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The biggest thing is to quit thinking like a tortured, pampered artist, and to start thinking like an entrepreneur. You are now a small business owner, and your music is your product. You face all of the same questions that all small business owner's face.
How do I make customers aware of my product?
How do I distribute it efficiently?
What are potential streams of revenue (merch, song licensing, albums sales, live shows, etc.)?
Where do people congregate who might be interested in my product? How do I reach them there?
How do I turn customers into evangelists, so that they sell my product for me? How do I make them feel included in the culture of my product?
I ask them if they think anybody ever launched a successful business by working at it 5 hours a week, then spending the rest of the time on the couch waiting for people to magically discover how awesome their product is? If they want to be a professional musician, I tell them to treat it like a profession. Spend 40+ hours per week on it, just like a real job. Put your money at risk, like you would with a real business.
The specifics of how to do all that are different for every artist, but the biggest thing that has to change is the mindset. Nothing is owed you, but everything is in reach for you.
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