It's a new year!

Happy 2024! It's time to take inventory on 2023 and look forward to 2024.

2023

2023 was a year of a lot of growth for me. In 2023, I did not accomplish all I sought to accomplish, but I did do a lot, including some things I wasn't initially planning on. Here is what I accomplished in 2023:

1. I read 9 self-help books

   1. The Wonder Switch

   2. Greenlights

   3. Called to be Creative

   4. Don't Feed the Monkey Mind

   5. Rooted

   6. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

   7. Everything is F*cked

   8. You Are a Badass

2. Matt and I published well over a dozen episodes on our podcast, In Tune. If you haven't yet, check it out here!: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/podcastintune

3. I wrote 8 songs.

   1. midnight

   2. Building Blocks

   3. Uprising

   4. Stratosphere

   5. Underdog

   6. Free

   7. Across the Deep

   8. Fix Me (technically releasing this month)

4. My music was in a YouTube video. Check it out below!

5. I started 1-on-1 lessons with a music production coach.

6. 3 of my songs got purchased on Pond5

Here's the video mentioned above:

I think my biggest takeaways/areas of growth this year were:

1. Mentorship has expedited my learning and ability super quickly. This was something I put off because of the money, but now I wish I would have done it sooner. I decided to look at it like guitar lessons. You pay someone to help you get better at guitar. Why not music production? Plus, it's fun to have someone to work on my craft with.

2. I finally got some music purchased through Pond5! It's not a lot of money, but before you can make a lot of money, you have to start with those first few sales. I see this as a threshold I've crossed.

3. I still need to figure out a way to release more music faster...

2024

This upcoming year, I have some new plans:

1. I want to release more songs. I am targeting 9 this year.

2. I want to upload more songs/song alternatives to Pond5 this year. I am targeting 50 total songs and song alternatives uploaded for this year. That's about 4-5 a month. I'm already at 10, sooooo....

3. I want to finish saving up a years' worth of income, so I have the option of quitting if I want to. I'm a little past half-way. Should be there before the summer.

4. I want to post to social media more. My goal is 30 posts on Instagram. That's 2-3 posts a month. I'm not very active on social media, so this will be something I will need to work on.

5. I want to post more blogs. I'd like to do 20 blog posts. This one's number 2!!!

6. I want to continue mentorship with my current coach and find other opportunities for mentorship for sync licensing. I already have someone in mind that I'd like to maybe meet with once a month to help me get my music licensed.

Some stretch goals...

1. Release some YouTube videos (music videos and/or instructional/entertainment videos). I just figured out how to use OBS for screen recording, so hopefully that will make sharing Logic Pro sessions easier!

2. learn how to master songs. My current coach does mastering as well, so plans to learn with him

Additionally, I think I'm still a bit too much of a perfectionist when it comes to writing music, so my plan is to have an official release that I work on with my mentor at all times and then write some songs intended for licensing only and not for release (and try to be less of a perfectionist with them). I just tried this out and crapped out a song in a week. I think this will be an excellent way to practice the full production process and get more songs onto Pond5. Here's the one that I popped out this week if curious!: https://on.soundcloud.com/6gVHM

What plans do you have for 2024? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Appreciate the read! Keep your eyes out for the next one!

(JK)

Ethan