Three tools to engineer your career

No matter where you are in your career, take out a pen and paper and play with the following tips to ignite your entrepreneurial self.
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A career in music rarely means engaging in the traditional model of full-time position with a single employer.  There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to the challenge of how to make a living and be a professional musician.   For 21st century musicians, success is developing and sustaining a career which supports personal and creative goals. 

Musicians who have created successful careers are self-managing their multiple roles as small business owners and performers.  The use of arts entrepreneurship techniques allows these artists to remain the principal driving force of their career.   Flinders Quartet and Speak Percussion are two local examples of the performer as manager model.  Both ensembles are managed by their founding performers, Cellist Zoe Knighton and Percussionist Eugene Ughetti.  Establishing this model as the framework for their career has allowed both Zoe and Eugene to retain ownership of their unique creative output.

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Susan de Weger
About the Author
Susan de Weger is a musician and entrepreneur.  After graduating from the Queensland Conservatorium she abandoned music to pursue an international corporate career; and after a hiatus of 15 years dusted off her French Horn and has recently completed a Master of Music Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.  Susan was awarded the 2014 Hugh Rogers Fellowship to research the world renowned Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department at the New England Conservatory in Boston.  She is the founder of Notable Values, a consultancy practice providing advocacy and advice on career planning and entrepreneurship initiatives for musicians.