This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life)

by Seth Godin

Years ago, I produced several albums for a fledgling record label I had started. One duo I produced were gifted musicians living together in a van, traveling from town to town and playing in small coffee shops, then moving on. These places were the most accessible rung on the performance ladder, one step above open mic night. I helped them understand that the van wasn’t doing them any favors. If they stayed in one place for a while, they could build an audience and gain a reputation. After a short run at one place, they’d have enough credibility to headline a bigger club, building an audience that would allow them to work through the system. The bookers at bigger clubs don’t have better ears. They’re simply nodes in a system, paying attention to where someone came from and whether or not they’ll bring an audience along. Starting over at zero because it’s the easiest node is a trap, and yet talented freelancers do this every single day. A gig on Fiverr or UpWork might be easy to get, but if it doesn’t plug you into a system that amplifies your work, it gets in the way of the change you seek to make.