Only a small percentage of musicians will ever become professionals. This is because many of them spend years wasting their time with things that do not lead them closer to their musical goals. Although a lot of musicians really try hard to make it in this industry, they only become more disappointed when their efforts don't pay off in the end.

Here are six reasons why you have not become a professional musician yet, and what you should do to immediately move your career forward:

1. You Are Heading Down The Path To Becoming An Amateur Musician... NOT A Professional!

There are various differences between how massively successful pro musicians build their careers, and how amateurs try to build them. Professional musicians expect to accomplish great things at all times and only associate with other like-minded people. On the other hand, amateurs allow their careers to become consumed with mediocre results.

Here are a few examples of what I am talking about:

Amateur musicians invest most of their time performing in bands with musicians who have no true ambitions for greatness.

Professional musicians only work with other musicians who are totally committed to success in the music business. For instance, here is a one question test to help you understand if your band is near or at the professional level: Would every member in your band cancel all their plans to go on a huge tour throughout the country (that could possibly results in losing substantial money in the short term), in order to increase the chances of gaining more profitable opportunities in the band's future? If the answer is no, then your band is a long way away from reaching the pro level. To find out how to fix this situation for your band, read this article about pursuing music as a full time career.

Amateur musicians frequently associate with band members, friends or peers who are negative and question their ambitions for becoming successful professional musicians.

Professional musicians surround themselves with other people who motivate and inspire them to reach their musical dreams. They don't spend any of their time being around people who bring them down. I call this weeding your garden - learn more about this concept in this article on how to start a successful music career.

Amateur musicians (falsely) assume they can achieve everything they want in their music career alone, without a trainer or coach. Instead, they are satisfied with relying on trial and error or merely doing what other musicians are doing. They assume they can accomplish the same success of other musicians by copying what those musicians are doing. This is a major reason why so many musicians fail to get into the music industry.

Professional musicians work together with an expert music career coach instead of simply copying what other people are doing, to ensure that every action brings them closer to their ultimate musical goals.

2. Your On Stage Performing Skills Are Severely Lacking

Amateur musicians have not yet mastered the ability to perform well in live situations. It's not enough to just stand on stage and play your instrument. Pros are able to put on shows that motivate people to see the band play again, sell music and take your band to a higher level in the industry. Anytime you play on stage, it should motivate your fans to tell everyone they know about how awesome your band is. Do this often and your band will quickly reach a new level (so you can pay larger shows to more people).

To find out how you can take your band to the next level, get these free musician performance tips.

3. You Hold Yourself Back In Your Music Career

Musicians often complain that they don't have enough opportunities, but if they were only given a chance, they would take advantage of it. In reality, musicians often pass on big opportunities because of their own fears and insecurities.

Case in point: there are thousands of musicians who sign up for my music career mentoring program each year. After they sign up, I go through every application and accept only a small fraction of the musicians who are 100% serious about building their music careers. However, out of the musicians who I let into the program, there are frequently several who are scared to join! That's right! Many people create excuses for not having enough time, requiring more time to think about it, not being ready, or a ton of other (fear-based) stories.

The main idea here is that these kinds of musicians complain about not having opportunities for developing their careers, and eventually go on to reject the big chance to break into the music industry. I sometimes talk to these musicians years later, and they tell me the identical sad story about how they never got the chance to become highly successful.

Don't become another one of these unsuccessful musicians. Don't put things off and allow inaction to be the main factor for why you never became a professional musician. Don't allow fears of failure to become the DESTROYER of your musical dreams... The time is NOW to start recording your first album, create a new band, build your songwriting skills or begin receiving the music industry training you need to make it big in this business. Don't make up excuses for yourself and watch your dreams go down the drain.

To take action to move your music career forward, determine your biggest musical goals, then work together with a music career mentor who will train you to do whatever it takes to achieve them.

4. Your Living Situation Prevents You From Growing Your Music Career

It's just not possible to grow a massively successful music career if you spend every minute of your free time exhausted because you work full time hours every week.

To start working full time on your MUSIC career, you must develop a strategy for smoothly transitioning out of your day job. One way to do this is to reduce the hours you spend every week at your day job from forty to thirty five and spend the difference working to build your music career. As you begin making additional music related income, you can cut down the amount of time you spend at your regular job and gradually phase in your music career.

Discover more information on how to do this by reading this article on how to smoothly transition from a day job to a career in music.

5. You Already Gave Up On Your Musical Dreams, But Don't Know It Yet

One of the worst ways to ruin your chances for success in music is to listen to the advice of people who have never been successful professional musicians. These people will tell you things like:

"Music isn't a real job."

"You want to become a rock star? Dream on!"

"To be a pro musician, you have to become a starving artist who plays on the street corner."

"The music business is too risky, you've got to get a job doing something more safe."

"You should do music on the side while you get a music degree in case it doesn't work out."

Fact is, the music industry is a very secure industry to get into (for anyone who follows the correct steps for earning a good living in music). The majority of the true professionals in the music business are NOT playing on street corners... they make a good living doing what they love to do and are simply not known in popular media. Actually, it is a lot easier to earn a great living in the music business than most people think (while also having that income be very consistent and secure). That said, endless amounts of musicians pay attention to the ignorant advice of others who never even worked in the music business. As a result, they think their musical dreams are impossible and give up on them altogether.

To transform yourself into a highly successful professional musician, you need to ONLY listen to people who have accomplished major success in the same areas of the industry you want to work in. There is truly no reason to accept the well-meaning (but misguided) advice of your peers, friends or family who only repeat myths and platitudes about success the music industry without any true experience in this industry. Remember, your favorite bands and musicians all started at or below where you are now in your music career before they went on to become legends. The only thing that keeps you from achieving what they've done is your own mindset!

6. You Don't Truly Understand How To Earn Money In The Music Business

Amateur musicians use tons of time recording tracks for their albums and improving on their instruments, yet have no clue how to earn a living from all these things. These musicians usually invest months into writing and recording music, then finally release it online where no one (except for their friends) hears it. They become disappointed, their music careers come to screeching halt (before even getting started) and they never again try to accomplish anything significant.

You will not earn a good living as a professional musician by taking isolated actions as described above. Professional musicians make tons of money by developing entrepreneurial mindsets (and taking action on these mindsets), growing strategically interweaved streams of income and working with an experienced mentor to understand how to create their own opportunities in the music industry.

Now that you know the reasons why you haven't made it as a professional musician yet, get the strategies you need to quickly grow your career by checking out this page about working with a music career coach.

About the author:

Tom Hess is a recording artist, composer and a touring musician. Tom also is a music career coach and trainer to many musicians of different experience levels from countries around the world. In his music business success training program, he has helped musicians to build connections in the music industry and learn how to become a successful professional musician.