Back in the mid 1970s, I entered my invention, the mobile power pack, into my high school science fair. The goal of the pack was to provide a portable electrical plug outlet to plug in lamps, radios, or any low wattage appliance where no electrical power was available. The problem was, I was 17 and was not an engineer. In fact, I struggled in physics. But, I was determined.
I asked questions and found out there was 2 types of power, AC/DC. DC was from a car battery, and AC was used in a house. I needed to produce AC. I also needed to store power in batteries. I found in a catelog (yes, there was no internet) and a DC-AC converter. So I built a pine box with two car batteries, the DC/AC converter, a battery charger, and an electrical outlet.
The project was a resounding success. Not because I came in second place and went to the Los Angeles County Science Fair, and not because it looked funky and was original. No, the “metric” that determined that I was a success is that at the high school fair, they ran out of outlets and extension cords for all of the students’ projects. Instead, a number of students plugged their projects into my power pack, and it worked.
This was the metric that measured by vision. But, I started with a vision and a strategy. This is a different concept than Clyde Smith’s article, Finding the one key metric that matters for your career as a musician. Here, Mr. Smith tries to apply the “one key metric” concept to musicians. In other words he argues that musicians are using the wrong metrics like “Facebook likes,” “Twitter followers,” etc.
I agree with Mr. Smith that the metric(s) that new artists are following may be meaningless, but so is the concept “one key metric” if it is the starting point. Instead, one must start with a true strategy before deciding what metric(s) should measure it.
Strategic planning can get complicated, but here is a quick idea of how you can proceed:
- What is your vision? What are you trying to do specifically? Where do you see yourself twenty years from now? This has to be something far greater than being rich and famous.
- List your assumptions. What are you assuming exists in your world that can help you achieve your vision?
- Who are you trying to benefit? You are the obvious one, but really, are you trying to provide a new type of service, art, or product that will change the world?
- Now list your metrics. What metrics would you list that would render you a success. Now, this is not only achieving your vision, but the different measures along the way. You can work backwards from your vision and set up milestones that you have to keep to make it to your vision.
- List our your strengths (internal); your weaknesses (internal), your opportunities (external), and the threats (external) that could keep you from achieving your vision.
- The result of all of these steps is to write out your strategy. How are you going to travel this journey to his the milestones which take you to your vision.
- Last, list the specific tactics and actions you have to perform on a daily basis to get there. Working back from 7 to 1 should build up your whole strategy, the actions, and the metrics.
Whether an entertainer or an entrepenuer, you will have a much bigger chance at success if you follow a concise and well-thought out strategy before deciding how to measure success.