There are dozens of organizations in the USA which regularly award cash to serious artists, allowing the recipients to focus entirely on furthering their music career in some way. And unlike loans, they don't need to be paid back.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong! These funding opportunities are out there for the taking, but they're very competitive. You'll need to research which ones are a good fit for you, find out when the deadlines are, and set aside plenty of time for the application process, which can be intense.

15 Smart Ways to Invest in Your Art Career (Plus 3 More That are Free!)
By Alicia Puig for Empty Easel

You’ve probably heard the saying “you have to spend money to make money,” right? But, when you’re just starting out, having slower than normal art sales, or trying to find work, it’s hard to allocate funds to professional development. 

 The good news is, investing in your art career doesn’t always require you to spend money. Setting aside some time to work specifically on business and administrative tasks can be incredibly helpful and yield great results.

5 Ways to Boost Food Truck Sales Using Social Media
From blog.goodfynd.com

According to smartinsights.com, there are over three billion active social media users. 48% of consumers are more likely to buy from a responsive brand. 46% of consumers are more likely to take advantage of promotions offered through social media. If you’re not sure how to leverage the power of social media to improve your business, we’re here to help!

1. Hashtags

A hashtag is a way of categorizing social media posts and making your content viewable to audiences that you may want to attract. It's used within a post on social media to help those who may be interested in your topic, and they can find you when they search for the keyword or specific hashtag.

image: merakist

A great way to harness the power of the hashtag is to do a little research on which hashtags are popular or commonly searched. The top five hashtags on Instagram right now are #instagood, #photooftheday, #food, #igers, and #lifestyle. Including one of these relevant to your post may help boost engagement with your content on Instagram. But these alone won't do the trick. You need to be tuned into which hashtags are popular in your area. 

1. Influencers

According to pixlee.com, a social media influencer is someone who has established credibility in a specific industry. They have access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach. Their followers trust them and their taste. A stamp of approval from an influencer boosts your food truck's credibility.

Engage the Senses with Your Booth Display
by Carolyn Edlund for ArtsyShark

The # 1 Tip for booking gigs opening for NATIONAL ACTS
By Tim Charron | How to Book Gigs 

Are you a band or a singer-songwriter with the talent to open for national acts but don't know how to get these gigs?

Are you frustrated because you know your act is good enough but you can’t get a hold of the national act, their label, their manager…

Get The Most From Your Stage
By Greg Whiting with The Sound Guys

As you're planning your event, here are a few steps you can take to maximize the entertainment value of your stage.

1) Allow time for strike and set

Even with a professional, two person crew (average for most festival/fair stages), it usually takes 15 minutes to get one act off, and the next artist ready to start. If you’re scheduling each act for 1 hour, their set will actually only be 45 minutes. 

image via Igor Stakov

Also, communicate! Knowing what acts are coming up, and being prepared for them will help the crew to be prepared.

2) Rent a backline

Setting up and micing a drum set takes a good bit of time. Many production companies offer rental of a drum set and/or bass guitar amplifier. If all of the acts know they’re required to use what is provided, it will minimize set up time.

Crafting Emails to Potential Sponsors Which Get Replies
By Daniel Mendelson | Bizzaboo.com

Don't expect to secure a deal just by writing an email alone. You're starting a conversation, not signing a deal.

So, as you write, keep in mind the end goal: beginning a conversation and ultimately scheduling a meeting to discuss the sponsorship opportunity.  The email should focus on value, be an articulation of shared objectives and audiences, and have a tone and language which elicits feelings of partnership.

image via Sergey Zolkin

Research 

It’s critical for constructing the most effective cold email to potential sponsors. First, find out everything you can about the sponsor’s company. Focus on values and marketing objectives. Then, think about how your event can further these values or objectives.

How to Successfully Sell Your Art at Holiday Markets 
Steff Metal for Empty Easel

How to Get Good Publicity for Your Art 
Nicole Wensel for Empty Easel

There are certainly the traditional routes (galleries, for example) but oftentimes those paths are strung with red tape—what if there was a more empowering way?

Here are a few suggestions for ways that you can begin to gain more exposure for your work through good press and publicity:

4 Ways Musicians Can Use An EPK
Dave Cool for bandzoogle.com

You can think of it as your interactive artist resume, where anyone interested in your music can find all the information they need in one place. You can use your EPK to help you get more press, more gigs, and come across as a serious artist.

Since your website is the first place people go to learn more about you and your music, you should host your EPK there. So, how exactly can you use your EPK to help your career?

10 Easy Steps to Finding Event Volunteers
Sydney Dawes for Bizzaboo.com

Finding unpaid help is challenging! But, take heart, this list of tips will help you find and retain volunteers for your next event...and, the one after that.

1. Set up one-on-one meetings with potential event volunteers

If possible, avoid relying only on announcements to find event volunteers. It’s very easy to ignore or say no to an email or newsletter sitting in your inbox.
Start off by trying to recruit coworkers. You can compliment them on something they excel in, and then point out volunteers with that skill set are needed for your event. Describe what their responsibilities would be, while also mentioning the benefits of being an event volunteer.

In your follow up email, letter, or phone call, provide a more detailed job description of the volunteer role, along with details on your event.

image via Perry Grone

2. Utilize volunteer databases

Although one-on-one meetings are more personal, sometimes gathering volunteer commitments from people you know is just out of the question. If that's the case, you can try finding event volunteers through software platforms like Volgistics, VolunteerSpotan or VolunteerHubonline. These platforms provide users with information on thousands of skilled volunteers, as well as resources such as application forms, and schedules.

Boosting Your Food Truck's Menu Profitability
By Richard Myrick for Mobile Cuisine 

Your menu's pricing is the most important factor in determining profitability. It's what generates 100% of the revenue for most food vendors. So, it's critical that you invest time in developing a definitive strategy to build menu profitability.

image: Valerie Elash

Gather data

The first step is to know your current menu offerings: how many of which items you're selling, at what time and what location. Use point-of-sale data to understand demand for items and how the product's volume compares to its overall profitability.

Know your costs

Not all of the items on your menu are created equal... in profitability. Unless you know exactly what you're paying for each dish, you won't really know your money-makers, which items you should suggest more often, the items on which you should raise prices, or which items you might consider dropping altogether. A good first step in figuring out your real costs is to update your inventory list with accurate, current prices.

6 Steps to Selling Art Without Ever Selling Out
Jessica Serran for Empty Easel

The trap comes when we get caught up thinking: “I’m not ready,” (because hello, we’re never actually ready) or “I don’t have a shopping cart set up” (hello perfectionism!) or, “No one is going to buy my art.”

The truth is that you don’t need to have or to know these things, yet. What you do need is this: exactly what you already have, right now, at your disposal. That, and a burning desire to sell some art.

From 150 To 500,000 Monthly Spotify Listeners Without Playlists
Ari Herstand for Ari's Take

Three years ago the northern Virginia conscious hip hop artist, Lucidious, was struggling to get listeners to his music. He had about 150 monthly listeners on Spotify (no I didn’t forget a zero) with merely 45 followers, about 1,500 followers on Instagram and Facebook. And was making less than $100 a month from his music.

Today, he has 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify (no my finger didn’t get stuck on the zero key), over 50,000 followers on Spotify, 245,000 Likes on Facebook, 100,000 followers on Instagram, he’s getting around 5 million streams a month, has over 100 million total streams across all platforms and is making around $20,000 a month just from his recorded music. 

So how did he do this?

He utilized direct marketing strategies on Facebook and Instagram to find his audience and get them into his world. Specifically, he mastered the Facebook Business and Ads Manager and ran all different kinds of video ads targeting fans of similar artists.

They came pouring into his world and eventually he was getting fans to click his ads at around $.02 per click - putting every marketing expert to shame. Spending about $10 a day, he was pulling in around 500 new fans per day. And because his music is great and his Instagram is engaging, these people who started off as passive observers turned into die hard fans.

Successful Art Sales Conversations
Carolyn Edlund for Artsy Shark

The sales cycle in this business can be fairly long; collectors need to see your work, become interested, and understand the value before they will commit.

As the seller, you can't reasonably expect to put your art out there and make sales consistently right away. Initial conversations rarely result in a transaction. They are often the beginning of a relationship where the prospect comes to know, like and trust you over time and eventually becomes a collector.

Three Tips to Get Better Gigs!
Special Video by FN member Tim Charron
TimCharron.com | AntiBullyTour.com

View video!

How To Keep Your Cool When Food Truck Lines Stack Ups
By Richard Myrick for Mobile Cuisine 

Here are a few simple steps to take to make sure you and your food truck staff can stay cool when the pressure heats up:

Mise en place

This French phrase means to put things in place, to prepare. Whether you are a classically trained chef or learned your cooking technique in your home kitchen, every successful food vendor understands the importance of having everything in its proper place.

image by Cheryl Wee

Without attention to mis en place, things can get chaotic very quickly; and chaos in your kitchen results in long lines of grumpy customers.

Measure twice

You know the old woodworking adage "measure twice, cut once"? That applies to food prep as well, so be sure to double check the conversion rates of your ingredients.

Be Business-Efficient
Sandy Hammer for Catersource

The key to freeing up more time is simply to get through your to-do list faster. Easier said than done, right? Stay with me, though, and we’ll look at some of the biggest efficiency hindrances, as well as best practices for overcoming them and finding more time in your day.

image via William Iven

Emails

Ah, the dreaded inbox. While necessary for communication with colleagues, clients, and prospects, it can easily become a black hole that sucks up hours of time. Soon enough, it’s time to go home and you’re wondering where the day went. Sound familiar? Well, it’s time to take your inbox back!

I like to look over all of my emails that I received overnight, first thing in the morning. At this time, I respond to emails to the best of my abilities and work to tackle the emails which have pending answers. I make it a point to answer my emails daily, but I also allow specific time periods for it. This allows me to fully focus on the task at hand throughout the workday.