For educational purposes (mine & anyone in the arts who is or wishes to be self-employed), I decide to put all my cards on the table...my professional & artistic goals for 2011. The qualitative I don't list (things like "improving as a guitar instructor"), but the quantitative goals are put here in advance to provide a way to assess accomplishments & trajectories by year's end.
I should mention that as I've provided opportunity for others over the past decade, I've usually done so painlessly (hahaha!), but often done it by either giving up an opportunity of my own or by waving financial gain. It has become clear that this is cool when it works to everyone's advantage, but that I can help everyone much more from a position of increased fiscal security. Lucky for me that my creative projects contain a high degree of revenue generating potential, so the following projects are designed first to serve creative ends, but can also easily be monetized.
ALL of these goals include partnerships with others (financially, we're talking about up to 50% splits), so if you have expertise & desire and want to be involved, feel free to contact me.
Here's the baker's dozen:
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1) Skinny Devil TV: Actualize the "Skinny Devil TV" performance clinics, bringing regional & national talent to Lexington to produce clinics similar to what we've done in the past with Muriel Anderson and others, in a more compact 60 minute "ready for broadcast" format.
2) A Personal Note: Revitalize "A Personal Note" (custom music compositions for individuals & business) and sell 6 in 2011.
3) Music Production: Get back into producing, engineering, & mastering. In addition to Alien Blue, engineer &/or produce &/or master 6 projects this year.
4) Alien Blue: Complete & release Alien Blue's 3rd CD....release on hard-copy as well as digital download using experimental model (perhaps a "set your own price" or free lo-fi/pay up-grade) similar to Radiohead & NIN. Alien Blue live: Put Alien Blue on stage with prominent national acts at at least 4 gigs; book "revenue" restaurant gigs; book at least 3 rockin' blues &/or general music festivals; begin cost-effective merchandising.
5) Skinny Devil Magazine: Launch web-zine "Skinny Devil Magazine" and streamline SkinnyDevil.com web-site. Re-vitalize "Guitar Gods" and "Artists at the Edge" interview series and create creative & financial opportunities for performance artists (music, dance, etc.) as well as other artists (writers, visual artists, etc.).
6) SDML Instructor Network: Actively work to expand the SDML Instructor Network to include instructors in at least 5 states outside KY. Produce expanded teaching & business materials.
7) Gun for Hire: At least 4 gigs working as studio musician on projects where I am not involved as producer or engineer ...OR... in live setting as hired guitarist &/or music director.
8) Film/TV/media and Music Licensing: At least ONE film credit as musician, producer, engineer, or composer....At least ONE success in licensing music (using either Alien Blue or my personal music) for broadcast or other media (radio, games, etc.) - then begin expansion.
9) Endorsement Deals: Completely re-align endorsement partnerships, and work more closely with Eric Hutchens on his awesome Cigar Box Guitars and guitar customization.
10) Skinny Devil Records: Expand Skinny Devil Records to include artists other than Alien Blue.
11) Recording Studio: Partner to open recording studio by end of 2011.
12) Music Workshops: Partner to conduct educational workshops on hand-drumming, singing, & song-writing (lyrics & music).
13) Student Opps: Outside of obvious opportunities for students by achieving the above list of goals, provide expanded opportunities for guitar students in the areas of live performance, collaborations, TV/radio, live/studio session work, and the like.
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I'm considering dropping to 4 days of teaching a week to spend more family time (and to allow for the above projects). Despite the decrease in teaching, a definite financial goal is to aggressively seek to increase income dramatically (at least 50%) and aggressively reduce/eliminate debt.
Also considering expansion of past "style" guitar lessons into e-books to include song snippets, interview with the artists, lessons, style analysis, and more. I also hope my blog posts can begin to sound less like an office memo and more "literary"!
Time to fly...!!!
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