“But I’m Too Tired To Get Online After Working All Day…” (Genuine Reason or Lame Excuse?)
By Anna Johnson on May 14th, 2009The other day I was speaking to a friend me who has, for many years now, been in rock band. I was telling him about Imeem.com and the various other Internet websites, social networks and online stores where independent musicians and bands can promote and distribute their music.
Since he hasn’t done much in the live music scene I thought he might appreciate the marketing opportunities available online. Of course, exploring any of these opportunities wouldn’t mean he’d be able to avoid having to ‘hustle’.
From what I can see, whether you aim to find a music audience online or offline (and ideally both) there’s still a LOT of ‘selling’ to be done.
Actually, who am I kidding? Promoting music online is just like promoting any other kind of product or service online. You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and market!
My friend, however, told me that he didn’t know much about the Internet. But it was after I reassured him that he didn’t need to know much about the Internet to get started – just get on there and start exploring (like we’ve all done, right?) that I got the real picture.
He told me he was too tired to get on the computer after working all day.
At that, I shrugged, and told him that was his choice. Inside, however, I was shaking my head.
Yes, I know it’s tough to come home from a full day at work… and then put in several more hours of ‘work’. But that’s basically because, for most of us, it requires extra effort – extra time, extra sacrifices – to achieve more than what we’ve already got in our lives.
Whether we’re talking about someone in a rock band, or someone starting or running an Internet business, the reality is that no-one is likely to give us a ‘lucky break’. After all, if getting a lucky break was probable… we wouldn’t call it ‘lucky’, would we?
On the contrary, most of us have to make certain sacrifices (or what seem to be sacrifices) to jump from where we are now to where we want to be.
We can’t simply do our day jobs and expect to become rock stars or successful entrepreneurs. We’ve got to put in the time and effort. If that means coming home from work and then putting in a few hours on the Internet, then that’s what it takes.
I guess I’m preaching to the converted, but it continues to amaze me how some people wonder why they haven’t achieved the success they aspire to… but aren’t willing to put in the hard yards to achieve that success.
Then again, the cynic in me says that a lot of people really do think that way. And I guess that’s why those who ‘make it’ are so few…
