Start With Why

I want to address few questions that I get.  Specifically, they are:

• If you're doing so well licensing music, Why are you doing this?
• Why take the time and effort to write a book and release a course if you're continually getting placements and making money?

In the early spring of 2017 a friend of mine sent me this link:

TED Talk by Simon Sinek.

I love TED Talks. The ideas shared are both fascinating and inspiring. When this Talk was over, I watched it again... and then again... and then again. I watched this particular video 4 or 5 times in a row. There was something about it that resonated with me.

Not being able to get it out of my mind, I headed to the local bookstore and picked up a copy of Simon's book Start With Why. The concept of this book is what his TED Talk was based on.  

Never before has a book so drastically changed my life. I read it 3 times in the first month alone.  

So, what does this have to do with anything?  

Give Me 2 Minutes and I May Change Your World. 

Start With Why challenges you to discover your 'why.' It challenges you to clearly define WHY you do what you do. What motivates you? What gets you out of bed in the morning?  

While these sound like easy questions to answer, I can assure you, when you take the time to truly look deep within yourself, they aren't.  

For many of us, we are constantly running on automatic pilot, with no clear reason why we do what we do. I was. Sure, money is always a motivator, but every one of us knows someone who makes a lot of money and isn't fulfilled.

The pursuit of personal fulfillment is what led us create music in the first place, right?

When I read Start With Why in the spring of 2017, I had just turned 42. Even though I'd been progressively more 'successful' each year of my career, once I turned 40 I started questioning a lot about my life. It would frustrate me when people would say, "you're living the dream," because internally I was questioning my real motivation to continue doing the same thing I'd been doing for years.  

Sure I was making good money, and building a long-term royalty stream, but I knew I could add more value to other people's lives. I had accomplished everything I set out to accomplish in music, but something was missing... the problem was I didn't know what that 'thing' was... yet.

What To Change Your World? Start With Why

Then one day I decided I was going to take Simon's advice and 'rediscover' my why.

I spent a day writing down my why for the various phases of my life. But once I reached the age of 40, I was stuck... 

As I was sitting there, writing out my train of though, and trying to figure out what my real motivation in this phase of my life was, I wrote a phrase that nearly knocked me out of my chair. I wrote, "To Inspire and Help Others Pursue Their Passions and Achieve Their Dreams." 

It suddenly made sense why I'd spent so much time with younger musicians over the previous 2 years, helping them get their careers on track and formulate a strategy that would help them achieve their goals. My WHY had shifted from "writing music that millions of people would hear" to "inspiring and helping others pursue their passions, and achieve their dreams."

Writing music that millions of people would hear was why I spent so many hours as a teenager practicing guitar and writing songs. It was why I moved to Nashville in 1998, and then to Los Angeles in 2003. It was why I spent thousands and thousands of hours in my studio building a catalog of music. It's why I traveled the world playing shows. It's why I was excited to wake up every morning.

Then, around the time I turned 40, I realized that millions of people had heard my music. That left me wondering... what's next? So I spent almost 2 years on autopilot, just doing the same thing: getting placements, making money, and feeling less and less personally fulfilled.

Reading Start With Why changed my perspective entirely, and that, my friend, is exactly why you have a copy of The 4 Step Plan to Licensing Success. That's exactly why I've shared everything I know about music licensing in the Master Music Licensing Course, and it's why you're reading this blog right now.

I'm motivated and excited to do what I can to help YOU ACCOMPLISH your DREAMS!  

That book changed my life, and my hope is that what I'm sharing with you is changing yours. 

What's one thing - book, album, song, musician, band, etc. - that changed your life?  Share with us in the comments section below.