“Predictable Success” – for the musician (?)

Hello world indeed,

Recently, I’ve been reading a book called “Predictable Success; Getting your organisation on the growth track – and keeping it there” by Les McKeown [edit: who has left comments below.. ]

It describes itself – and is, in my opinion – an “industry agnostic” book. It very simply and intuitively charts the different stages of any business, and proposes very intuitive solutions/an intuitive methodology that can help lead you to “Predictable Success”. Rather than proposing a runaway exhausting Russian roulette trial and error, a boring “5 point plan”, or some irrelevant cheesy business analogy, it portrayed a way of working, a methodology that could be related too, regardless of the stage you’re at, and one that can be molded to the industry you’re in.

It proposed a refreshing, affirming, and intuitive approach to business – which stuck in my mind – which is why I find myself writing about it.

Stages of growth(/decline)

The book describes how businesses go through stages, of early struggle, fun, white water, predictable success, treadmill, the big rut, the death rattle – and how to stay at the position we all want to be in – “Predictable Success”.

On some level or other, we all make judgements about the various products and services we experience on a day to day basis – and the organisation that’s behind them. What fascinates me, is that nearly all of them are a monument to their skills in coping with their place in the market. Surely all of them, we could pin somewhere on the above diagram. Some businesses, ooz confidence and service – others are sluggish, tired out, and uninterested. You can feel it the minute you walk through the door – and if that applies to most businesses, it certainly applies to the musician!

More relevant, in the game of ‘pin the donkey’, is figuring out just where you or I am as a musician, and to see where you’ve been going right and/or wrong along your route to the flowing position of “Predictable Success” – musical mastery is after all, increasingly being recognised as of equal importance to business mastery – partly due to the way the industry has changed (but partly, also, because musicians have always needed to learn how to survive on their own, and some people somewhere, have decided to try and educate them..

Sadly, a lack of control in one, is bound to effect the other, no matter how much you procrastinate in your all time favourite piece. The dishes don’t do themselves, and neither do the heaps of paperwork. (For a self management book, I strongly recommend you do a Google search for GTD – this keeps decks organised in an extremely intuitive/organic way that boosts creativity as well as control.)

Educating yourself business skills is pretty vital, and this book help bring about some kind of flow, (and even help keep you doing what you do best – music!)

Flow:

There are numerous similarities between businesses of all kinds, and this book illustrates some excellent general advise, keeping you energised, creative and at the top.

Whilst it’s aimed at organisations, I feel this is a good thing, because, frankly, you need at least one or two other people in clearly defined roles, to help out.

The various stages of an enterprise.

Under the initial stage, “early struggle” it argues the need to become recognised, and to get noticed. It argues the need to push through this “as quickly as possible”, deliver orders/confirm gigs, almost regardless of your initial vision/mission, and learn from this whole experience, what audiences/customers want etc.

Other stages, appropriated (by myself) for the muso, include:

• fun (picking up contracts, taking lots of money and running with the show, at all hours of the day/night – which gets tiring and leads to),
• white water (figuring out how the hell to handle demand without getting burned out, the three vital roles/departments in an organisation (see below) of processor, operator, visionary, and deals generally with solutions about how to stay on track
• predictable success (when the musician/band has taken off, is at peak of its creativity, vision and action are 100% connected, the business processes are under control, and everyone’s emotionally synergistic, the business is responsive to demand, and can quickly react, with perfect synchronisations, and a packed audience),
• treadmill (when the band gets bored and uncreative),
• the big rut (when everyone starts falling out),
• and finally the death rattle (heart broken girls in the street).

To me, most musicians seem to go through the first 4 stages. Early struggle (most business fail here (anywhere between 51% and 85% depending who you read)); fun – definitely been there; white water – tick; and predictable success.. hmmm

Seeing as I, and many other musicians I’ve spoken to, seem to get to ‘fun’, and end up living with the hell of to much to manage all on their own, let’s look at a section of the book that has been circling my mind for a few weeks now – white water, and the section on the 3 most important roles in a business.. (Hint: clear roles and delegation is pretty nifty if you want to stay focused on your role, creative development of the music!).

White water and the 3 most important roles in a business:- Processor, Visionary & Operator.

What do I/the author of Presictable Success mean by processor, visionary, and operator and why are they just as relevant to the music entrepreneur?

Processor, is defined in the book as someone who deals with the paperwork, the refining and breaking down of numbers, facts, info. Just as a food processor breaks down food to make it digestible, so a business processor breaks down information to make it simply understood. This could be cashflow, cashflow forecasting, a breakdown of what your audiences think, want, would like done differently, keeping records of what you experience in the wilderness and breaking it down (a break down of market research in other words). It helps both the visionary, and the operator get perspective, without them having to go into detail/much effort in recalling it/crunching the numbers..

The operator, in my mind, is someone who deals with the product creation, but also (I would suggest for most musicians) the outsourcing (rather than doing) the marketing (in order to keep their attention on the quality of their music). Coming up with a vision of the website, but getting someone else to design it! (How long did I spend doing it myself – mercy!)

And the visionary, of course, is the one who determines where the business is going, and initiates some kind of plan (based largely with thanks to the presentation of the processor). He points the operator in the right direction. Where does he/she see the business achieving/gaining the most money, and more importantly, the best audience reactions/interactions in the next 4-5 years. In my opinion, the social motive is at least slightly more important than the financial one – synergistic exciting performances, after all, sell!

The author argues that a visionary and operator can be the same person (which is satisfying if you’re the musician). He also argues that the vision simply cannot be outsourced.

For me, it re-engage’s myself with the fun and enjoyment that can be had in the music industry. Provided you know your instrument/s backwards, and can meet the stylistic demands, thanks to your refined skills, in my mind, you’ve got a great flexible product, that needs refining on the business end. (There is, after all, musical mastery, and business mastery..)

As a musician, that in part requires delegating and outsourcing, to keep you concentrated on yourself – the product.

That flow, of getting your priorities right, of mastering and delivering a pristine product, of planning and preparing for the future (operator/visionary), while ensuring someone, somewhere, is mastering the business details (operator/processor), is beauty in motion, and in my view, one highlighted accurately in “Predictable Success”. Who knows – it might even be able to return that elusive character “musical integrity”.