It was literally two months after that that Drum Talk TV started and it just took over my world. I got busy with it, however, last October I started teaching these classes on how to do this all this. I never imagined in my life that my target market, who I believed needs this knowledge the most, people in the arts, would turn out to be the most resistant to taking a class on this.
At the time I started this class out at $97 and I was offering a special for $57 and I could not believe how hard it was to get people through the classes. After I was doing it for three or five months, I decided it was so much work promoting this it wasn’t worth my time. Now, let me interrupt myself right there. I just want to comment about helping people. I’ve seen people posting saying, “people want to charge you to coach you, I just want to help you” and that’s all great. The fact of the matter is, the most important thing we all have is time. 86,400 seconds every day and the result of your success is what you do with that time.
It doesn’t mean you have to be working all that time. But, how hard and smart do you want to work? How much of that time will you be working on your craft, your promotion, and your business development? And how effective, how smart are you going to be working on it? We all need to be compensated for a lot of the stuff we do, right? I make money doing these courses because my time is the most valuable thing I have (other than my family).
Believe me folks, I do a lot of things on a volunteer basis, a lot of donations of things that raise a lot of money for quite a few charitable foundations. I don’t ever want to see an ad like that and then see mine and say “oh but Dan’s going to charge for this?” It’s like when people say food should be free, housing should be free, land should be free, energy should be free. It very nice and idealistic… Is your art free? May I please HAVE a pievce you spent 60 hours creating, let alone the years it took for you to get as good as you are? Of course not, and that’s the way it should be.
VIAM:
It is great idealistically but it doesn’t work in practice, right?
DAN:
It’s like being that factory generating energy for you and you want to be free. Well guess what they need to eat. Come on, let’s come down to earth…I don’t want to get into a political argument with people about that. Where I was going was, I wasn’t charging much and it was so much work. I couldn’t believe it, the people who needed it the most…what I gleaned by asking questions about, “Why don’t you want to do this?” they said “oh, I’ve got it handled.” They really believe that they have it figured out. It just got so frustrating. Then I realized, I had a big epiphany, as I was updating the course, which is what I do constantly. I realized I had to take my own advice, design the perfect client, find them and market to them, as I teach people to do. And it worked. Yet I am hoping people in this community read this, see the value and will enlist my services. It’s not a “cost” folks, it’s an investment in yourself and your business. Unless you are sweating it all out for just a hobby, then it doesn’t matter.
VIAM:
Why is it, in your opinion that artists don’t want to work the business end of the arts?
DAN:
A lot of people in the arts are in the arts because they don’t want a real job, they don’t want to do “business.” Well and because they are artistic, of course and want to follow their passion. That’s perfect! Why not learn how to make money at it??? Many have an aversion to that. Many have never learned how, and there are some that have never had a real job, let alone been in management or an ownership position.
I’ve been in and out of business since I was 20 years old – I am 51 now - either as a manager or business owner, while I’ve been in music, television, video, film, radio and all those things. I am constantly updating what I am working on. The course I teach is what I’ve learned to build Drum Talk TV to an immense audience. We are reaching over 3 million people a week on Facebook alone, organically, without spending a dime on advertising.