Before you can actually grow your audience, you have to figure out who that audience really is. The best way to do that is to get a really, really clear picture of your Perfect Gig.

In a moment, I’ll ask you to imagine a scene. Using your imagination is going to be essential from this point on, because I want you hang on to an incredibly strong memory of an event that hasn’t even happened yet.

How can we do that? Here’s a quick warmup…

EXERCISE
I want you to imagine what you’ll see tomorrow, when you come home.
What does your front door look like?
Where’s the handle?
How do you open it?
What does that door handle feel like on your hand?
What sound does your door make as you open it?
What do you see on the other side?

Did you notice how you used your imagination to visualize your front door? Your brain painted a picture for you, because the act of opening your own front door has probably become so routine that you couldn’t immediately picture it. Now, let’s use that same part of your brain to visualize your perfect gig.

EXERCISE
First, I want you to get a really, really clear picture in your mind. You will probably want to close your eyes for a moment before you write down your answers.

Imagine it’s one year from today. You’re peeking out from backstage at your Perfect Gig. Your audience waits for you to take the stage. You see them in exactly the kind of venue that you love to perform in. They’re exactly the audience that you’ve always dreamed of playing in front of.

Now, close your eyes for a minute. Get a really, really clear picture of this scene in your mind.

Great. Now it’s time to write down the answers to some really specific questions about the scene you just pictured.

1. What does your audience look like? What clothes are they wearing?

2. What does the venue look like? Is it a smoky bar with neon lights? Or a coffeehouse with lots of exposed brick on the wall? Do the neon signs in the windows say Budweiser, or Yuengling, or Starbucks?

3.What’s the crowd doing while they’re waiting for you? Are they seated? Standing? Eating? Drinking?

Great work. You’ve just done two really important things.

1. You’ve just started to train your brain to attract exactly the kind of gig that you just talked about.

2. You’ve identified your audience.

From this point forward, focus every ounce of energy you put into your career on playing the type of gig you just visualized, and attracting the kind of person you just visualized.

Very often, before I start this exercise with a new client, I’ll hear comments like, “It’s very hard for me to find an audience for my music” or “I just can’t seem to find a club that’ll let me play what I really want” or - the worst - “My music’s really difficult, and I don’t expect many people to want to hear it.” Conversely, I sometimes meet new people who tell me, “Joe, why do you spend so much time working with baby bands? They just aren’t GOOD enough yet!”

If you remember, back in the beginning of this book I told you that I’ll choose to believe that you are doing everything you can to hone your craft and your skills. Practice at least six days a week, the way an athlete does. Learn as much as you can about songwriting, and expose yourself to as much of the world as possible so you have lots of excellent raw material to help you write.

That said, you’re probably not the best musician in the world right now, in the same way that I’m far from the best writer walking the planet. And yet you managed to find - and buy - this book (thank you!!!).

I’m sure you’ve had the experience of hearing a song on the radio that was so amazingly lame that you put a hole in something. You know you could do better, so why did they get to the big time first? The key to all these things lies in your audience.

When you find a core group of supporters - your core audience - you can go to them again and again. For advice, for inspiration, for psychic and fiscal support, your core fans will really be there for you. But first, you have to find them.

EXERCISE
Earlier, you wrote down your description of the audience members who showed up for your perfect gig.
I want you to visualize some of those people.
Focus on one member of the crowd.
What do you notice about that person?
Where do you think that person likes to hang out?
What does that person do when they’re not going to one of your shows?

Repeat this same exercise for two more of the people that you see in the crowd at your perfect gig. When you’re done, you should have three solid pictures. So solid, in fact, that I want you to fill out a dossier on each one of them. Make them your Three Most Wanted!

MOST WANTED #1
Name:
Age:
Height:
Gender:
Hair Color/Length:
Married?:
Kids?:
Clothing:
Last Seen:
Three favorite hobbies:
Listens to what stations:
Shops for clothing at:
Anything else we should know?

MOST WANTED #2
Name:
Age:
Height:
Gender:
Hair Color/Length:
Married?:
Kids?:
Clothing:
Last Seen:
Three favorite hobbies:
Listens to what stations:
Shops for clothing at:
Anything else we should know?

MOST WANTED #3
Name:
Age:
Height:
Gender:
Hair Color/Length:
Married?:
Kids?:
Clothing:
Last Seen:
Three favorite hobbies:
Listens to what stations:
Shops for clothing at:
Anything else we should know?

For extra credit, leaf through some magazines and find a picture of someone who fits the description in each of your dossiers. Cut the photos out and paste them next to your descriptions. Now, you can take your copies or ripped-out pages and paste them someplace where you can see them every day. On those days when your internal engine is running low on fuel, you can look up and see those folks on your wanted list and know exactly what you’re after. Pretty soon, you’ll have some REAL people’s faces in those same spaces!

Next Chapter: Finding Your Perfect Venue