Beth & Cayla, my community managers in the Female Indie Musician Community talk about how to get paid what you’re worth when booking gigs. They discuss how they stopped performing at places that didn’t value them and caused resentment and started feeling confident to ask for what they deserve.

9 STUMBLING BLOCKS MUSICIANS MAY DEAL WITH:

  1. We think we’re not good enough.
  2. We undervalue what we have to offer.
  3. Flat out fear
  4. We believe society when they tell us it’s not possible to make money with music.
  5. We experience booking rejection which can be painful and we allow these experiences to color our perspective on future bookings.
  6. We don’t know our mission, our purpose and our why.
  7. We don’t have a plan, goal or action steps we’re taking.
  8. When we don’t see the results we like, we give up.
  9. We feel isolated, we get too much in our heads and we start to believe the lies.

Money mindset is something a lot of us struggle with as musicians. Cayla has been reading a book called “Mindset” by Carol Dweck. There are other things that hold us back to get paid what you’re worth.

When we are told that we are talented, that can actually box us in. What can happen is we say, if we have to work at something, then you must not be good at it. Things come easily to geniuses and talented people. The thing is, no matter what your ability, effort is what ignites ability and turns it into success. Effort can be terrifying because geniuses are not supposed to need it. It casts a shadow of our ability since it robs us of our ability.

Get Paid What You’re Worth: “No matter what your ability, effort is what ignites ability and turns it into success.”

If you put all your effort in and you do all that you’re supposed to do and you still don’t make it, you can’t say that you didn’t. What we need to do is start to change our mindset and enjoy the process of learning new things and becoming better at what we do. That is the basic mindset.

The thing about money is it’s just energy. It’s a fair exchange of energy. We need to understand that there is money out there for all of us. We must always overdeliver for what we’re being paid to get paid what you’re worth.

4 THINGS WE CAN ASK OURSELVES ON HOW TO GET PAID WHAT YOU’RE WORTH:

  1. How do you feel about what you’re charging right now? Does it make you feel good or does it make you feel undervalued? Cayla was in a choir and doing a show touring at the same time and they were both treating her poorly and not valuing what she brought to the table.
  2. How long have you been charging that?  Maybe it’s time for you to raise your rates.
  3. What is that dream amount that you would like to charge? What is that dream figure that makes you feel good, makes you excited and makes you feel scared and makes you stretch out a little bit.
  4. When are you going to raise your rates? It is completely normal to feel fear. If you come to a point that you just feel that you can’t do it, then that is a block.

Beth shared about two inspiring movies. One is Eddie the Eagle which is based on a true story. Nobody really believed in him and he came from nothing. He is from Great Britain and he did ski jumping in the Winter Olympics. He had a lot of obstacles but he had so much determination. The second one is Invincible based on Philadelphia Eagles team. This guy who is a bartender and substitute teacher. He tried out and being on the team for three years. These movies are not about money but about taking chances and going for your dream and putting yourself out there. It is important to show yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone to get paid what you’re worth.

9 TIPS TO DEVELOP A HEALTHY BOOKING MONEY MINDSET:

  1. You are good enough and you deserve success.  You deserve to be paid for the services you provide.
  2. Know your worth and create value out of that. You might want to sit down and write down what makes you valuable, what makes you special and what makes you unique in your journey.
  3. Learn how to separate the rational from the irrational fears. These fears can block us big time from booking and charging correctly and stepping out of our comfort zone.
  4. Create opportunities to make money with your music and don’t wait for permission.
  5. Find those who value what you offer. It’s going to take some work but seek out those that value what you offer.
  6. Take time to understand what your mission, your purpose, and what your why is. This will help you persevere and help you stick to pursue bookings and pursuing what you are good at.
  7. Develop a plan, goals and action steps toward that success and do them.
  8. When you don’t get the results you like, re-evaluate and adjust your plan. Don’t tie your results to your self-worth.
  9. Find a mentor and a group of musicians that you trust and feel safe to share your inner struggles and gain support from.

Beth did not really get the support she needed for her music career before she joined the Female Indie Musician Community. She is so glad to have found support from the Academy as well as having Bree as a mentor.

Cayla told a story about her friend who kept on asking her about her plans. Through that she had a realization that you need to know the core thing that’s blocking your mindset and stopping you from actually pursuing your passion so you can deal with it.

 

Links mentioned in this episode:

musiciansprofitpath.com