💡✍️ADN #115: Small Beginnings

A few weeks ago, it snowed in Nashville.

I woke up early and watched the first few flakes fall.

Soon, the yard turned from green to white, and the day transformed from a workday into a snow day.

Snow has a way of slowing life down and making the ordinary feel magical.

It’s like watching a Bob Ross painting come to life.

After breakfast, my family bundled up and went outside.

We threw snowballs and made snow angels, and eventually, my daughter decided we needed a snowman.

As my wife rolled and compacted the snow, I couldn’t help but see the before and after.

Two hours earlier, there wasn’t a flake on the ground.

Now, our yard had a story.

Footprints.

Snowballs.

Angels.

Snowmen.

Memories.

If only one flake had fallen, the day would have looked different.

There would have been school, work, and dinner before bed.

But because the snow kept falling, everything changed.

This is precisely how artist development works.

A career isn’t built in a single moment.

It’s the accumulation of small, consistent efforts.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

This morning, I had some free time.

I sat down to try and write a song.

I wasn’t in the zone, but I showed up.

What did I get from it?

• A song title I like.
• A chord progression.
• A melody.
• Some words I know aren’t quite right.

It’s not finished.

But it’s enough to know that the rest is out there.

In artist development, songwriting, and life — effort is the answer.

A little today and a little tomorrow is better than none at all.

You can’t build a career without showing up.

It’s small beginnings, over and over again until the end.

Even if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, keep showing up.

Little by little, the pieces will become something bigger than you imagined.

See you next Sunday,

Neil

 — — -

Want to dive deeper into your Artist Development?

1. Work with me 1:1 to grow your brand or business.

2. Lyric Copy — 10-day lyric writing course.

3. Fit Out Community — Free tips, tools, training, and a community for the music industry to fit out. Join for free.

4. The Sync Newsletter — “Sync insights so sharp they could clear a rights issue in one email.”