Work Backwards: Cheryl B. Engelhardt on an Indie Music Career System (Episode 114)

Make Music Your Business.

Cheryl B. Engelhardt is a classically trained pianist who became a jingle composer, then a touring indie singer-songwriter, then an advocate and coach for independent musicians. Her solo piano and ambient album Luminary, designed to combat anxiety and composed in a studio in a half-abandoned mountain town in Greece, hit number one on the Amazon and iTunes New Age charts.

In Episode 114 of The Career Musician, Nomad asks Cheryl how she built a full independent music career, and how she helps other musicians do the same through In the Key of Success. If you are an indie artist feeling overwhelmed by everything you are supposed to be doing, her system will help.

Work backwards from the result

Cheryl went to college to become a marine biologist, kept taking music electives and ended up a double major focused on music technology. After graduation she was a messenger for an ad agency in Manhattan, then a video editor, which is how she met the music houses that write commercial music. She got a job at one, worked up to managing their library, and stayed late after the composers went home to write for the same commercials they were pitching. Her bosses started presenting her tracks, and she started winning.

Nomad called it hustle. Cheryl called it clarity.

"If I want to get music on a commercial, I need to write music for a commercial. If I want to write music for a commercial, I have to have access to a studio... it all kind of worked backwards and made sense."

Cheryl B. Engelhardt, 7:46

That clarity is her coaching superpower: where are you now, where do you want to go, and how do we close the gap? A client once told her they wanted an album to win a big award. They had one song written. Step one, write some songs.

Write a commitment statement

Before strategy, Cheryl asks musicians what they actually want their days to look like, and who they want to be doing it with. If it is only about the money, she says, go get a job in a bank. Then she has them write a commitment statement, a compass for every decision. Hers is creativity, partnership and self-expression. Everything she says yes to has to have all three. She once turned down a film that only wanted her to copy a famous score as closely as legally possible, because it had none of them.

Too many options can be a curse. Should you start with licensing, live streaming or releases? A clear commitment narrows the menu. That is Objectivity from the ETHOS code: decide with your eyes open.

The musician's success cycle

Cheryl teaches five phases that every musician moves through, over and over:

1. Learning and determining. Figuring out what's next.
2. Creating. The music, plus videos and social assets.
3. Preparing. Website, metadata, copyrights, registering with your PRO. The admin most musicians skip.
4. Pitching and promotion. Getting it out there, with your ducks in a row.
5. Monetizing and maintaining. Gigs, licensing, sales. Then you go around again and level up.

Overwhelm usually hits in phases two and four, when you are writing lyrics and already gathering playlist pitches. Own the phase you are in. Nomad agreed: you can only do one thing wholeheartedly at a time. Track the guitars today, then go eat dinner and watch Netflix.

Put your tasks in your calendar

Cheryl doesn't keep to-do lists. Tasks go straight into her calendar. A to-do list, in her words, is a dark cloud that doesn't exist anywhere in time and space. Her rule: you can move a task three times. On the third move, either delete it because it wasn't important, or break it into smaller steps because it was too intimidating.

"Mastery... is when you have equal amount of integrity with yourself that you do with the other people that you show up for."

Cheryl B. Engelhardt, 21:40

Nomad admitted he is guilty of bumping his own tasks while keeping every session with other people. Most of us are. That is Reliability beats virtuosity, pointed inward.

Anchor gigs and a real email list

Her indie touring started with what she calls an anchor gig. A college friend in Columbus, Ohio, offered to book her a show where his coworkers hung out on Fridays. She found a second show near a relative, asked a guitarist friend who knew people in western Pennsylvania, and turned it into a seven-day run with six venues. The same approach took her up the West Coast and to Europe several times. She says she never lost money on a tour, partly by making sure she at least broke even on paid gigs.

Her email list was the breakthrough. Invited to a festival in Europe with her band and unable to afford the flights, she asked her list, about 500 people at the time, if anyone had unused airline miles. Three of four tickets got covered. In return, fans got video blogs from the road. That value exchange is what later led her to get certified in digital marketing and build courses on email for musicians. Her view: most musician newsletters are bad, so write emails people want to open. Work begets work, and so does a list that trusts you.

Define the champagne win, and treat results as data

Cheryl wants "more" out of your vocabulary. "I want to grow my following" is not a goal. A specific, measurable target is, what her program calls the champagne win. And if you aim for 1,000 new followers and get 500, that is not failure. It is data about what worked.

"When you look at any results as data, it takes the emotion out."

Cheryl B. Engelhardt, 35:38

Her rule for growth: do more of what works and less of what doesn't. If you are spinning your wheels, put a wedge in the cycle, like a coach, a class or a new way of looking at your numbers. When overwhelm creeps in, she either gets into action or asks for help.

The takeaway

Get clear on what you want, then work backwards. Know which phase you are in. Put your tasks on the calendar and keep the promises you make to yourself. Build a list and treat your fans like partners. If you want a framework to start with, grab the free plan of attack (POA) worksheet and the Get the Gig guide, and find Cheryl at cbemusic.com.

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

Watch on YouTube or find every episode on the TCM Podcast page.