David comes to the aid of Delta in an earlier post (at least someone’s getting some good service from them), but brings up a bigger issue. If you believe that something sucks going in, it probably will suck for you. Just like if you believe that the world’s beating you down, or that it’s impossible to make a living as a working musician, the world will beat you down, and you won’t make any kind of living at all.
(And David’s a walking case study in this. Back when he asked me to drop in as the coach in residence at IndieBiz.com — the forerunner to our current spinme.com members area — he envisioned a future where he’d be working less hard, with fewer clients, and making more money. And, these days, he is — his Music Business Cruise is, as I understand it, sold out.)
The first person that ever told me about the power of creating your own universe was Francis Dunnery. We first met when I was still a lowly production assistant at a radio station, but our handful of conversations over the years have been some of the most crucial discussions of my life.
And this is no mamby-pamby “Field of Dreams” scenario we’re talking about here. Francis believes that when you put the right thoughts into the world, you get what you most desire. Whether you believe that the universe is really rewarding you, or simply that you are training your brain to better recognize opportunities — it works either way.
Many of us keep our real dreams such a secret that we’re surprised when we get what we didn’t know we really want. You probably know someone in your town who is a great musician, and yet all kinds of bad stuff happens to them. Their gear gets stolen, their gig falls apart, their car breaks down on the way to the conference. Could it be that they’re working hard, but not wanting hard?
And Francis’ dream… to play only to folks that really “love” and “get” him, without the corporate B.S. that he tolerated when he was signed to a major label?
Over the next year, he’s playing two hundred house concerts. And that was narrowed down from 600 people that applied. For the next year, Francis will play, five nights a week, to packed houses of people who will pay him directly to entertain them. No split at the door. Minimal travel expenses. Just what he wanted to create in the world.
What are you going to create this year?
On a personal note… I wrestle with the same issues, and a good friend and colleague recently challenged me to get back to basics and focus in on what I want to create this year. The folks that subscribe to my newsletter told me about what they’d like to see me create, and it’s bigger than what I expected. And I want to pull it off. Join the newsletter to find out more next week.