5 Ways to Help Your Business Stand Out in a Crowded Field

I’m Ron Papaleo. I’m a musical entertainer, and I’m going to share with you five ways to make your business stand out in a crowded field. Well, I was a high school music teacher for 31 years, but throughout that entire time, and even going before, back to my college days, I played in local bands as a drummer, and I’ve had wonderful, wonderful experiences. I’ve played in wedding bands, rock and roll bands, musical theaters. I played at the old Front Row Theater, which was a theater on the East Side of Cleveland. I backed the Jackson Five there. I backed Sammy Davis Jr. there and a lot of other noteworthy entertainers, and about five years ago, I decided to start entertaining at senior living residences. I went in my first year from 29 shows to my fourth year, 203 shows, and along the way, I learned a few things, and I’d like to share some of those with you right now.

First of all, you have to believe in your product. You have to have passion for it, and you have to know that it’s something of value, that you have something to offer. As a musician, I’ve always had good feedback from my audiences. I’ve drawn good crowds. I’ve gotten good response. People dance. I’ve gotten requests, and I’ve gotten encores, and I’ve gotten repeat bookings, and that’s how I know that I’m reaching people and I’m offering something of value. The next thing you have to do is, you’ve got to do your homework. You’ve got to know what your competition is doing. You’ve got to understand what kind of equipment you need, what it’s going to cost, how much money you’re going to have to put out to get started. My third tip is to know your audience. There’s a wide range of ages and a wide range of musical styles. People who are in their 80s like to hear music from the 40s and 50s.

People who are in their 70s like to hear music from the 50s and 60s. People in their 90s like to hear music from the 30s. My goal is to always have enough variety that I can please a lot of different people and have each one of them thinking that I was singing just for them. Tip number four is not to be satisfied with just doing the minimum. For me, I write my own arrangements. I produce them. I record them. I play every part, and then I play one part live, along with the prerecorded parts, as I’m singing, so in that way, I’m both the producer, the engineer, the arranger, and the talent. I have to do all four of those things to make my product stand out. Tip number five is to set reasonable goals. There has to be a balance between what you’re doing in your work, what you’re doing in your personal life, and it’s got to fit so that you don’t overwork yourself. You don’t want to burn out, because when you’re burned out, you cannot give 100%.