Finding your path as a musician, eating death cookies, and connecting to your shadow with Angela Myles Beeching 

Michelle Lynne: Welcome everybody to the Fearless Artist podcast. My name is Michelle Lynne. I am extremely honored to have the one and only Angela Myles Beeching on. Hi, Angela. Welcome.

Angela Beeching: Oh, thank you, Michelle. This is my pleasure.

Michelle Lynne: So we are thrilled to have you because you are the author of Beyond Talent, which is a book about creating a successful career in music. And this is a book that I have used extensively with my students at Code Arts in Rotterdam, as well as with multiple of our mastermind clients at the Fearless Artist, because you outline in detail, I think, every single aspect of what it takes to be a freelance musician, and you give practical tools and tips and stories and your content is relatable and it’s. It’s easy to follow and it’s encouraging. Um, so first of all, thanks for the book, because I know it’s impacted so many people, and I’d love for you to share a bit about, you know, your story. You’ve had an extensive coaching career, you’re a cellist, so yeah, maybe you can start there…

Angela Beeching: Well, I’m going to try to make this brief, Michelle. And the way I describe myself is as a recovering cellist. I, like most musicians, started really young, and I was just fixated. That was all I cared about. And I remember when I was in school, if someone had tried to talk to me about practical skills that you needed as a performer, I wouldn’t have had the patience. I wouldn’t have had the bandwidth. That was all I cared about. And my goal was to get a tenure-track college teaching job. So I could play a lot of chamber music. So I got a doctorate, I did all the things. And I like to say I’m living proof that in life, you can get what you want, and only then discover, whoa, it isn’t exactly the way I imagined it. So I got burnt out and, um, I needed to figure out what am I going to do with my life? And because as a grad student, I’d been one of those people who complains to the music department. I complained that there was no help. At that time, there were no career offices or entrepreneurship. No one did any of that stuff. I complained to the department, and they said, write us a proposal. And I didn’t even know what a proposal was. I sent something in. They took a look at it and they said, great, we’re going to make this your teaching assistantship. You get to start this thing. And so I had that experience as a grad student, never thinking that it was going to turn out to be anything later in my life. I just did it because I was curious. I wanted to discover what people needed. I wanted to help myself and other people. So that was, that was fine. But when I got burnt out with the college teaching, and I moved back to Boston, there was a job that opened up at New England Conservatory running their career center, and I thought, Oh, do this for a year or two until I figure out what I really want to do. And I was there for 17 years because I found I love this work. I really am fascinated with how different it is from one person to the next. What is that thing that’s going to help unlock not only their career but their artistry? Like, what is it that helps people see themselves more fully and be able to become whole? So yeah, that’s what I did. And I wrote the book because I was teaching a career skills class, and there was no text that had all of what I needed. So that was, again, sometimes I think we create the thing that we need, not thinking that, oh, I’m doing something entrepreneurial, or Oh, I’m getting out on a limb. It’s just what you need to do.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, that’s amazing. That’s a lot to unpack. I mean, you’ve basically written the manual for classical musicians to approach this kind of, uh, be your own manager, to take things into your own hands. I know Deanna, my co-founder, she said she finished at Juilliard, she moved to Paris, and she was staring at the wall, thinking, what am I doing with my life? I’m waiting for the phone to ring. Maybe it’s time that I make the phone ring myself by taking action and initiative. And, I really love the language you use about unlocking people. That’s something that I personally love about coaching as well, because you see people’s eyes light up when they see what makes them unique. I’d love to have you expand more on that. Like, what are some of the limiting beliefs people have when they come to you and they think that they’re supposed to fit this box of what it means to be a classical musician?

Angela Beeching: Yeah. We’ve all been there, you know, not just with clients but ourselves. Like we think

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Beeching: we try our best to fit this profile that we don’t realize we’ve imprinted on our imagination. And that’s where all the perfectionism and all of the self-judgment and all of that feeling like you’re an imposter, that’s where it all comes from. So usually with clients, the first thing that we’re doing is looking at their bio. Because any time you want to get out in the world, you’re going to have to be able to say, you know, this is who I am. And I find so many musicians, they’ll do anything except write their bio. Like, I’ve had clients who sign up. Yes, I want to overhaul my materials and they think they’re ready. I think they’re ready. And we start in on the work and You know, there are these assignments that I asked them to do just to send me, new drafts or pieces of the bio, and I’m getting excuses and rationalizations. And of course, we’re all super busy, but we’re trying to avoid confronting ourselves. And what comes up when you’re working on a bio or any self-promotion is. You’re looking at who you are in relation to what you think the world wants you to be, or what you think you should be at this point in your life. And I just want to say to all of your listeners, nobody finds writing bios easy, and everyone is ruthlessly judgmental about themselves. And if they aren’t, maybe they’ve got some other kind of issues going on, right? We all feel in some part of our unconscious, we feel like we’ve failed. And my whole job as a coach is to try to help people get more of their best workout into the world so they can become the artist they are meant to be. And you can’t get your best workout into the world if you’re not willing to say, this is who I really am. This is why I do this. Not just that I love music, but why specifically, like what, what is it you want your audiences to experience? And when I’m working with clients and they get to this point of describing their truth, I just think there’s this amazing thing that happens because I, I see it. I witness it. They start to stand taller because they’re no longer apologizing. And the weirdest thing I did, it took me a long time to realize this, this doesn’t just affect, yeah, you can network with people more easily, you can, you know, send out those email pitches because you’re not apologizing, but this affects how you walk out on stage. It affects the actual playing because, you know, If you can be that truthful, you know, face to face with people or by email or social media, and then you walk out on stage with that same feeling like I am here, you know, warts and all, this is me, that unleashes this freedom. And that’s the most satisfying thing to see in my clients.

Michelle Lynne: This is very beautiful. I think there’s such an authenticity that’s ringing through this messaging that you’re really helping people find their authentic artistic selves. Something that stuck out is when you say we all feel like we’ve failed, what kind of system have we set up to our classical musicians that we teach people that you should feel that you’re not enough? I mean, the age thing is a big issue. Um, I think competitions play a huge part in this, you know, by the time you’re 25, if you haven’t won the biggest competitions, I have a very close friend who’s 26, who’s struggling that things are over. Are you crazy? But this is what they’ve been taught. We’ve been taught why, what is this system that we’ve made?

Angela Beeching: Well, it’s, It’s easy to poke at the issues that happen in conservatories, but the truth is conservatories do try to do their best, right? There’s maybe a lot that could be better. Um, but it’s also in our whole culture. It’s all based on the need or craving for external validation. That somewhere outside, somebody has to tell us that we’re okay. We don’t have that sense of, I’m inherently enough. And yeah, I want to improve my skills, and I want to learn more repertoire, and I want to develop my artistic voice. Yes, But I have a right to do that. I have something worthwhile to give. It’s just fascinating what happens in practice rooms. Most of us beat ourselves up the whole time we’re there. And then we expect to suddenly be able to walk out on stage with all this confidence, like, where is that supposed to come from? So. Yeah, with a lot of clients, I end up, working with them with a concept that Carl Jung kind of championed called the shadow, and that’s that part of our unconscious that we’re ashamed of. If right now, if you just think of a time when you felt really ashamed, whether this was musically related or not. And just like, remember really what did that feel like? What did it feel like in your body? What kind of thoughts were coming into your mind? And if you now just push that, those set of feelings and that image that you might have, push it out in front of you as a dark cloud, and give that form, that mass of images, a face in a form that looks something like you, what you’re looking at is your shadow. And most of us, that, that is what we’re beating up with all the negative self-talk. All of this imposter syndrome, it’s that version of ourselves that we have created and abandoned some way. And lots of people think of when they think of the shadow, they think of, Oh, that’s all just the negative part of me. Like, I don’t want anyone to see that, which is what we spend our lives trying to polish the, our persona, you know, that fake veneer that we put out. But when you learn how to have a connection with your shadow, That part of yourself, and you get used to that and you treat this part of yourself honoring that it has felt abandoned, you can develop a kind of fearlessness because you’re no longer afraid. You know what the worst that you can do to yourself. So depending on someone’s external validation of you doesn’t mean much anymore.

Michelle Lynne: Wow. This is so profoundly important. I’ve heard of shadow work before, but I’ve never heard it articulated so clearly. I’ve also heard of, you know, parenting your inner child, reparenting that self, that getting rid of, you know, I’ve spent years trying to tame my inner critic, learning how to, self-compassion. Kristen Neff’s work has helped me enormously. I love what you’re sharing. I’d love for you to talk more about. Connecting with this shadow version. I know owning your weaknesses is also something that I’ve really learned about being authentic. I love what you’re saying about your changes, how you walk on stage.

Angela Beeching: Well, I just want to say The shadow work that I do with clients and a lot of the mindset tools that I teach come from two fabulous therapists who are LA-based. It’s Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels, and their work is amazing. I’ve been doing their tools. That’s what they call them, for about 10 years. And I teach them to my clients because I’ve found them so effective. So just so you know, about these two therapists, they wrote two fantastic books. One is just called The Tools. And the second is called Coming Alive, and, they teach a series of short visualizations that are meant to be used in real time and to be used repeatedly. They have, the tools are a way to shift your emotional state of mind, which a lot of people don’t realize they have the ability to. So if you’ve gone into one of those spin cycles, one of those mazes of negativity, and you’re beating yourself up, you can change that, that mindset in the moment. Now, it’s not permanent. It lasts for maybe a minute, you know, a number of seconds. And you might think, well, what good does that do? But when you’re in that place free from the maze, you can decide, how do I want to move forward? So if you’re in the practice room beating yourself up, and you’re able to shift that mindset, and then decide, okay, I can keep beating myself up, or I can take this next passage, and just, you know, wipe the slate clean, and let’s just really listen to what’s going on here.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. I went through this last week. I had an hour and a half session that I was totally spiraling. And I called Deanna, like I’m spiraling. She said, tell fear to get out of the driver’s seat, you know, thank it for being here, but it’s not driving you today, this kind of thing. And, but I think in that moment you’re so well, anyway, me personally, I was so panicked that I had an impending deadline of a big concert last weekend. And so it’s just a lot of like, you’re in this position because you didn’t practice enough and you put yourself here and it’s your fault. Like, hello, you should have been working on this months ago. And, you know, and then it’s this massive mental argument while I have one

Angela Beeching: We all do that. So that, that thing, that negative self-talk, the inner critic, all the stuff that we want to call it, some people call it resistance, some people, Brene Brown calls it her inner gremlins. Um, Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels call it part X. So whatever you call it… Just to know that everybody has that, and you cannot get rid of it permanently. It doesn’t work that way… in a way, it’s the positive side. I mean, in a warped way, you could say the positive side of it is it’s showing you what you most need to do, because the thing that we fear the most. The thing that will bring up all of that stuff is where the greatest growth for our soul is, right? And your greatest growth as a musician is to go ahead and do that concert. I could go ahead and teach you a tool right now, um, so let’s all try this. I hope all the listeners at home, when they say don’t try this at home, do try this at home. Unless you’re driving and then don’t close your eyes. But everybody else go ahead and close your eyes. And right now. Think and say to yourself several things that you, one at a time, that you are genuinely grateful for in this moment. So instead of thinking, Oh, my health, my family, those are, those are kind of big global things. Think about the picky, stupid things that, that maybe we take for granted, but that you genuinely are grateful for. So I’ll give you an example. I had ginger tea this morning. And that was good. So right now think what, so you want to say, Michelle, what, what in this moment?

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. I just had a great lunch and a walk with a friend. Took some time outside. Um, I’m talking to you. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. It’s been a while. It’s been a while. Uh, I was reflecting on last week, this morning, and it went really well. Lots of things to be grateful for. I’ve had some great collaborations…

Angela Beeching: Okay. As you’re doing this, can you feel in your body what the gratefulness feels like? So slow down enough so you can take one of those things like that wonderful conversation you had with a friend and feel what it feels like in your body. And now keep naming silently to yourself. Um, things that you’re grateful for, noticing what it feels like in your body, and now stop naming things, but just feel that urge for the next grateful thing to come forward, and let it grow stronger. When that takes over, that’s what Phil Stutz calls the Grateful Flow. And you can kind of, again, with your eyes closed, try to lean into that feeling. For me, there’s a, like a presence, like this positive sense of the universe out there. So for me, I feel it almost like an opening in my chest sometimes. But what did you notice?

Michelle Lynne: Uh, I feel a sense of safety and a groundedness and a lack of needing to strive, I would say just to kind of a

Angela Beeching: Yeah, yeah. So one of the great things about and that the name of that tool is grateful flow. One of the great things about this is when we’re genuinely feeling grateful, we can’t feel frustrated, angry, jealous, envy, any of that other crap like they’re like, it’s kind of, you know, pushes that stuff aside, and we’re just in that gratefulness, which often like the grounding is a way of feeling connected to the universe, and that that source is actually where freedom, creative freedom is, it’s where the flow state, all of that stuff can, we can tip into that. So it’s a really helpful thing to be doing, right before rehearsals, right before practice sessions in, in the middle of a practice session, when you need to clear your mind. Um, again, it’s a way to shift your emotional state. And then decide, how do I want to move forward?

Michelle Lynne: That’s so great and gives you so much control over your inner thoughts rather than

Angela Beeching: Yeah, absolutely. I think, and most of us feel like victims to our own emotions, and it doesn’t have to be that way. And I want to say, from a social media point of view, really good tool, because so much of social media ends up being a compare and despair spiral for people, right? That like, I am never enough, instead of feeling like, Wow, there’s good stuff going on in the world, and this is the community that I belong to.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah, that’s a great point. And really the heart behind our, I mean, I, I was actually stuck in compare and despair for, I don’t know, a couple of years. And I would scroll at home and sit on my couch and look at all these girls doing these big concerts and fancy dresses and big halls and think I can never do that. And just, that’s I mean, you have to laugh now looking at my career and how things have exploded because it’s, if I could just go back to that version of me and say, stop, stop worrying about everything else and just focus, you know, I love what you said about, the resistance points you in the direction of what you actually need to be doing. You know, the Instagram quote is, the magic is in the work that you’re avoiding. I think a lot of that You know, approaching this shadow version of yourself with compassion, getting connected. Is there anything else that you would recommend or suggest to someone who’s learning about this for the first time? Like, how do I connect with this

Angela Beeching: Oh, okay. So the shadow is tricky, you know, it’s going to take a while to develop a relationship with your shadow. And that’s why coaching can be really helpful for that. But a great place to start is the Netflix documentary called Stutz, S T U T Z. It’s all about Phil Stutz, who’s the creator of these. And it’s, it’s a fabulous documentary because Jonah Hill, the actor and director, this Phil is his shrink, is his therapist. And so they, you know, Jonah decided he wanted to make a documentary about Phil, and, and sort of play out some of their own actual sessions. And it’s the most, honest and kind of forthcoming and surprising, look at what therapy can actually do. And they do a great job of, describing and teaching, not just about the shadow, but a bunch of these other tools.

Michelle Lynne: Oh, that’s great. I haven’t heard of this, so I know what I’m doing tonight. Um, I’d love for you to go back and talk about, writing a compelling bio and how everyone resists this part

Angela Beeching: Sure. Okay, so, um, in a way I have to say I feel sorry for my clients who come to me thinking, Oh, she’s going to help me just write this like professional slick kind of like fancy thing. And it takes longer than they imagine. But again, the results are worth it because we’re talking about a kind of transformation in the way you see yourself and the way you walk out on stage. So I often start with questions like, Why do you make music? What’s it for? And what’s the change you seek to make in the world? And especially that third question, that really weirds people out because they think, Whoa, I didn’t sign up to be a prophet. I’m not a politician. I don’t think I can. I’m just a musician who likes to play gigs. Like, I really do get that from people. And I say, Yeah, I hear that. But my guess is that there’s something early on in your life that happened to you with music, that there was something that connected you to some kind of, you know, higher force, or some kind of sense of, A way to be in the world, and that my guess is there’s a version of that you want to share with people and that if we just imagine magically a whole lot of people got that You got a chance to share with them this experience. How do you imagine that might change the world? How might that change an individual? And then in small ways, what’s the net effect of that? And I’m not trying to get people to write grandiose, pompous, kind of, Ridiculous mission statements in their bio. I’m trying to get them to tell us something that’s truthful about what makes them tick. Like, you know, what, what’s in it for them? And what is it they’re, they’re wanting to set in motion? For their audience members, and I think that it’s just the conversations of this often lead to, um, not writing the actual story. You know, I was raised in a log cabin or, you know, whatever, but but kind of sensitivity to. What kinds of things are most energizing for a reader? So, I’m just thinking about this flutist that I worked with years ago and I did a blog post where I did like side by side before and after and we did a little interview and I can probably dig that up and you can pasted in there for you for your listeners. The before and after was completely, it was like night and day. Because before she was doing the normal things that we all do, we list our credentials. The boring list of all the venues that we’ve played, the awards that we’ve won, all that junk. And they, all those bios just, they all sound the same. So when she plays a lot of new music and I wanted to know, what’s behind that? What’s that curiosity? Like, what is that about for you? And she ended up talking about like this sense of discovery and that sense of, um, Yeah, exploring the world through music, that that infiltrates not just her performing, but her teaching. It’s like her whole life. And that changed the whole energy of the thing. And I, yeah, I just, I love to see that.

Michelle Lynne: That comes back to what you were saying about unlocking your clients. It sounds like she was sitting on a gold mine of something she didn’t even realize was so valuable because to her it was natural. But to a reader or an audience member, that’s very interesting. Gives a whole new perspective on As you’re saying, walking on stage with authority saying, this is who I am. This is what I have to give. We spend a lot of time trying to help our musicians say, what’s the message that you have? and as you just said, it’s like, well, I just love playing…

Angela Beeching: Yeah.

Michelle Lynne: I just picked up the instrument when I was little, and I just kept going, you know, that was a little bit, my story too. I just liked piano and I was good at it and I kept going. But I like what you’re saying about, you know, you probably had a moment where something struck you. And I mean, obviously there’s a reason why all of us have, you know, You know, combed through these years of difficulty and resistance and overwhelm and not just gone for maybe an office job that we didn’t have to think and put our hearts on the line and like, you know, uh, so discovering that, I mean, for anyone listening who’s, who is stuck in that, I don’t know what the reason is, why I play music, how can we start to, to think like this?

Angela Beeching: So, I run into a lot of people when I’m working with them one-on-one, and I know what’s going to happen that they sit down at their computer or, you know, at the table to write it out freehand, and they freeze up, they might even have the ideas in their head, but they can’t seem to get it out. So one trick. Is to imagine that you are at home at your kitchen table and sitting across from you from the table is a favorite relative. I often say it’s a it’s it’s a maiden aunt or a quirky uncle or somebody. And it’s somebody who loves you. And is interested in your music and curious about why you do what you do and all that, but doesn’t really know anything about music. They’re not judging you and they don’t want to hear the jargon about, you know, Uh, especially if you’re a composer and you’re trying to describe your music to them, like they don’t want to hear any of that technical crap, but they want to hear the human thing here. It’s like, okay, what’s a project that you’re in the middle of right now that you’re really excited about and why? Why are you excited about it? So I asked people to write from that perspective. And if the writing is getting in their way, you know, record themselves on their phone and do dictation and just see what you come up with. And instead of thinking that, oh, I should have beautiful sentences and paragraphs, we’re just, we’re looking for little phrases for clues. And then it’s a, it’s a way of kind of playing with that material. So it’s a process, but, you can’t get there if you’re not willing to be honest and get a little vulnerable about this stuff. so I actually created a video program, a group of lessons, for this stuff and it’s called get the gig. it has a segment in there and writing the bio segment on websites, all of that good stuff.

Michelle Lynne: Oh, perfect. I didn’t know about that. So I’ll check that out for sure. Yeah. I like what you’re saying about finding these golden nuggets. I know my colleague in Rotterdam, Peter, speaks about finding, you know, your branding keywords and then how can you infuse your bio with these keywords so that you’re not just the run-of-the-mill pianist who plays all the same, but just similar to this flute player that she was seeing the world through this new lens of discovery. And I know for me, I talk a lot about healing powers of music, emotional connection to the audiences. and even just having a couple. Particular keywords already sets you apart from the bio…

Angela Beeching: Yeah. And I just want to say, keywords, you know, it’s a little bit like branding, like, pull up all our warning lights, you know, danger, danger. So what I heard one colleague talk about this as do that kind of brain splat on the page or Talk it out with a colleague and have that person write down what they hear from you, and then look at the material and with a highlighter, just circle the words that have the most energy for you. And those are keywords. But if we if we just talk about is. energy or emotional, you know, resonance or whatever, they’re a little bit like the surprising words where something, they’re clues to what’s really going on. and then that maybe takes the business hat off and we just put on our, truth hat.

Michelle Lynne: That’s a great way to explain it for a lot of people, like what aligns with you, what resonates with you when you think about it, you see that word, it kind of jumps out at you. I mean, that’s honestly how I conduct a lot of these interviews when I’m listening. I’m looking for the golden word that I can get people to expand on because I know it’s interesting for, for me, first of all, and our listeners. I know I’d love for you to speak briefly about, um, self-promotion as a musician. This is another big place that people get resistance around if you’re open to that

Angela Beeching: I think about this because of how much people hate networking. and also how much they worry about what to do with social media and or they think that it’s all about just bombarding people with messages about your upcoming gigs or, you know, then it’s a lot of people just shouting at each other across the room, you know, look at me, look at me. And instead of it really being about connecting to another human. So, yeah, that thing about how can we redefine what networking is, and to start to think about it very differently, is that you have something to offer other people, they have something to offer you, and you’re not going to find out how you can be helpful to each other unless you’re willing to reach out and connect. So I can. Be honest here. Like I don’t find it easy to pitch myself to be a podcast guest. I usually avoid that like the plague, but my business coach had this little challenge going and I said, okay, I’m going to do this. And I sent out all of these pitches to people like you, Michelle. And I have to say in, in doing a bunch of these now, this time around, it’s just, it just reminded me. It’s inspiring to talk to people who are also doing this work and kind of in love with helping musicians and you could say, okay, I want to promote my business. Right. But having the conversation itself is, is just like good karma. Right? It’s just like you’re trading inspirations with each other and in a way to help other people and neither of us knows what good can come from this, right? but to be willing to be vulnerable or to make a fool of ourselves and whatever we’re fearing, right? if we’re willing to do that and get real. I talk about this in terms of eating death cookies. So that’s a Phil Stutz word. It’s like the scary, the scary thing that you’ve been putting off, but you know you need to do, either for your artistic growth or your career growth or both or whatever. So the scary thing for me was to send out those emails, those death cookies. And I have to say, when you do that scary thing that you’ve been avoiding, the thing that I love best is how it feels at night. Just before I go to bed, I write a little notes to myself on my gratitude journal, you know, several good things that day. And if I ate, death cookies. If I did the scary things, I’m like, whoa, like that. I just have to say that’s the best thing in the world. You know, I, I I got past the fear, right? I went ahead and did the scary thing that I knew I needed to do deep down.

Michelle Lynne: I mean, that’s, first of all, I love that concept, death cookies. Second of all, if you had seen my reaction when I saw your name in my inbox, I think you would have sent that email months ago. I mean, it’s so interesting because for us, it’s a huge honor. How many more musicians they’re afraid of doing something and they don’t understand that they have a gift. You have a gift. And thanks to your bravery, all of our listeners are benefiting today from your wisdom and your education. And they’re going to be able to check out your resources and your legacy is growing because now you have a bigger impact. So it is, I mean, you’re saying good karma. It’s just a win-win for all of us. And, and I am instantly texted my colleagues in Deanna and I’m like, guess what happened, you know? So anyone who’s like sitting on the pitch, send the pitch because you’re actually helping the person you are pitching to…

Angela Beeching: Yeah. Right. Yeah. the same thing when you’re booking concerts, right? That, concert presenter has to book a season, right? And you may not feel that way, or you may not be sure if you’re an appropriate match. But I’m thinking about a client I had years ago. a wonderful pianist who had been booking his own concerts for several years. He was doing maybe 15 to 20 concerts a season, not bad at all, but he wanted to like get to this higher level of, series. And, his whole attitude towards this was a little bit like, this is a game that we’re playing. And it’s a competitive world, and I have to outdo all of these people that I’m up against. This is really how he saw it, and it’s a very hard way to go through life. He didn’t see reaching out to concert presenters as a way of expanding his Circle of community and even when I got him like contacting presenters that he’d worked with in the past and was once that he’d gotten a little friendly with to ask them for feedback on a sample pitch that he was going to be sending because that kind of feedback that’s golden. and the presenters all know each other. So, you know, the chance of that person also saying, Oh, you know who I think you should contact, right? Like, you want to just realize these are real people. But, that scarcity mindset. It’s, ironed into a lot of us when we’re in school. And like you said earlier, that, that thing about competition and ages and thinking that the only way I can succeed is by winning a major competition, getting artist management so that somebody else. It’s going to take care of all this crap for me. That’s just a fantasy.

Michelle Lynne: Yes. I love that you’re just giving the real deal because it’s true. And even friends of mine who have the artist management still have obstacles or frustrations that they need to overcome. And as you’re saying, networking is about connecting, sharing, relationship building. It’s a small world. You know, you meet one person, you instantly get connected to the other. I mean, I had to laugh because I saw your episodes with Chris come out this week and Janet, and I’ve been on both of their podcasts this week and they’ve been on mine. we’re all, we’re all serving one another’s audiences and getting connected. I mentioned to this friend at lunch today, I mean, uh, 2024 was the goal to have the podcast come out, but I didn’t realize that it would give me this opportunity to network and connect with so many leaders in our field. And I thought, wow, like I didn’t even realize the gold that I was sitting on. I was just nervous about saying something stupid in the microphone that people would say, who’s that girl, you know, and has provided this amazing opportunity to meet so many musicians that I’m so inspired by…

Angela Beeching: Yeah. I think that that’s a great thing. I mean, it’s weird. this is part of what technology offers us. And yeah, there’s a lot of podcasts out there. There’s a lot of people talking, but there’s also. This magic of reaching the right person who needs the story that you’re that you’re offering. So

Michelle Lynne: Exactly. And we’ve gotten such great feedback. People will reach out and say, I’ve listened to the episodes, you know, and I screenshot that and I remind myself when that maybe that’s the shadow version of me starts to come in and doubt, you know, it’s like, hang on, let’s go back. Let’s go read all the people who have thanked me for the podcast and the difference that we’re making, the impact that we’re making. I mean, our producer, he’s like, I listened to every episode five times because they’re so great. Cause I’ve had so many great guests, you know? I love that you’re saying, sit at the kitchen table with someone who loves you. That’s what we say when you’re talking on Instagram, we’re talking on your stories. No, you’re, you’re talking to your best friend and they’re, they’re wanting to support, they’re wanting to get involved.

Angela Beeching: So I know that you had something that you want to share with our listeners…

**Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, um, I just put some context on this.I know we’ve been talking about strategies and approaches for musicians, and there’s a lot of great things that work for people, of course, but each musician is his or her own story. Right. We each have. A different package of talents and liabilities, issues and concerns, fears and strengths. So asking yourself the right questions is key. And so I wanted to put something on my website that people could really use. And I love the quiz that you’ve got. So, what I’ve got on my, on my website is something called the Musician’s Pathfinder Guide. And what it is, is a set of my favorite questions to reflect on, to help you figure out, okay, how do I want to move forward? I love the questions because it gives us a chance to take a moment and really find out what, what is it that’s speaking to me? What is it I’ve been like, working against? Or trying to avoid right and a chance to decide how do I want to move forward based on that. So, yeah, I would love for people to go to the website, Angela beaching dot com and just sign up to get the. Pathfinder guide. And with it comes my weekly newsletter

Michelle Lynne: Which is so helpful. I read every single

Angela Beeching: thanks. Thanks, Michelle. I love building a community and I love it that you are doing that too. And that our communities are linked. So that’s terrific.

Michelle Lynne: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I really appreciate your vulnerability in the newsletters as well. I know you’ve shared a lot of stories about it just to quickly briefly touch on what we said before the episode about the whole fearless, concept, you know, because you had shared that in one of your newsletters that you had been wanting to do a pitch that you put off and similar to the podcast, probably. And then once you sent it, I mean, it was, it was a positive experience in the end, right? more death cookies. and the idea behind being fearless is that we feel the fear and do it anyway. That’s a book that I read, I think in 2015, that totally changed my perspective. It’s not that we’re not uncomfortable. It’s not that we love Instagram or we love approaching someone who intimidates us. I mean, I still have to take a deep breath and think, Oh, don’t say the wrong thing. You know, I’m like, Get their name right, please. And, you know, but it’s just being willing to put yourself out there, being willing to be brave, taking the initiative, building resilience. And I think that’s the growth mindset. That we’ve built the quiz on to like, I’ve seen myself develop the growth mindset and how it changes the outcome of your career, because then you’re willing to reach out to people and meet and get new opportunities…

Angela Beeching: Yeah. I love that. It’s so it’s amazing that these small steps, you know, that little death cookie that email that we were afraid to send that It has this multiplying effect. So the more, the more you can dare, the better.

Michelle Lynne: that’s wonderful. So we like to finish each episode with an action point, this whole episode has been gold nugget after gold nugget, one thing that somebody could do today to implement. Whether it’s, you know, asking the right question or the bio or one thing that jumped out to you.

Angela Beeching: Oh, wow. Okay. I’m going to say what really came up in my mind. If you can get outside and take a walk and notice nature, this thing about how we respond to beauty, in nature or in art in a human interaction, whatever. But these moments, too often the pace of our lives, we’ve sort of, lost track of that connection. And I find if I can get outside by myself, you have to turn off all your devices. No, you know, don’t be plugged in, plug into nature, and then see what comes up because that’s where these creative impulses have some room. So I just want to say your unconscious is speaking to you all the time and, and there.

Michelle Lynne: Hmm.

Michelle Lynne: That’s so beautiful. That’s a very practical thing that all of us can do, today, hopefully, if you’re listening. Um, great. Well, I just want to thank you so much for this conversation. I know I’ll be re listening. I’m going to check out all of the resources that you mentioned. people can find you on Instagram as

Angela Beeching: but I’m not super, consistent. The best way is, is really through my, through my website.

Michelle Lynne: And that’s AngelaBeaching. com. Okay. Well, everybody go get the path guide, from Angela. Ask the right questions. Let’s, uh, overcome the shadow. Connect our shadow. Uh, Angela, thanks for being here today. if you’re listening, screenshot this and share it to your stories and I will reshare it. Bye. Bye. So we can get you, um, on Angela’s website and leave us a review. And we’d like to finish with saying you have what it takes to build the career of your dreams. Be fearless.