Making Difficult Choices
Hours turn into days. Days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into months.
And before you know it, we’ve been under a Safer at Home order for nearly two months.
Industry Changes
Our industry will be forever changed by the pandemic and shut downs.
The live sector suffered the most - venues are shut down, tours and festivals are cancelled, and there’s no timeline in sight to begin gathering in large groups again. Musicians had to pivot their shows online and find ways to earn an income, and who’s to say what will happen to smaller promoters and venues.
The music products industry wasn’t immune either. Retail stores closed and online shopping shifted to essential items for a period of time, leaving manufacturers finding ways to cut costs to preserve their companies and legacies. It’s even hard for artists to ship merchandise to fans eager to support them.
We have yet to see the true impact on publishing and royalties,
Difficult Decisions
We’ve all had to make incredible difficult decisions in this industry over the last few months. With the shift in our industry from live shows to live streams, from in-person networking to Zoom calls, from a strong office culture to sitting at home alone, we've all faced changes these last two months. We’ve had to pivot our businesses and careers online, to relocate ourselves for family or jobs, or make decisions to leave a job at this point in time, and those choices can be gut wrenching in some instances.
It's not easy to choose between security and what your gut is telling you. It's tough to temporarily pause or leave behind something you've built up over years for the unknown.
But what's important is how we face these changes and the choices we make.
Here are a few ways I faced changes and made my decisions:
I made a pro / con list but kept my gut instinct in the back of my mind
I let others give me their opinion but didn't let their opinion influence me
I kept the Self Coaching Model in mind: the circumstances are neutral, and my thoughts about those circumstances are what create my feelings, my feelings create my actions, and my actions create my results.
I sat with it - I didn't take immediate action but gave myself time over the weekend to think over the consequences of each option I could take
It's easy for us to panic, to take immediate action, or to let others influence our decisions. But when the decision impacts your life in a significant way, do what's right for you.