Action Over Resolution: 200 Episodes of Building a Music Career (Episode 200)

Make Music Your Business.

Two hundred episodes. The Career Musician started as a passion project and grew into a full educational resource for the working musician, built for musicians by musicians. In Episode 200, Nomad marks the milestone the only way that fits the show: by talking about action.

He was a little late with the Happy New Year, for a good reason. He had just played a gig with the legend himself, Nathan East. Then he brought in the TCM Pro Team, Joel Meza and Emily Lauren, to share the one thing each of them is doing differently this year. If you have ever wondered how to build a music career that lasts, the answer in this episode is simple: action over resolution.

Methods change, principles remain

The episode builds on Episode 199: resolutions fade, but actions done consistently add up. Your plan of attack, your POA, is the anchor that keeps those actions going.

"Resolutions fade, but actions, when done consistently, compound into results."

Nomad, 1:31

Then the part Nomad wants every player to hear. If you chase methods, you will always feel a little left behind. If you stick to principles, you last for the long haul. That is how Nathan East has kept the Eric Clapton gig for more than four decades. And it is how Nomad has worked with what he calls the ABCDs of legendary career musicians: Aretha, Barbra, Celine and David Foster. Not by chasing metrics. Not by trying to go viral. By sticking to the core principles.

Nomad's real talk: every major gig he has landed, every world tour and A-list session, came down to auditioning with intention. You don't wing the dream gig. You put a plan together. Everything you do is an audition.

Water one plant at a time

Emily went first. Her action for the year is about living in the moment. She multitasks constantly, the lines blur, and she is not fully present in whatever she is doing.

"My action is going to be just being more present and not watering all of the flowers at once."

Emily Lauren, 3:59

The table related right away. One of them caught themselves obsessing over work during the holidays instead of looking at the lights and enjoying family time. Another named the trap behind it: scheduling the day by the hour, then ending the night disappointed for not finishing a list there was never realistically time for. That disappointment, they admitted, can knock the fire right out of you.

Nomad called it a vicious cycle and flipped it into the question he keeps coming back to: what works, and what doesn't? A 12-hour day crammed with tasks does not work. It overwhelms you, then you beat yourself up. What works is focusing on the one thing in front of you. That is Objectivity from the ETHOS code: an honest look at your own habits, without the drama.

Done is better than perfect

The next lesson came from digging through old episodes for clips. Hearing how much the show had grown was proof that putting things out, even imperfect, was the right call. People were coming up to the team asking about the pod and asking to be on it. The advice from the table: just put it out. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can rework it later.

Then came a story from college. At a business symposium, a student asked a panel of billionaires how they used non-disclosure agreements to stop people stealing their ideas. One of them laughed it off. Forget NDAs, he said. The people who do it well execute. They get to market faster than anyone else and work it from there.

That tied straight into Joel's favorite business term, MVP, the minimum viable product. As a musician, you are the product. As the table put it, you don't have to be Chopin on keys to go out and get gigs doing what you do. The podcast doesn't have to be the most perfectly produced show ever, either. The studio was mid-revamp on camera, and they recorded anyway. That is taking action.

Stay top of mind with a contacts relations manager

Joel's action for the year is more technical: actively using his CRM. Nomad had been nudging him to do it for about a year and a half, so he was thrilled. Joel's sheet lists each person, whether he has contacted them, the strength of the relationship, their scene and whether it is one he wants to work in, their associations and their instrument. When someone calls needing a keys player or a bass player, he can sort and find one fast.

His testimony came a few weeks after the award shows. Going through old videos, he found a couple of buddies he had not talked to in months and reached out with a simple, "How are you doing? I miss you." One answered with an invite to come hang at a gig at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The other was about to write some sync music and wanted to meet up.

Joel borrowed a line from real estate: your biggest asset is mental real estate. When someone needs a drummer, they call the drummer they hung out with last night. Staying in touch keeps you top of mind.

Nomad's framing, from ETHOS: The Career Musician's Code, is a contacts relations manager. It is a bigger word for a Rolodex. You are not selling your services so much as making them available, without being the person shouting "Did you see my Instagram?"

"These are people. They're not leads. They're not some kind of prize. They're people that I want to continue to cultivate a relationship with. That's where you're going to win."

Nomad, 13:44

Joel added the rule that makes it work: it all has to be sincere. These are his friends. Work begets work, and it starts with a real hello.

The takeaway

Two hundred conversations, two hundred lessons. No matter what the algorithm or the metrics say, music careers are built by humans for humans, taking action. Get present. Put it out before it is perfect. Keep your people close. If you want a framework to start with, grab the free plan of attack (POA) worksheet, and when an audition comes up, prepare like a pro with the free Audition Secrets guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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