You have recently graduated from a famous culinary institute. You pass a rigorous American Culinary Federation exam and you are stepping out into the culinary world with dreams of being a Master Chef.

You have acquired all the culinary skills, learned different types of recipes and food pairings from different cultures, and maybe you have even created a few original culinary delights yourself. As you leave the safety and familiarity of the school, you are in search of your first job with the desire and intention of making a splash.

But what if you didn’t have a kitchen, or the basic appliances such as a stove, oven, or mixer? Or how would you manage without professional knives or basic cooking utensils? You might be able to whip up a few things but clearly you would not be demonstrating your full potential and I’m sure your ideas for illustrating your culinary creativity and skill would soon be exhausted without the proper tools to support your skills and talents.

The appliances and utensils are simply tools a chef uses to create their culinary delights. The focus is not on the appliances or utensils used but they are necessary tools in helping you in your creations.

Similarly, the business aspects of the music industry are the tools that musicians use to develop and promote their music. A classical guitarist entering the professional world will have an extremely tough time advancing their career without the appropriate business tools to support the development and growth of his or her career.

This is a long game. It is not about instant success, even though that happens from time to time. This is about establishing a foundation on which you can launch your career and realise success, however you define it. 

Knowing your passion and living your purpose are intricately intertwined, but finding meaning and fulfillment in ways that your gifts serve others and, at the same time, provide a living for yourself are not always obvious or intuitive. Many wanna-be professional musicians never realise their dreams of a career in music because they didn't truly understand the business side of their music career. 

No one goes into music thinking they will be establishing a business but that is in fact what you do if you want a professional career as a classical guitarist. It takes a lot of hard work to establish a business. It is not easy. If it were, everyone would do it. However, you can be smart about it and save yourself a lot of missteps, disappointment, and frustration! Working with someone who has already been through the many challenges of building and establishing a career as a professional musician can save you from repeating numerous mistakes that many young musicians make in trying to establish a music career.