this last week, I landed my first gig with one of the largest booking agencies in St. Louis, Contemporary Productions. Contemporary books many of the largest venues in St. Louis, including Busch Stadium, most of the casinos and hotels around town, and all the major corporations. When I got the call, I was so excited.

Using one free app and a simple concept, I was able to get the call back from them. Here's what I did for about 3 months:

1. I set up an alarm on my phone using Apple's free Reminders app to "call contemporary productions". I set an alarm for 3 PM on Monday.

2. When I called, I wasn't able to talk to anyone. Instead, I left a voicemail on their answering machine telling who I was, who recommended me to them, and some of the venues I played around town. I also left my website address, so they could check out what I sound like without having to call me.

Here's the most vital step of all:

3. Instead of checking the completed box on my reminder when I left a message, I simply changed the alarm setting to go off the following Monday, so I can follow up.

Every other week from then on, I would leave a brief message on their answering machine, inviting them to attend a gig I was playing (this doubles as a subtle way of communicating that you're working), or simply checking in to make sure they didn't have any leads. I eventually set the alarm for once a month after the first month, so I didn't become annoying to them.

After about 3 months of doing this, I got a call for a small job, which led to another larger job less than a week later.

In a world full of ADD musicians, polite, carefully calculated persistence makes such a big impression.