I built myself a website showing my portfolio a while back, it's paid for the cost of the domain name and hosting many many times over in gigs and contacts made. If you don't already have one, I'd fully recommend making one... They aren't as hard to make as you may think, I coded mine myself from scratch but there are many free website builders out there with many different ideas and templates.
www.darrentaggartguitar.co.uk if you're interested :-)
Monday 26 October 2015
Sunday 18 October 2015
Like a Coiled Spring
This has been posted a bit later than I intended, due to the inevitable 'something that came up'...
Which is what my blog post is now going to be about, as it is work related and also ties in nicely to the subject matter for the BAPP.
Due to the wonderful thing that is social media, I managed not only to find out about and attend an audition but get offered work as a result of it. All in the space of 24 hours, which wouldn't have been so easy in a time before social media.
Through a page on Facebook advertising gigs for musicians, I found myself tagged in a post on a thread entitled 'Looking for party bands who are wanting to do holiday parks for 2016'. After replying to the add with a link to an online portfolio, we were asked to audition the next day. And then after driving three cars full of gear to Southend for a 10 minute audition, found ourselves with bookings from several different new clients.
The drive back got me thinking about how quick and easy it is now to potentially get more exposure and ultimately more work through the use of social media and networking, and how literally a few years ago this same process would have taken a lot more time through older methods such as advertising in the local press and through word of mouth. In the last couple of years I've found that visiting these groups and message boards fairly regularly can result in making contacts in different circles and ad hoc work in some cases. I'm now making a habit of going through them in the days leading up to an empty weekend and waiting like a coiled spring for an opportunity to network and get my foot in the door so to speak.
Which is what my blog post is now going to be about, as it is work related and also ties in nicely to the subject matter for the BAPP.
Due to the wonderful thing that is social media, I managed not only to find out about and attend an audition but get offered work as a result of it. All in the space of 24 hours, which wouldn't have been so easy in a time before social media.
Through a page on Facebook advertising gigs for musicians, I found myself tagged in a post on a thread entitled 'Looking for party bands who are wanting to do holiday parks for 2016'. After replying to the add with a link to an online portfolio, we were asked to audition the next day. And then after driving three cars full of gear to Southend for a 10 minute audition, found ourselves with bookings from several different new clients.
The drive back got me thinking about how quick and easy it is now to potentially get more exposure and ultimately more work through the use of social media and networking, and how literally a few years ago this same process would have taken a lot more time through older methods such as advertising in the local press and through word of mouth. In the last couple of years I've found that visiting these groups and message boards fairly regularly can result in making contacts in different circles and ad hoc work in some cases. I'm now making a habit of going through them in the days leading up to an empty weekend and waiting like a coiled spring for an opportunity to network and get my foot in the door so to speak.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Light Bulb Moment
This is my first blog post, and to be honest it was something I wasn't looking forward to. Not for any serious reason, mainly my own lack of understanding of how to go about blogging in the first place. I think this is all about to change.
I could see the tasks for the first module, but after speaking to other students on the course I now understand why they are important and how to go about completing them. The task encourage self evaluation, the ability to ask yourself why you are doing something and the art of looking at the bigger picture.
I'm going to keep my thoughts and workings here, not only for other people to read but for myself to keep track of... Myself.
Time to go, I have a CV to rewrite!
D
I could see the tasks for the first module, but after speaking to other students on the course I now understand why they are important and how to go about completing them. The task encourage self evaluation, the ability to ask yourself why you are doing something and the art of looking at the bigger picture.
I'm going to keep my thoughts and workings here, not only for other people to read but for myself to keep track of... Myself.
Time to go, I have a CV to rewrite!
D
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