Imagine completely wiping all partial pieces of patchy information around how and what you are supposed to do to grow your career and business as an Artist, Musician, or Content Creator in the Modern World... Let's reboot and refresh the worlds most powerful piece of processing technology, your incredible brain.

Now that's better.

As you may know and understand by now, there is a pretty severe obstacle that interferes with our ability to function at the highest levels of our potential. It is a silent threat, but it is a real threat to both creativity and productivity.

Overwhelm, uncertainty, no clear structure, information overload are not just pitfalls, they can crush your ability to develop your inner and outer game effectively.

What we've done with the Academy is build a complete development system. With which we can focus all of our attention and energies on our Main Moves, (our Core Focus Activities) the difference that makes the difference, and enjoy doing what we love, on our own terms.

The swirling overwhelm that may be haunting you can be reduced down into the 5 core functions of modern musicians or creators.

 The Content Creators Job Description in the Modern World

As an Artist and/or Content Creator in the modern world there are 5 functions within your job description. They are the five functions at the core of your business operation and project lifecycle as a content creator.

Though they are simple, this is not the same thing as easy.

Like GTD, it is a Systematic Approach.

These components, these principles, these 5 steps, these 5 functions are a Content Creators Job Description in the modern world.

Master the 5 functions and you can experience long term freedom and fulfillment doing what you love, on your own terms.

Let's start at a birds eye level and then zoom in.

Areas of Management: There are 5 Areas of Management to your brand as a Modern Artist and/or Content Creator

Platform & Audience Production & Process Presentation & Positioning (Brand Message) Promotion and Partnerships Performance & Profits

A. (Audience) Platform B. (Branding) Positioning C. (Creation) Production D. (Distribution) Promotion E. (Effectiveness) Performance & Profits

The 5 Functions of Modern Musicians and Content Creators: 5 Steps To Freedom and Fulfillment. Doing What You Love-On Your Own Terms.

Core Function/Step 1 = Build Your Platform 

The First step starts with pre-production-including planning and project preparation. Every project and initiative strengthens your platform. It starts and ends with the plan, build, and connection of your global platform. You need to lay the foundation properly. Effectively. Going back to the analogy of a builder with tools and physical materials, you just cannot half ass it.

If you set a weak foundation, it's gonna catch up to you eventually, in time or money, or both.

It's the same fundamental principle for building a house, a deck, a porch… It requires a blue collar work ethic and mastery of the fundamentals, just transferred over to a digital universe and the modern toolset.

You have to do it right. Obviously, this involves quite a few things and cannot be distilled down into a simple set of steps here. But we do (as you may not be aware) simplify, break down, guide, and take the complexities out of doing all this properly-in the Academy and our paid training programs.

Your platform, logistically, is your mailing lists, your website, and your social media channels. At the CORE of it is what we call your Relationship Database and your Career Operating System.

You've gotta ask yourself, or consult with someone who could guide you to determine WHAT channels you should be on, WHY, and HOW to best set them up so you'll have a solid foundation to start from and work with.

Your platform is just the infrastructure to engage with your audience, to listen, communicate, and deliver your content through.

You must know who your audience is, what specific persona's you are targeting, and where they are on the path to purchasing your content.

Building your platform is typically done with 2 key things.

1. Your Fan Magnet (freebie, or opt-in gift to attract and convert possible fans into potential fans...)

2. Cornerstone content. (valuable flagship content that lives on your own blog)

Both need to be unique, high value, and relevant to the audience you are targeting.

Core Function/Step 2 = Production

Core function:  The second step, and the second function is: To Develop, Perform and Produce high value content through targeted projects and processes

But a platform is largely useless without a loyal following, a Relationship Database is not very useful without any Relationships, so in order to build an audience we must complete step 2.

Our objective is to create and convert our content into currency as well as find an optimal workflow across our systems and processes.

Let's break this down a little further and look deeper into the meaning and implications of these words.

Regardless of input, style, or story, the end result is simple... You'll have unique content, in any final format, that is of high value to the audience you are connecting with.

This means that you've done your market research, you know your audience, you know what they like, and you have the ability to deliver that content to them.

It's important to note that Quality and Value are not the same thing. High quality may mean things such as well written, interesting, or grammatically sound. High value Content is a currency unique to you. High Value in contrast to high quality means that it is something that a certain amount of people will pay money for.

 Develop, Perform, Produce

The performance, the event, the concert, the session, the consultation, the recording, the book, the piece of art.

There are 3 pieces, phases, components, whatever you will... that go into creating high value content which of course starts with the ability to DEVELOP it, to perform it, and finally to produce it-in its full and final form.

This is done through targeted projects and processes that have measurable and defined parameters or goals.

For example… The Content Strategy for your new book would be a project, whereas your Content Marketing "process" may be a well tuned and continuously refined set of operating procedures that encompass all the repeatable moving parts within your production, project, and fan engagement lifecycles.

To reduce the production phase into a universal skill-set, you'd get the following.

Skills - content creation, content marketing process, project management/prioritizing, market research)

The bottom line, from a logistical standpoint is that if you can't develop, perform, and produce high value content, then you will not be able to create or sustain profits for the shareholders… In other words, things ain't gonna work until you can.

Core Function/Step 3 = Presentation

Now just because you have the ability, and even your product of true high value content, you aren't quite done yet…  Indeed the first two steps are the two biggest pieces, as the final three can be easily adjusted, these first two are intrinsic to the foundation of the business itself.

If you didn't do full scale market research and in depth competitor analysis in the process of creating the high value content, THAT is what you need to dive into to complete this step.

Your Unique Value Positioning is the center of your brand message, and is reflected throughout your external branding and audience experience.

As a Modern Content Creator - it all starts at an intrinsic level. At a soul level. Your U.V.P. should be a reflection of your internal principles, values, and guiding purpose.

If that sounds deep… That's because it is.

Being a Modern Content Creator (or whatever you'd prefer to call it) is not for everyone. It's quite the responsibility, and it's something you are drawn to-or compelled to do generally out of an inner drive or calling.

You don't just write, or produce, or coach, or train, out of a haphazard idea you had one day.

Your UVP comes from knowing your purpose, vision, and your message. Your life, your story, your dreams. It's all there. You just need to Identify, define, and align your U.V.P.

The conversation is global. Instant. All the time.

Thus competition is global.

MODERN Content Creators are lynchpins because there is only one of them. Because they identify, define, and align their U.V.P. They know who they are, and they are deeply aware of what the others in their space are doing, and what they represent.

The great news is that opportunity is literally infinite now, because as Modern Artists and Content Creators, everyone is a lynchpin, so even more people can work together to add MORE value to their audience, and create more opportunity in their marketplace.

It's a matter of adding more pieces to the pie, more flavors of ice-cream, co-opetition, etc.

Core Function/Step 4 = Promotion and Partnerships

You do need to have a loyal audience that will pay you.

Once you've nailed the first three steps, the final two are relatively easy, and a few very simple, minor tweaks can result in huge benefits for your brand and your bottom line.

Step 4 is your traffic/lead generation campaigns, also known as the start of your marketing funnel.

Marketing is NOT something that we just suddenly start to do… It's not something that happens AFTER you create whatever it is you create… If it is, then you haven't built a solid foundation for your brand, and need to revisit steps 1-3.

Marketing starts at the very beginning of the process and should be thought about as you develop and produce the content.

Your marketing funnel consists of each traffic generation branch of your tree, (whichever promotional tactics work best for your market) and goes all the way through the relationship development process.

From brand impressions, to relationship development with your subscribers and audience, through any and all channels i.e. content, social, or paid traffic strategies.

Core Function/Step 5 = Performance and Profits 

After any campaign, an event, a tour, launch, or session…

At the end of any project or process we have to know two things, which takes us to our fifth and final step in the business cycle for Modern Artists and Content Creators... What strategy and tactics did we try, and what was the effectiveness of the approach we took?

What worked and what didn't. In the military we called this a hotwash, or an After Action Review. (AAR)

What were the bottom line results, and how can we measure the performance of our efforts?

Conversions and Performance analysis.

This is the final step, and everything leads up to bringing our audience from initial lead generation, through the relationship development process and into our sales funnel.

That's how you measure the bottom line. Your profits. Now for almost all of us, it's not solely about profits, it's not even mostly about profits... But to continue to do what we love, for those that love what we do… We MUST make profits, as well we should. :)

The best part about these last two steps is that we can automate a large part of the mundane, manual processes through the leverage of modern magic we call automation technology and our Music Marketing System.

Your sales funnel is going to be unique to how you determine and setup your FEE Structure-but it is essentially, the roots of your tree.

Typically it starts with a smaller front end product or service and then leads into a backend product suite that provides deeper, more effective offerings and value delivery at higher price-points and greater levels of intimacy or attention.

 We Use the 5 Functions To Build our Assets

Go through these five steps, master these 5 functions, and you can experience long term freedom and fulfillment doing what you love, when and where you choose.

As a modern content creator the name of the game is to use the tools available to build your assets through the creation and connecting of your content - by developing your ability to manage the five areas of your business and master these five functions.

Your Assets: The Five Assets of any Content Business

Your Platform - This is the infrastructure, the tangible and intangible assets of your loyal audience.’

Your Knowledge and Skills - The valuable expertise, insight, capabilities, and perspective you’ve gained.

Your Content, Product & Service Suite - The resulting distillation of your knowledge and skills packaged and produced for consumption.

Your Relationship Capitol - The valuable contacts, connections and database you have.

Your Revenue Sources - The Multiple Revenue Streams of your content business

In Conclusion

Your lifelong course of mastery will be constantly progressing in each of these areas.

If and when you fully understand these 5 Functions you will look around and realize that you have achieved Music Business Liberation.

It will be fun. So make sure you stick with it, and don't give up!

It is simple, as is everything in the Modern Project Studio, but that don’t mean it’s easy.

I encourage you to refer back to this anytime you have a question or are uncertain about why a particular part of your brand is not working to produce the results you would like.

The best part is that each of the 5 steps correspond to EACH of the 5 phases of this course. So it’s a mini-model microcosm that will teach and show you at the same time.

Again, your FIVE core functions are:

1. To Be Able to Develop, Create and Communicate High Value Content (Production)

2. To Define, align, and communicate your brands message and Unique Value Positioning (Positioning)

3. To Drive Targeted Traffic To a Sales Funnel That Works (Promotion)

4. To Profit, Test, Measure, and Improve all results through effective performance analysis. (Performance)

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5. To build and maintain a loyal audience that loves what, why, and how you do what you do (Platform)