Bree Noble on Women of Substance Radio, Going Pro and Making Money

Transcript Autogenerated by Apple Podcasts

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This is The Unstarving Musician’s Podcast.

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The podcast features conversation for musicians of all types and genres, a curation of expertise intended to help all musicians be better at marketing, business, the creative process, and all the other things that empower us to do more of what we love, make music.

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Hello, curious little birdies.

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It’s Robonzo.

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This episode of The Unstarving Musician’s Podcast features a conversation with Bree Noble.

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We were introduced by super connector D Grant Smith of Appetizer Radio Show fame, and the man am I thankful for the introduction.

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I’m gonna use a phrase that gets overused by a good friend, and that phrase is value bombs.

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Couldn’t help myself because that’s what Bree does.

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She’s a value bomber.

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I just made that one up, and it feels so right.

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Bree is an advocate for female music entrepreneurs.

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After enjoying an indie career of her own filled with life lessons, she decided to help others by creating an online radio station, which also now includes a companion podcast for female music artists.

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She’s created a community and education platform devoted to, you guessed it, female music entrepreneurs.

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Although she did let me sneak into one of her online courses recently.

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I wasn’t all that sneaky though.

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She saw me come in and assumed I was doing some research.

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I was, but the content did look pretty darn compelling.

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Anyway, we talk about her radio station, podcasts, plural, podcasting, house concerts, doing your thing with or without a band, business, marketing, performance venues uniquely for women, and much, much more.

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Man or Woman, this episode is filled with tons of useful stuff.

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Check it out, enjoy, and you’re welcome.

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Without further ado, please enjoy my chat with indie artist turned educator, Bree Noble.

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Bree, welcome to the show.

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Thank you.

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I’m excited to be here.

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And I am excited to have you.

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I know you’re having a day wrought with technology challenges, so let’s see how this goes.

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And I want you not to worry because I understand how that goes.

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Got it.

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I will try not to worry.

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So, first of all, where are you located?

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I am located in Oakhurst, California, which is about 20 minutes outside the south gate of Yosemite National Park, so beautiful woodsy mountain area.

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I was watching one of your Facebook live broadcasts this morning, as a matter of fact, and I gathered that you were in a rural area.

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So we have something to commiserate on should technology not go away.

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I am actually in a rural tropical area in Panama in Central America.

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Oh, wow.

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Yeah, it’s a challenge when you live in an area where the best internet is not necessarily available.

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Yeah.

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It’s been, knock on wood, it’s been pretty good, and my techie challenges have often been self-imposed, but things happening, not so much with the internet.

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And another kind of question related to where you are.

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I’m curious, and today’s a little bit of a learning episode for me as well, because we recently met, we were introduced by D Grant Smith, a mutual friend, but I wanted to know, where did you grow up?

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I was born and grew up a lot of my younger years in the San Francisco Bay area, and then I moved to a town about two hours away called Modesto.

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Okay.

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I know of Modesto.

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I’ve actually been-

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Black farming area.

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I think we had one of those moments.

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And so you moved out to Modesto but started out in the San Francisco Bay area.

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I got that.

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How long were you in Modesto as a young person?

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I was in Modesto from maybe eighth grade through the end of high school, and then I went to college in Santa Barbara.

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That’s a lovely area.

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Yes.

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Totally different from Modesto.

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Beautiful beaches.

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A lot of rich people.

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Yeah.

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That’s funny.

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So I spent 17 years in the south San Francisco Bay area.

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Was that like really early years you were there, or do you have some memories from there?

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Have you spent some time as an adult there?

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Oh, absolutely.

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I lived there until after seventh grade.

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So I was born in Redwood City.

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I lived most of the time in Redwood City in Woodside area.

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Those are really nice areas.

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Yeah.

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I lived on the peninsula probably through seventh grade.

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That’s where my parents met and grew up and all that stuff.

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So I was around a lot of family, but then we moved to Modesto in my eighth grade year, and I lived there through high school.

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And then I ended up moving to Santa Barbara, gorgeous area, totally different from Modesto, for college.

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And what was your degree in?

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My degree, I had a double degree in music, vocal performance, and then business, basically focusing on accounting and management.

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That probably lent itself well into the business of Women of Substance and the femusician.com era of your life, I would imagine.

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Yep, just a little bit.

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Do you also, I have not made a time to dig into your indie career.

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Are you also a player of instruments as well?

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Yeah.

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So I’m mostly a vocalist and songwriter, but I do play keyboard and that’s basically my instrument of choice is piano.

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And you know what?

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I did see a picture of you with a keyboard.

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So I did know you play something after all, but cool.

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That’s very cool.

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And what’s the timeframe of your personal music journey before you got into helping other women artists?

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So I mean, when I was in college, I did the typical opera scenes in college and starting to perform out as classically trained and it was also in one of the schools performing ensembles that did more like contemporary music with a band plus a cappella music, kind of like, you know, pentatonix or something and, you know, we toured all around.

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So when I left school, I really wanted to do that as a full time career, but I had absolutely no clue how to start.

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And so of course, I fell back on my business stuff because I had kind of gotten into the business area as a fallback, like, you know, just in case I don’t figure out this music thing, I need something.

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And so I had just gotten married and so I was very glad that I had the business side that I could fall back on and get a job and support us.

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My husband was getting his doctorate and so, you know, I needed to be the major breadwinner at that point.

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And so I worked as an accountant for several years and then I got a job working as the director of finance at an opera company, which was cool because I got to experience working in the music field even if I wasn’t performing for them and got to sit in the front at all the fancy opening nights and go to all the fancy galas and everything.

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So I did that for, let’s see, five years I was working there full time as the director of finance.

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All along that time, I really was trying to start a music career for myself on the side and I was involved in a lot of different bands and how many bands sometimes you have to be in until you find one that fits.

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And I just never found that one that fit me and I always thought, well, I can’t do this on my own.

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I need to have a band.

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I need to like be fit into someone else’s puzzle or I need them to figure out how I’m going to make it because I don’t know how.

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And finally, just out of frustration, I decided, you know, I’m just going to, I need to go start my own band.

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So I started my own band.

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We were performing local while I was still working at the opera.

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And then I ended up quitting the opera because I had kids and I wanted to, you know, be home with them more and the job was pretty stressful, but I ended up working there still part time.

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And so I had more time for music and so I decided I was going to, you know, take this band and expand it more.

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But it turned out all the players had full time jobs and they didn’t want to tour and they really couldn’t tour.

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So at that point I just said, you know what, I’ve got to figure this thing out on my own.

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I’ve got to be able to be a solo artist.

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I can actually go out and do things.

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And that is when I finally got the courage, almost more out of like frustration and not knowing what else to do, to go out on my own and try to figure out all the other stuff, like how am I going to promote myself and how am I going to build an audience.

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And even though I had to translate over into me being an artist, which is kind of crazy that I think about that now, but I wasn’t running my artist career like a business.

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And had I done that, had I realized you’ve got to figure out how to do marketing, you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to make income and think of yourself as a business, I would have been able to do what I did.

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Did I understand you right that you were sitting on some knowledge and experience from the opera while you’re scratching your head or stressing maybe a little bit is a better word, stressing about, well, I got to figure out how to do this and market myself.

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And was it that a light bulb went off that, oh, wait, I have some of this stuff, you know, I learned a while back, I could use.

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You know, I don’t think it actually happened that way.

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I mean, I don’t think what I learned that the opera necessarily could be a different thing.

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They had a completely different lifestyle of going from opera company to opera company.

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But I think just having the knowledge of like, that I learned in school of how to manage yourself, you know, how to be a manager, how to think strategically as an entrepreneur.

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I took an entrepreneurial class in school, you know, and somehow the light bulb didn’t go off there until I started watching other artists.

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I started looking into what they were doing on a daily basis to actually, you know, have a career that was sustainable.

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And I started networking with them and getting to know them and asking a lot of questions.

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And that is when the light bulb went off.

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And I’m like, hey, you know what, some of the stuff I learned in school could apply to me as a musician.

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Why didn’t I think of that?

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Do you recall the first person or two that inspired you to have the change in mindset?

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Those artists that you referenced?

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Absolutely.

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I mean, I was sitting at a group called MOPs, Mothers of Preschoolers.

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And I was there because I had a little baby and the baby was being babysat so I could get to know some other moms and watch a program.

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And somebody came and performed there and did exactly what I wanted to do.

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She told stories.

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She performed her own songs.

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And afterward, I talked to her group that she was in of other female independent artists that were doing similar stuff.

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And that was when I really started to dig in and be like, oh, there are really people out there doing exactly what I want.

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All I need to do is see what they’re doing and try to follow what they’re doing, you know?

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And find people that are a little bit ahead of me and ask a lot of questions and emulate.

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Yeah, that’s interesting.

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And was that a totally non-music-related gathering that you were at?

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There just happened to be a performer there?

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Or was there some music-related reason that you were there?

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Oh, no, it was totally non-music-related.

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It was just like another mom invited me and it’s just a group for moms to get together.

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And I ended up after figuring all this stuff out and creating my own career and booking tours and stuff, I ended up performing at a ton of those kinds of groups in California because I thought if I was there and I loved the program, there’s other people that would like this too.

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Are you telling me there’s a mom’s preschooler’s circuit for touring?

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Absolutely there is.

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And I was on it.

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I mean, I was in like every single one in California and Oregon.

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That’s amazing.

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So were those fairly sizable events, the mother’s events in terms of attendance or were they kind of small groups, but there was this performing circuit that had emerged for musicians?

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I mean, they were, depending on where they were, they could be as large as 200 people and as small as 30 people.

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So it’s all over the map, but it’s a mother’s or preschoolers as a national organization.

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So I don’t know if Meetup, I don’t know when this was, if Meetup was around, but it’s like a good Meetup was happening that you were touring for a couple of events.

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Wow, that is so interesting.

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So you eventually moved to, I’m guessing, well, tell me if I have this right.

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I can relate to the story in my own life.

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The players are somewhat different, but you found some success as an independent artist and learned how to do a lot of good stuff for yourself to enable yourself to perform, record I imagine.

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And then you came to realize there were a lot of other female artists who you found to be extremely talented, but were having either exposure or just sort of like challenges with some of the things that early on challenged you for getting themselves out there.

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Is that kind of what led you into The Women of Substance Radio and things like femusician.com?

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Yeah, that’s a pretty good synopsis of what happened.

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I mean, as being a touring independent female artist, I discovered that there were so many other great female artists and wondered why we weren’t getting that representation like on the radio or people just weren’t knowing about all these great artists.

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And so while I was an independent touring artist, I decided to create Women of Substance Radio just as a place to aggregate that great music by female artists and give them a platform.

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And it really caught on.

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This started in 2007 and it grew slowly.

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It was a totally a passion project, a hobby that I did on the side, was still working part time at the opera.

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I had little kids and I was touring.

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So it wasn’t really running it like a business at that point, just like a hobby that broke even.

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And so as it grew, it grew into being a professional station with advertising and all that stuff.

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And at some point, around the time that I moved here to near Yosemite, I decided that I just didn’t want to tour anymore and I wanted to spend more time with my kids in their elementary years.

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And because I remember it very specifically, like I released a Christmas album in 2011 and I ended up being gone for two weeks right during the Christmas season because I needed to tour to promote the album and make back all the money I spent on it.

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And I missed so much, like my kids were saying, you’re missing the gingerbread house building and you’re missing when I’m in this play and, you know, and it was just really hard to do that anymore because these years are, you know, so short.

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So I decided how can I beyond even growing Women of Substance even more, what else can I do?

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And so I ended up adding a podcast to Women of Substance as well as then creating the Female Entrepreneur Musician because I found that with working with all these women, thousands of women on the radio station, there were a lot that had been like me, like how I was, didn’t have a clue how to get started, needed a community, needed a mentor.

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And so that’s what I wanted to do for them.

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And I started out with the podcast interviewing artists that had had some form of success as an independent and giving inspiration and advice.

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And then I moved from there to creating an online community called the Female Musician Academy in 2015.

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And within the academy, I’ve created several different courses.

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And so now I’ve got individual courses or the academy that you can join if you want to be involved in all the courses and get more personalized coaching.

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And so it’s just been an amazing experience to help these artists.

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I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did and being clueless for like literally 10 years, trying to build this career on the side and not even knowing where to start.

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Well, as I have learned, it certainly helps to surround yourself with people who’ve done it or experienced some of those things and who are inspired like you are to create learning platforms and communities.

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Women of Substance Radio, so about 660 episodes or maybe exactly 660 episodes now.

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So it started out as streaming radio, right?

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And then when you added a podcast, does the streaming radio part still exist?

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It does.

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The streaming radio was created originally first because podcasts were not that popular and people didn’t know what they were.

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People know the word radio.

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So I created that.

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But what I was trying to do with the streaming radio is put the independent artists alongside popular well-known artists to show that their music holds up.

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And so, you know, you would hear Joni Mitchell and then you hear an independent.

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And I wanted to create this place where you could not only hear songs that you love by female artists you already know, but you could also discover new ones.

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And then I released the podcast as a way to just focus on the independents.

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Well, I was listening to, I believe, episode 660.

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And I had listened to one when we were first introduced, which may be a couple of months back now.

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But I was pretty impressed with the curation that you had going on there.

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So what I was listening to, I wouldn’t hear the side by side thing.

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But if I went to the radio, I would hear the side by side, meaning the independent artists as well.

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Okay, that’s really cool.

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I think it’s a great idea.

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I knew, I assume that was part of the podcast too, but I think it’s a really cool idea.

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So the female entrepreneur musician emerged.

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And first thing that caught my eye, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know, is 19 proven sources of income for female musicians you probably haven’t considered.

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What, if you want, you can talk about as many of them as you want.

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But I thought, I didn’t know if that would feel like putting you on the spot.

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But what are a couple of your favorite channels for income for female artists that they might not have thought about?

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Sure.

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So I think, you know, for female artists, there’s actually some that are specifically for female that nobody thinks of as much.

00:18:57.789 –> 00:19:06.789
And number one is what we were talking about earlier, you know, things like moms groups, groups that are specifically for women, that reach out to women, that gather women in one place.

00:19:06.809 –> 00:19:15.589
There’s things like National Federation of Women’s groups that, I mean, I was a staple at all of the ones in my area.

00:19:15.609 –> 00:19:20.089
And I lived in Southern California, so there were tons of them, you know, there’s one in every city.

00:19:20.469 –> 00:19:24.969
And you can fill your whole calendar with that if you go to each one once a year.

00:19:25.569 –> 00:19:40.549
There are, you know, seniors groups, a lot of the students that I work with are really enjoying getting involved in performing at senior centers, you know, senior groups, maybe homes for older people.

00:19:41.489 –> 00:19:52.569
And a lot of these places actually have budget spend, especially the senior centers that are related to a, you know, a city, like they might get a budget from the city for entertainment.

00:19:53.289 –> 00:19:56.509
And so, you know, they do have budgets to spend.

00:19:56.529 –> 00:20:02.109
They are looking for programs, the same thing with the women’s organizations, like they have to have a program every month.

00:20:02.489 –> 00:20:03.669
They’re looking for you.

00:20:05.289 –> 00:20:08.909
So, you know, it’s all about getting your name out there.

00:20:08.929 –> 00:20:13.249
The more you perform, the more people see you, the more referrals you get.

00:20:13.669 –> 00:20:17.089
And I remember the month where I never had to call out once.

00:20:17.089 –> 00:20:19.689
I just got enough referrals to fill my whole calendar.

00:20:19.709 –> 00:20:22.929
And at that point, I’m like, now I finally have a real career.

00:20:24.049 –> 00:20:35.129
And that can only happen, that snowball effect can only happen by actually getting out there and performing and having flyers and things people can take home to recommend you to other people.

00:20:35.149 –> 00:20:49.589
There are people at these events that I can guarantee are in charge or know someone in charge of other events, you know, nonprofit organizations that need programs, community organizations, churches, all kinds of things.

00:20:49.869 –> 00:20:54.309
And when you talk about programs, are you referring to entertainment in this case?

00:20:54.349 –> 00:21:03.489
Or are you also referring to they have programs that they might need assistance with in assembling those types of things where they’re bringing in entertainers or whatever?

00:21:04.109 –> 00:21:05.769
An entertainment program.

00:21:06.889 –> 00:21:11.089
But what I always recommend is have an actual program.

00:21:11.109 –> 00:21:14.709
Like, don’t just say, I’m a singer-songwriter and I want to come sing for your group.

00:21:15.429 –> 00:21:26.209
What’s really cool is if you can say, like, I have this program, it’s called this, and it focuses around this, and I tell stories and sing songs around this subject.

00:21:28.409 –> 00:21:37.249
Yeah, I mean, we all should have a Christmas program for number one, because all these places are looking for new people to bring in during the holiday season.

00:21:37.269 –> 00:21:40.089
You could have a patriotic program if you’re in the US.

00:21:40.109 –> 00:21:43.049
You can have a Mother’s Day kind of program.

00:21:43.069 –> 00:21:44.729
That’s another thing that’s great for women.

00:21:44.749 –> 00:21:48.269
I can’t tell you how many Mother’s Day tees I’ve performed at over the years.

00:21:49.189 –> 00:21:50.309
That’s fantastic.

00:21:51.029 –> 00:21:54.849
I have to tell you something as a point of musician frustration for me.

00:21:54.869 –> 00:21:57.929
Now, you would probably categorize me in the hobby musician.

00:21:57.949 –> 00:22:00.489
I always call myself the weekend warrior semi-pro.

00:22:01.189 –> 00:22:04.109
Since I moved, so I’ve been in Panama for a year, so I haven’t been gigging.

00:22:04.169 –> 00:22:12.689
But I was gigging solidly as much as I wanted, where I wanted, pretty much and with whom I wanted for a number of years and ending that in the San Francisco Bay area.

00:22:13.109 –> 00:22:16.849
But for somehow every holiday season, no Christmas songs.

00:22:16.869 –> 00:22:18.889
And I guess I just, you know, should have pushed harder.

00:22:18.909 –> 00:22:24.649
But anyone who’s listening to this that jams with me in the future, we learn some Christmas tunes, I’m going to be really happy.

00:22:25.669 –> 00:22:27.029
Yeah, no, it’s good.

00:22:27.049 –> 00:22:34.089
And actually, I did a whole podcast episode on the female entrepreneur musician about why I think everyone should have a Christmas CD.

00:22:34.729 –> 00:22:43.269
Yeah, and at the very least, I mean, if you’re a performing act to, during the holiday season, to play some flavor of holiday tunes, I think, is just…

00:22:43.369 –> 00:22:43.649
Yep.

00:22:44.269 –> 00:22:45.389
Everybody loves it, so.

00:22:46.449 –> 00:22:50.769
Does female entrepreneur musician have its own podcast as well, you said?

00:22:51.009 –> 00:22:52.049
It does, it does.

00:22:52.049 –> 00:22:52.869
So it’s…

00:22:52.889 –> 00:22:55.909
We are actually on episode, I think, 105 now.

00:22:56.889 –> 00:23:04.809
We were at first just doing interviews every week, and we have a Facebook live show every Wednesday called the Indie Interactive.

00:23:04.829 –> 00:23:11.189
And so that’s also broadcast, comes out on the podcast on Thursdays, and then every other Monday we’ve got interviews.

00:23:12.289 –> 00:23:12.829
That’s cool.

00:23:12.849 –> 00:23:16.429
Do you have host help for this, like co-hosts, or are you doing it all?

00:23:17.009 –> 00:23:17.709
Oh, no.

00:23:18.309 –> 00:23:19.129
I probably should.

00:23:19.929 –> 00:23:21.929
Yeah, no, I do all the interviews myself.

00:23:21.949 –> 00:23:23.569
I actually really love doing the interviews.

00:23:23.669 –> 00:23:33.389
And then the weekly Indie Interactive, I’d say once a month or every other week, I bring on a co-host that’s talking about a particular subject.

00:23:34.809 –> 00:23:35.369
Okay.

00:23:35.389 –> 00:23:37.829
You are queen of time management, clearly.

00:23:37.849 –> 00:23:40.069
Hey, that’s one of my things.

00:23:40.089 –> 00:23:41.369
I actually have a whole course on that.

00:23:41.389 –> 00:23:42.869
So yes, absolutely.

00:23:42.949 –> 00:23:45.509
You have to if you want to do all the things that…

00:23:45.829 –> 00:23:48.109
And that’s the thing with being entrepreneurs or creatives.

00:23:48.129 –> 00:23:49.549
Like we have so many ideas.

00:23:50.109 –> 00:23:54.009
If we want to do as many as possible, we have to be a good time management person.

00:23:54.029 –> 00:24:01.809
But we also have to be okay with sacrificing some of those ideas if we actually want some of them to happen.

00:24:01.829 –> 00:24:06.289
Because if we try to do all of them, we’ll do all of them half-baked and nothing will actually happen.

00:24:06.469 –> 00:24:07.769
Or do almost none of them, right?

00:24:08.169 –> 00:24:08.529
Right.

00:24:09.549 –> 00:24:15.769
Well, I have to tell you, when I started this podcast, I wanted it to be interview format.

00:24:15.809 –> 00:24:23.349
And I’ve really enjoyed talking to people like you and learning from the different guests that I have.

00:24:24.049 –> 00:24:31.049
But also learning the craft of asking good questions has been a big, big thrill for me.

00:24:31.069 –> 00:24:33.869
So I can relate to your enjoyment of that.

00:24:34.069 –> 00:24:36.489
I’m amazed that you’re managing both of these.

00:24:37.249 –> 00:24:37.609
You know what?

00:24:37.629 –> 00:24:38.949
I want to ask you a podcasting question.

00:24:39.889 –> 00:24:44.249
Maybe some of my listeners want to be or would be or are podcasters.

00:24:44.269 –> 00:24:51.009
But it looks like you have one or both of them also on TuneIn radio and SoundCloud.

00:24:51.029 –> 00:24:58.049
Or is TuneIn for the streaming part of WoS radio only, and then SoundCloud is for podcasting, or both?

00:24:58.709 –> 00:25:00.549
So I believe I have.

00:25:00.569 –> 00:25:06.549
WoS is on TuneIn for both, the streaming and for the podcast itself.

00:25:07.269 –> 00:25:10.829
I actually don’t think that Female Entrepreneur Musician is on TuneIn.

00:25:10.849 –> 00:25:11.929
I probably should do that.

00:25:12.649 –> 00:25:15.469
Both of them are on Stitcher for Android.

00:25:15.489 –> 00:25:18.129
They’re obviously on iTunes.

00:25:18.769 –> 00:25:26.249
I used to be on SoundCloud, but there’s a little bit of gloom and doom around SoundCloud right now, so I haven’t really been focusing on that.

00:25:26.309 –> 00:25:27.129
They’re the ones.

00:25:27.129 –> 00:25:34.889
I heard my podcast host was not, Lipson was not naming names, but they kept talking about someone who was about to go out of business.

00:25:34.909 –> 00:25:36.029
Is that the word on the street?

00:25:36.629 –> 00:25:38.129
Yes, that is the word on the street.

00:25:38.149 –> 00:25:39.489
Several offices closing.

00:25:39.809 –> 00:25:41.109
It’s been coming for a while.

00:25:41.129 –> 00:25:49.229
I don’t know if it’s going to actually happen, but it’s one of those snowball effects again, like you hear bad news and then everybody jumps ship.

00:25:50.149 –> 00:25:56.609
I never hosted with SoundCloud because I knew that I wanted to go with someone like Lipson that was a lot more established.

00:25:57.149 –> 00:25:57.969
Well, that’s too bad.

00:25:57.989 –> 00:26:09.049
All the years that SoundCloud has been around, and hopefully something good happens, maybe they’re not going to survive in their current form, but maybe someone will pick up the technology and keep it going.

00:26:09.069 –> 00:26:14.009
But I have only very recently started perusing it, I guess.

00:26:14.029 –> 00:26:24.349
And in fact, I immediately went from your side to just hear the same content on SoundCloud, and then it led me to dive into another artist’s work there.

00:26:24.789 –> 00:26:25.489
So that’s too bad.

00:26:25.509 –> 00:26:26.529
Hopefully they make it.

00:26:26.629 –> 00:26:34.869
So then TuneIn, I guess the last podcast question maybe, but how do you like the performance in terms of listenership that you’ve gotten for the podcast with TuneIn?

00:26:36.129 –> 00:26:38.129
You know, I haven’t actually checked that much.

00:26:38.149 –> 00:26:42.209
I will tell you that radio-wise, I see some very good numbers from TuneIn.

00:26:42.429 –> 00:26:48.289
Because with an online radio station, it’s hard for people to discover you.

00:26:48.389 –> 00:26:58.049
We used to be on Live 365, and then they just didn’t have all the features that I wanted for the advertising platform, and so we went totally independent.

00:26:58.509 –> 00:27:09.489
And so people only find you if they know about you, if they see something online, or if they, you know, one of their, an artist that they like is on the station.

00:27:09.509 –> 00:27:10.589
That’s how they discover you.

00:27:10.609 –> 00:27:13.669
But TuneIn allows a way for people to discover us.

00:27:13.689 –> 00:27:15.269
And same thing with like iHeart Radio.

00:27:15.809 –> 00:27:17.609
People can discover us there.

00:27:18.169 –> 00:27:23.269
And then if they want to come and listen to us at womenofsubstanceradio.com, directly they can.

00:27:24.589 –> 00:27:24.929
Cool.

00:27:25.189 –> 00:27:26.749
Nice to learn about those things.

00:27:28.129 –> 00:27:30.409
I perhaps will investigate them myself.

00:27:31.149 –> 00:27:39.449
We’re currently on the website, of course, and then Libsyn, of course, because I mentioned them as a host, and then iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play.

00:27:39.469 –> 00:27:44.749
And there was at least one other channel I was planning to publish to, but I hadn’t really given thought to.

00:27:44.769 –> 00:27:47.189
I didn’t even realize TuneIn was podcast hosting.

00:27:47.209 –> 00:27:48.149
Makes perfect sense.

00:27:48.509 –> 00:27:50.149
Yeah, it’s very educational stuff.

00:27:50.169 –> 00:27:52.929
One of the benefits of talking to nice people like you.

00:27:54.589 –> 00:27:56.349
I really want to ask you about house concerts.

00:27:56.369 –> 00:28:00.969
Are they still a thing for your tribe, your students, for other musicians?

00:28:01.629 –> 00:28:02.289
They are.

00:28:02.309 –> 00:28:03.789
I mean, I love house concerts.

00:28:03.809 –> 00:28:12.089
I think they’re one of the best ways for independent artists to make money and actually really develop great relationships with their fans.

00:28:12.669 –> 00:28:31.109
I have a course called Profitable House Concerts, and it just goes through step by step how to book them, how to market them, how to work with the hosts to make them the most successful, how to set them up on the day of, all that stuff, and then how to do the ask for the money.

00:28:32.049 –> 00:28:36.729
So I really think they’re such a great way, and they’re so fun.

00:28:36.969 –> 00:28:44.049
Every one of my students, they’re nervous about doing them, and then they do the first one, and they’re like, this is the most fun thing ever.

00:28:44.049 –> 00:28:45.469
I want to do these all the time.

00:28:45.809 –> 00:28:48.309
I would think so, and I’ve never done one.

00:28:48.569 –> 00:29:06.169
I do have some friends who are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and they have been hired several times by a couple of different clients in the San Francisco Bay area to haul their fairly substantial show to California and get paid pretty well.

00:29:07.289 –> 00:29:24.569
I know that they’ve enjoyed it, but I have at the same time from one of the members, he was sharing with me an episode that had occurred that was less than pleasant, and I was like, well, I guess, yeah, that kind of thing can happen when you’re in someone’s home, but I imagine that it’s largely about setting expectations, though.

00:29:25.249 –> 00:29:26.749
Yeah, for sure.

00:29:27.189 –> 00:29:39.849
I would recommend when you’re starting out, definitely use hosts that you already know so you can kind of learn, go through any pitfalls that might happen to you with somebody that you’re comfortable with.

00:29:40.429 –> 00:29:51.869
I would think that if I were doing it, I would do what you just said and would probably try my hardest to work by referral only because it does seem like a scary prospect to go into someone’s home that you don’t know.

00:29:53.069 –> 00:30:03.129
Yeah, I mean, I think definitely if you use something like concerts in your home, they’ve got proven hosts that have ratings and lots of experience.

00:30:03.149 –> 00:30:04.709
You can ask other artists about them.

00:30:04.729 –> 00:30:06.189
That, I think, would be okay.

00:30:06.209 –> 00:30:10.049
Just finding a random person online, I don’t know about that.

00:30:10.049 –> 00:30:12.269
Dang, it’s such a website for everything, isn’t there?

00:30:12.429 –> 00:30:13.489
There is, there is.

00:30:13.569 –> 00:30:15.669
And I think bringing backup is always good.

00:30:15.789 –> 00:30:19.989
If you can go not only by yourself, I think that’s always better.

00:30:20.529 –> 00:30:20.829
Sure.

00:30:21.429 –> 00:30:29.329
It’s always better anyway because getting help with setup, getting help with your merch table so you can actually talk to the fans and everything.

00:30:29.349 –> 00:30:30.449
I think that’s always better.

00:30:30.469 –> 00:30:36.609
But if you can’t, then I suggest you’ve got a host that you are comfortable with, at least for the first few times.

00:30:37.129 –> 00:30:43.429
And while I’m sure that is a great rule of thumb for everyone, I would imagine it’s even more so for female performers to have a buddy.

00:30:43.669 –> 00:30:44.649
Yep, definitely.

00:30:44.929 –> 00:30:45.449
That’s cool.

00:30:45.869 –> 00:30:57.369
I was mentioning when we first started talking, I’ve not made time to dive into your music, which I assume you’re doing less of because you’re educating and podcasting, and stop me if I’m wrong.

00:30:57.389 –> 00:31:01.009
But who was your earliest or who were your earliest music influences?

00:31:01.829 –> 00:31:20.429
I mean, when I was younger, like Amy Grant and people like that, more on the positive, even the Christian side, Amy Grant I think was really pivotal because she showed that someone that does Christian music can cross over into the pop world and do positive music.

00:31:20.689 –> 00:31:24.369
So she was definitely one of my earlier role models.

00:31:24.949 –> 00:31:34.069
Later on, I would say, as I was a singer-songwriter, I was definitely influenced by people like Colby Kelly, Sarah Bareilles.

00:31:34.629 –> 00:31:39.469
Sarah McLaughlin was a big one for me.

00:31:40.369 –> 00:31:42.649
Gavin DeGraw, people like that.

00:31:42.909 –> 00:31:48.909
Not that I write like them, but I would love to write like them, but it just never came out that way.

00:31:49.709 –> 00:31:52.529
But they’re definitely influences for me.

00:31:53.409 –> 00:31:57.209
Growing up, I started getting into music very heavily at a very young age.

00:31:57.689 –> 00:32:04.109
I was very much a product for the first ten years of what is now a genre.

00:32:04.129 –> 00:32:18.149
It is classic rock, but so things like The Rolling Stones and Hendrix and Cream and Aerosmith and ZZ Top and then eventually the 80s music scene, the emerging alternative rock got into my life.

00:32:18.169 –> 00:32:21.429
And there were a lot of things I hated back then that I love listening to now.

00:32:21.449 –> 00:32:25.989
But for anyone who doesn’t know me now, just got a glimpse into my early music taste.

00:32:26.149 –> 00:32:30.369
When Amy Grant came out, somehow I liked her.

00:32:30.709 –> 00:32:31.409
I really did.

00:32:31.429 –> 00:32:32.409
That’s awesome.

00:32:32.889 –> 00:32:36.029
But you know, I think MTV helped a little bit with that too.

00:32:36.209 –> 00:32:39.289
Because if I recall, she was on music videos a lot.

00:32:39.529 –> 00:32:40.729
Yeah, I did like her.

00:32:40.749 –> 00:32:42.129
I like a lot of those others you mentioned too.

00:32:42.149 –> 00:32:42.709
That’s pretty funny.

00:32:42.729 –> 00:32:46.629
We have some similar tastes.

00:32:46.849 –> 00:32:49.549
It looks like you have done some live events.

00:32:49.669 –> 00:32:50.349
Are you doing them?

00:32:50.369 –> 00:32:50.849
Am I correct?

00:32:50.869 –> 00:32:52.829
You’ve done some in the past and are you still doing them?

00:32:52.849 –> 00:32:59.909
And by live events I mean more for your WoS audience and your female musician entrepreneur audience.

00:33:00.229 –> 00:33:03.549
I have not done any live events for female entrepreneur musician.

00:33:03.669 –> 00:33:13.949
I talked with my Academy members of trying to set something up maybe in 2018 because I just think it’s so powerful to actually get to meet in person.

00:33:13.969 –> 00:33:23.569
I know that many of my Academy members have tried very hard to meet in person and it’s been such an amazing experience for them when they were able to do it and even make music together.

00:33:24.149 –> 00:33:27.729
But for Women of Substance, we did a few showcases.

00:33:27.729 –> 00:33:32.869
When I was in LA, I haven’t really done anything since I moved up here because we’re just too remote.

00:33:32.889 –> 00:33:38.049
I mean, I could do something in the Central Valley, but it’s just much easier to do it in a place like LA.

00:33:38.069 –> 00:33:48.469
But we did three showcases of independent female artists and we took submissions and chose the best ones and they were really, really good.

00:33:48.489 –> 00:33:55.289
I mean, we had just a set of amazing artists and I just sat there watching in awe.

00:33:55.309 –> 00:33:56.389
I created this thing.

00:33:56.409 –> 00:33:58.009
I pulled these people together.

00:33:58.029 –> 00:34:02.389
I found all these talented ladies and now I’m able to promote them.

00:34:02.489 –> 00:34:03.949
I was just loving it.

00:34:04.709 –> 00:34:05.769
I wish I could do more.

00:34:06.149 –> 00:34:07.469
That’s very cool.

00:34:07.729 –> 00:34:11.509
Can you go back to and tell me again, you were talking about the type of artists that you got.

00:34:11.529 –> 00:34:12.289
Can you repeat that?

00:34:12.609 –> 00:34:16.349
Well, I tried to get very diverse set of artists.

00:34:16.369 –> 00:34:34.769
So I would say I had everything from an Americana kind of band to a very just solo acoustic singer-songwriter to somebody that was like, she was a kind of more alternative style, but she was based with her keyboard.

00:34:34.789 –> 00:34:38.389
So she was just like, I mean, when she played, it was like she was one with her keyboard.

00:34:38.409 –> 00:34:39.169
It was amazing.

00:34:39.729 –> 00:34:41.569
And I’m trying to think of who else was on that bill.

00:34:41.589 –> 00:34:55.529
But just everyone from people that ended up being on American Idol to people that are just some of the best like folk artists around that are, you know, playing the LA scene all the time.

00:34:55.549 –> 00:35:05.589
And that event, I think it was marketed to your existing tribe and then attracting, probably marketed to those that were likely to also be part of that in the future.

00:35:05.849 –> 00:35:06.989
Yes, for sure.

00:35:07.069 –> 00:35:14.749
And I mean, I don’t know why it is, but it is really hard to get people out to events, even in LA, because I guess there’s just so much going on.

00:35:15.369 –> 00:35:17.029
People don’t want to deal with the traffic.

00:35:17.049 –> 00:35:26.409
And you know, but I mean, we had a good turnout for our last one, but I certainly would not have wanted the pressure of filling a huge room.

00:35:27.169 –> 00:35:29.649
You know, actually, the last one we did, I wasn’t even there.

00:35:29.809 –> 00:35:33.009
We did one in San Diego and somebody spearheaded it for me.

00:35:33.349 –> 00:35:37.849
You know, we had about 75 people there, which was great, and everybody loved it.

00:35:38.149 –> 00:35:46.989
We did one in Chicago that another promoter spearheaded for me, since I couldn’t be there, and that one went really, really well, too.

00:35:46.989 –> 00:35:52.109
So, I mean, I’m always happy to promote gatherings of our artists.

00:35:52.509 –> 00:36:00.749
I can’t necessarily be going across the country for these events, because usually, you know, it’s not like they’re making a ton of money that they can pay for my travel.

00:36:00.769 –> 00:36:08.509
But if anybody, you know, really wants to start something up like that and use our platform, I’m all for it.

00:36:09.029 –> 00:36:10.809
Well, I may talk to you about that in the future.

00:36:10.829 –> 00:36:12.889
I think it’s a cool idea.

00:36:13.129 –> 00:36:14.669
Women of Substance Panama.

00:36:17.489 –> 00:36:23.669
I was thinking about you and some of the artists you promote, because there’s a festival that happens in Panama.

00:36:23.889 –> 00:36:28.629
It’s called the World’s Biggest Little Festival or the Biggest Little Festival in the World.

00:36:28.649 –> 00:36:35.529
It’s in a town called Boquete, which is a mountain community that grows some incredible coffee.

00:36:35.969 –> 00:36:38.609
And there, I think they’re going into their fourth year.

00:36:38.609 –> 00:36:40.249
They’re going into a new bigger venue.

00:36:40.389 –> 00:36:42.469
So it’s the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival.

00:36:43.269 –> 00:36:47.949
They’re getting some really top-notch talent, some of it known and some of it new.

00:36:48.409 –> 00:36:56.249
But if you’re interested, I will send you info on the episode so you can kind of hear a little bit about what it’s about.

00:36:56.409 –> 00:37:00.189
It would be a cool place to see some of your artists come.

00:37:00.569 –> 00:37:05.149
I think it started originally as a jazz festival and he’s expanded it to a jazz and blues festival.

00:37:05.209 –> 00:37:09.029
And I kind of think he’s thinking of growing it to even more.

00:37:09.049 –> 00:37:12.049
But it’s one of these musicians’ kind of festivals.

00:37:12.069 –> 00:37:15.529
He looks for people that are very flexible, easygoing, of course.

00:37:15.569 –> 00:37:23.169
There are a lot of jams that happen outside of the festival where some of the acts end up getting put together for some of the events at the festival.

00:37:23.189 –> 00:37:27.149
And then there are a lot of the artists that go, will perform with one another live at the festival.

00:37:27.169 –> 00:37:28.069
So it sounds very, very cool.

00:37:28.869 –> 00:37:29.269
Yeah.

00:37:30.109 –> 00:37:32.249
Anyway, well, that’s interesting.

00:37:32.289 –> 00:37:34.869
Those were both paid events that you were talking about?

00:37:35.389 –> 00:37:35.709
Yes.

00:37:36.869 –> 00:37:37.369
Very cool.

00:37:38.129 –> 00:38:03.849
On the marketing and business front, to back up our conversation kind of started there, I know I’m going to ask you this question, and I know that many people I’ve asked, you know, it ranges from, well, I’m not really involved on the business side of doing marketing, or I’m just kind of hard-pressed to think about this question on the fly, but probably for you not so much because you sort of opened with it, and you’ve spent so much time in educating others.

00:38:03.869 –> 00:38:17.449
Maybe I have a sort of a two-fold way to ask it, but the question is, on the marketing and business front, are there lessons or mistakes that you learned along the way that you share on a regular basis, or you’d like to share with listeners here that would be of value?

00:38:17.909 –> 00:38:34.229
I mean, I would say that, you know, as a musician, like, there was tons of things I did wrong, and I share those all the time with my students and with people that I think can benefit from them, because many of them are probably making those mistakes.

00:38:34.249 –> 00:38:43.749
You know, one big one was I thought that I had to have a band to perform, and it held me back for so long.

00:38:43.749 –> 00:38:53.749
Like, number one, I was trying to find a band because I wanted them to figure out all the stuff about how I was going to promote, and I didn’t feel comfortable promoting myself and all that stuff.

00:38:54.269 –> 00:39:00.849
And number two, like, I did not feel comfortable playing just me and a keyboard on stage.

00:39:00.869 –> 00:39:07.009
Like, I had never had to do that, and so I was not the best keyboard player in the world.

00:39:07.029 –> 00:39:11.209
You know, I didn’t think that I could hold it up just myself.

00:39:12.069 –> 00:39:16.449
And finally, just out of frustration, I’m like, I have to be able to do this.

00:39:16.469 –> 00:39:18.249
I have to be able to be a solo artist.

00:39:18.269 –> 00:39:25.169
And so I just put my head down and practiced all my songs every day for like two hours for a month.

00:39:25.829 –> 00:39:29.089
And my poor children had to listen to it over and over again.

00:39:29.949 –> 00:39:32.569
But at the end of that month, I felt comfortable.

00:39:32.569 –> 00:39:36.189
And I said, you know, I’m good enough right now that I could start booking myself.

00:39:36.709 –> 00:39:39.969
I may not be the best that I’m going to be.

00:39:40.149 –> 00:39:48.289
And maybe by the time the things that I book, which are usually about two months out from when you start booking, then I’ll be even better and I’ll be even more confident.

00:39:48.969 –> 00:39:58.049
But I remember the first performance that I did on that kind of mini tour when I had released my CD and I had just started playing for myself.

00:39:58.849 –> 00:39:59.949
Man, was I nervous.

00:39:59.949 –> 00:40:05.109
And, you know, I even used a few tracks in some cases because I wasn’t ready on some of the songs.

00:40:05.729 –> 00:40:06.629
But it was fine.

00:40:06.729 –> 00:40:07.969
Like people still loved it.

00:40:08.669 –> 00:40:13.329
And so I had this stigma all this time that I couldn’t do it unless I had a band.

00:40:13.989 –> 00:40:20.049
And when it finally was put in front of me that like, no, you can’t do it if you have a band because this band cannot tour.

00:40:20.389 –> 00:40:23.129
And this band cannot play during the day because they all work.

00:40:23.769 –> 00:40:26.309
And so at that point, I’m like, that’s it.

00:40:26.689 –> 00:40:27.789
I’m figuring this out.

00:40:27.969 –> 00:40:33.569
And so I actually released a podcast episode about that called So You Think You Need a Band.

00:40:34.289 –> 00:40:37.909
And it was one of my most popular episodes.

00:40:37.949 –> 00:40:42.689
I got a lot of comments on that and a lot of people that said, oh, my gosh, that encouraged me so much.

00:40:42.709 –> 00:40:44.009
This has been holding me back.

00:40:44.029 –> 00:40:57.769
And I’m finally just going to put my head down and practice and feel okay with at least some of my songs so I can get out there because I’ve been sitting at home keeping my music to myself because I didn’t think I could do it without a band.

00:40:58.109 –> 00:40:58.449
Yeah.

00:40:58.729 –> 00:41:03.009
So I wanted to mention a young guy that I interviewed just last night.

00:41:03.189 –> 00:41:04.649
He’ll be on episode 16.

00:41:04.909 –> 00:41:07.809
This is the second time I was thinking of him in our conversation.

00:41:07.909 –> 00:41:09.469
His name is Bill Lanero.

00:41:11.829 –> 00:41:13.129
It’s basically a metal band.

00:41:13.209 –> 00:41:17.269
They’ve kind of been coined a new genre called guitar, chords, and instrumental.

00:41:17.469 –> 00:41:25.509
But he had made a comment, two things, and he’s not the first to say it on this show, but having confidence and…

00:41:25.529 –> 00:41:31.809
I’m not sure if these two different people had used the same word, faith, but basically confidence and faith in what you’re doing.

00:41:32.889 –> 00:41:41.509
If you’re doing or playing or performing, writing things that are really coming from your heart, that the next thing you really do need is confidence that it’s going to work.

00:41:41.969 –> 00:41:44.229
That’s a huge part of it, he had said.

00:41:45.129 –> 00:41:55.229
And the other thing he said, which resonates a little bit with one of your comments here, was that a lot of musicians get frustrated with their ability to not be able to do something very specific.

00:41:55.269 –> 00:42:00.249
In this case, he was talking about trying to learn something by another artist that had influenced them.

00:42:00.809 –> 00:42:07.249
And he just suggested, well, why not go just practice the heck out of it until something that’s your own style comes out of it.

00:42:07.269 –> 00:42:09.749
If you cannot master it, turn it into something of your own.

00:42:09.929 –> 00:42:13.909
Which I think is kind of what you were saying that you did with the keyboards you went and you practiced.

00:42:14.209 –> 00:42:16.289
You got what you felt was good enough.

00:42:16.569 –> 00:42:22.669
And I love that you were flying by the seat of your pants and booking two months out, knowing you were wanting to get a little bit better before those shows happened.

00:42:23.429 –> 00:42:24.289
That’s very cool.

00:42:24.669 –> 00:42:25.609
You know, it’s interesting.

00:42:25.629 –> 00:42:34.769
Something else that held me back, I remember, is that I had had an arranger and, you know, another bunch of band members playing on my album.

00:42:34.969 –> 00:42:37.749
And so it sounded a certain way, like the keyboard.

00:42:37.769 –> 00:42:40.409
I had not played the keyboard part for this one particular song.

00:42:41.049 –> 00:42:44.109
And so I had to play it exactly the way that this guy did.

00:42:44.129 –> 00:42:48.109
And, like, if I didn’t play it the way he did, then I’d be like an imposter.

00:42:48.129 –> 00:42:51.189
People would find me out that I couldn’t play it because it was too hard.

00:42:51.789 –> 00:43:01.449
And finally one day I’m like, okay, unless someone’s sitting here playing the CD while they’re listening to me, which would never happen, they’re not going to know that it’s different.

00:43:01.469 –> 00:43:03.509
They’re not going to remember when they listen to the CD.

00:43:03.529 –> 00:43:05.189
And even if they did, who cares?

00:43:06.069 –> 00:43:08.109
Because you can do something totally different live.

00:43:08.729 –> 00:43:18.629
And so once I finally realized that and thought, why don’t I just simplify this so I can actually play it without screwing up, then I finally was broken out of that.

00:43:18.649 –> 00:43:22.249
I was like chains of I need to sound exactly like the CD.

00:43:22.269 –> 00:43:28.289
And that was another podcast episode I did, like, talking about you don’t need to sound exactly like the CD.

00:43:28.309 –> 00:43:29.329
In fact, you should it.

00:43:30.009 –> 00:43:32.949
Because if they wanted to hear the CD, they just put that on.

00:43:32.989 –> 00:43:39.509
What they want to hear is your own interpretation of what’s on the CD live in front of them.

00:43:40.289 –> 00:43:40.649
Sure.

00:43:40.749 –> 00:43:48.609
And I imagine that if you act as if as the saying goes that many people will just see it as that your interpretation.

00:43:48.989 –> 00:43:49.269
Yep.

00:43:49.729 –> 00:43:51.969
So I had another guest on here who might be of interest to you.

00:43:51.989 –> 00:43:53.189
Her name is Mira Godo.

00:43:53.209 –> 00:43:55.849
She’s an emerging country artist in Nashville.

00:43:56.269 –> 00:44:01.969
And she had talked about, I asked her if she was planning to have a band for future touring.

00:44:02.629 –> 00:44:08.369
And she was talking about another record release, album release that she was working, you know, writing for.

00:44:09.049 –> 00:44:14.589
And she told me, a little bit to my surprise, but I think, you know, having been, I’ve been in bands forever.

00:44:14.789 –> 00:44:16.109
But it made sense to me.

00:44:16.129 –> 00:44:19.129
She had said, I think, you know, when I do the album, I’m going to hire some musicians.

00:44:19.349 –> 00:44:25.469
There’s a gazillion studio musicians here who do outstanding work and have reasonable rates.

00:44:25.489 –> 00:44:29.229
And they love working with, you know, other passionate songwriters.

00:44:29.409 –> 00:44:33.969
And then separately, I’ll probably hire some people to perform with me.

00:44:33.989 –> 00:44:39.709
But I know that she’s totally comfortable, competent, and capable of performing by herself, too.

00:44:39.729 –> 00:44:42.489
She’ll mix it up and all the while, maybe never having a band.

00:44:42.749 –> 00:44:43.089
Right.

00:44:43.109 –> 00:44:45.209
I mean, I think there’s nothing wrong with having a band.

00:44:45.429 –> 00:44:50.649
What is wrong is being totally fettered by the fact that you don’t have one.

00:44:51.309 –> 00:44:53.609
You know, I mean, having a band is awesome.

00:44:53.629 –> 00:44:59.029
Like when I, and when I was home and not touring, I would still play with the band that I had.

00:45:00.069 –> 00:45:03.029
Because they still wanted to play with me even though they couldn’t tour.

00:45:03.829 –> 00:45:06.569
So those would be special shows and they’d be extra fun.

00:45:07.289 –> 00:45:10.029
But I wasn’t stuck without them.

00:45:10.309 –> 00:45:33.289
Yeah, and I guess observing friends and with my own experience, having the flexibility to do, as you just described, to be able to perform on your own, or in my case, as a drummer or vocalist, I haven’t been writing music, but to be able to perform with a four-piece or a five-piece and then be able to perform other venues with a three-piece of maybe different guys or one of the same other guys, it’s a good flexibility to have.

00:45:33.749 –> 00:45:40.329
Taking it down to your world that you’re talking about now, doing it as a solo artist and having a band for special occasions sounds great.

00:45:40.669 –> 00:45:41.149
Totally.

00:45:41.289 –> 00:45:41.689
Yeah.

00:45:42.089 –> 00:45:51.009
Well, Bree, thank you so much for making time for me and for helping us working with the technology challenges that we both faced this morning.

00:45:51.029 –> 00:45:54.169
I’m glad it wasn’t just me.

00:45:54.889 –> 00:46:03.829
No, well, like I was telling you before we started recording, I’ve had some pretty crazy, well, silly self-inflicted things happen on the tech side.

00:46:04.049 –> 00:46:08.029
So where is the best place for people to find you online?

00:46:08.049 –> 00:46:09.409
I know you’re all over the place, but…

00:46:10.949 –> 00:46:13.489
I would definitely say femmusician.com.

00:46:13.509 –> 00:46:17.569
That’s F as in female, E as in entrepreneur, musician.com.

00:46:17.589 –> 00:46:41.769
That’s where they can find the podcast of the same name, lots of great resources like the one you mentioned, the 19 sources of income that you probably haven’t considered for your musician business, and lots of other free trainings and other free checklists and resources, as well as, I would love for any of you female artists to come join us in our Facebook group.

00:46:41.789 –> 00:46:51.649
We have a free Facebook community of 1,800 people in this group right now, and it’s a really engaged, fun group of people from all over the world.

00:46:52.089 –> 00:46:55.729
And that you can find at woscommunity.com.

00:46:55.749 –> 00:46:58.809
That stands for Women of Substance, woscommunity.com.

00:46:59.209 –> 00:47:04.889
Then of course, if you want to listen to the radio station, submit your music, that would be wosradio.com.

00:47:05.209 –> 00:47:06.509
I snuck into one of your groups.

00:47:06.529 –> 00:47:07.109
Did you know that?

00:47:08.089 –> 00:47:08.569
I did.

00:47:08.589 –> 00:47:09.089
I saw you.

00:47:09.109 –> 00:47:10.189
That was actually my…

00:47:10.409 –> 00:47:16.029
I’m doing a Facebook ads training right now, and I saw you snuck into my group yesterday, and I was like, oh, good.

00:47:16.049 –> 00:47:17.289
He’s doing some research.

00:47:17.349 –> 00:47:22.429
Yeah, I wanted to check out the quality of your work, and I thought, hey, maybe she’s going to teach me something.

00:47:22.449 –> 00:47:23.009
This is great.

00:47:23.489 –> 00:47:27.469
And then if you were watching today, you saw my technology issues.

00:47:27.489 –> 00:47:29.549
I’ve never been so pixelated in my life.

00:47:30.069 –> 00:47:30.949
I think I saw…

00:47:31.049 –> 00:47:32.069
Have you already done two?

00:47:32.309 –> 00:47:33.569
I did one yesterday.

00:47:33.829 –> 00:47:35.669
I’ve been watching the one from yesterday, and you were…

00:47:35.869 –> 00:47:36.969
That one’s a lot less…

00:47:37.129 –> 00:47:37.589
There’s no…

00:47:37.749 –> 00:47:38.989
Well, maybe I saw today’s then.

00:47:39.009 –> 00:47:39.529
There was plenty.

00:47:42.189 –> 00:47:42.869
But you know what?

00:47:42.889 –> 00:47:43.449
It was okay.

00:47:44.209 –> 00:47:47.069
It didn’t take away from the content, and thanks for letting me in the group.

00:47:47.069 –> 00:47:47.849
I didn’t…

00:47:48.209 –> 00:47:50.229
So, you know, it’s probably a good question.

00:47:50.249 –> 00:47:52.729
Maybe there’s not a lot, but do you work with men as well?

00:47:53.369 –> 00:47:54.089
I do, absolutely.

00:47:54.109 –> 00:48:02.709
That particular group, the Facebook ads, I mean, that is a course in itself, and it’s a training in itself, and it’s not specifically for women.

00:48:02.929 –> 00:48:05.589
Obviously, I don’t let men into the Female Musician Academy.

00:48:05.609 –> 00:48:13.249
I created that as a safe haven for women where they can communicate with other women and create a community around that.

00:48:13.289 –> 00:48:17.289
But other than that, I mean, men are absolutely welcome to take my courses.

00:48:17.309 –> 00:48:26.329
I have a lot of men in my Profitable House Concerts course, and in my course on productivity, that’s a popular one with guys.

00:48:26.349 –> 00:48:31.369
Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from a guy, and they’re like, I know you run femmusician.com.

00:48:31.389 –> 00:48:33.209
Is it okay if I’m following you?

00:48:34.289 –> 00:48:35.709
It’s totally fine.

00:48:35.769 –> 00:48:36.829
I love everyone.

00:48:36.849 –> 00:48:38.709
It’s not that I have anything against men.

00:48:38.729 –> 00:48:40.829
I just want to create something special for women.

00:48:40.909 –> 00:48:45.709
Now all your female entrepreneurs and the other more restrictive group are going to go, who is this guy?

00:48:45.729 –> 00:48:47.129
We got to watch out for him.

00:48:49.809 –> 00:49:01.109
We actually, we do let some men into the WoS community if they are part of a band that has a female lead singer or if they are a promoter of a specific female artist.

00:49:01.129 –> 00:49:02.709
They’re a champion for female artists.

00:49:02.769 –> 00:49:04.509
Absolutely, we don’t turn them away.

00:49:04.909 –> 00:49:05.649
That’s very cool.

00:49:06.389 –> 00:49:08.449
All right, Bree, thank you so much.

00:49:08.569 –> 00:49:10.849
I hope that we get to do this again sometime in the future.

00:49:10.869 –> 00:49:13.129
It seems like there’s a lot more ground to cover.

00:49:13.549 –> 00:49:14.909
Yeah, this has been really great.

00:49:14.929 –> 00:49:17.629
And of course, thank you to D Grant Smith for introducing us.

00:49:17.649 –> 00:49:19.889
He always introduced me to the most interesting people.

00:49:20.169 –> 00:49:21.729
He’s such a sweet guy.

00:49:22.909 –> 00:49:24.089
I’ll have to ping him and let him know.

00:49:24.109 –> 00:49:24.629
I appreciate it.

00:49:24.649 –> 00:49:25.729
All right, have a great day, Bree.

00:49:25.929 –> 00:49:26.589
You too.

00:49:26.869 –> 00:49:27.129
Bye.

00:49:27.149 –> 00:49:27.149
Bye.

00:49:38.849 –> 00:49:40.223
Hey, this is Robanzo.

00:49:40.423 –> 00:49:42.163
Thanks so much for listening.

00:49:42.503 –> 00:49:43.783
Did you know I’m also an author?

00:49:44.343 –> 00:49:52.443
Check out my book, The Unstarving Musician’s Guide to Getting Paid Gigs, How to Get Booked and Paid What You’re Worth Over and Over Again, available on Amazon.

00:49:52.963 –> 00:49:58.643
And the book is also available in audio format as The Unstarving Musician’s Guide Podcast.

00:49:58.923 –> 00:50:01.183
Check it out wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

00:50:01.683 –> 00:50:07.303
Last but not least, are you a gigging musician, recording artist, songwriter, or touring professional?

00:50:07.583 –> 00:50:09.823
Perhaps struggling to get your music out to the world?

00:50:10.123 –> 00:50:11.623
Struggling to get the gigs you want?

00:50:12.163 –> 00:50:16.123
Pop over to unstarvingmusician.com and sign up for my email list.

00:50:16.503 –> 00:50:25.283
I will send you an occasional email with tips, expert advice, music, musician resources, and anything else I come across that might make your journey better and brighter.

00:50:25.883 –> 00:50:28.723
With much gratitude, peace, love, and more cowbell.