Musicians who decide to make music their sole source of income have as much need for business cards as professionals in more traditionally recognised fields of work. It is often the case that musicians are available for booking for parties, events and so on, but also to teach music lessons privately.

If you offer your services as a music teacher as a well as a performer then you need to let people know. The best way of doing this is to make sure you take business cards with you to any event you are hosting or attending. You can even leave business cards out at regular venues you play at, detailing the other areas of interest you have.

Don’t be afraid of advertising yourself when you play open mic events, slots in bars and pubs, private parties and so on. The more you put yourself out there, the better chance you have of being able to make money doing what you love.

But this presents two problems – primarily, that on RAC you are competing with other freelancers on a ‘lowest price’ basis, where quality doesn’t often guarantee you’ll get the job.  The second problem that this presents is that you have to fight for work, and lose a hefty percentage to the site from which you won the work.

A more advanced business model, then, for those looking to provide services eliminates you personally from the picture.  What have you got over the freelancers working extremely hard on their respective sites?  You have the ability to devote time and energy into winning work and managing a business, (which I can assure you beats writing articles).

Many great businesses have been built on the oursourcing model – offer your services through branded, professional channels and outsource the work to a network of freelance staff, taking a percentage on the top.  The beauty here is that you can provide just about any skill through the form of another, whilst still marking up the price.  The customer is happy, because he deals with a professional interface and receives exactly what he is looking for regardless of technical requirements.  The freelancer is happy because you provide a regular stream of work and payment – your job is to act as the middle man and co-ordinate communications and cash flow amongst both sides of the transaction.

This kind of business can be started from scratch with no resources.  All you need is a RAC account, and the ability to find work for yourself.  If you focus on winning and closing contracts online, through building on social networks and forums, you will soon realise healthy profits on what is a high margin, project management role.