Nearly anyone who has an aptitude in music can use their skills to start earning income in no time at all. This guide will show a simple format you can use to get started with your online business as soon as possible!
Phase one: Build Your Home Studio Workspace
Let's get this simple fact out of the way. If you are a musician trying to monetize your music skills through remote online work...you'll need a way to record yourself! If working remotely, you'll definitely want a decent webcam, as well as a dedicated talkback mic that you can use for remote sessions.
Most musicians will be able to get by with a 2 channel audio interface, some good studio monitors, and a few select microphones that fit their needs.
Check out my top picks on the best studio gear for 2020. If you need any more help at all with this, feel free to email me at info@alexcutlermixing.com. I am glad to give you suggestions on what to buy or how to better make your current setup serve your needs. I can also help with mixing & mastering your tracks if you're looking for someone to help you level up your session musician portfolio.
Phase Two: Making Your Plan For Success
Determine what your greatest skills are, how you can help, and who you will be helping. If you're an exceptional musician, there are plenty of people who will gladly pay you to give lessons, record parts on their song, or ghostwrite their music. When just starting, it's best to narrow your focus as much as possible as to not spread yourself thin. Establish a niche and establish it early. This is always a difficult decision for people to make. They get worried that they will miss out on too many things if they are only offering one, or two services. Think of it this way though - if you need Brain Surgery, are you going to go to a Brain Surgeon or let your family doctor crack your head open and take a look?
Phase Three: Creating A Brand
At this point, you know a jack of all trades is a master of none. After deciding on what you want to focus on to start earning extra income, or replace your fulltime job entirely, make sure to have a solid answer to the question "What do you do?" You should have a new email, socials, website & a means to get paid to establish your new brand. Once you create your new email - I recommend setting up a Paypal business account. Setting this up will take you less than ten minutes. You'll use this for easy invoicing and it will make your life a breeze when the taxman comes around.
Now when someone asks "What do you do?" Your answer is no longer "I'm a drummer." Now, it is "I am a metal drummer who offers drum production & drum recordings to bands who are relying on fake programmed drums"
Phase Four: Identify Your Ideal Client
You should probably know at this point who your ideal client is. If not - stop everything you're doing and figure this out right now. In my case, I am a mixing & mastering engineer who helps musicians turn their raw tracks into polished recordings ready for release on all platforms. Many of my clients will be recording themselves at home. They will likely be between the ages of 16-35 and will have an obvious drive & work ethic to succeed in music. In a nutshell, I look for artists that want to take their music to the next level & are ready to get serious about their long-term success as a musician. If this is you, hit me up! For example, If I find an artist on Instagram I can usually make a solid judgment from viewing their profile & listening to their music (a very important step, please don't skip.) as to how likely they may be to need help with mixing & mastering. I will ONLY reach out to artists who meet the criteria that I have set in stone. Figure out who your client is and what the criteria for contacting them is. Skipping this step will guarantee that many of your messages will be ignored after being read - or unopened entirely.
Phase Five: Have A Process & Optimize It
If someone asks you "how does this work?" - you should have an answer for them. One that you know will work. It could be how you want to receive audio files, or how you will be billing them for your work. From the start to the end of the project, you should have a plan mapped out that you can develop and improve on with every client you get. This will enable you to work faster and deliver better results every time. By optimizing your processes, you'll have a system in place that is efficient and eliminates as much friction as possible.
Phase Six: Get Paid
At this point, you've found a potential client and have qualified their needs and how you can help. Now, it is time to make a proposal to them they can't refuse. This proposal should clearly state what they are getting, what they aren't getting, and the total cost of the project. The terms should be completely clear and void of any sense of weirdness. The key here is to stay confident, state your offer, and wait for them to respond. You'll likely have to follow up a few times depending on the situation, but this is normal. You will get better at follow-ups and all of the communication required to do this line of work as you keep after it. Just stay chill & believe in yourself. Soon, you will get a yes - and you'll have your first client!
Once they have accepted your project proposal, send them an invoice using the Paypal business account you created. Have them pay a deposit of whatever you feel comfortable with before you start work on the project. The client should know exactly when you expect the remainder of the project to be paid for.
For mixing & mastering projects, I ask 40% of the total project cost as a deposit to book the mixing days in my calendar. I expect the remaining 60% before the first scheduled day of the project. From there, once the client is paid up, I'm working for them! I'm putting in my best effort to deliver clean, polished mixes & masters to them, ready for release on all platforms. At this point, you've found a potential client and
Phase Seven: Rise & Grind, Rinse & Repeat Every Day
Congrats! You've now been paid and you have delivered the client something that they are (hopefully) very happy with. That was fun, time to chill! You deserve a break, you badass pro!
Oh, wait...you should probably figure out when & where the next payment is coming from...You should also grab a review from the client you just helped out...
The fact is this - starting a business of any kind is going to take daily effort. It will take time to build and optimize. You'll be working out kinks for a while and hopefully learning how to communicate better every day. There's no reason that you couldn't have a huge amount of success from the very start - and if that happens I applaud you! However, it will likely take you lots of time & energy to develop your vision and grow your client base. All that matters is that you try, and you know you are doing your best to reach your goals daily. There are going to be times when it feels impossible. You will likely feel the weight of societal pressures at times, especially once you start making money on your own consistently. You'll definitely feel this way once you're making enough money to quit your "real job" (the job most people will start assuming you have to support your "hobby"). Such a sudden change in lifestyle and becoming your own boss may cause a phenomenon called Imposter Syndrome - do not let it get to you.
You deserve your success because you are the one who built it. Nobody can ever take that from you. Wake up every day, look in the mirror, and know you are who you say you are.
I genuinely hope that some of you out there will get inspired by this post and decide to give whatever you're thinking of doing a shot. I appreciate you taking the time to read!
Bonus Phase: Optimize Your Project Proposals To Win More Clients
If you are wondering how to optimize your proposal processes, I can't recommend anything more helpful than Better Proposals - a platform that I have been using for months now to book mixing & mastering projects. This platform would be great for anyone looking to start a business in which they are providing a service to a client. I use Better Proposals to send the potential client a detailed run-down of the project. In this, they know what they are getting, what they aren't getting (This means what they aren't getting included in the project price. You can always add charges for additional services.), what they are getting for free, & the total flat cost of the project.
The layout of Better Proposals is slick, and you can customize it to suit your needs. You can even add your logo to give your proposals a super branded & legit look. It integrates super well with many other tools you may be using to run your business, such as a CRM. You can even have it integrated with Paypal so that the client can pay for the project directly after signing the proposal you sent! Success loves speed, and Better Proposals is an incredible way to get your point across quickly and efficiently while looking great at the same time! If you're ready to upgrade your proposal game & win more clients, start your Free Trial of Better Proposals Today. Check out all my top picks for studio gear here! The Best Studio Gear 2020
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