faq.soup.io/post/4328752/Posting-by-email However, these things have worked for me and thus I will share what I know. Be much better. The back half of this is to accept the Truth. If your parents tell you that you are great, get a second opinion. If strangers come up to you after hearing you play and fawn over your music, now you are talking!2) Be Unique There are many good performers out there. What will separate you from the pack? Is it your vocal style? Your guitar playing? There needs to be something that makes you, you! Whether it be using loops, a different tuning, a particular look or whatever; keep people watching and wanting to see what you are going to do next. A great resource for creating memorable moments is Tom Jackson seminars. I have had Tom's home course for 4 years and refer to it often. I build my set lists around his formulas. Guess what, it works! You don't have to reinvent the wheel, just research and study wisely. Find yourself before others find you.3) Have a Great RecordingSo, you have practiced hard, prepared a good show and created moments to remember, now what? If you do these things well enough, others will want to remember as well. You need a recording of yourself. This is the first true key to Full-Time. A good recording will get you gigs, a bad recording will not. Should you record in your home studio or go to a larger one? Good question. My experience is that most of us do not have the talent to create a good recording at home. Please note, good equipment does not equal good recording. You can have all the bells and whistles, but if you don't know how to use them, you are wasting money.I used to have great equipment at home but I didn't know crap about using it to its full potential. I sold all of it and used that money to record with professionals. The results were fantastic and enabled me to have a quality product that was a true representation of what I sounded like. I used that CD to send to venues and book gigs. There is no doubt that it helped me to go full-time. A quick word about recording budgets, if you have a $1000 to record as your budget, do fewer songs with better production. A great 3-song demo is much more valuable than an average 12 song LP. You will sell many more at $5 each if they are great quality. The great quality will also get you attention of industry folks as well. Any prayer of radio play, etc. will only happen if the quality is great!4) Be a Publicity HoundYou need to take every opportunity to promote yourself. Even the smallest opportunities can birth bigger and better chances to play. I started playing anywhere I could, parties, churches, youth groups, restaurants, charity events, business functions, bars, prisons, you name it and I've been there. Have a nice handout to give to people. Places like Club Flyers can print you thousands of post cards and posters very inexpensively. Use these to give out to everyone at gigs.