You've been thinking about it for a while, but you're just not sure how much time, money and emotional expense you want to invest in your singing career. You're sure youve got the talent or you wouldn't even be deliberating the opportunity, but still the question remains. With so many so called "experts" all willing to take your money for some service of some kind, where do you begin to embark upon your singing dream? Certainly if "so and so" can make it in the music business, I certainly should have a chance as well - Or do you?

As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and jingle singer singing many commercials such as FOX TV, UPN and OCharleys, Ive had the unusual opportunity to visit with many individuals, just like yourself, looking to enter the music industry from one angle or another. Lets take a few minutes to explore some ideas and concepts that might help to further your career.

The first concept to explore is that you should definitely follow your dream of singing if you feel this strongly about it. Well highlight a few strategies you can embrace to eliminate unneeded spending and to avoid the opportunist that line the internet halls and gateways. For now, just follow your passion of singing and look at authentic methods to get you there And hopefully by the time youre done reading this youll have a foundation to start building from.

What do you want to do? Are you looking to get signed as an artist or are you looking to get into the lucrative session singing market singing commercials and backup vocals on a myriad of projects? Because of the broad nature of this article, I will write from a viewpoint of looking to get into commercial singing and session work because both singers can make money and break into their perspective areas of the business, launched from here. For those of you looking at the dream of becoming a solo artist securing the record deal, I will write more future articles for your benefit.

Lets get a basic game plan in place and expand on it. You need to start setting goals for today, this week, this month, year and five year goals. You need to have an affordable website that will become your business card and you will have a number of pages including home, bio, sample music that will include your reel, pictures, bio and misc/links. A website can be created for next to nothing and doesnt have to cost more then $5 - $10 a month. You will need a demo reel of your singing styles and abilities. You will also have your reel in mp3 format to be able to email to producers, etc. You will need a good record keeping system in place. Figure out what works for you and be consistent. You will need a pager or cell phone which virtually everyone has nowadays.

Make sure that your goals are realistic not over aggressive, but challenging enough to keep your career path moving. You might consider sitting down at a coffee shop once a week and looking at and evaluating goals as well as setting up future goals. This doesnt have to be fancy; you may jot these down with a pen, but keep these handy and up to date.

Your website should include a logo and picture of yourself. Dont make the mistake of including cheap looking artwork. Instead, spend a few dollars on a program to help you design artwork layout. We use a $30 program that is fabulous and cant be beat for the price. Spend a few minutes investigating websites, companies that offer hosting with complimentary website building programs and start visualizing a website layout. It must look pro.

Your demo reel must stand out from the rest. To do this you must create a reel that is without question a knock your socks off, make your socks roll up and down, reel. Your reel must sound like youve already arrived on the scene. Dont be mistaken for the, My friend has a computer, keyboard and mics, mentality. Your demo reel needs to sound like youve been singing national commercials.

You will want to include jingles as well as song demos on your reel although if time and money are an issue, then it would be better to stick with a straight jingle demo reel including as many jingles as possible on the reel - This gives you multiple styles to showcase, etc. You will want to stretch your singing styles while maintaining musical integrity. Dont showcase the same musical style over and over You want as much versatility seen in your demo as possible.

In closing, always remember that content wins. Pro looking and sounding demos reels score more work that multiple half baked reels. Your image on print, media and in person must exude a professional outlook. It is better to be simpler to be more professional, than it is to be sophisticated and not as professional. Understanding these key factors will help drive your career and hopefully land you more session work than you can handle.