I wanna help YOU!

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another live stream. I hope that you can hear me. Okay, thumbs up if you guys can hear me. Looks like the stuff is working. We got Susan here. We got. I see we got a few people here. It's so good to have you guys here with me for another Friday night live session here where I thought I would clue you guys in on what's going on with me and just. Yeah, what's been happening here with the channel, what I've been working on, and then do some Q and A stuff. So if you're here and you're listening, you're watching whatever it is that you're doing, I hope that, first of all, that you're having an awesome Friday night so far. And, yeah, I mean, big thing, like, thanks for being here. The fact that you're here right now says a whole lot. And. And I don't ever want to take that for granted. And I want to talk about a few things in regards to that, but I want to start by just kind of giving you guys an opportunity to ask some questions. If you're going through anything right now in terms of, like, your creative thing, what are you working on with your creative thing, let me know in the comments. If you have a creative thing that you're working on, what that is, what you're struggling with in terms of that, and I love to be able to talk about that with you guys, too. Jonathan Anderson, violin. Hey, bud, how are you? Hey, Susan. Very, very cool. So let me start by giving you guys some updates on what's been going on here. So those of you that have been around and kind of following closely will know that I've been going pretty hard and heavy on the YouTube stuff here in the last few weeks. And.

It all came from an exercise where I was just. I had left YouTube alone. It was like it sat there because I felt obligated to do it. And my coach said to me that obligation is a breeding ground for resentment. And when she said that, it completely shifted a lot for me. That was like the big pivotal moment where I said, okay, I can either figure out how to take the obligation away and kind of throw out the rule book and just come back at this as me, or, you know, just end up constantly in this, for lack of a better word, like constipated stage, where I felt like I wanted to create, but I just couldn't yet. You know, I was just dealing with that, that, like, wanting to do something but just not being able to. And so I started these videos where I just Showed up pretty much every day for a few weeks. And then this week, I had everything planned to do another, like, six days in a row or do like, four days and then do this live tonight. And then I published a couple videos, and then I was just like, you know what? I'm just not feeling it. And the reason that I decided to not show up that way, for those of you as creatives, I hope that you can maybe feel this a little bit, because I think when we're trying to do anything that is creative and we feel that urge to go, and then we feel the flip of like, okay.

Now it's no longer about the urge to go. It's about, like, the obligation to go. And there is a very fine line here. So I want you to hear me. Like, right now, me showing up here is not because I'm like, ultra excited about doing a live stream that's full transparency. Like, I've been pretty down. I've had, like, a pretty sad couple of days that I'm trying to cope with. So this is. But this is the part where it's like, okay, I still know I can show up. I still know that I can do that, and that feels good. But what I found for me, and so I want to hear from you guys in the comments, if this is something that you guys have ever dealt with, is that I got into the place of seeking again, where I was looking for the answers. And this is where I think the pivot starts to. This is where things start to change. So I was back into, like, YouTube searching, like, what are people looking for? What can I talk about that people are gonna need? Blah, blah, blah, like, all the. All the, like, strategy stuff. I got back into that zone and that's when I was like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, what am I doing here? What's the purpose of this right now? And that's feeding the wrong thing, right? So if you. If you heard me talk in the last video I did, I believe I talked about this idea of the two wolves that are kind of battling in our minds. There's that. That parable kind of thing of how we have this wolf that represents, like, pride and ego and envy and all these other things, right? Where it's like self serving. And then we have this other wolf that's like, you know, all about love, peace, like acceptance, service, those kinds of things. And these two are always at, like, battle with each other. And so, you know, what I've been trying to do is look, because in that story, this old man is Telling his grandson that. And the grandson says, well, which wolf wins? And he said, well, whichever one you feed. And so that's been a big thing for me. So I listened to myself and said, well, which wolf am I feeding here if I'm back in this strategy mode? And it came back to me trying to prove something, like trying to bring my ego into it, trying to, like, you know, going for vanity metrics, going for numbers. And what's interesting then is when I let go, that's when things start to find me. And so I hope you hear me there is that. You know, what we're looking for, I think, as creative people.

Is. Is the answer, right? We're always looking for the shortcut. We're always looking for, like, how do we cut a corner here and be successful? And it's just been on my heart a lot the last couple of days of, like, these internal battles and struggles that we have and the stories that we tell ourselves, the mindsets that we live within. And so for me, a big mindset issue that I have is money, like, dealing with money. And I know many of you guys have this too. And so, you know, I think that. I think that that issue of money and, like, accepting money and asking for money from your.

Followers, your fans, whatever it is, is really a difficult thing. And so I struggle with that. And that's kind of what's brought me down. But what I had to look at is like, well, which wolf am I feeding here? I need to take a look and see. And so it's made me rethink, and it put me in this place of, like, the big question in my. In my journaling practice was, well, what? Why are we so afraid of small? I'll probably do a regular video about this, but why are we afraid of being small? Why are we afraid of serving a small audience really? Well, because it seems like we get so tied up. I'm just speaking to myself here. We get so tied up in this idea of, like, you know, well, I can serve this small audience really well. And for what it's worth, like, my personal business, you know, I have my regular job, so I still do my regular job, but my personal business currently is making more money than it ever has.

This business, not like past businesses, but this business, it's making more money than it ever has. And that's great, but I still feel this, like, well, I can do more. It should be more what's happening. And I know personally that I still don't need more. But there's this that. That like, ego wolf in here is like, hey, you need more. What's happening? And it's like, no, man, listen, you know, why are we so afraid of serving a small audience really? Well, what's the fear there?

And so I don't know. I don't know what that's all about or, like, where that is, but that's just been something that's been on my head a lot. And so. Hey, Karen, Good to see you.

So I've just been thinking about that kind of stuff. Right. So we'll talk a little more about kind of what I've got planned in terms of, you know, serving. Hopefully serving you guys really well, because I think there's just a lot to be said about how we show up as creative people and how we have this mindset to really try to serve people and starting small and then growing that out. And I've learned a lot in the last month, learned a whole lot in the last three years, and I've learned even more in the last 20 years of being a creative professionally in some. Some way, shape or form. And so it's exciting to be able to share this stuff. And to be honest, it's really freeing to come at it from a vulnerable standpoint and being less afraid to say what I'm dealing with, because I just want to share that with you guys. I don't want you guys to feel like I just got everything figured out because that's. If anybody tells you that it's bullshit. Nobody has it all figured out. Just straight up, straight down. That's true. Okay, Jeremy's here. Good to see you, Jeremy. Okay, awesome. So.

I'll take a couple questions. So if you guys are working on some stuff here, we'll kind of go back and forth where I'll take a couple questions and then talk through some things I'm working on.

So if you have any questions you're working on your creative thing, what's your block? So I've kind of told you my block. My block is like wanting to get bigger too fast, wanting to grow faster, more quickly, and fearing what other people think. So what's kind of your block? What's the thing you're working on and what's in your way? I want to talk about those things.

Jonathan. Cool. He says, I'm about to release my first original album around February. Any ideas for promoting an album?

Absolutely. Yeah. So my first question, Jonathan, is, do you have an audience that you're promoting this album to, or are you trying to use the album to gain an audience? So that's my first question. And.

Yeah, let me know what you're thinking about.

Olden Ortiz is here. He says I can finally catch a live stream. I really like that advice about serving a small community. You know, here's the thing. And it's the thing. It's the thing that we need to remind ourselves of, which is that.

We.

Like, everybody starts small. You know, I remember the moment that, like, the first days of being in a band, when nobody showed up. Nobody, right? And when we have 20, 30, 50, 100, 200 people in a room, and it escalated from there, and then you're playing, like, a big festival to, like, thousands of people. You know, it was still some of the smaller ones that were my favorites because it was intimate, because you felt more like you had them, like, eating out of your hand a little bit. It was, like, more control from what was happening. It was really fun. The energy was there. It was, like, packed. You fit 30 people in my house. I'm going to be telling people to get the hell out. But we have 30 people on YouTube, and we feel like it's a problem. We feel like it's not enough, you know, and that's something that. I don't know what we need to do to get past that, but it's a real issue that I think we need to be thinking about. Okay, so Jonathan's asking about his.

How does he promote his album here? And he said he's trying to get new patrons, and he has around 8,000 subscribers. Okay, cool. So that's great. And so with this, Jonathan, what's the story behind this album? Like, what's the purpose behind it? What do you hope somebody feels from it? What are you hoping somebody gets from the record? Because here's what I want to tell you right now, and this is what's hard about what I do, is that I'm not going to tell you how many posts that you need to make, and I'm not going to tell you how many comments you need to go and, like, on somebody's Instagram account. And I'm not going to tell you what. Like, you know the best ad strategy for Instagram? Here's why. Because if the heart side of it doesn't line up, then the other shit doesn't matter. Like, I'm a little bit on, like, a rant right now, so forgive me for a little more colorful language, but I'm in that zone right now where it's like, I'm so frustrated with being on the Internet, and all I hear is, all that tactical stuff, that means nothing when you have nobody to go back to it. You know what I'm saying? And it's really frustrating for me. So tell me a little bit then, what it is that you're trying to say with the record. What are you hoping that people feel from it? When you wrote it, where did it come from? What were you thinking about? Right.

Because I think that's a good place to start. And as you're kind of writing that, I'll go ahead and take a sip of my drink and then I'll kind of go off what you can do with that information.

Because here's where I would start. I would start by.

Telling the story of the record and what it means. What are the through lines? What were the frustrations? What were the things that you had to overcome? And I had a call with a guy who's won Emmys and done all this stuff, and he came to me, and all of his stuff was just like. It was just his songs, and his songs were out there and they were released, and nobody was looking at him. And he's like. He came to me with, honestly, a pretty big chip on his shoulder, like, I've won Emmys, or, you know, I've got these Grammys and this. Other things, like why. Why don't. Why aren't people watching this? Why don't they get it? You know? And he's done these big other big spec. Like television specials and stuff. And he's like, if any straight told me, if you would just listen, if you would just look, you would understand what I'm trying to say. And I tried to reaffirm to him that that's not the way it works. You know, we have this hope, this hope that our art will speak for itself, that we'll just show up, put it into the world, and it just says what it needs to say. And while I wish that was the case, 99.9% of the time, it's not. All great art is a byproduct of a great story. What did we overcome to make it? What are we hoping this art helps someone else to overcome? What do we hope that it connects to? That is an issue, a pain point, something in life that's very real, that we're dealing with as people, right? And when we started talking about these things, he seemed to have a little light bulb go off because he was very fortunate in that he had people on his side that were telling that story for him. And most of us as creatives and artists and musicians and These things. We're looking for a book publisher or a manager or a record label or somebody like that. And what is their job as somebody that's been on a record label? Their job is to have a publicist or somebody go out and tell that story for you. And when there is no story, it's really hard for us to connect to it. If you're familiar with Bon Iver, what's his story? The first record was him alone in a cabin in the woods, overcoming a lot of his deepest issues and recording the entire record inside of this thing with, like, a couple microphones, right? There's a story there. There's something for us to pull from. So now when people interview him, there's something for us to talk about. But that's not the point. The point is that that story now creates an image. It puts us in a room in our mind. It puts us in an atmosphere that we're allowed to then take in the music from a new place. Right? So there's something there for us to tie it to. And so it doesn't matter if your songs are just online for people to hear. Doesn't matter if you have, like, just this great thing and you go out and tap a bunch of other people's pictures and hope they come back and watch. If they can't connect it to something, it's just not going to connect as quickly as it potentially could. Okay, so hopefully that makes sense.

Jonathan says, okay, this is great. He says two things. I want to inspire people through my original music, and I want to do music full time. Okay. So one is serving other people. You want to inspire them, right? And the other side is serving you. This is great. I love this. Right? It's good to know what you want, what is your goal, Right? And so if your goal is you want to do music full time, that's a great. We'll come back to that. If the other goal is that you want to inspire people through their music, then you have. Or through your music. I'm sorry, Then you have to think first. Or I would consider thinking. I mean, you don't have to. It just may or may not work. Right. I'm not saying my advice is like, the end all be all. So forgive me. I'm definitely not trying to come at this from, like, a big head. Okay? But if you want to get people, if you want to inspire people, then you have to know what they're dealing with. This is where this idea of picking a person, and maybe it's somebody like you, Jonathan, maybe It's somebody like you that's like, let me just ask you, what inspires you as a person? Right. Type it in the chat if you can. Let me know what inspires you. He says, it connects me a lot to my different stages of life. Lost my job in the U.S. oh, okay. Yeah, we're getting into some stuff here. Lost my job in the US After Covid hit, and it gave me the opportunity to make the album. I prayed so hard to get out of the situation.

And I was not getting in the time to do any music. I hit a lot of really hard times financially. Jonathan, this is. Thank you for sharing that. I know that that's. That's hard. It's hard to, like, be vulnerable and share these kinds of things. So.

Tell me if. If it relates more to more people, if you tell that side of the story versus just like, I got these songs, and I think they're nice, and I had a really good time making them. What's it say for you to show up and say, you know what?

When I started making this record, I lost my job. I didn't have the money that I wanted, and. And I really wanted to make a record. There was something in me that I knew I needed to do. I needed to get this out. And in the midst of that.

There was so much turmoil that I was going through that spiritually, I had to deal with this kind of turn where I had to come to a conclusion that either this was going to happen or it wasn't, and I was going to have to put myself in a situation where I was either going to make this album or I wasn't. And, you know, I didn't have the money to do it. I didn't have the time to do it, but I had to figure out, you know, what that was and what was the turning point where you started to find that time and money. Because I think that transformation is really important to you. You've given me the problem, but on the other side of that, like, what was the thing that you would have that sort of turned it for you?

And so since it's a very emotional album.

Taylor Davis inspires me, and it would.

Yeah, okay, cool. So that's the thing that I would think about then. It's like starting with that story of what you went through to get it. Now, there's a couple things I can pull from this as I sort of hear that. Number one, dealing with a lot of financial issues. Right? Dealing with. Dealing with a lot of stress in that way. Number two, struggling through Spiritual battles and things like that. What's the spiritual side of that? And I think that's really interesting. And then if I had to put like a third one on it, stages of life, like adolescence to adulthood, you know, those kinds of things. So here's what I would think about is like, those three stories are so tied to every person. I would make a lot of stuff about those three things and a lot less stuff about your music. And I would tie your music to those three things. You know, Man, I remember this time when I was 13 years old and I'm gonna tell my story here where I was actually, I was 16 years old, and we decided that we were gonna go and toilet paper our band directors.

Yard. And so we went, we did the deed and we came out of there and it was me and like four of my best friends in the world at the time. And it was on this back gravel road. And our hearts are racing and we're like, the blood's pumping and we're so into it, and as we're leaving, we thought, okay, we got away with it. And then all of a sudden, these tail lights show up behind us, and we're cruising down this gravel road and, you know, we're like, well, they're too far back. And there's no way that that was. Like, nobody even noticed that we were there. And all of a sudden, those tail lights got closer and closer and closer. And as they got closer, we started to speed up. And I remember I was the one driving. And I remember being so terrified of turning, you know, turning one of these corners too fast and crashing and, like, hurting somebody, like one of my best friends. But at the same time, I remember being so terrified of the different. Like, what would happen if I didn't. What would happen if we didn't outrun this car. We don't know who this is. Is this, like. And this car is following us all through town, all over the place. And I'm going, like, way too fast for this to happen, right? And we end up, like, getting away from them, barely, and finding a spot to just stop and breathe. And the silence was so loud in that moment. So loud. And there are days now in my adulthood where I wouldn't give anything, like, I would give anything to kind of relive some of that power, some of that excitement, some of that blood pumping, like, things where you're. You. You've done something, you know, you shouldn't quite have done, but you're also, like, found the other side of it. And it feels so Good to not only have like, maybe pushed the envelope a little bit, but to have some of your best friends beside you at the same time. And during this pandemic and all the things we're going through often feels like we're alone in a room with a camera or with our instrument or whatever. Right.

I think you share stories like that and you say, you know, I made this record with a lot of these kinds of ideas and thoughts in mind. This is what this is about. I hope that you'll listen to it with your own stories in mind and your own ideas and your own thoughts and start there and see what happens. What starts to resonate with people when you share your own real life experiences. Right.

So hopefully that, that kind of like, makes sense. Let me, let me know, Jonathan, like, and again, all I can do is share my own story because I don't know yours. And so whatever yours is, what's your version of that and how can you start to tell that story?

Because I think that's.

A way to start from that. Because then what you get at is there's those three buckets of.

Time travel or whatever, spiritual ideas, and then also financial troubles. And you can talk about all those three things and share stories and stuff that you're going through within that and then use the tactics, then use the strategies. Just use opportunity for you to connect, share quotes from people that share those same ideas and those thoughts. Use your influences in poetry and these other places or in music to share those same things too. You don't have to always come from. You use the influences that matter to you as well to kind of get people to look in and bite. But always relate it back to you and your story and your connection. Yeah, so.

He says, yeah, I've had some experiences like that. The first upload, I got that feeling. I feel like my album will probably feel the same as it's been so long in the workings. And the other thing, Jonathan, and this goes for any artist that's trying to present anything, is we often don't give it the time it's due. You know, when I was doing music, we would tour on a record for two years, two full years. We've been 202 are on the same record. Right. So, you know, the, the life cycle of that kind of work, it's got a lot, a lot more legs than we give it credit for. So you kind of got to keep that stuff in mind too.

It is different. It moves a lot quicker now. But, you know, I think that having that in mind is Good. Jeremy says we tend to play things too safe as adults nowadays. If you want change, you have to change, too, and push the boat out sometimes. Yeah, Jeremy, I totally agree.

Totally, totally agree. Cool. Who else has got something that they're. They're working on having some block with? I hope that. I'd love to know from you guys here in the chat, like, was that helpful even for you guys, and how you're thinking of your own stuff and what you're working on?

Because I think our story and what we do and how we approach that story and connect it to other people's stories is the most important thing. You'll hear me talk about that a lot because I think art. I just don't think you can have story without art.

Ingrid says sharing my story, some of the struggle instead of the perfection, has really opened up lines of communication with my community. Oh, my gosh, I love that. Absolutely, absolutely. And in this workshop that we're doing right now, the stand up and standout workshop that I started kind of launched a couple weeks ago, sort of on a whim with this idea in mind of, like, how do we start to share, honestly more of our experiences and what we do? That's been the biggest thing is that I'm hearing people saying.

Like, oh, okay, you know, my community is like, commenting and saying much deeper, more connected things than they ever have as I start to show up more myself. And I think that's cool. Okay, now. Okay. Yeah, I'm trying to set up my Patreon right now. Yeah, that's cool. Karen. So with Jonathan, with you too, you know, I think it's important.

I'm going to give a couple thoughts on Patreon. So if you don't know, my wife is an illustrator.

And she has, like, just over 20,000 followers on Instagram, something like that. So, you know, she's got a sizable audience and very, you know, very engaged, and she does well. She's really, like, starting to get her business underway, which is really cool to see.

But she. She did a Patreon and has a Patreon, and I think Patreon is great. But I also think it's hard. Like, it's a little, like, it's a. I hate it. I hate that I have this outlook on it, but I think it's because I haven't seen a lot of people do it. Well.

I see it, unfortunately, a little bit like an artist on the street with a tip jar. They're like, okay, well, if you want me to dance a little more, then I'M already out here doing the dance, but if you want to give me a dollar, I'll dance a little more over here. And now we've got this thing that we're giving away for free. And then we say, hey, for just a dollar, you can go in here and I'm going to spend hours more giving you more content or whatever it is. And that's so hard for me to stomach as a creative that wants artists to, like, see their worth, to, like, really see what they're worth. Because what we're doing there is saying to them, and I'd love some pushback here. What we're doing is saying to them, like, you know, I'm not worth more than like a dollar or $5 extra.

And that's tough because then how do you sell a higher ticket item to somebody like that? Now, if it's entry level, it's really simple for somebody to, like, for you as a creative to go in and make this thing for your patrons. Then I think it's okay if you're like, hey, I'm going to spend an extra 10 minutes or whatever to make this other thing half an hour even. Like, that's fine. But I really want you all to consider, like, what are you doing there? That could work. Are you better off to just say, hey, here's a flat level fee to do these little events where it's like, you know, would you make more money to get 10 people into a room, a zoom room for a concert at 10 bucks a piece than you would to have, you know, 50 patrons at a dollar apiece, you know, and then holding those events a little more frequently or infrequently. But if you do that versus saying to your patrons, like, you pay me a dollar a month or $2 a month or $5 a month, then you'll get all this extra stuff. Then they're like, well, I'm already giving you this. And, you know, it's just all about this perception of value. And I get a little wonky with that feeling. So.

I hope that, that. I hope that makes sense.

Nick Newman says dope art work on your wall. Thanks, man. My brother actually did this work here. So this here is three posters for a band called Lucius, who are friends of mine. And they're two gals that sang. They sing with backup for Roger Waters now, which is really cool, but amazing band if you don't know about them. But they did these three shows in la and my brother did this, and so he also illustrated. I'll show this to you guys.

If you've ever heard of the comedian Bo Burnham, my brother illustrated Bo Burnham's book, which is super cool. So, yeah, Chance Bone there. Chance is one of the biggest inspirations in my life. One of the just most brilliant, talented dudes that I've ever met. And I just love him a ton. I love him a ton. He's so, so good at what he does. So good what he does.

Okay. So, yeah, thank you for that. I appreciate that.

Let's see.

Yeah. Jeremy says as a music producer, I would offer project files or samples, etc, on Patreon. Yeah, I mean, you know, here's the other thing to this is that while I don't think that's bad, you know, what does it look like to. Because here's the other side to that is like, when you. If you think of it from outside business perspective. So I know Karen here says, like, so what would you suggest? Right?

So.

The thing about this is so hard for me to like, to really say. Cause again, it's a lot about my perception of Patreon because my wife had such a big problem with that, with. It's like her patrons are supportive, but they're not super engaged. So she was making this extra content that they didn't even really participate in. And that was the other side of it, is that when the value is lower and you give it to them, they may or may not even participate. A few will. They're just there to support you. So I'm almost of the inclination to say, hey, you know, in a stream like this, like right now, you guys can go and do like a tip or whatever. So if you want to leave me a tip for like doing this live stream, you can do that through YouTube, Super Chat or whatever. I think things like that are cool. It's like, hey, we're here doing this thing. But I would consider if you're going to do something like sample libraries or those kinds of things, project files, like.

You know, again, how much time did you put in into that for you to sell that as a thing? And, you know, let's take a look at art in general and what's, you know, what's the thing we're seeing? It's like when we say to somebody like, you pay me 10 bucks and I'm just gonna open up the floodgates to all this stuff that I've spent hours on.

It just doesn't rub me the right way. And then everybody complains when Spotify pays us a fraction of a penny for a stream as musicians and it's like, well, that's our fault. We're devaluing ourselves to that point. So what I would suggest in lieu of that is to release all these things as individualized products. And I would make it more exclusive and I would make it more scarce to where it's like, hey, I'm only giving these project files out to 15 people because I want these to feel like exclusive things that you can use for your projects. And I don't want these to get out there and just be another thing that becomes another, like, cookie cutter opportunity. Right? Or. And so then you can charge a little more and you can say, okay, for $40 for this thing, what, you would have charged $10 for somebody to maybe stay with you for four months. You're like, here, just pay the 40 bucks. We've covered four months of rent. You're going to get the thing. And, you know, these are exclusive to you and only 10 other people. 15, 20 other people. Right. And I think that feels a little more like, oh, that's cool. I got something here that I can't get anywhere else. There's something about scarcity that creates this intrigue for us, and we feel like we're a part of a club. And so I just think Patreon doesn't create any sort of scarcity. It doesn't create any sort of. What do you want to call it, like, excitement for the person to say, like, oh, because I support people on Patreon and I don't look at any of it. I just support it. And. And I don't pay attention because, again, I just want to support. And so I would just leave it at that. Like, you want to support me? Here's my PayPal link. Here's a monthly thing. I'll send you a newsletter of what I'm working on. I'd love to have your support. And then everything else, don't give up the goods. Like, make those actual products, make them scarce, get people excited about it, see what they're into with it.

Ingrid says it's hard. The wall I come against in my industry offers so much for so little. So I've talked about this too, where, you know, with my wife, she said the exact same thing to me because she, again, she's an illustrator, she's an artist. So she said, all these people.

Are selling their portraits for 25, $30.

And I was like, okay, well, how much would you like to get paid per hour? And we went through that. And how much time will it take you? And we went through that. And so we did this exact same thing where I said, here's what I think that, like, let's talk about what these people want. What are they trying to get from your art, and what are you trying to give? And she said, you know, if I'm trying to give anything is that I want these women, these moms, because it's all for moms. I should have said that earlier. I want these moms to feel like if I draw a portrait of their family, that they're capturing the best moments. They're getting to literally, like, curate these. The best moments, the best memories where they wouldn't get that in a photograph. And they're doing it from this perspective of a lot of these moms are saying that her art has been something that's been healing for them. So to encapsulate this very dark time mixed with the transformation of what they've gone through and how they are now and then putting their family together, I was like, this is beautiful. This is so cool. So you're not creating a portrait? This isn't a portrait. What this is, is a snapshot. This is a collaboration for them to come in with an artist that does great work that they respect and to have a conversation and to talk about the things that they love and to get all those things bottled up into one little spot. And so now she sells her portraits for 250 bucks a piece. We're going to raise the price on them here coming up. She sold out of them on her last run. So coming up for Christmas, she sold out. That's all she needed to do. She did what she needed to do, which was only in that amount of time, like 8 or 10. And that made it so much easier. And then it's like, okay, you know, the next fear is like, okay, well, what happens if we raise the price and I, like, buy 50 bucks or 100 bucks? The fear becomes, well, if people don't want that, what happens then? What if that's too expensive? Well, you need less people to make the same amount of money that you just did. But now you've got all these people that will back you up and say, I cried. In the call, we talked about stuff that made me cry. And when I got this and I hung it on my wall and it was really beautiful. And every time I look at it, it means something. Like, because they put skin in the game, because they paid something for means more to them. Think about it like, I buy this damn iPhone. Like, I got it in a case that cost me 50 bucks. That's a piece of plastic. But that, you know, like, the fact that this thing cost me so much money and it represents my creativity and my ideas and all these other things. Hell, yeah. I'm gonna put a case around it and take care of it. You know, like, I don't know. There's something to that that makes sense to me. We just have to be cautious of that stuff.

So Jonathan Anderson says, I understand what you're saying about Patreon. I feel like it's kind of necessary at the moment for me. I get around $100 a month. So what makes it necessary for you to. At the moment, why is it necessary? That's a great question. Because we may feel like something is necessary, but we just haven't opened our eyes up to what the possibility is. Right. Okay. Yeah. Ingrid even says it. That's my problem, too. Patreon non engagement. Right. Peter Hollins does a really great job on Patreon. Peter Hollands also does a really great job of having an incredibly huge audience that supports him for what he does. Right. So. And he is a small percentage, and he also sells a course at like, 200 bucks or $300. So, you know, it's not his only source of revenue by a long shot. And that's what I'm getting at, is that people feel like Patreon should be their first step. I disagree. I think Patreon should be maybe a step mixed with, like, two or three others. That's that. I'm glad you got me there. So that that was the point I'm really trying to get at, is that people feel like that's their only way to make a little money right now, so they do it. And I'm like, no, there are plenty of other ways. And you can still do Patreon, but just say, hey, like, you want to support me? Here's where I'm doing that. Like, it's, you know, kind of that thing.

Let's see here. Susan says, I'm loving this. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.

In my niche, people watch the video tutorials. Yeah, in my niche, too. Right.

Every niche watches the tutorials. Every niche can get the thing that they want for free, but what they don't have to connect that to is you. What you. You know, like.

There are people here that can vouch for the fact, including you, Karen. I would hope, and maybe I'm, like, tooting my own horn here, that if you work with me privately on a one, on one basis, it's different because we get to go Deeper, there's something there. And that support is different. And so even with Jamie, it's like what she changed with her people was not just that she gave them a portrait, she made it an experience. She made it a one on one journey for them. So that's. If you, if you're trying to make money now, like, how can you bring people in on more of this intimate journey? Because the more intimate, the more it feels like they're a part of something, the more it feels like an experience for them and the more it's worth for them on the back end and the more they're gonna talk about it because they're like, holy cow, this person brought me in, we did this phone call, we did this thing, we had a hangout, blah, blah, blah. Like I felt like I was like in it, you know, it wasn't just them handing me this thing, I was a part of it. That's a different story. That's what I think.

Yeah. Ingrid says I need to let go of I need X Mini in the workshop and focus more on a smaller group personal at a higher price. It's a bit scary. Definitely scary. It's always scary. Thinking about scarcity. It does make sense in a way. My product is harder to get and wanted than the value goes up. If it just comes out of the floodgates, it has no value to it. Yeah. And you know.

The argument to that is always, well.

But other people do it, they can get it somewhere else.

This is where the story comes into play. This is where it's like, yeah, but what did you do differently? What was your thought process that made this interesting? What was the thing that you went through? What did you overcome so they don't have to, you know, that's where understanding and telling that part of it makes it worth more. Because it's not about.

You are doing something everyone else is doing. That's everybody in the entire frickin planet. But the value only changes when they see and feel the value that you have for yourself. And then I heard it said this way and I totally agree.

Now we're getting into my world, right, Where I've learned to ask for more and more money for things that I do. And, and I still don't ask enough for certain things. Mostly because it's the same. I'm trying to like build something, but I'm trying not to do much for free in terms of like more intimate things because I don't think that there's value in it for the people doing it either. Because I Know that when people pay for something, they take action. And that's important to me is I want people that work with me to actually take action. Right. You watch this video, you may or may not go do anything about it. You might, but 99% of people won't. Right. So we give it away. And the ones that take action are the ones that put some skin in the game. So, you know, this idea of, like, other people, etc, etc, have all done this and how do we make that more interesting for our people? Like, I just think I kind of lost my train of thought, to be honest. I think it's just a matter of more connection with you and more ways to make that intimate so value goes up. Yeah, okay. I'll come back to that. I'm sure Jonathan says, I don't have any other income. Yeah. Well, then that's the thing is, like, what can you do to create a deeper experience for somebody? You know.

Can you do a custom string arrangement of Happy Birthday for somebody in your audience for 50, 75 bucks? Right. Something that would take you the same amount of time it would for you to do your other regular content. You'll make 50, 75 bucks for something you could do in half an hour. And then you can utilize the. You can tell the story of how you did that for somebody by taking the video of that, putting it online, showing how much it meant to them, and then perpetuating that little cycle of I'll do these custom string arrangements for you. Then I've only got three available for the next month and maybe you could do more, but I would always say do less. When we were coming up and building out the band stuff, we would always oversell a small room to create scarcity. Because what happens, people walk away and they say, I missed out on that. I really wish I could have got into that. I really wish I could have got into that show. It was packed. I heard there were people there, blah, blah, blah. Same kind of thing with the things that you make. Because then on the other side of that, they see that you've done something for somebody that they really liked and then what happens? Then they're like, holy cow, I wish I had that thing, but there's none left. I'm definitely getting it next time. That's the things that start to perpetuate, right? And then you're like, well, I'm sorry, you missed the first one. I've had to up the charge a little bit because I'm fully booked now. Now you're making a little more money. The scarcity creates more value because now you need less people. That's what I was going to say is that it takes the same amount of energy to sell. Actually, it takes less energy to sell one person for $100 than it does to sell 100 people for $1. It takes more energy to sell 100 people for $1 than. Than it does to sell one person for $100. So which way would work better for you? Right.

I hope this is, like, resonating and not feeling like I'm barking at you guys. I'm really wanting you guys to just like, again, see your worth. You are worth more than you're giving yourself credit for. I guarantee it. I don't care what you do. Okay.

Yeah. It says, I think if I was that stage, I would make it clear that Patreon just gets used for tips. By that logic. Absolutely. That's what I would do too. Yeah.

Hoping that the album will bring in some money, Jonathan. I hate to say it, it's probably not. Albums don't make money anymore. Right. They can get it for free on Spotify. We've done that to ourselves as musicians. So where is the money going to come from there? Unless you're offering an opportunity for somebody to get something more from that. Just making the album isn't enough anymore. The album becomes a pairing to something else. This is what I'm trying to teach people, is bridging the gap. How can you build a business around or next to the thing that you make? Because more often than not, in the young artist situation, the art itself has gotten devalued so much that we don't make money from it. And so people are telling us, go out there and sell Spotify ads and do this thing and buy a bunch of ads to get your art out there. And for what? For them to come and not pay anything. For them to come and stream your music. And you only get a fraction of a cent for that. And you've just spent 20 bucks to acquire a stream and now you're going to get a fraction of a cent for a $20 spend. It doesn't make sense. And people that are teaching that stuff and not teaching you how to build a business alongside the thing that you do are just teaching you how to run a hole in the ground and not live the dream that you need, which is to get confident, make a little money so that you can support your art. Because your art deserves to be supported. It deserves it. Art has been devalued, but the artist has not. Art has Been devalued, but the artist has not. People want the connection to the artist. They want to know the deeper things. They want to go deeper with you. Right. Getting passionate here, guys. Wow. Guys bringing out some stuff here.

Yeah. Ingrid says. Okay, I get it now. It's about going deeper part of something. Okay, thanks for that. It clicked. I hope so. I hope it's clicking for you guys. I hope you guys are hearing me.

Yeah.

Karen says I'm looking to put a category on Patreon to have a one on one for like $200. Don't do that on Patreon. Patreon is not a platform for that. Do that on your own website and sell it through your email list. Patreon's not a place for that. I mean, you know, like, I think Patreon is a support platform. It's something for people that put out things consistently. You support the thing that you do consistently. Yeah. I wouldn't recommend it personally. That's my thought. I don't. I'm not saying I'm right, but.

Yeah, Susan, if my product is me, I'm a limited edition. Big scarcity. Absolutely. You kidding me? I love that.

I love that.

Jeremy says this is super helpful. Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you.

Okay, here we go. Now we're getting into some weeds. I love this, Karen. You always come with the stuff that I want to talk about. I don't even realize it. So the thing is, I don't know how many spots to sell. What if I sell too little and I don't fill them? It's embarrassing. Let me tell you what happened, Karen. I sold a workshop. I opened it to 30 people. How many people signed up? 16. Who knows that? Just you guys right now. That's it. Right? Sell it in a way that it doesn't matter.

That's all. Just don't take it so personally. Right. As a matter of fact, if you need to make. If that's gonna be an issue, flip it and say, you know what? Because this is what I'm gonna do. Like, I'm working on a group coaching session right now. That's gonna be a bit of a higher ticket item for the people that actually want to take, like, take action. Not like incredibly expensive, but, you know, expensive for people will think, oh my gosh, you're charging that much money? Especially creatives. That's what's in my head. And I'm only thinking of charging like $700 for a 12 week program. But here's the thing. If they take this and there's only two people in it. Would I feel embarrassed? Maybe. But then what did I think about how much more valuable is the $700 that they just spent? If there's now only two people in it and they get the one on one time with me, they now have narrowed it down to only three of us in a room for a cost of what usually would be almost 2,000. To spend that much time with me, that's a big difference. That's a big difference. So you just got to flip the mindset and let them know that up front if there's less people in here, just so you know, this could be really great. Because whether there's two people or it's full, like the value is there, value exists.

Jeremy says you sound very emotional about the devaluation of art. It seems to be hitting you too. Oh my gosh. Well, here's the thing, right, Is like.

Yes, the devaluation of art hit me as a performer and an artist, but what found me was exploring all these other, these other niches, these other like business type things. Because when you see other people outside the creative world.

That are doing business.

They'Re building all these things alongside their regular stuff. So they're like, creativity side is the calling card to the business. And I was like, that's beautiful. That's exactly what should be happening. Right? So for instance, to use my wife as an example again, so one thing she's doing, she's selling portraits, so that's selling her art, right? But the other thing she's doing is she just sold a four week course for moms that are struggling with depression. And it was kind of a workshop thing for these moms to go through. And that's a lot of what her art ties to, for these moms to go through. And she helps them talk through some exercises that she used to, to deal with that stuff. So in the case of, you know, the.

Like in the case of the other, you know, you know, with the violin stuff, if you're like, hey.

The side to this that you're, you're saying like, well, I dealt with these financial issues, but you, you know, or I dealt with the spiritual stuff. Like what, what was the spiritual practices that you had? Maybe you did meditation and you did something like that. And so you could offer a little miniature like retreat that's like a meditation retreat and it comes with your music and you score the whole thing. You make an experience alongside your art that fits with the story and the whole thing that happens with it, it's Just about creating something like flipping the lid on it and starting to pair your art with something else in everyday life. And that's the stuff that I think makes things unique and in what is very saturated niches in a lot of art. That's a beautiful avenue because now you stand out. Now you become the only violin player that is selling meditation courses alongside their music, or you're the only producer that offers up like, you know, a workshop on, etc. Life thing mixed with like production. I mean, so this just creates uniqueness to what you do. And it's still based all around your own life and personal experience. So Lacy's in the house. Hi, Lacy. Yeah. Make them the most satisfied two customers in the world. Absolutely. Lacy's. If you haven't, you should check out Lacy's work. Lacy's a great friend of ours and does some incredible figurative art. She's a figurative artist and does a lot with like the female figure. Absolutely gorgeous stuff. Super cool. Thank you, Lacy. Yeah, I totally agree.

Karen says it's hard. I know it's out of my control, but it does hit your feelings. I know it's not important to look at results.

But when many things don't work, it takes a toll on you. Yeah, it does. Yeah. But what it sounds like to me.

Karen, is that.

If I'm being completely real to the situation, is that what I hear from you is that you're so close to tapping into this thing that really like is you, but you're dancing around it. You're like, how do I make sure I get it right? How do I make sure that I get it perfect? How do I make sure that this doesn't fail instead of just being able. And what happens in those situations is often self fulfilling prophecies where it's like, okay, this is a failure. This is a failure. Failure does not exist. Failure does not exist. It only exists when we give it breath. Failure is a thing that is in our head that when we say I failed, then we have failed until then. It is not something tangible that we can hold on to and call it anything. It's not like a frickin book. Right? This is not failure. Right? If this sold one copy, that is not a failure. This is still a piece of art. This is still somebody's work. This is still what somebody put time and effort into. That is not a failure. In this there is time and learning and experiential things. And it may be that you just haven't been ready to like do the thing that you're supposed to do with the thing you're supposed to do yet. And all that really is about, as we talk about all the time, as I say all the time with the Seth Godin stuff, it's not about the end result. It's about getting so wrapped up and comfortable and confident in the process that you're supposed to do that you can show up and do this, that you can be comfortable in saying, like, well, that didn't go how I hoped, but I learned a lot of shit. Great. That feels really good. What's the next thing? How do I keep moving forward? And I know that's really easy for me to say. So don't, please, please, please don't hear that I'm dismissing anybody's feelings because I feel this too, right? A lot of my personal, even sadness the last couple days is wrapped up in these things. So I'm telling myself the same stuff. You know, it may just be on a different level or whatever. But what I do know is that in some ways I have learned, especially here right now in this, like, just being here right now in this way, I have learned to show up fully me and not care the way that I used to. Some of you, if you've watched these before, you can go back and watch one of the old ones. It's not going to sound like this. I'm not going to be as passionate about it and I'm not going to be as like, you know, just sort of off the cuff with certain things I say because I. I trust myself more now. I believe that whatever happens, happens. And if I'm not, like, going at it with my full heart, then I'm not gonna really impact the way I want to anyway. So.

Yeah, just sending you nothing but love, Karen. You're like on the cusp of something freaking amazing. I think all of you are, or you wouldn't even be here thinking about this stuff. But Karen, knowing you personally, I think that's absolutely right.

Susan says, I think you were sitting in on my brainstorming session today. I appreciate you confirming things I've been thinking. Great, great.

Awesome. Climb up the sounds. Good to have you here. I don't know if we've met before. He says, do experimental artists have a certain advantage because their music is smaller and easier to reach?

See here.

For example, there are experimental hip hop rappers that found their audience and somehow broke through the mainstream because of that. Ooh, this is a great question.

I think for this.

Again, this exactly goes back to what I was just saying. I think they have every Advantage if they're willing to trust themselves enough to again build a business with what they do. The music industry and the arts industry is so far behind in what online business and opportunity is that it's insane when I see it and I see the way other creative industries have taken to the online space and what's available to them. Artists are so precious with again these fears of asking for money, creating new products, doing something that may feel outside of themselves, right? That may feel a little uncomfortable, that may feel like they're selling out. God forbid you make some money, right? When we have those feelings, really what that is is us hiding behind something. If we want to make money, but we're not willing to play the game and serve somebody.

Then you're just not going to do it. So yes, they have the advantage because they can have a small niche, real audience and they may not ever go mainstream. But again, I don't know that that should be the point. The point should be to serve the people that you want to serve in the way that you want to serve them, right? And so if you want to have a hobby, you do it for you. If you want to have a hobby, you don't worry about whether or not it serves anybody. You just make whatever you want to make, however you want to make it, and you don't give two shits about anybody else. You want to have a business, you serve somebody, you create an experience for them. It's why live music does so well, it's why art galleries still exist, they're experiential. We want to go there, we want to be with our friends, we want to have camaraderie, we want to have social like social interactions. We want to have opportunities for the music and the art and the visuals and all these things to surround us and encompass us in a different way. We can do that online. It just looks different. It looks like us creating opportunities. And the pandemic, if I may, has opened that up. I believe in so many new opportunistic ways to where something like this or a zoom call or a one on one opportunity in a zoom is like so much more of a thing than it ever was. And the permission to do that exists now, that's not a taboo thing anymore. So yes, I think there is absolutely opportunity for somebody that to serve a small audience really well, create experiences for them that cost more than a quarter of a cent per stream and make the artist money. And the artist and the fan would absolutely love it and be more than willing to pay for it, guaranteed.

Let's see here. Lifting noise. Great conversation. Appreciate you, Lennon. Yeah, man. I appreciate you so much. Yeah.

Sandra Small. Hey. I love your meetings, Sandra. Thank you so much. That's so sweet. I appreciate that. I'm so glad. Thank you for being here.

I stopped visiting the forums, like subreddit. We are the music makers because 99% of people tell you there's no money in music and break it down, break down any hope or dreams any producer may have. That's because they're right. You know the unfortunate thing, I just said it a minute ago, like you're not going to make a month, make money from records anymore the way you used to. So we have to get creative. But that's who we are. We're creatives. So we need to stop resting on the old way and start building new ones. That's the beautiful part about where we are. This opportunity to create experiences in new ways, in new avenues. Like, good Lord, I just think the opportunity is there, right? I don't know. I mean, that's my thought. There's money to be made and people are ready to spend money on art. And for artists, four feelings, right? But they don't pay for a thing. They pay for a feeling. They don't pay for a thing, they pay for a feeling. So like Seth Godin says, right, that somebody goes to a hardware store and they're trying to buy a quarter inch drill bit. They're not buying the drill bit, they're buying the hole. They're not buying the hole. They're buying the shelf that they're making. And they're not even buying the shelf. They're buying the moment when all the shit's off the wall or off the floor and where it needs to be. And the dude's wife comes in, gives him a kiss on the cheek and says thank you. They're buying a sense of accomplishment and pride. Somebody goes to a concert to see something, they're not buying music, they're buying an experience. They're buying the social aspect. They're buying the opportunity to have status, to be at something that other people can't be at. To experience something and share it on social media in a way that elevates them above other people. Pain, joy, right? Life, death, status. Those are the main things that we do anything for. Pain, joy, life, death, status. We can tie it all to that in some way, shape or form, but we always got to look deeper for what the person actually wants. This is why all the tactics that everybody teaches online, it doesn't matter we're growing vanity metrics that don't pay off. They don't pay money. Right. Going out there and getting more followers isn't going to pay your bills. Social media doesn't pay your bills. People pay your bills and people pay for things that make them feel something. And a like on their comment doesn't make them feel anything. I'm sorry. That's how I feel about it. All right.

Nice to meet you too, Sandra. Thank you.

Nice. Thank you for answering my questions. You're great. Is there any place where I can see or read about the artists that you've worked with? So you can go to stopthestarvingartist.com and you can check out kind of the beginnings of this business and what I'm working on. And so currently also like if you're trying to figure out this goes for any of you. If you're trying to figure out what your unique value is, like how do you start to take this art that you make and tie it to something that we talked about. These feelings, these extra values that you have, Go to that website and the link for the, there's a quiz there that you'll take. There's a link for that in the description below. Now also go take that quiz because I'll send you a couple emails that tell you how you can start to think about these values and how you can start to tie them to products, start to tie them to ideas for businesses, for even content to get people to pay attention. Right. Those kinds of things. So that's where I would start. There's a lot of great value in that stuff and I spent a lot of time working on that. Oh wow. Guatemala. That's awesome. Well, I'm so glad you're here. Honestly, it means the world and I don't take it lightly. I really, really don't. I really don't. Thank you. Very cool. Okay guys, that's it for me. I've spent my hour or so here.

You guys are incredible. I'm so I just want to say like I am working on something where it'll be a very small group coaching situation. This is not for people that are like, hey, I'm not ready to spend money on myself. This isn't going to be ultra expensive by any stretch, but going to be an investment for people. But I'm only going to allow somewhere between six and 10 people to be a part of this and it will be a 12 week mastermind group. And if you haven't been a part of a mastermind, some people Call all things a mastermind. And it's like a thousand people. That's not a mastermind. A mastermind is something where we have less and less people in the community at one time and we lift each other up, we hold each other accountable, we come with opportunities, we use each other's resources and we have hot seats every week. So every person gets an opportunity to connect and share their story and their goals and everybody is helping the other person to set forth their next steps. So this isn't a program that's based on like, hey, you know, go do this, this and this. See ya. This is like we're working together to help you build your own curriculum to do the thing that you're trying to do. And that's something that I'm really excited about putting together. If you want to potentially be a part of that. You want to talk about it? I do. Free 20 minute meetings. Same website, stopthestarvingartist.com Go in there, let's like book a call. It's free 20 minutes. Come hang out. Like let's chat about it. And let me know if you're interested. I'd love to talk to you about it more or just send me an email. Yeah, you can find all the contact info at that website or down below. Hit me up on Instagram. So I'd love to. Yeah, love to check more in with you guys. Jason, so glad you're here. Very cool.

Yeah, so glad. Awesome. Yeah. Sandra, how can I contact you via email? Yeah, so if you're on Instagram, Sandra, please go there first and I'll send you my email address. I didn't put it in the description, but it's lennonbone L E N N O N B o n e period. Creativestrategiesmail.com but you can find me on Instagram. I check all those DMS or you know, again, there's a way to find me through the the website. Stopthestarvingartist.com Stopthestarvingartist.com Cool.

Yeah. Appreciate you all. You guys are amazing. Wow. You guys are all in here. Look at that. Speaking Spanish, doing the deal. Very, very cool. Alright guys, love and blessings to you all. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. Please understand and know that you are worth more than what the world says your value is. If the world says that your song is worth a quarter of a cent per stream, they are lying. They are lying. You are worth way more than that. You have just gotten yourself wrapped up in something that allows them to have control of the situation. You have every opportunity to have control of your own situation. Create unique experiences at a higher cost for your fans. For a smaller group that allows you to make a lot more money faster because as I said earlier, you're going to spend a lot more Energy to get 100 people to pay $1 than you are to get one person to pay $100. So think about that. Think about how you can start to create and curate those experiences for a small group of people and that allows you to support yourself and the art that you want to make and serve these people that need what you create because they do need it. Tactics are going to change but connection will not. And that's what I'm all about is figuring out how to connect people, figuring out how to get people to connect and get their art to connect deeper. All right, sending you guys love and I will see you all in the next one. Thank you.