Bay Area Trip, No Limit Networking + Full Sail

(photo by Kristina Juarbe)

I love what Chris Guillebeau has built and created over at The Art Of Nonconformity. He has a nice community of lifestyle designers, travelers and people looking to do cool stuff in their life and has conversations with them. He talks to them about what is happening in his life, how he makes his income and some of the best travel hacks on the web.

He has this thing on Sundays where he talks about his store and products dudbbed, Sunday Store Update. It’s an inside look at his business and how he funds his traveling, nomadic lifestyle.

This week on GYRS, I really wanted to start talking about some of the things happening behind the scenes. I think with this site, even though its my most successful, its also my most guarded. I generally keep it straight business – writing reviews, interviewing artists or music industry pros or writing how-to’s and critical analysis on the new music business.

While this keeps everyone that I’ve talked to happy, I feel like a big part of me is missing from the site. Yea, pretty selfish, but I wanted to lighten the mood. Another part of me wants to let you know what is possible out there. Even though I am not a musician (retired like Jay-Z after the Black Album), I am in the same business. I am creating income by using things in my head and putting them onto creative outlets to help people.

The music business isn’t much different than information marketing. By working behind the scenes on some cool launches, selling my own products and building a network I am doing really everything that I am preaching to musicians and artists everyday. Selling an eBook is pretty damn close to selling a digital download. Try and tell me its not.

So here is some behind the scenes action of GYRS.

No Limit Networking

Over the last three years I have really been building an empire online. The people, the sites, the sales and the authority is the backbone of my business. Every Internet Marketer says this same thing – take away everything and in 30-60 days I’d have it all back because of my network. I am really proud to say that I have a tight network that can help me do the same thing.

In the music business you need that kind of a network. The kind that can get you booked in any hood across the country (or world). The kind of network that can hook you up with an article about your new video the second that you email them. A network that you give to as much as they give to you.

This is the basis behind No Limit Networking. This is a new video series that should be ready to launch next week. It is 5 videos and 5 workbooks all on networking. The cream of the crop is a video I a pre-prepping right now where I go through some of the influential people in my network and show you exactly how we interacted from the emails, to the messages to the places and stages where we hit it off. It’s going to be really fresh. Label 2.0 members already have access to 3 of the videos and they are loving them.

Cali Trip

This week I am leaving the East Coast waves for 4 days in the Bay. Kap Kallous of Smash City Gauntlet is getting me to come out and support the Grind Time event in the Bay and while I am there I have a nice action packed list of people and places to see. DannyDee of Digipendent is taking me for a tour of the Bay Area labels to talk about digital strategies and the New Music Economy.

From there I am meeting up with a new partner/sponsor, AGL Brand Clothing. We will be linking up to shoot some videos on living the Latter lifestyle as putting together the details on a big event for entrepreneurs, artists, extreme sport athletes, students and more.

If you are in the Bay area (San Fran and Oakland), shoot me a message to marketing@genyrockstars.com. I should be open for a breakfast or coffee at some point during one of the days.

Full Sail

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to sit on a panel at Full Sail and listen to 3 teams of graduating students reveal their business plans. It was really cool to hear some fresh ideas and also help guide them through my experiences. Some after thoughts:

• The students who asked questions and sought out more advice are going to be the ones that crush it after they graduate. They truly care about having a career or starting a company that they are truly passionaite about.
• If I spent as much on a year of schooling as these kids did, I would 100% be in the above gorup.
• Sadly, only 1 member from the first team and the entire 2nd group stayed to hang out, pick our brains and network. The third group had a business model very similar to my own and I would have opened the key to the city would they have asked.
• The best advice came in the wrap-ups. I told them to just do something. Forget about business plans and getting all the legal stuff worked out. If you want to start an artist management company, start managing some artists. If you want to build a web empire, start by putting up a site. The students had three weeks to put together their business plan. In my mind that was enough time to start any of the ideas that they presented.
• Social proof is huge and hard as hell to obtain so start early. If you are going to charge premiums, you need the work to back it up. Start getting artists gigs. Start developing them. Get some reviews, some press, some guest blogging – really anything to start building your credibility.
• Cary from Bonded Records made an amazing point to start networking. He asked one of the groups if they knew anyone at a major label. They said they didn’t. Their entire business model had to do with up-streaming artists to major labels, yet they had no major label contacts.
• He asked another group if any of them were designers. They said no. He then asked  - so why do you offer design services? Start with businesses that you can work your butt off and not have to pay someone else a premium to do. You’ll be more passionate and add so much more value to the project.

It was a great event and I wanted to thank Jackie for letting us come and rip these groups apart in the hopes that they will run with these ideas. Here’s a shot of the students (they will be graduating this week, so congratulations!)

Wrapping up this week’s stuff is a nice reminder that we have some products out now that are crushing it for the musicians and artists that are taking action with them. The New Music Economy has received the best feedback of any product that I have done so far.

Label 2.0 is growing as well. The artists that join and contribute (much like my point with the students) are having some amazing successes. One artist has doubled his list in a month, which previously took him a year to get to that point. Another artist rocked the number 1 spot in a contest to open for Bon Jovi. Others have been featured on Mashable’s Music Monday and in articles on the new music business.

Next week after I get back from the Bay we will be getting more into No Limit Networking, a special WordPress surprise and showing you all about the Latter lifestyle.

If you want to check them out, go for it. If not, tomorrow I’ll be back with some more music marketing and business info. Till then…

-Greg

San Francisco photo by Alain Picard

Full Sail Photos by Christin Upshaw

Tags: AGL, california, full sail, Music Marketing, update