Importance of business - A Restaurant Analogy

A lot of times, when talking to artists, I notice they are very resistant when the word "business" is mentioned in a conversation. I guess I can understand it as well - I, too, have felt that way. However, that feeling is associated to an erroneous notion of what it actually entangles (thank you Tom Stein).

I find that a good analogy to explain the few basics of why it is important (and why artists should be taught this at schools), is using a restaurant analogy. Lets imagine a man (just to fit with the picture bellow) who decides to open his own restaurant- be it a traditional restaurant (my personal favorite), a vegetarian one or even fine dining- you do need to have 4 important elements:

Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden's vocalist) pouring some Iron Maiden beer

Publicity, Service, Quality and Consistency
While reading, try to imagine how this would relate to your work.

Publicity
Lets face it: His work, his passion, is to cook food (that's his product). If he wants to continue to do so, he will need to earn money (sell). To earn money, he will need you (the client) to come to him. For you to come to him, he will need to reach out to you (marketing). That can happen in various ways - word of mouth, advertisement, free samples, online reviews, online recommendations, you name it.

Service
Even if you had a good referral from a friend, YOUR experience is still what matters the most. Every costumer is important. You should be treated professionally and courteously, right? After all, you're taking time out of your life to go to his restaurant and will use your hard earned money to pay for what the restaurant's offering.

Quality
Or attention to detail- This is what the restaurant is selling and the reason why the man started everything in the first place. Loose the ground foundation and the restaurant will easily loose you as a costumer to a better one.

Consistency
Has it ever happened to you that you stopped going to a restaurant because suddenly they weren't as good as before? (Now think about other types of services where the same happened. Eg: internet providers)

Uniqueness
For all of the previous elements to really work, you need uniqueness (a niche, an image, a brand). Why are you going to his restaurant? And why do you keep going? Is it because of the different mood? Is it that the food is different? Is it because of the different way how waiters treat you? Is it because it's simply better? Is it because it's quite and it's a place where you can eat peacefully and listen to your thoughts?

Conclusion
In Film Scoring, when starting, I recommend on focusing on trying to get work with tenacious/honest people who believe on what they do- and it's important you believe it as well- AND still don't have their team created.
To get those jobs, apply the same level of artistry you put into your product into everything else you need to do to get it out there. It does not mean to sell your artistic soul and be "fake" about it. It means to keep being who you are while keeping a realistic point of view.
When you start your career, don't think "I'm good enough so people will find me and understand my importance". Reality is that 1) people are bombarded with information every day; 2) the competition is enormous and there's always someone better and 3) The percentage of people who are "found" and made successful are the exception to the rule. Would you use a parachute that rarely opens?

There are 2 quotes that come to mind:

• "Feet to the ground and head to the heavens"
• "Are all your 'costumers' fans of what you do?" (Iron Maiden vocalist & entrepreneur, Bruce Dickinson, on a speech about entrepreneurship)