Discussion Panel: Page 4

Factoid: According to the US Census Bureau, a daily average of 2,356 people went into business for themselves in 2005. Individual proprietorships or businesses without employees, known in the business industry as “lone wolves,” had receipts of $951 billion and make up approximately 78% of the nation’s 26 million-plus firms. Preparing to Become an Entrepreneur […]

That’s an interesting question, Yvonne. What would I do differently if I were still a student? I think the important thing for students to realize is that to be successful they must always be students. It’s corny and cliché, but successful people continue to be curious – to check out new things – and to […]

“Don’t be afraid to fail” “Learn from business models of other organizations” “Do your research” Those comments from Day 3 could have been taken from business schools, but most of us went to music schools… I wonder if our panelists have advice for students who are still in school: what would you do differently if […]

Publishing is something I decided to do myself for a few reasons. I wanted to have control over my arrangements but I soon discovered there is a price a person pays for that. Making the music presentable for purchase, using Finale in my case, was a big job and learning curve as all my music […]

The personality trait that makes for success? For me it was the fact that I was the guy you called when something needed to be done and nobody else was willing to stay up all night or cancel plans in order to complete a project. In the early years, I was simply not willing to […]

I think the ability to share a strong, passionate sense of vision, mission, and purpose regarding the work at hand and a base love of people has served me the most.

I would say I am hardworking… but most musicians are! I think in order to make it in another field you need to have patience. Any new undertaking, like starting a music school or business, will require you to learn many new skills. It’s like learning a new instrument or language. It can be difficult, […]

Thanks for your comment! As far as the business skills go, I really think that some of it is innate and a great deal of it is learned. Every successful entrepreneur I know is a self-made person, and despite their success story I think that if you really get them talking, they’ll all tell you […]

I thought readers might want to see some examples of orchestral entrepreneurs so here are a few for a little more inspiration. Boston Symphony Orchestra member Entrepreneurs: Timpanist Vic Firth retired in 2003 after 50 years (!) with the orchestra. Conductor Seiji Ozawa said Vic was one of the 2 musicians in the BSO from […]

Well, I and others have said that entrepreneurs need (or successful entrepreneurs usually have) these traits: · Broad education. They need things that are difficult to teach in advance. For example, you don’t need to know about copyright until someone is asking to use your creative material. Or, you don’t need to know about lawyers […]