How to Jumpstart Your Career With $0
We have all heard countless stories about broke musicians. They all have in common the universal lament about how if they would only have more money, they would inevitably achieve success. I am here to show you there are many free resources readily at your disposal you can use to your benefit. I have used them myself and still do to my advantage.
Let us get the pink elephant away form the screen first. If you are in the possession of an able body and mind, reading this article behind an electronic device connected to WiFi, you 100% have all that is needed to make use of any and all of the resources I will be mentioning. If you can walk, talk, read and make use of your hands and fingers, there simply is no excuse not to. If you accept this fact, you are already ahead of 90% of your colleagues (of any age). If you decide to follow through and actually go ahead and put them in regular use, you will be in front of 99% of your peers.
So let us get into it straight away.
1- Google
Maybe I could have even titled this paragraph as ‘Google the Almighty' since it is so universally useful. Yes, I know you already have a google mail account, but have you ever bothered to check that little icon in the upper, right corner that says ‘settings’? Here are some plugins that Google offers to all users for free.
A basic website - perfect for when you are just starting to build up your professional online presence. It has some basic features and you get to practice how to structure and design your website before you give money to some of the web platform providers. There are several templates but you can also chose to create one form scratch with very little effort.
Forms - this is one of my personal favorite features. It allows you to create personalized forms you can use for intake of new students and clients as well as to conduct surveys and in general, gather all sorts of information that can be useful for your business.
Agenda - this one is a no-brainer. You simply cannot get anywhere without having a grip on your time. Google agenda is easy to use and even offers some additional features such as scheduling classes which is a Godsent.
Drive - Google allows you up to 15 GB of free storage when using their drive. This is super handy to organize your business in separate folders. You can store here any type of digital materials such as photos, biographies, recordings, digital music sheets, Excel sheets and much more. And the best of all, you can invite collaborators if you are working on a specific project with others and easily share the links to specific documents.
CV templates - we all need more than one and we need to adjust them regularly and in accordance with the opportunity we are applying for. Google has you covered here as well with some basic, but neat templates you can customize to your heart’s desire.
2 - Sound Cloud
I love SoundCloud because it offers fuss-free way of uploading tracks and has a streamlined and professional dashboard. You can also embed it on your website, collect followers and share your music with just one click. What I love the most is the fact that SoundCloud tracks and notes how many times have your recordings have been listened to.
3 - Mail Chimp
If you want to take your career seriously, you need to treat it as a business. And no, this does not mean you should overnight transform into a bloodsucking, money thirsty Mr. Burns or Gordon Gekko. What it does mean is that you should take care and invest into forming and growing your communities. MailChimp allows you to send newsletter updates to up to 2000 emails for free. Do not underestimate the value of consistency in business. Even if you send once per quart a brief update to your fans, it will be appreciated. You can share whatever you choose from general career updates, upcoming concerts, news about recordings or showcase accomplishments of your students.
Check out this video on: How to Create A MailChimp Newsletter [2024]
4 - Drop Box
Similar to Google Drive, but with somewhat more updated design and a user friendly navigation. It offers you up to 3 GB of storage with a free plan. Here too you can share documents and/or folders, invite collaborators and even make screen recordings directly from Dropbox. What I love the most is their Paper feature which is a bit like supercharged MS Word. By using Paper feature, you can easily create interactive documents in a streamlined way and appealing modern design.
5 - Weebly
If you are searching for a simple solution for your website, Weebly is still the go-to provider I recommend. I myself even still host one website for my hobby there because it is still so easy to use. I have tested all the other ‘usual suspects’ on the market and this one I definitely find to be the best option. It is easy to set up, choose a nice template and start editing as Weebly has a very intuitive drag-and-drop techionolgy.
You might want to check out this video next: How to Set Up a Weebly Site for Beginners
6 - Meta Business
Yes, yes, I know you already have IG and FB accounts, but be honest here: when was th elast time you actually sat down, planned and published any new content? I know you are busy and this is exaclty why I am advising you to instal the Meta business. Once you have done so, you will be able to connect your FB and IG accounts, schedule your content in advance, check the statistics and in general, better manage the presence of your brand on social networks. When you have control over what and when you post, you will feel the dead weight lifting off your shoulders once and for all. Do not miss out on it.
7 - WhatsApp
WhatsApp is awesome! It is without any doubt the app I use the most. Your contacts are easily manageable, you can access people faster, you can broadcast important announcements, you can create groups for specific projects and even communities for your students. I have installed it on my desktop as well so that I can easily drag and drop important documents. No more can anyone make excuse how they did not receive or read my mail on time.
8 - Canva
If you haven’t tired using Canva yet, you must have been living under a rock. Seriously, this stuff is another level of awesomeness. The amount of free templates for any and every imaginable type of document you need is not yet been surpassed by any other online designing platform. From FB posts and IG stories, to business cards, CV, workbook, YT thumbnail templates, to greeting cards, flyers, calendars, checklists and bookmarks. The only issue you might have is stopping yourself form perusing the endless options. When just starting out, I suggest you create a ‘Brand Kit’ folder and store photos, fonts, graphics and colors you will often use. What I like the most is that you can select a template for a specific use (let’s say an IG post) and drag-and-drop it to a new document and Canva will automatically adjust all the presets co correspond with the dimensions of your new project.
9 - DeepL
As a professional musician, you are more likely than not exposed to an international group of collaborators and other professionals within the field. Chances are you will be asked on a regular basis for either a brief biography or program notes in another language than the one you are using in your daily communication or the one you feel most comfortable with. I know you have heard of Google translate, but in my experience DeepL greatly exceeds accuracy when it comes to syntax and grammar. Everything DeepL translates just sounds more natural to a native speaker and as such it will greatly help you positioning yourself in an areas populated with an international community.
10 - Linktree
Last but not least, LinkTree is the ultimate link-in-bio tool for anyone who is just starting out and does not yet have a massive following or a big commercial brand. With only one link you can share in your IG bio the links to your website, latest recording, tips jar, merchandise and much more. You control all the links and icons from one central dashboard without compromising the space on your drive. It really does not get easier than that.