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I was so caught up with work recently, I completely overlooked a small, but meaningful milestone:
Archive for the 'From My Experience' Category
"The greatest achievements were at first and for a time dreams." - James Allen
Last night was a truly historic evening.
Most of us were overcome with so much emotion, it was and still is difficult to express our sentiments with words.
I recently discussed what Barack Obama represents for many of us; that he provides proof of the idea that we can do anything.
Although my post was quite brief, it inspired some great conversations with some friends, so I thought I’d delve a little further into the topic.
This has nothing to do with politics.
This is about having dreams, keeping faith and accomplishing goals.
I just wanted to drop a quick post to let you guys know that I finally got my MacBook Pro back!
I got it back last week actually; 11 days after it decided to die. I wanted to post sooner, but since it was my hard drive that crashed, I’ve spent the past week just catching up on projects and re-creating files from scratch.
Not fun.
Needless to say, I definitely made it a point to pick up an external hard drive to keep a full system backup of everything in my laptop.
I wasn’t sure what brand or model to go with, so I posed the question on Twitter and everybody led me toward the trio of Western Digital, Maxtor and LaCie.
After some consideration at the store, I decided to go with a 750GB LaCie hard disk. The box says it was designed by industrial designer, Neil Poulton.
His design?
A shiny black box.
To be honest, even though it’s just a shiny black box; it’s still pretty nice.
Sorry for the quality & reflection of the pic. My desk has a glass top an the LaCie hard disk is reflective so it was a little difficult to take a picture without crazy flash. You can actually see me taking the picture through the reflection of the hard disk.
Anyhow, it serves me right to experience this situation. If you take your business seriously, invest in it appropriately and make sure you’re well covered in case of ANY emergency or disaster.
Whenever you implement any new tool or piece of equipment into your business, make sure to have a way of still functioning in case it malfunctions or gets stolen.
Luckily, I have my business email hosted through Google Apps, so all email that goes through my email or the email of anybody else on my team, is backed up online - free.
We can even share documents and edit them collectively, in real time, as opposed to emailing a document to each team member and having 5 different edits.
If you’re running a small business, or consider yourself a business (even if it’s just you), I highly suggest checking out Google Apps. It’s free and it’s a lifesaver.
I was running around doing some errands yesterday, and while walking towards the cash of an electronics store, I noticed a bin of DVDs for sale.
At the very top, as if just placed there perfectly for me, was Gattaca.
This movie right here, is one of my favourite movies period.
It’s a little old now (came out in 1997) and it’s a bit slow-paced, but the concept and message in this movie are incredible.
Without giving away any spoilers, Gattaca is about a society that lives in a “perfect” world. Parents choose how they want their babies; everything from what gender the child will be, to the colour of their eyes.
Basically, they order their kids as if they were ordering furniture.
Anyways, in this perfect world, there are a few “un-perfect” humans or “defects” who end up trapped in a life without any opportunities or any possibilities of success.
The main character is a “defect” who ends up finding a way of sneaking into the superior class of society and completely defies his life plan.
He’s one of the best at what he does and nobody has a clue that he’s actually a defect.
It’s an incredible movie that really points out the fact that no matter who you are or who others think you are, you can do ANYTHING.
NOTHING is impossible and regardless of your past or present; the ONLY THING getting in the way of having EVERYTHING you have EVER wanted and everything that you have ever dreamed of, is YOUR OWN BELIEF.
Ignore everybody that says otherwise.
EVERYBODY.
Sometimes that has to include loved ones. Your family and friends will always say they support you and believe in you, but truth is, there are usually limits to their belief.
Plus, if they don’t fully believe in themselves, how can they fully believe in you?
It’s a bold statement, but it’s true.
People will always remind you of “who you are”, but the reality is that’s only the perception of who you are. You can be anybody and anything you want to be. Not to sound corny, but it’s true.
It really hit me when I first moved to a different city. I had never been there before in my life and didn’t really know anybody there. I decided to use this to my advantage and become a new me. Shed all my bad habits and develop new ones. I was a stranger to everybody so nobody would be able to say “that’s not you”.
I became a completely new person.
I gained a whole new sense of self-confidence. And that self-confidence allowed me to realize that I was FAR more capable than I ever realized before.
Even if you aren’t moving to a new city and you’re always around people who know your habits and your “abilities”; you can still become a “new you”.
What’s the worst that will happen? People will comment? Some might crack jokes and try to ridicule you?
So?
Let them be negative. That’s not your issue; it’s theirs.
They don’t have enough confidence or belief to be the best version of themselves, so they’re going to try and keep you down as well. Misery likes company, right?
If you allow that to affect you, it’s not them holding you back; it’s you. You have to make sure that NOTHING stops you.
This movie is an incredible visualization of that. And it doesn’t just have to be a movie or a story. It can be reality, and it is reality, but it’s just up to you to let it be.
One of my favourite lines (there are many great quotables in the movie) is during a scene where the main character (”the defect”), is swimming in a race against a “perfect specimen” and is winning. The perfect specimen asks the defect how he’s able to continue swimming for so long and with such stamina. The defect replies “I never saved anything for the way back”.
I love that line.
And it’s true. Most of us do that. We create this “exit strategy” in our minds whenever we approach a new task. A “Plan B.”
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have a Plan B. That’s okay, but 9 times out of 10, people only have a Plan B because they don’t truly believe in their Plan A. They’re preparing themselves for failure.
Why?!
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t prepare myself for failure.
Anybody who knows me knows how intense I can get. For me, it’s all or nothing.
I’m either going to die successful or die still working on it. But no matter what, when I die, nobody will ever be able to say I didn’t give it my all.
The main character in this movie said “I Never Saved Anything For The Way Back”.
Kurt Cobain said “It’s Better To Burn Out Than Fade Away”.
Malcolm X said “By Any Means Necessary”.
Tupac said “Against All Odds”.
Hell, even Nike’s motto is “Just Do It”.
There’s so many of these quotes, but they all have the same message, “GO FOR IT!”
Whatever motivates you, whatever gets you going, whatever pushes you to go that extra mile; just find it and use it every single chance you get, because there is NOTHING that is holding you back from defying all odds and acheiving all your dreams.
Believe in yourself and anything is possible.
ANYTHING.
So, the other day, I was talking to Asher Roth and his label head/manager, Scooter Braun, and during our convo, Asher mentioned to me that he’s always asked how he’s gotten this much exposure and how he maintains everything that’s going on. His response was, “you’re only as good as your team”.
I couldn’t agree more.
It got me thinking I should talk about that here and also address some of the messages I’ve been getting regarding Asher.
Plus, I’ve been asked to discuss a few more personal stories so this seems like a great opportunity to do both.
For the record, I’m not his manager, nor am I the “head of his marketing”.
I’m part of a team.
I mean, I see why it would be easy for people to get confused though. My blog is called Making The Mogul, and I discuss issues revolving around working in the music business and being in marketing, and I talk about Asher often, so why wouldn’t somebody jump to that conclusion?
Plus, for years, we have been exposed to so much spotlight-hogging and “one man army” crap in the mainstream media, that whenever we keep seeing the same person attached to or speaking about an artist, we automatically assume that’s the person behind it all.
Actually, before I get carried away on that tip, I’ll stop and save it for another post.
One of the purposes of my blog is to help educate people on the business and also share some insight into what goes on with some of the people we watch and read about everyday; so I want to share a little behind-the-scenes story about Asher’s movement with you guys.
When Asher Roth dropped “The Greenhouse Effect” with Don Cannon and DJ Drama, the net blew up! Everybody’s been talking about him since. That’s something we all know and have witnessed firsthand. But what you may not know is how Steve Rifkind reacted.
Steve Rifkind, one of the most accomplished hip-hop entrepreneurs around, flipped on his staff! Almost verbatim, Steve told his crew, “Scooter, Asher and their team did this completely on their own. We can’t tell them what to do. They made themselves the label’s priority.”
That’s a big look!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying SRC hasn’t done anything. Their crew is one of the few in the business that actually understands how to properly support their artists.
Asher’s album is slated for an early 2009 release, yet he’s the label’s number 1 priority and everywhere you look on the net, you see the name Asher Roth.
But don’t get it twisted. Even the strongest team can’t push something that nobody believes in. We just put the word out, but it’s everybody else who reacts and gives the great feedback that helps support a talented artist like Asher Roth.
An audience that believes in you, is one of the most valuable assets you can ever attain. Scratch that, an audience that believes in you IS THE MOST VALUABLE asset you can ever attain.
Everybody who downloaded The Greenhouse Effect, everybody who keeps Asher Roth in rotation on their iPods, everybody who talks about him on Facebook, MySpace & Twitter, everybody who blogs about him or mentions him to their friends - you are part of this team. So shout out to you.
I also have to shout out some of the other members of the team that really put in their work:
Dana & Kathryn at Biz3 are handling Asher’s publicity and doing a great job at it. They’re working with other artists like The Cool Kids, Kid Sister, A-Trak and Chromeo; so they definitely know how to work with independents and help them compete with the top dogs.
And of course, it wouldn’t be possible to not mention Scooter Braun.
I’m actually going to feature Scooter on the site real soon, so I’ll save some of the background info for then, but just know that Scooter is the man with the plan.
If I hadn’t gone ahead and swooped up the name MakingTheMogul.com, he’d be the perfect candidate for it. Scooter accomplishes more in one day than most people accomplish in one month.
And he definitely has an ear for talent. Asher Roth is a prime example of that.
But that’s not all that’s up his sleeve. Scooter recently acquired another incredible talent; Justin Bieber.
For a while now, I’ve been paying attention to this young cat on his YouTube channel. He’s from Canada, so I have a sense of pride seeing his fanbase continue to grow. Justin’s become the most subscribed Canadian musician on YouTube, and one of the most subscribed musicians on YouTube overall, with about 50,000 subscribers and 21.5 million video views.
Let me repeat that: 21.5 MILLION video views!
Once you check out his videos, you’ll understand why he’s so popular. Oh and by the way… he’s only 13 years old!
I’d been following him for a while, so when Scooter told me he signed him; it just seemed incredibly coincidental to me.
Actually, just the other day, he played me a rough mix of one of Justin’s new songs and to say I was amazed would be an understatement.
(Side-note: Scooter played the song for me over iChat while he was sitting in a hotel room in Norway. He’s over there as a panelist for the Oslo World Music Festival. This just gives you an idea of the tip he’s on. I mean, who goes to Norway?)
The song is great and Justin voice is just incredible.
Remember where you heard it from first; Justin Bieber is going to be MAJOR!
I just realized how long this post has gotten so let me leave it here.
Make sure to check out these links:
Justin Bieber - http://www.youtube.com/user/kidrauhl
Biz 3 Publicity - http://www.biz3.net
Asher Roth - http://thedailykush.ning.com
SRC Records - http://srcrecords.net
I just wanted to drop you guys a quick line to update you on a few things and fill you in on this MTV & 50 Cent situation:
MTV & 50 Cent Are Stalking Me!
Finally all those random emails and messages I’ve been getting about casting calls makes sense.
Turns out, MTV and 50 Cent are doing a new show called “Mogul In The Making”. But a lot of people seem to be confused, so let me officially say, I am in no way involved with MTV and 50 Cent’s “Mogul In The Making” show.
The concept of their show is pretty much the same as the original concept for MakingTheMogul.com. When launching this site, I decided to launch as a blog since it’s a more feasible approach than video for me to share my journey.
I actually wrote a quick explanation about what motivated me to launch this blog on another site a little while back. I’ll find the exact post and paste it here soon.
It just vexes me that I almost registered that domain also (just for safekeeping), but decided against it. I even have a category on here titled, “Mogul In The Making”.
Ah well… gotta keep it moving!
Pssst… 50… Judy. Scrap the auditions. Holler at me and we’ll do it up EdTV style.
Free Kush on Friday the 13th
I’m hyped up for next Friday, June 13th, 2008. That day marks a very important day in the history of hip-hop. It marks the release of…
Asher Roth’s new mixtape, The Greenhouse Effect, with DJ Drama & Don Cannon.
This mixtape is going to be bananas! And it’s true what they say, the best things in life are free.
To get the free download of Asher Roth’s “The Greenhouse Effect” on June 13th, make sure to check out http://thedailykush.com.
On The Hunt For A Rebound
I’ve finally had it with my computer. If it freezes, automatically reboots or overheats once more (which it does for no reason and comes with a LOUD siren noise), I will send this useless thing flying out the window to be ran over by a city bus.
This computer acts like my ex-girlfriend; it’s always heated, very unpredictable in its actions, never stops yelling, and rarely acts right when I need it to most.
After 3 years of trying to make it work, I’m done.
A lot of people have been suggesting a MacBook but I’ve also been getting a ton of suggestions about a few PC laptops like the IBM Thinkpad series and the Toshiba Satellite series.
What do you suggest?
I need a solution fast, before I break my foot kicking my current tower… again.
I Will Reply Soon!
Thank you to everyone who emailed me in response to the “Mogul’s Network” post. Things have been really crazy recently (I’ll fill you in soon enough), but I promise to reply to everyone who’s contacted me.
That’s it for now.
Bless.
Okay, this post might crossover into rant mode, but I have to get this off my chest.
A little while ago, I noticed someone had sent me a friend request on 2 different social networking sites; Facebook and LinkedIn. I know who the person is, but I’m not very familiar with her because we’ve only briefly dealt through someone else in the past. On the few instances that we have spoken, she seemed nice and professional, so I decided to accept her friend requests.
She contacted me with an update of what she’s doing now and we exchanged a few emails over a 2 week period.
As you already know, I have my own business; so I have a few people on the team, but I also keep a short list of freelancers who I’ll outsource work to for certain services. I’ve seen her work and thought her quality of work and price would be a good match for one of my clients.
I called her up and gave her a brief rundown about this potential client and what was needed, but never went into details about who the client is and where they’re from. We spoke a bit and agreed on a rate for her retainer services.
Later that night, I logged into my Facebook account and noticed that she added 3 people from my Friends List. 2 of those guys were the clients who I was discussing the contract for, but I never mentioned their names or any real details about them.
We don’t live in the same area and she works in a very specific niche, so it’s unlikely for us to have many contacts in common.
I thought it was kind of strange but thought maybe she’s just one of those people who treats Facebook like MySpace and adds as many people as she can without making real connections with them.
Then, the next day, I get a call from my client telling me that he just got a message from her saying she can offer him a cheaper price if he goes directly through her.
WHAT?!
How bold can you be?
But wait, it doesn’t stop there.
The same evening, I noticed she joined about 5 groups that I belong to and ended up adding the admins of those groups as well (also people on my Friends List). These were all relatively small, local production companies and labels that don’t really operate within her niche; so again, it’s highly unlikely that she knows them.
The next day, I got some phone calls and emails from a few people telling me that she contacted them also and offered them the same thing. They noticed I was the only “mutual friend” so they wanted to give me a heads up on this back door shyster.
I can’t lie - I was vexed! I was about to pick up the phone and put her on blast. Did she think I wouldn’t find out? Did she think I’d just ignore it?
My blood was boiling at first, but then I realized - these people all called and told me about it. They got this random person who just added them on a social networking site and started pitching them straight from the gate. They don’t know her nor have they ever heard of her. All they know is that the only person they can link her to is me and that they hired my company to handle the services she’s pitching them.
They all sensed a rat and even deleted her from their Friends List as well.
But the fact that I’m the only person they can link her to plays into their perception of me and my judgment. We really have to be careful about who we keep around us. It’s hard sometimes because most of us work in industries that are built on greed and backstabbing. Especially the music business!
How do we know who to trust and when we find those people, how do we know how far our trust should stretch?
Obviously, she can’t be trusted and I’m curious as to how many bridges she’s burned so far, but even though she went directly to some of the artists, managers and indie labels I work with; I’m not really worried. She oversaw my secret weapon - Personal Relationships!
I don’t just walk up to people, hand them my business card and walk away. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I see it all the time at industry events; people walk around and give out their cards like they’re passing out club flyers - they don’t even speak to anyone. A lot of artists and beatmakers are guilty of doing the same thing with their CDs: just put it someone’s hands and walk away. I call that “spam networking”. There’s no point to it; nobody’s going to remember you when you spam network.
For me, I don’t just meet people; I develop relationships. When I look through my address book, I don’t see “contacts”; I see PEOPLE. I see experiences and memories. That’s not something that just takes 5 minutes to build. This is something that takes while to build and that you maintain on a constant basis.
Whether it’s wishing someone happy birthday, taking them out when they’re in town or even just grabbing a drink together because you haven’t seen each other in a while; these things are important. But don’t just do it because you feel obligated or for networking reasons only. People can tell when you’re being fake. Do it because you genuinely want to. Lucky for me, I’ve come across many people who I easily get along with and whose company I enjoy.
So, back to the situation at hand; to her and to anyone like her - you can steal all the contact info you want and try to pitch them, but I can pick up the phone and share a laugh or even ask for a favour if ever needed.
No matter what you do, what industry you’re in or where you are in your career, never underestimate the power of a personal relationship.
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