Finding playing opportunities

In order to find playing opportunities in your community, it is vital to network. In any career field, networking is one of the keys to success and gaining the upper edge against competition. Often, there are not opportunities for professional "meetups" with potential clients or other musicians. Therefore, one needs to be more creative in finding opportunities. While going online works well in larger cities where most people search for services online, whether you are in a large city, suburban area or rural community going door to door and old fashioned cold calling are still the best ways to find opportunities, from my experience. People are much more willing to hire you for their event or to teach at their studio if you show that a) you are professional in communication, b) you have initiative and make the effort and c) that you are interested particularly in working with them, which you show by making contact by phone or in person.

In today's world, so much is done online or through email that when you take the initiative to call a business/potential student or ask them in person for an opportunity, you have a leg up on others who are waiting for people to find them on social media, yelp, etc. because now in person/cold calls from real people are SPECIAL, very special.

In closing, while it is important in today's world to have an online presence, nothing beats good old fashioned personal connections made by taking the initiative to reach out to people in your community.