So you have $80,000 in student loans from pursuing and winning your undergrad and grad degrees in vocal performance, now what do you do?
Maybe your folks paid for you to attend university or the conservatory and you have nothing to pay off so if you never sang professionally it would just fine. If this is you, have another bon bon, take a nap, or head to the beach because this blog entry is for singers who must not only sing for their supper but sing to pay off their student loans.
This blog isn’t for musical dilettantes. We’ve always had them. Tchaikovsky was briefly married once to such a dilettante at the Moscow Conservatory. They fell in love, but within weeks the marriage was gone.
So assuming you are in debt, not a dilettante, are crazy ambitious, can sing, can work, and have the beginnings of a repertoire then it seems to me you are adequately motivated to go and seek your fortune. Also I’m assuming you are living in North America and do not have the opera house network for singers existing in Europe. Now what do you do?
Also, let us assume you need $1,500/month in singing fees to pay your student loans. If you charge $300 per service that means you will need 5 paying gigs every month. Every month.
First, stake out as much territory as you can afford to “own.” This means you are going to identify and hit every audition, every night club, and every venue you can afford to attend. By becoming ubiquitous in this territory you will develop a fan base. Then ask this question: are there five $300 gigs every month in my territory? If not you must enlarge your territory so that it fits your cash flow.
Second, make sure you have at least half dozen performances posted on YouTube. That is your portfolio and you don’t even have to make CDs.
Third, make contact every day with 5 new venues. In doing so you are going to collect name, email, phone and physical address for each one and you are going to enter them into your Excel spread sheet. And you are going to call them and ask them for others who may be looking for singers.
Fourth, start emailing your name list and include links to your YouTube performances.
If you do this, then in one month you will have 125 venues listed, you will have sent out emails to all 125 venues with link to your YouTube performances. In two months you will have 250, in three months you will have 375. There are not likely more than 400 total venues in your territory.
Having a complete list is very empowering to you. You can hit all your contacts every month. Because this is both a performance and numbers game it will take you a few months but sooner than later your efforts will generate enough cash to cover your loan nut and more. Try it. If you do and it isn’t working, then call me for a one hour free consultation. But it will be free only if you have done everything herein specified.
What have you done in the past three months which would have been more productive?
$80,000 in Student Loans. Now What?
