There is no magic pill that you can take to become confident. And ‘fake it til you make it’ happens only when you get a rush of courage, and sometimes it’s months in between drinks.

Dear Songwriter who isn’t confident,

I can see your songwriting book is now filling up with new and finished songs. Songs that you’ve been writing and finishing since I wrote to you last. That’s brilliant! You’re finally doing what you’ve been wanting to do for so long – finishing songs.

And because you’ve been writing songs for the last 4 months, every single week, and you have 20 brand new finished songs, of course you want more. You want to share these songs and do more with these songs. Isn’t that totally exciting?

But the next level feels like such a leap. How do you get there? you ask. I can imagine you wilting away at the very thought of how you will get to where you need to go to next.

I understand. I used to be just like you. I used to lie in bed and imagine people sitting in the audience in front of me, listening to every word of my song. My song. That song that I wrote about that really painful experience. And in my dreams, the people in front of me are moved to tears. They understand me and they feel understood.

But I’d wake up and my day would start and then I would get totally swept away in what I had already on my plate. I might see a really cool opportunity when scrolling down my Facebook news feed over a coffee and in a hurry I’d apply or comment that “I can do that”.

And I could. I knew what I was capable of. But there was something missing. I lacked something. But, what was it?

Confidence.

You used to feel this way about writing songs too, but you solved that, remember? You solved it by writing songs every single week for the past 4 months and now you have 20 more finished songs. So if you can solve the problem of unfinished songs, how do you solve this problem of lack of confidence?

There is no magic pill that you can take to become confident. And ‘fake it til you make it’ happens only when you get a rush of courage, and sometimes it’s months in between drinks.

But you desperately want more. To play your songs, and record your songs, to release your songs and be living your wildest creative dreams. But you need confidence to do that, right?

Or do you? What if you don’t?

I started mentoring Brisbane songwriter Carla Thursday only 6 months ago. She had written 20 songs in I Heart Songwriting Club and she wanted to be getting her songs onto stages and recording and releasing her music. But she didn’t know how and she lacked the confidence to do this.

So together we put together a plan of HOW she was going to go from no gigs and no released music to building gig experience, fans and finally recording and releasing her debut single with a ticketed launch concert.

And over 6 months she did the work. The work that was set out in her plan. Every single week. About 4 hours of work every single week. Sometimes more. She asked questions, she acknowledged the fear, but she did it anyway. And at some point along that journey, I vividly remember getting a message from Carla saying: “I get it, Francesca. The work works. If I do the work, I will get the results”.

Carla is releasing her debut single this week and has 12 gigs booked on her calendar in the coming 3 months including a ticketed launch concert. And what’s more, she now says, she finds performing her own songs easy and fun! Can you imagine that?

Carla is now confident about writing songs and sharing her songs and performing her songs. And what it was that solved her problem of lack of confidence was having a simple and crystal clear plan that she took action on every single week. And the results of doing the work built her the confidence that she was seeking.

She didn’t wait until she was confident before she started. If she had done that, she would probably be in the same place she was 6 months ago – with no gigs and no single to launch.

So do you want to know how to get confident?

Here it is:
Have a simple and clear plan that you take action on that will get from where you are now to where it is you want to go. And the results of doing the work will give you confidence.

And in case you think this solution is just for hobby songwriters, you are mistaken. It will work for any songwriter or singer-songwriter at any stage of their career development.

This is something I’m so passionate about; inspiring songwriters to be living their wildest creative dreams. Life is too short to wait until you’re confident before you take action. So I want to help people take action!

Do you want to get clear on what it is you want from your music career?
Do you want to know what’s holding you back from getting where you want to go?
And do you want to put together a plan to start living your wildest creative dreams, and I mean not next year, but today?

If that’s you, send me an email with the subject line – “I want to live my wildest creative dreams” – and tell me in the body of the email what your wildest creative dreams are.

I have to pinch myself when I think about all the places I’ve played my music in the past few years, including my dream city, Paris. And not once but 4 times in just 6 months. As I write this letter to you, I remember when I was planning this very event. I was sitting in a cafe in Paris in between recording days and film shoot days for my upcoming singles from my current project “Songs de Paris”. This is my wildest creative dreams. By the end of this event, you’re going to see how possible it is for you too!

Seriously. Making music, recording and releasing music and living YOUR dream life is something you can do! Let me show you the powerful pathways to make it happen.

Here’s to living your wildest creative dreams!

Francesca xo

PS. Loved this? Want more? Check out my free on-demand songwriting masterclass that will change the way you write songs forever.

About Francesca:

Francesca de Valence is an Australian artist, award-winning songwriter, international speaker and coach, and founder of I Heart Songwriting Club; helping emerging singer-songwriters inspire their way to success in a music career they love. She has been acknowledged by the Los Angeles Music Awards with an International Songwriter of the Year Award and also holds an Australian Songwriting Award. Francesca has supported artists including Jimmy Webb, her music can be heard on ABC radio around Australia, and she performs regularly in Australia and Paris.

Francesca has a Masters in Music and has taught at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University. She is an in-demand speaker in areas of songwriting and creative and personal development (BIGSOUND, WAMCON, IMRO), facilitates songwriting workshops nationally and internationally for songwriters of all levels (QUT, WAAPA, QMusic) and has delivered successful long-term creative and songwriting development programs (MusicACT, Big Sky Girls).

She has just returned from a speaking tour around Ireland in April 2019 and made an appearance at SXSW in March.