I kept watching her, trying to figure out what was happening.
It wasn't her voice. It wasn't her songs.
It was that everything she did connected to one thing. There was a thread running through all of it, and it fit that room, those women, that exact 45-minute window so specifically that it felt like it had been designed for that morning alone.
At that point in my life, I was struggling just to land consistent coffee shop gigs.
Reaching out, following up, trying to prove I was worth booking. Doing all the things you're supposed to do.
And here was someone who didn't check a single box I thought mattered, and she had been invited in to capture the attention of a room of 100 women for a full 45 minutes.
And then afterward, the line to her merch table snaked across the room and around several tables.
For days afterward I just kept going back to that room in my mind. I didn’t have the language for it yet, but that 45-minutes ended up sparking a total transformation in my music career
Here's what I finally put into words: when you show up as a musician, there's a comparison happening whether anyone says it out loud or not. Vocal chops. Instrumental skills... You're being stacked against everyone else who is trying to get booked as a musician for that same spot.
But that's not what was happening with her. She wasn't being compared to anyone.
She was being brought in for something specific, something nobody else was offering. The question wasn't "is she better than the last person we had?" It was "is this exactly what our people need right now?"
That's a different position entirely. And once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.
I started building something around my music. Stories, a throughline, a title. A clear description of what someone would actually walk away with.
I made it easy to picture and easy to say yes to. And slowly, then faster than I expected, things started opening up. Doors I didn't even know musicians could knock on, let alone enter.
I stopped chasing gigs and started getting called into specific spaces for specific reasons.
I got rebooked. I got referrals. I put together tours.
Not because I became a different artist. Because I stopped showing up as one of many and started offering something that stood on its own.
That's what I mean when I talk about becoming a Category of One.
And if you've been doing everything right and still feel like you're being overlooked, I genuinely believe this is the thing you're missing. Not more hustle. Not a better press kit. A clear, specific offering that only makes sense coming from you.
Yes, my first category of one was what I call a Keynote Concert, but it doesn't have to be that. There are many ways you can create a Category Of One for yourself.
In fact, I've created multiple "Category of One" opportunities for myself over my 20+ years as a musician and educator.
And now, I'm teaching this live in a brand new, exclusive mastermind experience next week.
We'll work through how to actually build the best category of one for you and use it to get more gigs, fans and income than you could imagine.
While this event is free, I'm only offering it to a small group so we can work through the material together in a supportive, interactive environment.
If you want to discover your Category of One and install it in your musician business,, Apply for a Spot Here.
Always in your corner,
<3 Bree
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