One of the hardest thing to do when you are an entrepreneur is to increase sales, especially when you are starting out. As an artist, you are an entrepreneur, hustling and grinding to get money and live off your music. That is the goal, but how can you increase sales? I have spoken to different producers and artist in the industry and have studied them and had the opportunity to be mentored by a few. Here's what they have told me.

Power Base

• If you are just starting out, you will need support from those closest to you. Go to family members and friends and tell them what you are doing. Most of the time our friends may not even know what our goal is and what we have been working on. Reach out to them and inform them what you are doing and ask for their support. Whether that is to buy your mixtape/album or simply sharing it, you can't go wrong.

Be Sold on your Own Product

• Many of the artist and producers have mentioned that when they first started, they didn't believe in their own songs. Meaning, they didn't think they were that great. As artist, we often critique our artwork very harshly. Of course there is room to grow, but you need to be confident that your music is great and be confident in your vision. It's hard for other to want to buy your songs when they don't get that vibe that you like your own songs.

Consistency

• If you want to stay relevant, and dominate the market, you have to stay consistent with your social media postings and song releases. I'm not saying release a song every day, but you have to engage your social media at least once a day if you want to have your followers to come back. Think of it like this, if your favorite show is always on Monday night at 8PM, you would always check to watch it, but if it came on sometimes on Monday, at different times, it will be harder for you to watch.

Create a Team/Partnerships

• This one is a bit more for the advanced, but still applicable. Try and work with other artist/producers. Not only would you learn more, build a good relationship and create sales, but you opened the door to have potentially more sales in the future by knowing someone. Networking is still very powerful. You never know who may know Drake or Eminem!

Observe the market

• Look at what is selling today, and what have sold the most for you. The principle is simple, its the 80/20 rule. 80% of your results, usually come from 20% o0f your efforts, and vice versa. Look at what have sold the most for you, and what the market likes today. Trap songs may be thing yesterday, but what is selling today?

Patience

• This one is the hardest one and it's a word that is very unpopular today, patience. Once you put in the hard work, the only thing you have to do is just wait it out. Life has a funny way of rewarding you based off of how much effort you put in. Eventually, the sales will come when you apply these steps. They may not come right away, but they will. Hard worl always pays off, no one ever became successful by quick rich schemes.