As long as you’re not planning on being a songwriter for this week only, take a deep breath, work on your songs and your career a little every day and enjoy the ride. You’ll be amazed in a few years when you look back and see how far you’ve come.

By Cliff Goldmacher

Looking back on 20-plus years of writing songs, it’s a lot easier for me to connect the dots now and see that the things I was doing years ago would eventually bear fruit. I can safely say that nothing ever moved as quickly as I thought it would, yet I’m constantly surprised at the ways that my long-forgotten efforts have come around to generate royalty income. All that to say, it would have saved me a lot of frustration knowing that getting up every day and working on my craft would end up paying off — on its own schedule, not mine. Here are a few specific reasons to stay patient in the pursuit of success in your songwriting.

1. You’ll enjoy the process more. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for something to happen that’s beyond your control. For example, you’ve read a listing on a pitch sheet looking for songs for a “last-minute” opportunity and they have to have them right away. The reality is that nothing actually happens “right away” and everything is “last minute.” So, after submitting your song, instead of constantly scanning your emails and sleeping with your phone, simply put a note in your calendar to follow up with an email in a week or two (not before) and forget about it. I know this is easier said than done but it will keep you sane. By the way, the easiest way to forget about one thing is to be working on something else.

In other words, you should have as many irons in the fire as possible so that you’re not waiting on any one thing to happen. By “irons in the fire,” I mean looking for other pitch opportunities, new co-writers and any one of a million things that you can be doing to have success in the music business. If you’re patient, your day-to-day will be a series of small steps and tasks that will keep you focused and productive without allowing you to linger on any one thing for too long. Also, that way, when something does come through you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

2. You’ll keep your perspective. Given that there is absolutely no such thing as a “quick buck” in the music industry, your best bet is to think about why you’re writing songs in the first place. If it’s only for the money, you’re in for a rough road. Even the most successful songwriters have put in years of unpaid work before the money began to flow. If, on the other hand, you write because you can’t help it and you love the feeling of putting something uniquely your own into the world and you also hope to be financially successful, then your day-to-day will be the pursuit of something meaningful to you that also has the potential to generate income. If you’re patient, you have a much better chance of keeping that perspective while you’re pursuing your dream of success.

3. You’ll build better industry relationships. We all know that relationships with industry insiders (publishers, managers, record label execs, etc.) are highly prized for the connections and potential opportunities they bring. However, just like any relationship, it’s extremely difficult to build something of substance quickly. If you’re patient and don’t try to force-feed your music to every person in the industry at every opportunity, you stand a much better chance of developing the kinds of contacts that move you ahead in your career. These relationships take years to develop (not five minutes at the bar of the hotel at an industry conference). What if instead of launching into a ten-minute, spoken-word bio the next time you meet someone in the music industry, you tried asking them what they’re working on? Learn a little more about them and, in time, if you’re doing great work, they’ll get to know about you, too.

By not treating every interaction with someone in the industry as a do-or-die situation, you’ll feel less pressure to make something happen immediately and enjoy getting to know them. Then, in time, you’ll have someone receptive to your music when there’s an opportunity. Here’s a small tip: It’s the administrative assistants and receptionists of today that will be the heads of film/TV departments tomorrow. Don’t ignore these folks in your search for someone more powerful who can help you. Take your time, build your industry relationships slowly and organically and watch what happens.

4. It’s out of your hands anyway. While there is a lot you can (and should) do on your own behalf every day, the music business goes at its own speed no matter what you do. Songs, even “undeniable” hits, routinely take years to find a home after they’ve been written. The journey from the creation of a song to a royalty-generating copyright is as mysterious to me now as it was when I wrote my first song. So, given that it’s out of your hands once you’ve written, demoed and pitched your song, why not be patient and keep filling the pipeline with new songs and pitches? Develop your craft, write as much as you can and one day you’ll look back to see you’ve got a catalog of great songs where some of the older ones are actually generating income.

I once heard a hit songwriter say that he wrote one of his hits in “three hours and 25 years.” In other words, while the song took three hours to write, it was his 25 years of patiently refining his craft and developing his career that made it happen.

As long as you’re not planning on being a songwriter for this week only, take a deep breath, work on your songs and your career a little every day and enjoy the ride. You’ll be amazed in a few years when you look back and see how far you’ve come. Good luck!
Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA. Cliff’s site, http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com, is full of resources for the aspiring songwriter and his company, http://www.NashvilleStudioLive.com, provides songwriters outside of Nashville with virtual access to Nashville’s best session musicians and singers for their songwriting demos.

You can download a free sample of Cliff’s eBook “The Songwriter’s Guide To Recording Professional Demos” by going to http://www.EducatedSongwriter.com/ebook.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EducatedSongwriter
Twitter: edusongwriter

I want to introduce you to a wonderful teacher I’ve been learning from in the last year.  His name is Bashar.  Now, I know some of you will be raising your eyebrows when you find out where he’s from, but that’s okay.  Remember, your mind is like a parachute – it only works when it’s open.

Bashar is an entity channeled by Darryl Anka and claims to be an Essessani E.T. from the 5th dimension (our future).  Darryl has been channeling Bashar since 1984.  Bashar mainly teaches the laws of creation and how to use them.  His message is one of love, joy, and being your true self.

Over the last three decades, Bashar has foretold UFO sightings (times and dates) as well as global events and challenges.  His teachings encourage people to bring love into the world which will eventually allow for future open contact from benevolent E.T.s.

I highly encourage you to keep an open mind and check out Bashar’s teachings.  Remember to always do your own research and follow what feels right for you.

Visit Bashar’s website at:  http://bashar.org/

I notice that many people who study personal development material tend to blindly accept what a teacher is telling them, without question or investigation.  Some of those same people will condemn followers of the more orthodox religions for not questioning the validity of their belief system.  But are they not doing the exact same thing?  Furthermore, the blind believer (no matter what the belief) is no different that the dismissive skeptic.

Dismissive skeptics completely disregard new information without question.  Blind believers completely trust new information without question.  Both attitudes are, at their core, the same.  Their cause is the same cause of all dysfunctions.  Fear.

Fear that their belief system might be challenged.  What if they were wrong?  What if another belief system was actually right?  That would mean they would have to change their entire outlook of reality.  And that, of course, can be scary.

But look at the other side of it.  So what if some of your beliefs turn out to be wrong.  I’ve uncovered dozens of faulty beliefs since I started my personal development journey.  And guess what?  It wasn’t easy to let them go.  But I did.  And on the other side of it was the feeling of freedom that only comes from being more in harmony with your true self and the true nature of all of Creation.

Educating yourself is a good thing.  Questioning what teachers and “gurus” have to say is a good thing.  Questioning what you were taught was “right” and “wrong” and “true” and “false” and “real” and “imaginary” as a child is a good thing.  Questioning what politicians are saying is a good thing.  The list goes on and on.

So how do you actually implement this on a daily basis?  Simple.  If you’re like most people, when presented with new information, your first instinct will be to either accept it as true (agree with it), or reject it completely (disagree with it).  Don’t do either.  Allow whatever temporary first impressions you have to come up, but then go a step further.  Investigate.  Look for other information and see if it confirms or conflicts with the information you’ve been presented.  Have you ever heard the expression, “lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons”?

If something is really true, you’ll be able to find plenty of evidence to support it.  If something is not true, you’ll start to find conflicting information.

In some of the more esoteric studies, you’ll have to use your own guidance to discover what’s true and what’s a bunch of B.S. (which stands for “belief system”).  If your intuition says something is true for you, then move in that direction.  If your intuition is nudging you, saying “there’s something more…keep looking,” follow that.  Here’s the general rule – If it feels good, it is; If it doesn’t, it isn’t.

So in closing, never accept what anyone else says as truth or fact just because they’re in a position of authority or are calling themselves an “expert.”  Do your own research, trust your own guidance, draw your own conclusions.

Oh, and here’s another tip:  The journey never ends.  (But make sure to go investigate that for yourself)

There are a lot of angles you can talk about deliberate creation from, however, intention is really the point where things start to happen.  Merriam-Webster defines intention as “a determination to act in a certain way.”  Intention is the point when you finally become clear and make a resolve to attain or achieve something.  I’ve been playing with the idea of starting a blog for a few months.  However, it was the moment I made it my intention to do it that all the information, people, and resources I needed started showing up.

Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich,” said that the starting point of all riches is desire.  He also emphasized that successful people have developed the habit of making quick decisions and sticking with them.  Well, I’ve found that intention holds the key to both of these, and more.  Wrapped up in intention are these three points:

1. Clarity about WHAT you want
2. Clarity about WHY you want it
3. A definite DECISION that you will have it

Clarity about WHAT you want:
When it comes to your desires, there is some value in staying general for a while (which I’ll talk about in future posts).  However, specific things that you want usually don’t start to manifest until you have become clear.  There’s a good reason for this.  The way this cosmic game we’re living in works is this: Consciousness Precedes Form.  Volumes of books have been written about that one little statement, but I’m going to make it easy for you.  Life works like a mirror.  Whatever is going on in your consciousness is mirrored back to you in your outer reality.  So, if you want something to appear in your outer reality, you have to have it in your consciousness.  Until you become clear about what you want, the “mirror” that we call this reality cannot reflect it back to you.

Clarity about WHY you want it:
This next point is one that most authors and teachers don’t talk about, and it’s a big reason why so many people experience frustrations manifesting what they want.  If you don’t know why you want something, there’s really no “fuel to the fire,” so to speak.  As soon as your fist challenge comes up, you’ll be all too inclined to quit.  Ideas are like seeds.  You have to nurture them until it is time for their birth.  Unfortunately, most ideas are aborted in their early growth stages.  There’s also a huge difference between going after something you THINK you want and going after something you REALLY want.  Many times when I’m coaching a client, they end up changing their desire because they realize that what they THOUGHT they wanted really wasn’t what they wanted at all.  It wasn’t until they became clear about WHY they wanted what they wanted that their real desire came into full view.

A definite DECISION that you will have it:
Finally, you have to make a decision.  You can think and dream and make lists all day long but until you make a definite decision to achieve what you want, nothing will happen.  It is THIS point where there is a shift in your energy; in your consciousness.  And when that shift happens, everything around you has to change to start “mirroring” the change in consciousness.  This is when ideas start to come to you, information shows up, you notice that people start talking about the subject of your intention, you see something about it on TV, etc.  Eventually, opportunities to take action start showing up.

All of these things are coming to you because of your shift in consciousness; because of your intention.  It’s your ability to follow these “clues along the trail” that will determine how quickly you will manifest what you want.  So have fun with this!  When you get ideas, follow them as far as you can.  Then move on to the next idea, or clue, or opportunity.  Circumstances and events will continue to unfold until you reach the full manifestation of your intention.  Then you’ll have a new desire, and the process will start all over again!

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