Success - What Is It?

I now people who believe that success is having a single hit the top of the music charts. Or complete a sell out tour. Others who believe it is about making six figures each year. Or own a big house, two cars, have kids at University and about to retire.

Clearly success means different thing to different people. We can all define what success means to us and have successesses each and every day! What it great for some may mean nothing for others. It could be something seemingly small to most but represents a major breakthrough for that person. Being able to stand up. Leaving the house. Speaking with a particular person. Perhaps even speaking at all!

So why do I ask?

Well, in the entertainment arena, when discussing things like volume of work, types of gigs, marketing campaigns, fees earned and so on, it's essential to remember the same things. What is total success for one may be merely the starting point for another. We cannot judge. So when someone says: "I'm getting a gig every couple of weeks now" it isn't appropriate to say "Is that all?".

The success of anything can only be measured against expectations, desires and needs.
Once we know the benchmarks we can evaluate how much of a success something has been.

What's this got to do with you?

A lot! The purpose of this post is to simply give you some food for thought. To awaken you to the whole idea of success and perhaps, with the end of this year looming, to think about goals and goal achievement for the coming new year. More about that very soon!

So here are some questions to think about:

Q1: You are a Face Painter and at a party you create ten of the absolute best designs they have ever seen. The kids love their faces and their parents think they are wonderful too. Have you been a success?

A1: That depends! It depends upon the brief, the agreement you made with your client. IF you only painted those ten and there were ten more who wanted but didn't get painted - and your brief was to paint them all - you have failed! However wonderful the limited results were, that's only a job half done, and the sadness and tears no doubt created a problem and made it worse than not being there at all!

Q2: You've designed and put up a website. It talks a lot about who you are and what you have done and shows some great photographs of many of the parties and events you've worked at. Many friends say the site is great, it's colorful, exciting and easy to look around. Is the site a success?

A2: Again, there is no way of telling from this. You may feel it's a success because you had to learn about site design, struggle with templates, uploads, source code etc and you achieved something you've always wanted to do. So in tat sense, perhaps it is. But whether the 'site' is a succes will depend on exactly what is the intended role, the purpose of the site and whether it will achieve that consistently over time.

For example, if the site is 'merely' a 'vanity site, a portfolio, a showcase whose only role is to diplay work to people sent directly there, then only comments about navigation and usabiliy will be relevant. However, if there is an intention for the site to be found by search engines, and offered up in the results pages for people sarching for artistes like you in your market - then the success can only be measured by testing the search engine results for the keywords that market will use. Achieving this will means having to apply very different design criteria to the site pages. We must know the intention to be able to judge the success.

One more example

Q3: You gave up your full time job and started to work solely as an entertainer. You have brought in enough work to just cover your bills, your outgoings. Because of the recession, work is getting harder to pull in and there are certainly no guarantees. Things look fine(ish) in the coming months but rising costs mean that some bills get harder and harder to meet. In fact, there's a possibility that you may have to change motor vehicles to a small one that's cheaper to run and tighten your belt in a couple of other areas too. Is this a success story?

A3: I'm going to leave it there for now and ask YOU what YOU think! IS this a success story? Make a comment below and I'll reveal what I think next time. Until then...

... I wish you all the success you desire and deserve

John Gordon
Founder APE





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Sports Stars Lack Loyalty

I’ve just read about Jenson Button, newly crowned world champion, agreeing to join McLaren and partner Lewis Hamilton in an all-British line-up for the 2010 season.
So Jenson has turned his back on Brawn (now owned by Mercedes), the team built from the ashes of Honda. What would have caused the move? Whether is will be good, racing alongside Hamilton and defending his title, we’ll have to see.

But sport is full of people changing teams, changing loyalties. How can they do that? How can they turn the loyalty they surely are expected to show, on and off? One minute they’d risk life and limb for their team, and then next they could be supporting another team and battling against their former colleagues and object of their loyalty.

Are YOU Loyal?

So what about your loyalty? Do you have any? Are you expected to? How about clients and agents you work for. Wouldn’t they expect you to not work for a competing organisation? Could you attract visitors and customers to one venue and then attract them away and elsewhere the following week?

Are Customers Loyal To You?

How about your customers? Are they loyal to you? You work for them, deliver more than they expect, exceed your brief but next time they book someone else. A competing performer. Is that OK? How does it feel? Are they being disloyal or is it all in the game?

Aren’t they free at all times to be on the lookout for a similar service but one that’s perhaps better, faster, cheaper, more versatile or better meets whatever criteria they desire? What if they met someone like this … would you feel they’d forgotten about you? All the good things you did?

What if you competitors have discovered just how to find your clients? How to spy on the competition (you), to find your keywords and use them in a better way? What if they obtained a list of all your valuable website links and added the same ones to their site? Maybe they have now made contact with your prospects, your clients and customers and learned how to continue communication with them, nurture them so that THEY are ‘top of their mind’ in the future.

Doesn’t this mean your existing customers won’t remain loyal and will exercise their freedom of choice and move to the supplier or team that suits them next season?

What can you do about it?

I’ll tell you … inside APE!

John
Founder APE



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WELCOME TO APE!

This post is to simply say welcome and to invite you to bookmark this Blog and come back again soon.

What's In It For You?

The Academy (APE) is a simple solution to a complex series of situations. It wouldn't do justice to explain briefly in this introduction so I'll hold off until next time. Suffice it to say that


=> If you are in business as a Solo Entertainer
=> You want to raise your game
=> You want to raise your profile
=> You want to raise your fees
=> You want to work for more of the right kind of client
=> You want to get more work in new markets
=> You need help in online marketing
=> Business is slow and it needs a boost
=> You'd like to travel more
=> You'd like to earn more without traveling



.... and many many other topics related to achieving peak performance and success, whatever that means to you, then ..... go APE now!

APE will be open for FREE membership which brings you newsletters crammed with help and advice, strategies, tips and tools related to the above. There will be articles, free software and scripts, resources and links .... everything you will need. Later this year I will be announcing a series of teleconferences so that we can talk online and solve your most pressing business and marketing problems and there will also be a live workshop. More on all this later.

All details will be announced in the APE newsletter so sign up now so that you get to know before your competition does! Simply go to the website (link below) and fill in the form.

APE is now open to Founder Members (with special bonuses) and over the coming weeks I will be adding some articles, tips and tactics to improve your entertainment business.

If you do have any questions, then email me anyway. I will say that, although APE will later be a paid membership site with a variety of levels of membership, founder members will be signed up FREE, and you'll have access to everything.

I look forward to hearing from you

John Gordon
The Infotainer and Founder of A.P.E.
www.TheAcademyForProfessionalEntertainers.com