Have you ever thought it would be awesome to start a band and live like a rockstar?

I know, it's a silly question- everyone has had that dream.

If you’re a business owner, however, I would argue that you’re already living that dream.

And don't worry, I know you’re not actually playing to packed out crowds and sleeping on a tour bus.

But recently it dawned on me that businesses and bands are really not that different.

In fact, I would go as far as saying that they’re doing the exact same thing.

In this post I want to break down 4 steps that both musicians and businesses must take if they’re going to be successful:

1. Getting the band together

Who are you going to start this journey with? Obviously, it can’t be someone with the exact same skills as you. Can you imagine two Freddie Mercurys in Queen? It would be a nightmare.

Find the people who will compliment your skillset and will make up for where you lack.

But what if you want to be more of an Ed Sheeran or Adele. Well, as a one-man band, you’re still going to need to surround yourself with a community of people to support you. Look out for like-minded people that will motivate you to keep going.

2. Start Niche

Have ever heard really early stuff from your favourite artist? It probably sounds completely different to what their sound is now.

Taylor Swift is a prime example- She’s no longer the country girl she once was.

So how does that translate to your business? Well, you also need to go deep before going wide.

But finding your niche is so important.

Having an incredibly niche product will allow you to be laser focussed on your marketing, your social media and your website with a clear cut message of what your product is, who it’s for, and why they should spend money on it.

3. Finding your ‘Beliebers’

Finding your fanbase can be a hard thing to do because I don’t think it’s something artists can proactively do.

They can’t walk into the street and ask people to follow them. I mean have you seen how ferocious these fans can be on the internet? That sort of loyalty doesn’t come from just liking a song (seriously those fan armies are scary).

But instead, what they do is understand who they are and what drives them. Then they act authentically and everything follows course. People become obsessed with who the artist is, and their position of being a fan reinforces their own identity and builds their image by affiliation- because they have the same purpose.

Some brands have a similar sort of fandom around them. Harley Davidson springs to mind - I mean if people are getting your logo tattooed on their body they’re doing something right (the brand, that is).

Why are they getting tattoos? Because they stand for the same things as the brand.

So start with your purpose and who knows, maybe people will be getting your face tattooed to their chest.

4. Scaling

So you’ve managed to start selling out your local pub. It’s time for the musician to aim for that world-wide tour. But how?

How do you take an artist from 50 people in a corner pub to Madison Square Gardens?

Answer: Scaling.

Put simply, Instead of bringing 10 t-shirts to a gig, you’ll bring 1000, and instead of 2 bouncers, you’ll need 200. Instead of spending £50 on Instagram ads, you’ll spend £5000.

Of course, this is extremely over-simplified, but you get the point.

Disclaimer

It is worth noting that the order of these points are important.

If you start trying to scale before you have your fans, you’re not going to sell any of your t-shirts.

And for many businesses, this is what kills them. They try to grow quickly without having product-market-fit.

Our team is currently on this rockstar journey with our business Payhere. We’re on a mission to become the easiest way to get paid online, and so far, it’s going pretty well.

We would love for you to follow along with what we’re up to and if you believe there could be a better way to get paid online, why not have a look at what we offer.

Thanks for reading,
The Payhere team