Along the artistic and entrepreneurial journey of building a brand that lasts, there is a one ultimate catalyst for coming into your greatness, as well as for just living a successful life, living a great life…

I’m talking about your habits.

They’re how you will actualize your dreams.

They are the foundational building blocks for musicians in the modern music business.

Habits are like the ingredients in the recipe of your success.

I was issued my first copy of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by the Army at Ft. Dix New Jersey after returning home to the states from my 17 month combat tour in Baghdad, Iraq. It started me on a course of self mastery, a path I’m still on over 12 years later at the pace of about a book a week. I still use it’s principles and habits to this day.

Good habits are at the center of successful living.

They’re the building blocks of the life you want.

If you don’t have good habits, it’s time to start to develop them!

As the Music Business Architect, when I work with an artist one of the main factors I look at in where they are is their habits.

Its been said that “first we make our habits, then are habits make us.” John Dryden

We have to really dedicate ourselves to building good habits that allow us to become our best selves and contribute at the level we are capable of. Modern Musicians know that they are the key to their success-along with their skills and mindsets. The formation of excellence will emerge out of these habits and so that is a Modern Musicians first goal. To create good habits that then build our capacities and skills until we reach excellence.

Today, you're the one in the drivers seat.

Artists are the central leaders of their brand, designers of their lifestyle, the creators of their career and content.

Relieved of taxing, superfluous, financial and political overhead-the Modern Music Business consists of teams and lifestyles built around YOUR values, goals, and principles.

Your imagination is now supported by an infinite canvas upon which to paint, present, publish and share your stories. The direct to fan tools available are a sophisticated array of always on, always available communication formats and distribution channels designed to deliver your content to anyone, virtually anywhere or anytime.

Creativity and inspiration are the true drivers for Artists in the modern world, and the palette of experiential expression extends beyond compact discs, vinyl or digital data. It’s the most amazing, fruitful, and exciting time to be alive as a musician. And whether or not anyones ever let you in on the rules of The G.A.M.E., you are the CEO of your music business. The Artists Revolution is now. It’s how artists took the power back, AND do it on OUR terms.

But with all the roles and responsibilities of a modern music business owner it can be hard to keep up with it all…

Theres a lot that goes into keeping everything in motion and on track.

What’s certain is that making it in the modern music business requires us to perform and produce at our best, and to create our own opportunities. Central to these intentions and results are our habits. We need to build strong success habits that transform us into the greatest version of ourselves over the long haul.

Here are 7 habits of highly effective musicians aka Modern Musicians.

Modern Musician Habit #1: Plays The G.A.M.E.

What is it? The Grassroots Authenticated Music Experience. Aka The G.A.M.E A Proactive approach to life. Drive the dream and live into the blueprints of the life and career you want by playing the game of business… Build a 3D Brand by developing the story of who you are and what you are doing. It is the direct to fan journey and it’s career, content, self, and lifestyle mastery.

Modern musicians have what we call The Champion Mindset. They are the masters of their own fate. They are willing to do what it takes to have what they want. Playing The G.A.M.E. Is the process of earning it. It’s the all important focus on only that which we have control of, our effort and our attitude.

Playing The G.A.M.E. Is 10 Rules 10 Steps To Music Business Liberation. It’s the game of music business growth! It starts with setting goals and objectives and then integrating the habits, skills, and mindsets of Modern Musicians. Stepping your game up from traditional to modern musicianship.

Modern Musician Habit #2: Constantly growing via learning and applying knowledge.

One of the most important things I’ve done over the last 15 years is what I call sequential learning. Learning the right thing at the right time means that you identify which skills you need to learn and then sequencing your learning so as you learn something you are applying that which you are learning and developing good pathways to more learning. It’s this virtuous cycle that fuels itself and keeps you growing and getting more experienced as you go. They say all leaders are readers.

Modern Musicians are always learning, always growing.

Modern Musician Habit #3: Captures everything. Modern musicians create something everyday.

They always think on paper and get their thoughts and ideas out of their head and into their system. Journaling should become a mainstay practice that you develop. It will help you process and improve your thinking. It cannot be overstated that it is a valuable tool for processing and healing yourself as well as developing business and career related ideas.

Capturing your ideas clears your mind and begins to process your data and projects through your idea development system. I personally use Omnifocus, Macjournal, Scrivener and Wordpress for my CMS. Capturing your ideas leads to an archive of song starts and content ideas that you can always refer back to. It can quickly queue up states and experiences that the old idea triggers, saving you time and carving the right pathways to re-access those genius states and ideas again and again.

Modern Musician Habit #4: Modern Musicians work in WorkBlocks and WorkSets, Habits, Routines and Rituals.

When I say workblocks and worksets I mean periodized intervals of focused blocks of activity. You can vary the length of the workblock say between 20-60 minutes, and you can vary the amount of workblocks in a workset. Where you achieve something specific. Like 3 hours or 3 blocks of writing with a 5 minute break each hour and then a 30 minute break.

You’ll have to play around with it a bit. It will take some adjustments to find a rhythm that works for you but once you do use it to build the foundation of your life. These habits are the core of your success in life so make them count. The Morning success ritual for example should be your on-ramp for your day, it should start your days smoothly and prepare you for another successful day. How you setup the day is how you will set yourself up for success during the day.

Modern Musician Habit #5: Completes daily dial cycles - Focus on the core

We strengthen our powers, develop our value and build momentum every day through our daily dials. All you have to do is your daily dials. They are what keep the engine in your career running. They are our daily responsibilities. We’re entrepreneurs and it’s our job to focus on the right activities that drive the needle forward on our career each day. Our workload comes down to being a list of the activities designated for that day which was previously assigned upon our seasonal planning phase, or 90 day development cycles. From the goals we set we list out all the projects and tasks and then sequence that out. Then we turn the tasks into calendar actions and events and log our daily activity during our nightly review ritual in our weekly gps tracker.

For you, all you need to do is to come up with the several, usually 4-9 (I.e. Writing, meditation, email, exercise) items that will move the needle forward for you. Focus on the core. I recommend you do it the night before, but you can just do it first thing in the morning before or after your morning success ritual.

Modern Musician Habit #6: Builds a fan base one at a time via email

Email is still the tool that connects your fans direct contact information and your relationship database. It is still one the most effective sales methods available, and it’s still a crucial communication format. Modern Musicians think about building a fanbase as one person at a time. We want the email address first, then the like, and the subscribe, and the follower count.

Remember that your account could easily get shut down on facebook or twitter, but that with email you own the fan relationship. It’s on your terms. Email is the still the glue that connects all the channels together.

Modern Musician Habit #7: Develops Workflows, Systems and Processes

Modern musicians understand that their world is composed of systems and processes that produce the product, their content, that publish and promote and profit off of it, and that keep their life operating at optimal effectiveness. One of the best books I’ve ever read on systems is the classic Work The System. In it Sam Carpenter asserts that our life is the result of our systems and that if we want to change it we need to fix the systems that cause the problem.

Proactively. We can adjust the procedure until we get the desired results we want. Your career is a series of systems and processes and once you understand those systems and processes and what they do for you, then you are in control of your operation.

Modern musicians build workflows for the production, project management, platform management, publishing, promotion and performance measurement processes. They build what are called SOP’s or standard operating procedures for their areas of management. They are the procedure for operating their modern music business.

Now you know the habits for building a modern music business.

Building the right habits are the key to your foundation. Doing the right things, the right way is the pathway to your success. The problem with why so many fail is because they do not have the structure that keeps them doing the right stuff, the right way, everyday. This leads to burnout, procrastination and failure.

I’ve written a book and built a system that I coach music business owners to help them perform and produce at their best, for the many seasons and journey of their career. The 10 steps are how to grow your career and fan base more effectively than a major label, on your own terms.

To learn more please accept The Music Business Expansion Package as my gift to you. It is how to grow a music business more effectively than a major label on your own terms. Join the Modern Musician Community on the facebook group, or follow me on twitter.

Stay Fresh,

Jamie Leger The Music Business Architect for Independent Artists & Creators

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Proudly Helping Hundreds of Modern Musicians liberate the music business, declare their artistic independence, and unlock their full potential doing what they love-on their own terms.

Author of The Music Business Manifesto Creator of the Music Business Blueprint