Oct 23, 2020
Origin of a Hero
The Story of Success
I have been a musician for as long as I can remember. During my early years I thought for sure that I was going to be a rock star, playing music for millions of people on any instrument that I wanted. I was going to have the ultimate tour bus to take me all around the United States to play at the biggest arenas with huge speakers, lights, fog machines, fireworks, and anything else I could think of. I practiced and played my instruments as much as I possibly could. There were many nights I fell asleep with my guitar on top of me. I knew for sure that music was my destiny, that there was nothing else in the world I wanted to do more than play music!
I worked any job I could get, mostly flipping burgers or working in factories. At the time I didn’t care what my job was, as long as I was making enough to scrape by because I believed I was going to make it as a musician one day. I knew that I was going to get that record deal, make tons of money, and never have to worry about a thing so I just played and played and played. Drums, guitar, piano, bass guitar, synthesizer, tambourine, bongos, whatever I could get my hands on.
I was going to make a living from making music. There was no other way I could live. The music was in me, I could not lose it and it would never leave me. It was the reason I was put here on Earth. It was my gift. It was my soul. It was my life. I wanted so badly for my music to support me financially in life so that I did not feel like I was wasting my talent and therefore my life.
Time went on. Years went by. I got really good at playing music but…
I never got that record deal.
I never got discovered.
I never got my tour bus.
I never made those millions…
It was a sinking feeling. I felt like I had failed. Failed at life, failed at music, failed myself completely.
I was making minimum wage, struggling with life, renting rooms from people I hardly knew. I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck, I was living day to day. There were many days that I just didn’t have enough money to eat.
At that time, McDonald’s had a condiment bar that had crackers, ketchup, mustard, mayo, salt, pepper, sugar, and artificial sweetener on it. The condiment bar was right in the front of the store for all to see. For all to see…
For all to see me coming in and stealing crackers and mustard packets to eat. It was such a horrible time. I was so desperate and in such bad situations. I did have a room that I was renting, but I had no electricity or running water. It was a bunch of kids renting a house on Main St. There were about 30 of us living in this 3 story colonial. All of us just trying to survive.
Deep down I knew that I was exceptionally good at music. I knew that I could become good at anything. But I also knew that I becoming good at something I wasn’t passionate about, and doing that thing for a living, would just make me miserable.
My problem was that I did not know exactly how to make a good living with my music. I didn’t know how to get a record deal or how to get discovered. This was all before the internet was a life staple. I didn’t have the opportunity to do a Google search on how to market myself because this was before Google was a thing.
More years went by and I finally got higher paying jobs. I was making enough to survive. Enough to afford food, shelter, transportation, clothing, and some entertainment. I got really good at my profession in the business world and people said I was successful. Deep down inside though, I still felt like I had failed at life because I had not made a living from music.
Then I had a life changing event. I didn’t know it at the time, but my actions (or lack thereof) that evening changed my life forever.
I was sitting on the couch late one evening scrolling through Facebook on my iPhone. I was looking through some of the music groups that I was a member of and I came across a post that changed everything for me. I don’t remember exactly what it said but it was something like: “Is it better to do all the mixing and mastering yourself, or is it better to hire someone to do that?”
I was going to comment that I thought it was better to do it myself because then I had full creative control. I never got to make that comment because I was stopped dead in my scroll when I saw a reply that said: “I do it all myself from start to finish and I make thousands to tens of thousands per release.”
Wait…
What?
Thousands to tens of thousands per release? No way.
So I contacted the author of that reply.
It was true. He did it. He showed me the numbers.
Of course I wanted to learn. I had a ZOOM call with him one day after I got off work. He showed me in more detail what he was doing. He showed me the graphs, the revenue, the metrics, and all the data. I was in. Hook, line, and sinker. I paid this gentleman a very large sum of money to teach me how to do it. He did. He taught me.
I found out that I did not need a record deal or to be discovered. I learned that I could do it effectively on my own. I learned the basics of how to market and promote myself. Even better, I learned how to do it all without having to give a cut of the money to any person or entity.
I had the perfect plan and I felt like I was armed with the knowledge to complete it. I would do all of the marketing and sales myself and I would keep all of the profit. I would do it in my spare time at first in the evenings and on the weekends, then when I was making enough revenue from my music, I would quit my office job.
I had not won the war yet. I still had one more battle. The battle of self esteem. Even with this basic knowledge of marketing and promotion I still did not feel that I could do it. I was full of doubt. Even though I had seen the proof that these methods work, I was not absolutely %100 sure that I could pull it off.
This is where the real fun begins. I got enrolled in a super intense marketing and sales challenge. This challenge boasted that it would teach me how to get a profitable sales funnel up and running in 30 days. I was all in. The challenge was brutal. It taught me exactly step by step how to create products and offers, how to do deep marketing, and how to close the sale. I doesn't sound like much, but it was totally life changing. The best part about it was that it gave me that one last piece of the puzzle that I needed to succeed. It gave me the confidence.
Now I am able to create, market, and sell everything myself. I know the full path from creation to profit. There are precise patterns to follow and I know what they are to hit it out of the ball park almost every time. I keep my job but I don’t feel like I am a slave to it any more. I feel free. I became happy with my life and gained a sense of fulfillment that I had never experienced before. I feel like I can do anything.
Now I am offering to share this knowledge with other independent musicians. I want to help people who are stuck where I was get accelerate to where I am now. I have the perfect vehicle to get them there. I know the path, and I’ll be the guide!
Until next time!
Get my latest EP “Tripwire” (The Ultimate EP) HERE
