Indie Tool Kit:The Cell Phone

The major labels are crashing down like sand castles in the tide. And thank God for that because that means that music artists now have far more control over their careers. Problem is, most people have no idea what to do. There's no instruction manuals out there for how to be succesful. The good part is, with the right guidance, you can do spectacular things.

There isn't much an Independent Artist can't do for themselves, as long as they have the right tools. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to go over a few of these tools. The diagram outlines the essentials for doing good business(just admit it, you love the drawing). Each week I will outline in green the feature the blog will focus on. Lets start with the most basic component of conducting business as an Independent Artist: communication. For all the obvious reasons, it's easy to say that without communication there is absolutely no way to do business as an Independent. The first thing we're going to discuss is your lifeline, better known as your cell phone.

As an Independent Artist it is very important that you view your cell phone as a tool for conducting business, and not a social gateway. By this I mean that you have to view your cell phone solely as a tool for doing business as quickly & efficiently as possible. Good communication seems like a very obvious thing that nobody needs to be reminded about, but I'm always amazed at how bad people are at communicating.

Part of communication is your style and how well you connect with people and I'm not going to get into that in this blog. I do, however, want to talk about tools for essential fast paced communication in the digital age because if you can't connect, it doesn't matter how smooth of a talker you are. Lets go over what features to look for. Some of this may seem trivial, but is absolutely necessary to pay attention to before you deal with important people. Here are a few indispensible phone features to consider:

* Coverage: Do you live in a city where your service provider has spotty service? Are you an avid subway user? Because if you are, you better research which company gives you the best reception in those places.

* WiFi: Does your phone act as a mobile hotspot? Can you connect your laptop or other device to your phone and then connect to the Internet? Think it's unnecessary? Think again. Imagine having to send songs, programs or whatever else almost instantly from a pizza place, or a better yet from your car. You could be in the middle of nowhere, and still conduct business (depending on your cell phone coverage).

* Email: There are many phones that have email access, but most importantly how quickly and efficiently does your phone access email? What programs can it view in an email? What if it's an excel or pdf document? Consider this before you simply purchase a phone with email capability.

* Text: Learn how to text. Just because you're in the middle of a meeting doesn't mean you have to stop conducting business.

* Minutes: "I will call u after 9, I don't have any minutes left," is not an excuse that goes over well with most people trying to conduct business with you. Be disciplined in your minutes use, and remember the purpose for having a phone: business.

* GPS: Not all phones come with this service, but it sure does come in handy when you're lost in the middle of NYC, and you have 5 minutes till your meeting.

* Battery life: This last points might sound ridiculous, but when you are using your cell phone for many different purposes, the battery drains a lot faster. Have a few back-up plans. Car charger, extra batteries, European outlet converter...point is: be prepared.

Hope that helps, and remember, make your decisions based on your business needs, and not on your personal wants.

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