Creators Need to Have a Backup Plan

I remember long ago on this site posting a blog titled, “Don’t Put All Your Eggs in the Facebook Basket.”  Heck, without even looking it up, I’ll bet that when I wrote about TikTok’s thin ice (relative to potentially being banned in the U.S.) I probably referenced that old post and cautioned not to ‘bet it all on TikTok,’ to do a takeoff on a popular gambling expression.

Every week for more than ten-and-a-half years I have put out a new episode of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast.  Along the way, since I not only attend monthly meetups but have been a speaker at podcasting conferences, I’ve met people who make a full-time living from podcasting.

Of course, as a publicist, I founded Now Hear This, Inc. twenty years ago with the aim of serving music clients.  (Over the years it has expanded to others, as you’ll see in the closing paragraph below.)  But typically – and I know I’ve blogged about this over the years – no one is really doing just one thing anymore.

Yes, you want to do music full-time.  Sure, being a YouTuber or TikTok-er and nothing else sounds like fun.  Of course there are people who want to just do podcasting.  But, just like an IT person would tell you to store your files in more than one place, you’ve got to have a backup (plan).

As I said, when I first started this agency, I thought I would only work with indie music clients.  But you have to take a step back and for all intents and purposes do a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).

Who could’ve foreseen the pandemic coming in 2020.  Were you prepared?  What about the huge, what I’ll call, ‘blue screen day’ that hit in July, affecting airports and countless others?  Here in west central Florida, we just had back-to-back hurricanes in two weeks.  Yes, there are government aid programs to help with things like a pandemic or a natural disaster, but what about when you’re right in the middle of it?

I recently went to my recording rig and one of the three monitors decided it didn’t want to work anymore.  While it was an adjustment “only” having two screens to look at, at least my podcasting didn’t have to stop.

Someone who works for me recently said they were going to be out-of-pocket and borderline not able to be reached for several days.  Fortunately, I have someone else on the team that I know will still be working and I can lean on them during that period.

If you’re someone who performs regularly, have you thought specifically what you would do if, for example, you had to suddenly leave town for a week?  Let’s say there was a medical emergency with a family member in another state.  Don’t just brush it off with, “Oh, I know plenty of people who could pick up my gigs.”  Make a list of their names in order of who you trust the most to be on-time, be polite, be professional, put on a good show and – no pun intended – not miss a beat.  But also keep in mind that they need to be available on short notice.  If it’s someone who also performs all the time, they likely will be booked.  So, who is number two on the list?  And then who is number three?  And is the venue okay with you picking your replacement and telling them, “This is who’s going to fill in,” or are they going to say, “We need time to look them up in advance and give our final approval rather than you just telling us”?

If you are a podcaster or TikTok creator and you’re going to be traveling, how well thought out is your plan for staying on schedule while you’re on the road?  Will there be reliable Wi-Fi wherever you’re going?  And if you say, “I’ll just use my phone as a hotspot,” what is the file size that you’re going to upload and how long will that set you back versus what you’re used to at home on a high-speed connection?

What is your backup plan?  Going to Panera or Starbucks where everyone else in there is using their Wi-Fi too?

I have talked before – on this blog and on the podcast – about traveling to an event.  You might be a speaker or a conference attendee or performing out of town.  Are you going to jeopardize being on time by cutting your travel schedule too close?  I know you want to save money by not staying in a hotel the night before, but think about how refreshed you’ll be waking up in that city instead of just getting on a plane – that you hope won’t incur any delays – and nervously watching the time as you navigate airports and baggage claim and rideshare and, oh yeah, maybe even a meal.

Do you have a gig booked somewhere and it’s such a great opportunity that you have a musician coming from out of town to join you on stage?  What’s the backup plan if he or she doesn’t make it (on time or at all)?

Don’t take the Indiana Jones approach of “make it up as we go along.”  Have a backup plan to be position yourself for success.

For twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more.  What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to?  Let’s get on a short call together so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.