Here’s the story of how I became a producer
As a teenager and hobby musician, I never had the goal of becoming a famous rockstar or making a living solely through my music. I used to have several reasons, or perhaps excuses, for not even trying. Mainly, I thought that musicians never had enough money, and I didn’t believe that I would ever be good enough to charge a reasonable amount to make a living from it. However, I have concerns that pursuing music as my primary source of income may cause me to lose my love for it. I worry that the pressure to succeed could stifle my creativity and diminish the enjoyment I get from making music. So I kept it as a hobby.
Later I was able to secure a position as a sales manager, which provided a stable income even during challenging times. I got promoted every year until I was team-lead sales manager.
But somehow it didn’t make me happy… I began to change companies every year to have new challenges. However, I found that changing companies every year did not bring me happiness. It felt like I had completed the career game in each previous company.
Still a musician
As a hobby musician I played drums in several bands, learned to play the saxophone, and since recording our own songs nerve worked out the way we wanted it, I decided to study audio-engineer on the side.
A friend of mine and I started our own little recording studio as a side hustle. We mainly worked on small projects to mix and master songs or create vocal melodies and improve our clients’ songs. This was my way to have a fulfilling task, although it was more another hobby than a job.
Just before the pandemic, I decided to start my own company as a Marketing and Sales Consultant and worked with some great clients until they, unfortunately, could not survive the pandemic. The risk of not earning enough money during the pandemic to support my family was to high, so I closed the company after 5 months in business. I had to search for a new job and began as a Marketing Manager, utilizing my previous experience in SEO and marketing. I was quickly promoted to partner of a small marketing agency. As a leader, my goal was to create an environment where my colleagues could grow and feel fulfilled, never feeling like they had reached the end of their own career game.
Everybody in the company was a marketing expert, but more on the creative side. Nobody wanted to talk to prospects and sell our services. The company wanted to proceed with the old-school way of selling – cold calling.
I had enough of talking to people who didn’t want to talk to me. I was sick of forcing conversations and selling things to people who just didn’t want to evolve.
Since I felt responsible for the company and my colleagues I started a program to become a business & life coach. I thought this would help be support my team and maybe I could find fulfillment while coaching people on the side.
As I became a Coach I hired a coach for myself. In the past, I had the benefit of having a coach from the company I worked for. I was trying to figure out my true calling and whether there was a way to be happy privately and in business.
I thought that maybe not the company or product is the problem. Maybe it was the target audience. Maybe I should work with people, not with businesses.
Time for Change
So I decided it is time for a drastic change. The past 10 years were always about making money and working for others. It is time to work with others and create things.
My vision as a producer is to help musicians and artists record their music authentically, to build a supportive fanbase so they can make a living from their music while staying true to themselves and supporting them on their way to be professional musicians/artists/bands.
Today I work in a Studio, record Demos with several bands, and create fan-funding-campaigns to raise enough money so the bands and artists can create a great record and make a living from their music.