance.

Everything good that happens is because someone else helps you along the way. There are few of us who don't already have friends in our lives who can help us reach a lot of our goals. Nurture those existing relationships. You can't expect to keep harvesting benefits without feeding and watering the source. If you've neglected the crop
of friends you have in the last year, dedicate some time and attention to them early and often in the coming year.

2. Reach the fans and professionals who get your talent, let the others go.

I have a notion that we're turning a corner (or experiencing a swing in the pendulum) where an artist who focuses on a smaller number of fans and serves them with a high level of direct interaction and communication will be the new model for success, even in the face of new technology and the shift in old school music business procedures. I think a new definition of success will be the artist who has 5000 passionate fans worldwide who spend 20-30 dollars a year on your creative output. You'll communicate with weblogs, supply them with regular unique songs and videos via digital files, share the details
on the creation of and motivation behind your work on a regular basis, almost like your a unique reality show for your fans. You will creatively serve them in a way that the "industry" can't and/or won't. Rather than spending your time begging for recognition from the mass media or trying to reach critical mass numbers to get a "deal" and make a living, you'll do the opposite of the competition
and play "small ball." Earning 100 - 150K per year, while maintaining 100% control over your artistic vision and output is the way to do it in the future. Releasing music as it's made and not on some corporate schedule will free artists in a way we haven't been in our lifetimes.
Focusing only on those who get and appreciate what you do rather than spinning your wheels trying to appeal to the masses will make you far more artistically productive and will allow you to take more artistic risks and to grow far more quickly and deeply than our current system
allows. Let those who don't get it go. They're just a drain on your energy, time and creative life. And they aren't paying you anyway.

3. Constant motion forward is the solution to most hurdles in your way.

I've written about persistence many times. It's still the single most important attribute behind the greatest success stories. Even weak ideas with a lot of persistence behind them seem to find success whereas even the most brilliant idea will fail if you give up. Find a way to push tangibly forward every single day next year and success will come and hurdles will be overcome. Others will give up and if for no other reason, you'll succeed simply through attrition. It works and always has throughout history in every field. Try it.

Brian Austin Whitney
www.jpfolks.org
December 31st, 2004