creative mentoring | Liz Cirelli

Daydream Believers Podcast hosted by Liz Cirelli

Networking part 1

From what I have learned, and in my opinion, networking falls into two categories:

The networking you do in order to increase your audience
The networking you do in order to link with industry professionals

To me, they are inextricably linked – they are both important – and both need to be approached with the same level of care and attention.

We all know networking is important – the big question a lot of us face is: HOW do we network? I like to treat networking as I do making new friends: I invite people into a conversation by asking them a question. I take an interest in them first. Networking is all about building relationships.

How you do this is very much up to you, but one thing holds true no matter what approach you adopt: people will not give you something unless you first show an interest in them. Asking for support simply does not crack it – unless you have already established strong bonds with those people. Learning how to network from a place of really wanting to connect with people, rather than from a place of neediness will totally transform your results.

Successful networking – or networking etiquette is quite simply about being a nice person and not spamming. Treat people the way that you would like to be treated yourself. Do you enjoy receiving long messages from strangers, demanding that you ‘check out their amazing work’? Neither do I.

Keeping in regular contact with your audience by way of newsletters is the perfect way to nourish your relationships once you have made the connection. Personally, I send out newsletters twice a month. To me this feels enough to stay pleasantly present, without having a spammy presence.

Send newsletters out by way of a mailing list service provider such as Mailer Lite or Mail Chimp. Never send out newsletters without a mailing list service provider – Google will flag your email address as a spammer.

Right now, I live in the middle of nowhere, so getting to any sort of networking event is pretty much impossible, but that’s ok because with the internet, the world is literally my oyster.

I love using Twitter to grow my audience and form new connections with people who I think would be interested in my output. I treat it as I would a real-life conversation. I start by introducing yourself: “Hello! Thank you so much for following me, I’m Liz, an electronic music artist, creative coach and lover of connections. I’ve formed a lot of beautiful friendships through music. May I initiate a potential friendship with you by asking what’s your favourite music to listen to?”

A conversation then often follows during which a connection is made and interest is piqued. Once I feel it is appropriate, I then tell the person that I’d love to send them a link to download some tracks for free. And I ask if they’d be interested. If they say yes, I thank them and ask which email address I can send it to. Thank people – always, always thank people – whether it’s for their time or their email addresses.

You might be asking how you get people to follow you in the first place. Good question! The answer is simple: find popular and active people out there, with a similar output to you – and follow their followers. I follow the followers of music artists who have a similar sound to me and who are popular and active on Twitter. When people follow you back, send them a message and initiate a conversation!

When someone follows you back, pop to their profile and if you see something that resonates with you, retweet it. You’re showing an interest in them and what they have to say – and that does good things for building the foundations of the relationship you are wishing to establish with this person.

Subscribe to newsletters and updates that are in line with your message and interest – and use these as material to curate interesting content for your Twitter and other social media feeds. Schedule it into a social media auto-poster like Recurpost so that when people visit your profile, they see interesting content. Combine these with posts about your own creative output. Again, it goes back to you showing an interest in other people first. It sends out a very important message.

This will also help in your quest to network with people within your industry. If they visit your social media platforms, they will see that you have interesting things to say, that you care enough to share other people’s content and that you’re not focussed solely on your own self-promotion.

Most importantly, engage with your audience – if people are commenting, comment back and thank them for checking out what you have to say. If people retweet or like your posts, retweet and like their posts. What goes around comes around.

If I’m contacting an industry pier, it’s slightly different, but the principles always remain the same. I comment on their work, compliment them on it, and if it’s relevant, explain how it related to me or helped me. People like being acknowledged for their work.

Do your research! If you are aiming to connect with professionals with a view to get your work promoted / licensed / seeking representation etc etc – make sure you are contacting those relevant to your style.

When including examples of your work, send links. For music, links to private Soundcloud playlists are preferable. Dropbox also works, or a link to a private web page. Don’t send links that expire and never ever attach large files. When sending music, 3-4 tracks maximum unless they have specifically asked you to send more.

In your initial email, introduce yourself, but keep it brief, demonstrate you’ve done your research by commenting on the company / individual in some way, then let them know the reason you are contacting them. Thank them for their time! This is so important and is often overlooked. A few short paragraphs is all you need.

Keep it simple. People are busy. When following-up, leave it 3-4 weeks at least. Sometimes you can even stretch it to 6 weeks. You want to be pleasantly present, not a persistently buzzing gnat in someone’s ear. And when following-up, be polite!

Don’t burn your bridges by making assumptions about people without actually getting to know them first.

This can also be a good way of determining whether or not you can trust who you’re networking with. More often than not, if the person you’re engaging with is real and genuine, they will be willing and able to maintain a proper conversation with you, as if you were chatting face-to-face.

Avoid following people with no profile picture. Don’t follow people who haven’t been active for long periods of time – and unfollow people if they haven’t followed you back within a week. Sometimes people have bots set up on their profiles that will send out automatic messages or comments to you – if this happens, just unfollow them and if you want to, block them. You can spot a bot because usually the message is totally out of context.

How long you choose to spend networking is, again, up to you. I spend about 2-3 hours a day on it in total – whether that’s connecting with people on Twitter, posting in Daydream Believers or answering / sending emails. I’d recommend a daily habit to keep up momentum, but always prioritise your creative output. I tend to reserve my studio time for the mornings (which for the most part are kept internet-free), then I’ll switch on the internet after lunch and turn my attention networking and doing admin.

When networking, bear this in mind: when we want something so badly, sometimes our grasp on that thing suffocates its chances of ever happening. Yes, we want to network and reach out, but if we overdo it, we will come across as pushy and unpleasant and the door will be slammed in our faces.

Like cultivating a beautiful garden, successful networking requires patience, dedication and commitment. At the beginning, whilst you are still building momentum, it requires a lot of effort and you might be disappointed with the results. Do lot let this discourage you. Do not let this turn you into a pushy networker either. Over time, as momentum builds, you will find that the networking will start to take care of itself, but until then…patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your audience won’t grow in a day either.

Good luck with your networking!

These posts exist to provide you with the knowledge, inspiration and motivation needed to pursue your dreams. If you’d like to have your say on what topics get covered AND have your questions answered by me and/or our expert guests, simply join our community on Patreon. We really look forward to welcoming you to the family!

#daydreamerslive

Take a leap of faith

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I find myself reflecting and contemplating a lot – especially when I’m travelling. For the last two months I’ve been in California – I came out here to attend a music production and licensing retreat hosted by my music production mentor, Gary Gray. When I booked my ticket, I booked it with the intention of going on a ‘music mission’.

I hadn’t really given much thought to the details of how that mission would unfold, but one thing was clear – I wanted the trip to be all about the music – and I wanted to stay out in California long enough to build long-lasting connections and relationships.

Let me backtrack to just before I committed to come out here. I had a little money come my way which meant that for the first time in 10 years, I was able to put something into a savings account. When Gary told me about his retreat, I wanted to go, but the fear of financial lack arose within me like a hungry snarling dog.

I use the analogy of a snarling dog, as that’s what it felt like. The ferocity of this fear was so strong that it almost totally blotted out my desire to go, to follow my heart. I say almost because an instant after I felt the ferocity of this fear, another sensation swooped over me – and this sensation spoke to me louder than the fear. It said: “you have to make this journey, Liz.” I knew this was the voice I had to listen to, not the voice of fear. The snarling dog had to be put in its place.

Despite knowing deep down that I had to say yes to the retreat and to coming to California, I still felt the fear inside me. I had more money than usual, yes – but in practice, not enough to sustain a longterm trip to the States. I didn’t know how this would work, but I knew I had to take the leap of faith.

So I did. I booked myself a one-way ticket to LA, trusting that Lady Luck would support me. Remember what I said earlier about my intention to make the trip a music mission? For it to be all about the music but that I hadn’t really given much thought to the details of how that mission would unfold?

Well, being out here and letting go of my need to be in constant control has been like me diving head first into a cornucopia. Me deliberately taking a step back and not having everything planned down to the finest detail meant that I allowed vital space for Providence to sweep in. On a practical level, I met people – who were initially complete strangers – who welcomed me into their homes and not only offered me a place to stay, but also really looked after me. These people have subsequently become very dear and special friends. Bob – I cannot thank you enough for everything!

On an artistic level, I have met some incredible people who have inspired me and helped me re-focus and redefine my goals as a music artist. New collaborations have been formed and new and very long-lasting connections have been made. I feel like my creative juices have been given a shot of turbo-powered superfood. I’m so excited for what the future holds.

I consider having goals extremely important in any endeavour, but especially when it comes to having a successful career as a creative. At the same time, I consider it important to be flexible with how those goals are achieved, and to also constantly learn and grow along the journey, redefining your goals as you go.

The people I have met, collaborated with and connected with here have reminded me of what inspires me and what my natural gifts are. This has helped me redefine my goals in accordance with what I believe to be my life’s purpose – the call of my higher self rather than the call of my ego.

Of course this means working with music, continuing my own career as a music artist, but doing it from a place of deep connection with my community (if you’re reading this email, it means you’re a part of that!) and working in a way that ultimately inspires other people to follow their dreams. I love seeing people happy, so I want to work in a way that will enable me to help more and more people along the way. I would love to eventually contribute to institutions (or set up my own!) that help children from troubled families follow their dreams of working in the music industry.

I would not have learned the lessons I’ve learned, become clearer on my goals, nor made the beautiful connections I’ve made had I not taken that leap of faith and listened to the voice of my heart over the voice of fear. Your heart will often tell you to do things that may seem crazy to you. You must listen to it. This the voice of wisdom talking to you – the voice that guides you to realise your life’s purpose.

Have the courage to take leaps of faith – it is only when we leap that we discover we’ve had wings all along.

Overcoming fear – part 2

01/10/2017 by LizCirelli

Blog, Podcast

achieve your dreams, creative mentoring, creativity, daydream believers, finding strength, help and advice, life coaching, Liz Cirelli, overcoming fear, podcast, struggle

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As many of you know, I came out to LA a little over a week ago to study and collaborate with my amazing music production mentor, Gary Gray – and to collaborate with a couple of incredible musicians in San Fransisco.

I love being on the move and experiencing new things in general, but being here has reminded me of a fear I had forgotten about: fear of the unknown. Whilst I love a good adventure, I’m also the sort of person who likes to plan and be organised. I feel uneasy leaving things to chance, despite knowing in my heart that’s when the magic happens.

Day by day, several times a day I’m having to remind myself to let go of my need to be in control – and to trust that things will work out the way they are meant to. It’s not easy for me to do – and it’s even harder to do it when you’re in unknown territory, far away from the comfort and safety of home. But when I do it, magic always occurs.

An example of such magic is this: I’m travelling on a pretty limited budget and am therefore relying on people offering me places to stay for free. I put myself out there and reached out to people on Couchsurfing.com. Total strangers. The result? My first 10 days in LA have been spent with 2 beautiful hosts who have now become lifelong friends. Was it scary for me to do this? Of course it was! But it serves as a great example of the magic that can occur when you push your comfort zone and venture into the unknown.

Most of us are conditioned to think small – to sit inside our little boxes and lead a life that is planned, safe and predictable. There is one major problem with this: the very nature of existence is unpredictable and random. Can we predict what is going to occur in the future? We cannot. Perhaps the unpredictability of the future has given rise to our insistence on needing to maintain so much control over what is going to occur in the future. Perhaps our fear of the unknown has been exacerbated to make us easier to control.

For the most part, we are conditioned to feel uncomfortable with surrendering to the flow and leaving things to chance – but can we realise that by attempting to fill every conceivable void in our lives with stuff or plans, we are shutting out the chance for magic and serendipity to occur?

Don’t get me wrong – a level of focus is required to achieve any endeavour – as is hard work. But do we really need to push for so much control over how the journey towards that goal unfolds? Would it not be better if we kept our eyes on the prize, but surrendered to – and trusted in the journey that gets us there?

Fear is the most paralysing of emotions we battle with. Personally, it’s a constant and daily battle that affects all areas of my life – not just my creativity. At times I feel so much fear surrounding something that it affects my health. My guts knot up and become crampy. I can’t sleep. I get pains in my liver and stomach. These all arise from the suffocating grip of fear.

I wish our society dealt with fear in healthier ways, but it seems those that pull the strings of the puppet names society need fear in order to maintain not only their control but their enormous bank accounts. I don’t have the answers as to why countless numbers of us are thrown into the pool of fear and drown there without even putting up a fight.

What I do know is this: pushing through the things that scare me the most is really uncomfortable. But whenever I do this, not only does magic occur – I also grow. I become stronger and I can then use that strength to help rescue others that might be drowning in the pool of fear. I can take my experiences and use them to help give strength to others, to help them get that twinkle of excitement back into their eyes.

I let fear control me for most of my life. Realising I could choose to take the power back was probably one of the most exciting things that I learned. I refuse to be suffocated by my fears – and I will do my best to help prevent others from being suffocated by theirs.