Whether you’re a singer, speaker, broadcast journalist, talent show contestant, pageant participant, stand up comic, or spoken word artist, you need a sense of purpose or focus that compels you to pursue your voice-driven career. Otherwise, you’ll become vulnerable to getting off track, making poor decisions, and your career potential will suffer as you quickly spiral out of control. Read more »

If you want to be a successful singer, speaker, actor, or performer, you must give yourself permission to falter, fumble, fail, and fall. These should not be your ultimate goals, but there needs to be a clear understanding that, before you can fly, you need to get over the fear of falling. Read more »

Several times we’ve talked about the importance of assessing your progress periodically in advancing your career and then making adjustments. Your self-assessment should then be reviewed by a mentor, vocal coach, or another accountability partner who can provide further insight, affirm your progress, and help you determine any action you need to take or adjustments you need to make moving forward. Read more »

Warning: This article is not for you if you are totally satisfied with your current skill level as a singer. I might add that, if you are satisfied with your voice, we are sincerely overjoyed that you have found success. Read more »

Creativity is an ongoing, living, changing process. It demands attention, nurturing, guidance, rest, and refreshment. The process regularly interfaces with your confidence and comfort levels. It is also hypersensitive and will sometimes seem fickle or unresponsive, especially if there’s a lot that has happened such as an emotional or physical trauma.

Whenever you experience major changes in your life creativity tends to either slow down to rest and sort things out, or it gets busy trying to process things. It is a vital part of who you are as a singer, singer-songwriter, or singing musician. And it must be respected and encouraged by being acknowledged or engaged each day in some way. Read more »

In the pursuit of your singing success, there’s a natural tendency to focus so intensely on what you need to work on, that you forget to acknowledge what you have going for you that’s not only working but working well. It’s also important to have a clear, realistic understanding of your strong points so that they are recognized, affirmed, put to use, and showcased as often as possible.

Those strong points are a potential positive resource for personal power. The confidence, comfort and gratification that comes from engaging your strengths can be tapped to help you face fears and address insecurities or areas of discomfort that present challenges both on and off stage or in and out of the studio. Read more »

One of the challenges faced in the pursuit of your singing success is the threat of burnout. In fact, the threat is substantial even without going after a career in the music business. Read more »

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey was initially published in 1989, and quickly served as a blueprint for many executives and entrepreneurs on building character, commitment, confidence, cooperation and integrity. It has since sold an estimated 22 million copies in nearly 40 languages since first publication. Covey’s approach stresses embracing principles of character and ethics in the pursuit of all goals in life, both personal and professional. Read more »