Business Tips from Taylor Swift:

9 tools to implement immediately

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I am not a Swiftie. I don’t know the concert traditions, I don’t hunt for Easter eggs, I don’t know all the songs, her life history, or even how many albums she has.

But, I do know that the first time I heard Love Story, I cried in my car. On my way to work. It was an awkward day.

I also know that I have watched Taylor Swift from her debut album until now paying close attention, not to Easter eggs or song releases or concert dates, but to the way she runs her business.

I have paid attention to how to she pulls millions of people she has never met into a frenzy about her life. I have noticed how she markets, how she interacts with others, and she runs her business — because selling her music, selling herself is a business.

Here are the top 9 important business tips I have learned from Taylor Swift over the last 18 years.

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1. Keep a Single Minded Focus

I have this problem where every new hobby I pick up I want to turn into a business. Everything is a distraction. However, each distraction pulls me away from my goals. Taylor Swift repeatedly states what her mission and goals are, “everything was a means to an end to get me to do music.”

She limits her distractions, her time on the internet, her side quests and states, “my business is making music and taking care of my fans.” She is not worrying about TikTok drama. Not starting a second business because making sour dough is fun. Not wandering aimlessly and hoping it works out.

Taylor Swift knows exactly what she wants and takes intense and intentional action to get there.

Sit up, business owners. Pay attention. I am not holding your hand as I say this: you don’t need to start another business. The one you have needs your attention.

You don’t need to scroll TikTok for “more ideas” we both know you already have one million.

Know where you are headed and take action to get there right now. Right now.

 

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2. Stop Letting the A**holes Slow You Down

There will always be naysayers in your life. Like crabs in a bucket, someone will always be trying to pull you back down.

My therapist says, “You are chocolate ice cream and chocolate ice cream is the best! But no matter what you do, there will always be someone who needs the world to know they hate chocolate ice cream. That is the cost of putting yourself out there.”

If you choose to focus on the chocolate ice cream haters and let them take the luxury item that is your time and energy, you will burn out, lose focus, and forget why you are working so hard for your dreams.

“What you spend your energy on, that’s the day,” Swift says. You may be off doing other things, maybe you are with your kids or working on your business but if you can’t stop thinking about some guy on the internet who called you stupid, that is your whole day.

He. Got. Your. Whole. Day.

Just because things are happening around you “doesn’t mean [you] have to do a damn thing … Not everyone has invested in you in order to be able to have the capital for you to care” about any of their opinions.

“Something can be about me, like, my name can be in the actual headline,” Swift says, “and it can still be none of my business.” Do not let people who have not invested in you, who you have never met, who don’t care about you, or who want to hold you back slow you down from your ultimate goals.

Spend your energy in the right places and on the right people. Stop letting the chocolate ice cream haters derail you from your mission.

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3. Keep Your Business Fun

Business ownership can be hard, putting yourself out there is stressful!! Failing over and over again (like we all do) takes a toll on us. “There is enough stress that goes into this, if you can’t get joy from silly little things, you’re doing it wrong,” says Swift.

If you lose sight of the things you love in your business, it will slowly eat you from the inside out.

Taylor Swift has made a point to fill her music and career with things she loves, like her famous Easter eggs. She states, “[it’s] really fun because [the fans] find it fun. And also I love numerology. I love math stuff. I love dates… I find really fun.”

Do not hinge your business success on hustle culture and stress. You will spend decades in your business, make sure you enjoy it.

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4. Market Like You Matter

Taylor Swift recently announced her newest album, Life of a Showgirl. As most of you already know, she announced it on the podcast, New Heights. And it blew up.

Being Taylor Swift she could have stopped the promotion there. She didn’t have to advertise anymore than that. Her fans love her, her fans are ready to purchase, her fans will throw fists for that album.

However, Taylor Swift has never done lazy promotion.

Immediately following her announcement Taylor took over Time Square with her ads, began promotions on her social medias, changed her website, created a special Spotify playlist, and began international advertising campaigns.

If Taylor Swift, TAYLOR SWIFT of all people. needs more promotion than a single social media post you do too.

You have to promote your business loudly. It is time to market like you matter, because you do matter and so does your business.

Taylor Swift has never quietly and shyly promoted her work. She doesn’t beat around the bush and hope that people purchase. She shows up loud, unashamed, and owns her spaces. She is direct, eager, willing to take a risk, and she tells you exactly how to buy her product.

Taylor markets like she truly believes she and her music matter. If you are being quiet about your business, it is time to stop. Sure, you probably don’t have the same promotional budget as Taylor Swift (nobody does) but there are hundreds of cost effective and even free ways to promote your business.

Nobody is growing their business by whispering about it. Be loud, be bold, and market like you matter.

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5. Be a Human

In a world of AI, be a human.

Fans love Taylor Swift because they feel connected to her. She makes them cry, laugh, singing, cheer, and everything in between. The way people flock to Taylor Swift is an incredible thing to witness.

If you read fan comments their love for her is largely because Taylor is a human. She shares her stories, she shares her heart. She thanks her fans like they are her best friends. She donates to communities, to GoFundMe’s, she has shown up to unsuspecting Swiftie’s weddings, visited fans in the hospital, and surprised people at engagement parties.

Swift stated in the New Heights podcast that she is, “in the business of human emotion,” and wants to “lead heart first.” Telling her fans her whole stories are what keeps them in her corner. People celebrating her getting her masters back isn’t because they like her music — it is because they care about her.

If you want people to care about your business you have to stop being a cookie cutter business. AI makes you a cookie cutter (I said what I said). You have to be open and vulnerable.

Tell your stories. Share your goals and dreams. Nobody is lining up around the block for a cookie cutter they can get from literally anywhere else. Be a human people can connect with. Be a business that makes a difference.

I recently watch a small Instagrammer grow her following from 1000 to 13K in less than 30 days. @FreckledHan didn’t do it by hoping and praying. She did by clearly stating what she wanted, asking for helping, working her butt off, and not giving up. Even when her deadline loomed she showed up like she mattered.

She surpassed her 10K goal not because she was lucky or a cookie cutter of 1000 other creators but because she connected with people as a human and they pulled together to help her crush her goal.

If you want people to show up for you, give them a reason to.

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6. Look Down the Road and Make a Plan

While Taylor Swift was on the Era’s Tour she was also writing and recording music for her new album. Almost all of what Swift does is very intentional and well thought out, she has dropped hints to projects that won’t be released for years.

This ability to create ahead is part of what allows Taylor to create hype for her new projects. She creates long runways. She is not announcing concerts the night before and expecting to sell out stadiums (although she probably could). She is not releasing new albums with only two days of a heads up.

She has a plan. She plays the long game.

As a business owner, what does your marketing plan look like? Are you preparing your marketing years or even months in advance or are you struggling to keep up with your creation cycle?

Work on getting ahead of your marketing. Plan your January marketing in July. Have your Black Friday offer ready to go by February. If you can’t keep up with what you are creating, neither can your audience.

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7. Prioritize Your Fans’ Experience

When asked about her favorite parts of her record breaking Era’s tour Taylor Swift said, “It’s really prioritizing the fans’ experience before anything else.” Her favorite things from her tour were not her experiences but the fan experiences that she got to witness.

“We’re world building,” she said. Swift states that her team is creating a way for people to escape and have fun. Swift is creating with her fans in mind. The user experience is end game.

More interesting for me is that Taylor Swift has “fan levels” built into her music. If you are a casual fan, like me, that just enjoys a good song now and then, we have it. If you are a Swiftie that needs more? Welcome to the Easter eggs, welcome to the tours, welcome to the interviews, the merch, and collectables.

Having a pulse on what her fan love and look forward to is how Swift continues to bring her audience back time and time again.

As a business owner, how much time are you spending working on your client experience? Do you know what their first contact with your business is and what they should do next?

Do you know what your protentional client enjoys? What do they want to see more of and what they need? Get in touch with your fans’ know what they are craving from you.

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8. Stop Trying to Know all the Things

It is okay not to know things. One of my favorite parts of the Taylor Swift New Heights interview was how many times she said she didn’t know or couldn’t do something and she didn’t care.

Her goals don’t align with her being a great athlete so she doesn’t waste time and energy worrying about it. What a relief it must be to say, I don’t need to learn that. I don’t need to know everything, I just need to be an expert at what I do.

Sometimes business owners get stuck in being the person with all the answers. We worry about our image, having our hands in every aspect of our business, and making sure we are experts in everything.

You don’t have to be an expert in everything. You can put that weight down now — you are welcome. You only need to be an expert in what you do. Whatever gets you to your big, hairy, audacious goal that is what you need to be an expert in. Shake everything else off.

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9. Don’t be Afraid of Making Mistakes

All of us are going to make mistakes. We are going to invest in marketing that doesn’t work, we are going to release a book that needed more editing, we are going hire the wrong person.

We are going to screw up. We are going to fail.

Taylor Swift is no exception to the rule. However, she takes the mindset of learning from her failures instead of wallowing in them saying, “Well now I know. I always say that after unfortunate judgement calls, ‘well, now I know.'”

If you want your business to be a raging success, you cannot let the failures take you to your knees. You will fail sometimes. And long story short, you will survive.

Build the mental muscle of brushing yourself and trying again. Learn from your mistakes and make sure you do better next time.

Forgive yourself, learn something new, and try to do better next time.

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Taylor Swift’s success isn’t just about her music; it’s about her genuine approach to her craft and her fans. When we see success like hers is it hard not to look at the tools she uses and apply them to our own businesses.

Why build everything from scratch when you can learn from others around you?

What did we miss?

What additional business tips from Taylor Swift have you learned?

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