Rising Star Systems

Transitioning to Full-time With Your Art/Music Business

Artists MBA, Foundation Program

Whether you’re working a day job in the corporate world or teaching within your craft to sustain yourself, many artists and musicians dream someday they will earn enough to go full-time with their art.
And just as many have given up on that dream, because it seems out of reach. Or because they tried to go full-time but ended up having to return to the day job, because they just weren’t earning enough to sustain themselves and their family. I’ve worked with many private clients in different lines of work to make that leap from part-time to full-time in their businesses. And I’ve found that the process for success through this transition is similar no matter what business you’re in.

Debra Recommends Session Singing In Hollywood

music business, music resource

Kick-start your Music career the right way with Session Singing in Hollywood.The information in this e-book is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential income in the music business! This e-book is a gold mine of information.

Ask The Organizer – An Interview with Joshua Zerkel, Certified Professional Organizer

organization, planning

Do you ever have trouble getting – or staying – organized? If so, you’re not alone – organizing your space, managing your time, and keeping track of your information can get pretty overwhelming. In this open forum Q&A call, members got answers to their most challenging organizing questions, problems and conundrums from Joshua Zerkel of Custom Living Solutions.

Ask the Organizer

During the course of a given day, think about how many different ways you might be distracted from the tasks you have in front of you – a notification pops up in the corner of your screen letting you know you have a new email, your phone vibrates to let you know you received a new message on Twitter, the phone rings… and the list goes on and on. Let’s face facts – we live in distraction oriented culture, where we’re encouraged to be in near-constant contact with the outside world.

Debra Recommends ifanz

contact management, sales, marketing

ifanz is a very cool resource originally developed for musicians, but really applicable for creative professionals in all walks of life who are building their career by building their relationship with their fans.  More than just a database and newsletter management tool, it also offers one-stop shopping for many of the needs of the small […]

Debra Russell Recommends Indie Band Manager

sales, marketing, administrative

My friend, Charlie Cheney, designed this system based on filemaker Pro for his own career in music.  But when he saw how many musicians, agents and other professionals in the music industry needed this product, he made it available to the public. This program is a comprehensive contact management, booking and tour management system. And […]

3×5 Contact Management System

Back in the good old days, before such things as computerized contact management systems, salesmen created a physical contact management system.  I learned this system many years ago, while working in the Network Marketing world.  For those of you who prefer the tactile sensation of a physical contact management system, but are finding that just […]

Debra Recommends Google Apps for Business

Internet, marketing, administrative

Google Applications is a web 2.o solution for email, calendar and more. I’ve been using it for my business for about 9 months now and I’ve been very happy so far. I was using Microsoft Outlook, but when I would search for an email it would literally take 5-10 minutes. And with Google, without getting rid of any of my 10,000+ emails, it takes me under 5 seconds to find an email.

Debra Recommends Daylite – More than CRM for Mac

contacts, relationships

So, first let me say – I am not a Mac user.  However, I have a lot of clients who are, and so I have been looking for a CRM solution for my Mac clients.  One of my clients brought me this product and he is thrilled with it.  So, I wanted to pass it […]