As you can imagine I’ve had quite the week since  Seth Godin featured my blog post.  Suddenly I had visitors from all around the world popping by to say hello.  As the host, of course, I’m honored and pleased that many of you decided to stick around.  Maybe you liked the decorations, maybe you liked the drapes.  But that would just be guessing.  Honestly, I don’t really know what you liked.

Rather than sitting here silently wondering, I’ve decided to do 2 things.  One, I want to tell you what I’m about and why I’m writing this blog.  Two, I’d like to hear more about you.

I consider my greatest strength to be my ability to deeply observe the world around me.  In all the time I’ve been alive I have spent an unusual amount of energy reflecting on myself and the world.  Though I haven’t found all of the answers – far from it – I have come to one very solid conclusion.  The greatest unexplored frontier is within each of us.

Your own mind is the one place that no one else can explore.  Look at the wild and untamed Nile River… someone has been there.  The moon… yup, been there.  The great depths of the ocean… done.  Inside your mind?  Nope.  No one has ever been there and no one else ever will.  It is all yours.  Yours to explore, yours to receive this world and yours to interpret your outer journey.  It holds the most powerful and beautiful frontier you could possibly imagine and it holds the key to fulfilling every single one of your dreams.

My dream?  I can imagine an ideal world, not down to every detail, but rather how it feels and interacts.  The core of that ideal world is that every single person is self-actualized and self-aware.  Only when we have harmony within can we manifest harmony with others and nature.  My purpose in life, writing, and as a business owner is to inspire and investigate living from this core and to help others build their outer lives (businesses and social interactions) from that place.  This is the business, political and social world that I want to be part of – where everyone is self-actualized, creating, self-aware and thus fully alive.  Wow… it would be so amazing.

I don’t exist on an island though.  I have already seen that I am one of many living with this vision in mind.  When the time is right for you I would love to hear your story (email: ben(at)theartistfarm.com or leave a comment on this post).  Who are you, how do you spend most of your time, where are you going, what you like about this blog and what conversation you’d like to have here?

Suffice it to say, I am very excited to be part of this world we are creating together.  We are a part of something very real-  an evolution of civilization based in thought and action and penetrating all aspects of life including business, politics and family.  Thank you for sharing the ride.

All throughout life, from the smallest stage up through our final days we are each:

• Teaching – through words and actions
• Learning – about ourselves and the world, through experience and information
• Buying – products on the shelves, experiences, information, and ‘into ideas’
• Selling – ourselves, ideas, and creations

We’ve been taught to think that these are occupations, that you need a special degree to excel at them, or that they are activities for a certain period of life.  But that’s not true.  These aren’t relegated to any specific job or person.  These are for each one of us to enjoy.  Consider the power you wield with these opportunities… every single day.

Recalling the wealth equation from this post:

Wealth = Value Provided by Y * Number of Entities that Directly Value Y

I think the most difficult aspect of this equation is determining what your Y is going to be.  If you’re like me, in your own life/business you want the Y to be something you feel passionate about.  In turn, I always notice when I am interacting with someone who is clearly passionate about their Y.  So how do you find your Y?

On the surface it seems there are some people who have always known what their contribution to the world will be – what product they will make or what service they will provide.  You could look at this person and think that it was easy for them to get there, but most likely it wasn’t.  It takes significant energy to find and deliver your Y to the world.  I think there are two important ingredients to finding your contribution:

1. Self-awareness
2. Iterations (or for those Seth Godin fans in the audience – shipping)

Self-awareness – As you travel down the path of life pay attention to that voice in your head or to your feeling/intuition about your experiences.  Notice when you feel the push or pull to a certain type of work, work location, size of company and so on.  We aren’t taught to value this aspect of ourselves (in the US at least) but it’s real and it’s helpful.  If you pay attention and honor it, you’ll eventually guide yourself into your Y.

Iterations – Rather than getting bogged down in the big picture all the time, focus on the small chunks that will get you to the end point.  First envision the future: You want to be a rock star playing in arenas for 60 days a year.  Then focus on the iterations.   Break the vision into actionable chunks and then take action.  When each iteration is complete: assess it, think about how you would improve it and then use that info to put a plan together for the next iteration.  (I first heard this philosophy from the Agile Software Development concept developed in 2001.  I’ve also heard Seth Godin talk about shipping which is a very similar concept.  Both of these are intended for a specific audience but the idea is powerful and useful in any aspect of professional life.)

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We are all changing every moment of every day; having new experiences, learning new things and making new decisions.  Be fully in those moments and use the feedback to guide your next iteration.  Soon you’ll be shipping your Ys to the world.  (Thanks Seth!)

Continuing with our theme from yesterday, is it wrong to chase the hits and the feeling of the high that comes from it? No, I don’t think so. In fact being ambitious and going for gold is an element of greatness. How you go about maintaining balance in these endeavors is the key to great business.

If you strive for the peaks with a solid foundation underneath you then each time you reach a peak you can readjust your foundation accordingly. If on the other hand, you do not build a foundation under you or your business, when you reach for the peak you may not be able to support it and in time when the inevitable trough hits the business can fold since there’s no foundation to keep it in place. With a solid foundation in place when the peaks and troughs inevitably come, you ride the waves rather than getting crushed by it.

So what is a sustainable foundation for a music management business? I’d say it’s simply embracing the great relationships you already have (both customers, vendors, and partners). As an artist business it is especially important to embrace your fans (customers). Whatever business you are in and whatever size your customer base is, it is a start. Each one is valueable and part of your foundation. Notice that “fan base” or “customer base” has the word base in it. Base is foundation.

As an example, there once was an artist who rode to decent heights with a Triple A radio hit, sold 100,000 copies of an album and toured to good sized crowds (a few hundred in most markets) across the country. 2 years later, the next album is released but this time with no radio hits. The artist goes on tour and sees 10-50 people in each market. Why? Because in between the releases no time was spent cultivating a relationship or creating the foundation.

The peaks can be great – you should go for greatness – but put at least as much energy into building the foundation so it can be there to support you when you inevitably come down.

It could be drugs I’m talking about.  Or it could be the music business.  I think there is a similarity here:

• A hit in either case can take you to a higher place
• It’s dangerous to think that the hit is the only thing worth living for
• If you keep chasing the hit, the rest of life/career won’t satisfy you
• Going up is awesome, coming down sucks

The world is constantly changing, every second of every day.  By world, I mean all aspects of our planet but for the context of this post I want to focus particularly on civilization.  Here’s the logic:  Each individual human is constantly learning and growing from birth through death.  It may be subtle but  think of lessons you learned today that will affect you tomorrow.  It’s happening to you continuously.  Since each individual is constantly changing we can deduce that each organized collective of humans (businesses, non-profits, organizations, schools) is constantly changing as it is a reflection of its parts.  Therefore if each collective is constantly changing and civilization is the aggregate of collectives then civilization is constantly changing.

Every second of every day is a new world, different from the one just a moment ago and vastly different than the one yesterday.  It’s hard for us to perceive this since we are in it every moment, just like it is hard for us to notice our children or parents getting older; it appears to happen gradually but it is moving and changing nonetheless.  I imagine civilization like an amoeba- advancing slowly in various directions until it finds its way and the mass follows.

If our civilization is completely fluid then who decides which direction it moves in?  Does it come from the top down with government and big corporations calling the shots?  It’s easy to think so and many people do.  But if you go through the logic in the first paragraph you’ll see that civilization is merely made up of individuals.  That means if you want to find out how civilization moves and in which direction it moves, look no further than the mirror.  Every day you live out your vision of civilization.  If you want to see it move in a different direction then just go that direction.

Expanding on yesterday’s post…

If you want to change anything – your life, your community or your world – you have two choices on how to go about it.

1. You can make change by opposing the thing you want to change.
2. You can make change by proposing a new and better way to do that thing or to do something completely new that makes the old thing moot.

It is only a subtle difference between the two but it makes all the difference.

When you endeavor to make change by opposing something you inherently bring conflict and battle into the situation.  To oppose something invokes an image of taking up a calcified stance, not yielding, pushing and doing battle.  Inherent in this position is a view of right vs. wrong, good vs. bad.  At times this may be necessary, but harboring this kind of thinking can be hard on your mind.

On the flip side you can change something by proposing a new idea, a better way.  In proposing something you are inherently a creator, giving life to something.  To propose something invokes an imagine of bravely offering up a new idea, being thoughtful and resourceful.  It may be harder at first to be for something than against it but the feeling of creation is viral.

Think of all the great people who have made significant changes in our society.  They disliked the status quo, yes, but they didn’t just blinding oppose it with no solution.  They proposed a new way, a new business, or a new product.  In the process they made the previous status quo moot – they bowled it over with their new way.  Consider Martin Luther King (proposed racial equality in the US), Ghandi (proposed a more just and free India) , Apple (proposed a better home-based computer), Google (proposed a better way to search information on the Internet) and so on.  They all stood for something and that is what rallies people and empowers them to push further.

If you want to make great changes in your life, in your community or in this world, then stand up and propose a solution.  It takes bravery but nothing great ever happened without it.

When you express an opinion to another person there are 3 possible primary reactions:

1. Agreement
2. Ambivalence
3. Disagreement

The world is a big place and there are bound to be people who are ambivalent or in disagreement with your ideas.  If you want to grow your idea into something larger than yourself then you need to disregard these two and focus instead on the people who agree with the idea.  Agreement can lead to synergy – positive feedback on your idea which leads to greater energy than if the idea had just stayed with you.  This is the path of least resistance in launching an idea.

Note: If you enjoy this post, Ben Coe (the author) is now writing about the world over at www.bencoe.com. You can join his email list by clicking here.

In the deepest sense money isn’t real.  It’s true.  Intrinsically it has no real value.  It’s just a fancy piece of paper.  If you were to take our money to an alien world what could you use it for?  Money is simply a mutually agreed upon token we use to exchange for things that provide REAL VALUE to us like food, community, comfort and shelter.  It is the thing we buy with money or the thing people buy from us that has actual value.

Why then do we stress  over money?  You stress about money because you have mistakenly identified money, the actual money, as the thing of value.  You feel stress because you are “fighting” to get something that doesn’t exist- the closer you get the more elusive it becomes.  There is another way.

Look at the thing of value as what’s underneath the money.  If you want to generate more income, then think of how you can generate more value, not more money.  Also recognize that both value and wealth come in more forms than just money.  You can be financially wealthy but be bankrupt in true friendships, peer respect or health.

This observation is universal; applicable to anyone, anywhere in any business or organization.   It applies to the artist business, the management company and the United States Government.

In equation form it looks like this:

Wealth = Value Provided by Y *  Number of Entities that Directly Value Y

(Where Y is the product, employee or subject generating wealth).

Think about this on a higher plane.  We are all connected in a giant ecosystem and the flow of money is merely a manifestation of the exchange of our energy.  Next time you are stressed out about money be self-reflective.  Rather than stressing about how you can get more money for money’s sake, focus instead on how you can provide more value to more people.  All sorts of wealth will flow from this mindset.

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Note: If you liked this post, Ben Coe (the author) is now writing about the world over at www.bencoe.com. You can join his email list by clicking here. Thank you for reading!

It is a common misconception, especially in the entertainment industry, that you need to be unreasonably aggressive (in discussions/negotiations) to get things done or to prevent yourself from getting walked on.  I disagree completely.

The best negotiators are the ones who understand their boundaries and leverage and remain emotionally detached.

Boundaries define what is acceptable or unacceptable to you in any given situation.  It is factual, not based on feeling.  Example: If the offer is below your acceptable price you walk away from the deal.

Leverage is measured in facts and information.  Example: If you have a contract that promises 1 case of water and you don’t get it, you have the leverage (in the form of a contract) to politely demand it and the leverage to think the promoter is not worth doing business with if they break the contract.

Remaining emotionally detached means that if someone disagrees with you, you don’t take it personally.  This person is not offending you… they are merely disagreeing with an idea.  See the idea as something separate than you.  Imagine a table in front of you where you both place ideas (like cards) and in negotiating you see if any combination of those cards can work for both of you.

This last part is the hardest for most people but it is the most important for quieting The Jerk within.