Starting A New Indie Connect Chapter
Note: Chapter Presidents are licensees and do not own a franchise. As such, we can offer the following suggestions and a lot of assistance on how to build your business, but ultimately, the way you build it is up to you. Your methods simply must not tarnish or conflict with the Indie Connect brand.
What is an Indie Connect meeting?
Indie Connect meetings usually run 89-120 minutes. The recommended format for your Indie Connect meetings consists of 2 primary components:
- Structured networking. We teach you how to facilitate the networking so that everyone meets everyone else and all of the attendees are supporting each other. (30-45 minutes)
- An educational segment featuring one of the following:
- A guest speaker (best)
- A panel discussion (several speakers)
- A video (we supply this)
- A mini workshop (we can make suggestions and provide curriculum)
Why establish an Indie Connect Chapter?
- It’s FUN! The camaraderie, the feeling of accomplishment in seeing careers moving forward, the war and heartwarming stories that people share – they all lead to a very uplifting expereince every time!
- As an indie Connect Chapter President, you can increase your network with your local, statewide, regional and national music industry. If you build it properly, you can become the ‘go-to’ person for industry contacts and networking.
- You can create an additional side income.
- You may be able to create a full-time income, specially if you live in a large city. Doing this would require running multiple weekly meetings, recruiting other people to run meetings for you, building your email list, selling advertising and sponsorships and holding workshops and seminars etc. Please note that this is not being done yet.
Chapter President
As a Chapter President, your primary goal is to recruit members to build a local community of singers, musicians, songwriters and music professionals. This is done by running at least one regularly scheduled Indie Connect meeting per month, and as many as the local population will support. Your main income comes from meeting and workshop attendance.
You are required to promote Indie Connect memberships, for which you receive a residual commission (every month that they are a member). To increase your income you can also sell advertising, products and sponsorships. In addition, you can set up and market local, regional seminars and workshops. You also help with regional and national conferences.
Note: You are an independent contractor / commission-only salesperson. You are not an employee of Indie Connect.
Responsibilities as Chapter President
- Hold regularly scheduled meetings (weekly or monthly). How many and in how many locations are completely at your discretion. You can hire ‘Meeting Coordinators’ to run one or more of your meetings for you by working out an equitable financial arrangement between you and them. You must personally run at least one location as the Chapter President for at least 3 months before recruiting Meeting Coordinators to run meetings for you.
- Schedule chapter meeting agendas, including speakers, videos, panel discussions etc.
- Conduct your own advertising campaigns (with help from the Indie Connecont corporate office).
- Foster an inviting, fun, safe and nurturing environment that makes people want to return and participate.
- Responsibly handle cash and other financial transactions.
- Build relationships within the local music community.
- Sell Indie Connect memberships.
Members receive:
- Access to our vast library of over 80 expert workshops, plus hundreds of articles, tools, e-books etc!
- Partner discounts (many national, some you might set up locally). One example: Free 6-month membership to Broadjam
- Discounts to attend meetings and events.
- Access to local member-only events (if you hold them) and national member-only events (conference calls, teleconferences etc)
- Inclusion in 1 issue of Indie Connect Magazine (pro members and speakers)
- Access to live coaching conference calls, online showcase opportunities and more.
- Access to the member-only social network, groups and forums.
- Much more!
Revenue Streams
- Meeting attendance. Chapter Presidents who are looking to create a full-time income will most likely have multiple EVENTS happening every week.
- Newsletter, e-magazine, website and/or weekly program handout advertising.
- Meeting, event, speaker and chapter sponsorships.
- Product sales (books, CDs, DVDs etc).
- Ticket sales and sponsorships sold for conferences, workshops & other special events. Commissions are paid on a revenue participation basis on larger events.
- Memberships. Residual income is possible when members you personally recruit as paid members re-enroll each month.
Your Cost(s):
- You receive a license from Indie Connect to operate under and use its name and logo. There is no cost for this license. You are an independent contractor. You do not own a franchise.
- Chapter Presidents must be a Professional level member of Indie Connect. If you’re not a member, we will ask that you join before you sign your final agreement with us.
- Indie Connect has some pre-printed marketing materials and merchandise etc. that you can purchase. These are completely optional.
- Much of your marketing can be done online for free. The company also has some pre-designed marketing materials that you can download and print yourself.
- You are responsible for your own cell phone, Internet and transportation costs. You also pay for your own office supplies. If needed, you also provide your own projector, movie screen DVD player, laptop or other technology that you wish to use.
- You are responsible for obtaining any local city, county or state business licenses required by law.
- You are responsible for your own local, state and federal income taxes.
Summary:
Most Chapter Presidents are part-time, hosting Indie Connect meetings either monthly, weekly or several times per month. Your income may be limited to meeting attendance and membership commissions, based on the size of your meetings and how aggressive you are in pursuing advertising and sponsorships. Or you can make the leap to full-time Chapter President and create a full-time income. Keep in mind that this takes a lot of time and effort. It goes faster if you already have a mailing list of local musicians and service providers, as well as contacts in the industry who would speak at your events, and who would like to expand their own networks while supporting other musicians.
Check out the video at http://www.indieconnect.com/join-ic, and ‘What they’re saying about Indie Connect’ under the ‘About’ tab.
For more information, contact:
Vinny Ribas
CEO
Indie Connect
615-568-4736
vinny@indieconnect.com
