TEM135: Developing an idea into a product you can build a business around - A Conversation with Deanna Swoboda

TEM135: Developing an idea into a product you can build a business around - A Conversation with Deanna Swoboda

Deanna Swoboda is the creator of Brass Rap, a school assembly program so successful she got rid of her place to live for two full years because she was on the road so much! She is also the Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Arizona State University where she also teaches music business and product development classes.

What You'll Learn:

• How a mentor pushed her to turn a school assembly program into a business
• What she learned from working for a nonprofit arts organization and how she applied that to working for herself in the music business
• How success is almost never the straight line from Point A to Point B that we expect
• Why you aren’t a failure if you are doing multiple things in order to make money
• Why what a lot of people attribute to luck is actually opportunity recognition
• The questions you need to ask yourself to help define success for you
• The importance of quantifying exactly what it is that will make you happy (and why that is a moving target)
• Why failing is integral to moving you into whatever’s next
• How the school assembly show she booked up to 250 days a year for 10 straight years was made into a refined product through very intentional research and development
• Why sometimes “opportunity recognition” is being prepared to rap for a company president on the spot
• The importance of cultivating a good attitude

Links:

• TEM134: The Dip by Seth Godin (TEM Book Report)
• The Sell More Books Show
• TEM38: Dan Gosling of ChopSaver
• The Accidental Creative Podcast
• The Art of Hustle Podcast
• Beyond Talent by Angela Beeching

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed and links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

1. Help me get to my goal of $50 per episode on Patreon (only $8 to go!) by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. I need only TWO PEOPLE to go leave a rating and review on iTunes to make my next goal. Will you be one of the two to help me out?

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz