Starting 2026 with Confidence and Control
...Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
— Goethe
When I first sat down to write our blog post for December, my goal was to make it short. To the point. And to thank you for being part of the Aria Ready Family in 2025. In fact, the first draft was only five hundred or so words. After running it by my fellow AR team members, it may now be the longest of the year. But I also believe it will be the most actionable!
Can you imagine sitting down at your computer on (or about) January 1, 2026, feeling exhilarated and ready for the new year? Can you imagine looking forward to the new year, because, back in December, you’ve prepared better than ever before? You can make the upcoming New Year different by starting the year truly ready to advance your business, feeling confident and in control from day one.
This feeling of confidence you’ll have stems from the bold decision you made a month earlier, which led you to commit fully and embrace the truth of the Goethe quote “...Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now”, rather than living your life continually reacting to circumstances. This new year, be bold because you had the foresight to choose to operate your business life on purpose.
This month, this December, today, take an inventory of just how well your business ran in 2025. Not when or where you got hired, how you sang, or who you met on your travels. But, “how” the actual business system you have in place managed, informed, and used to your advantage your income, performances, and your relationships. That’s job one!
You can’t start a new business cycle properly until you’ve evaluated the quality of your business's performance during the prior cycle. Lay out a solid foundation for your professional track by committing time and energy to the business end of your career. Use these essential steps to build your career, moving forward with preparedness and the knowledge of what comes next. This preparation includes establishing the disciplined practices necessary for career success.
The three action-steps necessary to adjust your business systems.
But there are some things you need to understand before you can apply this new tool.
As with many things in life, there’s no one way to set them up. So, your business structure may differ from the Aria Ready model. In your business of making a living as an opera singer, we have five sections, four managers, and an owner. An Office Manager, A Business Manager, A Marketing/PR Manager, A Financial Manager, and You, the “Singer/Client.”
This is a role-playing exercise, and if you don’t record the audio for each session, you will wish you had, because this process really is that good. You will tell yourself things you didn’t know you knew about your own business. I promise you this… if you follow this exercise, you will not only be pleasantly surprised, but also much better informed about your business's infrastructure and systems than you are right now.
It may sound silly, but it’s not. I’ve seen this process work wonders for singers just getting their career started, and for many who are several years into it as well. In this exercise, you will “be” both the owner and the section manager.
Your “Year End” meetings should be structured something like this:
In a private, safe space, set up two chairs facing each other, about a foot apart. One chair is for you, the business owner, and the other is for the section manager. Remember, you’ll go through this exercise five times. Now, sit in the first chair and tell your first manager (the empty chair) that this year-end review/inventory is not a personal review but a systems review, with an eye toward using the three questions above, after you’ve discussed the inventory questions, to improve your business outcomes for 2026.
Next, ask, “Do you understand the goal and the desired outcome?” Now, quickly, and without thinking, move to the manager’s chair, and answer that first question. (facing the chair of the business owner) If you (as the section manager) have questions, ask the business owner. Then switch back to the owner’s chair and address their concerns or questions.
Now you can say to your manager, “I only have two questions for you.” Pause, then ask, “First, how well did your section of my business work this past year?” Now, switch chairs again and answer the question as someone who ran this business for all of 2025. (Remember, this works best when your answers are Stream-of-Consciousness. Not thought out, or what you feel the owner wants to hear.) It is your job to be honest and truthful in all your answers. As the owner and as a manager, you both want the best outcome for the business.
When you both feel that the first question has been thoroughly reviewed (this may take several back-and-forth chair-hoppings), ask the second question, “What do you think we should change or adjust so that 2026 will go more smoothly than last year? (What do you need to change, and what do I need to change?) So we’ll have clear information sooner, so we can better plan for the inevitable surprises and opportunities that show up in this business?”
Once you’ve worked your way through each question, ask the section manager to answer the three questions they agreed to at the beginning of their system review. (This is where the audio recording will be invaluable. So you can make these changes to your systems.)
After you have worked through this exercise with all four managers, you will have a more complete understanding of how your business functions and what might be necessary to adjust for the new year. All that is left is the last session with the client. Yep, you must complete the same exercise with the singer; this Q&A session is a bit more nuanced. It’s often not as easy to separate yourself, as the business owner, from yourself as the singer. This may be a bit challenging at first, but as a performer, you will quickly become familiar with the process. Keep in mind that the same questions still apply. Once that is done, you can adjust each area of your business as agreed upon by you and your managers.
Then, January first, or thereabouts, after the singing, partying, and maybe a day or two off, you sit down to “get back to business” and to enter the new year, with those foundational systems already in place. Your preparedness counters any doubts or insecurities that may have otherwise plagued you. Your actions are consistent because you and each of your managers now know who you are at your core, so no matter what happens, you and your business are ready to begin!
What could be better than being able to say, “I am starting 2026 not with hesitancy, but with a definite plan” watching as a 'whole stream of events issues from the decision' you made a month ago, you can say to yourself, “I am ready for 2026, I’m ready to move forward because I have the tools, skills, and clarity needed to succeed.”
As Carol often said, “Never run away from something. Always run towards something.”
Even if, as you approach that something, it turns out not to be what you’d hoped for. You can confidently adjust your course to something that’s a better fit for you at that time and place.
We have some great things planned for 2026 that will help you make it the best year yet. May you all have a wonderful and joyous Holiday Season.
Ciao until next time. David
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