The word success brings to mind many different images to many people. To some, it is the full blown celebrity, complete with limos and security guards. To others, it can be a deeper spiritual form of success which goes unseen by anyone.
With bands and musicians, the same can certainly be true. There is some driving force that calls these gifted people to play show after show (sometimes with unresponsive crowds) and yet they keep on going.

My own idea of success with this website is two-fold,
1st, I will deem this website a success if I manage to help one artist or band to turn their dream into reality.
The 2nd goal is a little less focussed but it would be nice to find Jina and I able to do the website full time, live comfortably and just by helping people to fulfill their dreams.

Lately, I've been finding myself waking up at 5am, making coffee and jumping straight onto the computer to get as much accomplished as possible before going off to my day job. Every single moment through every day has been eating, sleeping and working while thinking "what more can I do?" Granted, it wasn't always this way, and when the Chicago Music Guide had it's 5th year anniversary and I had aboslutely nothing to show for it, I knew it couldn't stay that way any longer. There is too much potential of success for too many people and I felt I owed it to everyone to see this website through no matter what.

I imagine it's similar with everyone's dream, in some way anyway. Everyone has an idea to share and everyone wants to make a difference.

One thing that has been going through my head is "what are the qualities that make a person successful?" The answer seems obvious and maybe it is but regardless, it still boils down to turning dedication and dicipline into results. How does one do that (you ask?) Well, with dedication and dicipline as the foundation, I believe that creatively setting yourself apart from the crowd can be a good start. Even unusual ideas (for marketing yourself) can sometime be enough to get you noticed (i.e. KISS) and with the solid foundation mentioned above, I believe you'd be halfway there!

There are two other areas I believe are essential to becoming a success or at least they can make the process a lot easier anyway. One is opportunity and the other is simply being well connected.

It's sad how many opportunities come to us almost daily and some go unrecognized. To quote the movie "Dead Poets Society" "Seize the day" and in this case, try to be attuned to every opportunity that presents itself and be thoughtful of the potential it might have. What seems like a small opportunity could have large results and it is not until you've went through it, that you will ever find out.

Now, being well connected is something maybe even a bit taboo and in fact, I am not going to mention it much. But it goes without saying that knowing the right people can definitely make the difference too. I tend to recommend a balance in life with talent, dedication and dicipline, a lot of creativity and being a "person of the people" minded person. Get in there among the people of the music business and mingle, but don't forget that there is more to being successful than who you know.

So, now we come back full circle to the definition of success (for you) and that lingering, burning question......

"What drives you...???"