Why Write The Book

George Blitch 0:15

Kenny, welcome back to the Son of a Bleach podcast. How are you doing today, sir?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Thank you, George. I'm so grateful to be here with you. Thanks for having me back. And uh, you know, I just love your show. Dude, thank you so much.

George Blitch 0:26

Well, listen, I love your book. More than Talent, Seven Steps to Attain the Brand, Acquire the Gigs, and Amass Lifetime Fans right here. You got your copy on my copy. Hi five. Um, man, this book is incredible. Let's look, I mean, we kind of talked a little bit about your musical history, you know, your first band starting in 12, and obviously uh the many decades that you've uh spent touring and everything. Um, you know, I guess just to kind of give people a little bit of background on this book, when did you decide to write it? What was that driving force behind it? Kind of give me, you know, your ideas of of the first stages of this, and then we'll talk about, you know, the production of it and you know, obviously the contents thereof.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Well, you know, the book came to me. Thank you for that question. The book sort of came to me. I was in line at the Denver airport and I was listening to one of my my favorite marketers' books and just talking about how one of the greatest ways to serve your tribe of people is through a book so that they so that you can automate yourself so you don't have to answer the same questions over and over. You could just put it in there. And all of a sudden it hit me like lightning. I was because I tell people the same thing every single day to help them. I was so all of a sudden I was like, I need to put this all into like a step-by-step manual because there's basically seven things that I've really worked on in my life to get where I'm at. And uh, you know, it it all literally, I wrote the whole book within a few days, like just every day. I just woke up and I wrote all day for like a period of days, just it all kind of came out of me just from all these years of working on it and making all the same mistakes. And so, and sp you know, that's really that was it. It just it was a strike of lightning, and it and it all came out, and it was the seven-step process that I put in this very specific order for a reason. Uh, not to say you you can do it out of order, but I really believe that the order of these steps, you know, and and also it came from I've read all of the big music guru genre, like how to make it books, the music industry, you know, and they're all so good and there's so much valuable information. But what I found was that they're so dense and there's so much to them. And when I recommend people, oh, read this book, read this book, this book, my my friends and clients would be like, That's way too intense. And so my goal here was to keep it as simple as possible, as short as possible. Here's seven steps, real simple, real easy. Here's what you do if you want to get this, rather than here's the tome, you know what I mean? Because there's plenty more you could say about it, but that that's the kind of the whole idea there.

George Blitch 2:54

Well, I I think that's uh it's great because it is condensed, and then you also have the ability to expand the knowledge as the reader there too, because you have these QR codes, people can scan and have these different lessons that you talk about, or instructional videos or different things to where if you want to take another step, it's so what's really great about that kind of idea too, in in in these days of book is that it's a living thing, but it can obviously have a lot more there. And you can be like, all right, I'm gonna go back to the website that you have developed and you can add some things on there too, as I'm sure you will, as far as some of the things that that you included in your book. You know, when you mentioned these seven steps, I'd love to just kind of start by kind of going through uh each one and maybe talk about them for a a little bit if uh you think that's a good way to start there. Yes, love it.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Thank you for saying that.

Getting Your Mind And Body Ready

SPEAKER_01 3:40

And really, I talk about before the steps, getting our mind right and the thing to do, and and that has to do with meditation, with cold showers, with eating right, and with with sort of gentle stretching and movement, you know, whether that be yoga working out. So making sure that our body and our mind are potentiated so that we can learn and and move through this system easily, calmly, and while enjoying ourselves. Because the main thing that I'm trying to teach here, that I am teaching here, is joy through expression and understanding, and that the way we do anything is the way that we do everything, so that every thing that we do is done in the with the same attention to detail and care and matter. So there's a before the steps thing which teaches you how to meditate.

Step One Invest In Yourself

SPEAKER_01 4:25

And I talk about cold plunges and eating right. Um step one is invest in yourself. And the idea is that whether that's monetarily, you know, and invest in getting the right vocal coach or the right trainer, the right guitar, the right guitar teacher, the right clothes uh for the gig, making sure that we spend what we need to spend to get us to feeling comfortable and into improving. But also investing yourself means investing time, you know, that sweat equity. So go onto YouTube, learn how to do the thing you want to do. Uh go to the gym, go to do the meditation. So investing that time and that money into yourself because our music is the product, and and the more adept we are at music, the the better the product is gonna be. All right, so that's really step one.

Step Two Social Media Daily

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Step two is dominate social media. And the idea is that I talk about the big four here, you know, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Now, these big four could change in a few years, but the concepts in the book are evergreen, meaning they're gonna be tactics that you can apply to whatever the next uh platform is, you know, because whether it's MySpace or Napster or TikTok, these these tactics are the same because it we have essential marketing ideas that we can bring to the next one. So, right now, those are the big four. Learning how to dominate them. And essentially, what I tell an artist is post daily on the big four vertical musical content, and you do that for a year, your entire life will look different at the end of that year. And you're probably never gonna have to worry about money again if you do that. Now it's a challenge, but it can be done, and the artists that are doing it are having that life change. You know, I'm a testament to that. I've been in the music industry many years, and not until I started posting daily for for uh at least a year did things really start to change for me. Um, so yeah, any questions so far on the first two steps or comments?

George Blitch 6:23

Well, you know, you know, you you kind of when you mention about that and kind of amassing that kind of social media audience, and this is something that I've seen across other platforms too, as far as creatives, is that when you have sometimes maybe those like 1,000 followers, if you have a thousand, you kind of mentioned this in your book, devoted followers, devoted friends that are wanting to support you, that's a number, and it it could it could vary, it could be a thousand, two thousand, but whatever it is, like even if you have a smaller number than some of the bigs, that can sustain your career because you have people who are invested in you, that are connected with you, that want to see you succeed, that want to see that next thing. And there's different ways when you can kind of leverage your social media to be able to have uh maybe a different Patreon or different subscriptions or things for exclusive content, and you kind of dive into that. And I think that that's an important thing that people don't need to have exactly one million followers to be able to have lifelong and year-to-year success. So I I love how you kind of mention that caveat because I think a lot of people think, oh, I gotta be the next big band that has millions of followers and views on everything. No, it isn't necessarily that. And also if you're true to your craft and what you love, there is going to be success that comes from that, you know, motion begins motion and and everything else.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yes. Well, thank you for saying that.

Dedicated Fans Beat Big Numbers

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I love that. And it's so true is that it doesn't really matter your amount of followers. If you have a hundred followers on Instagram, that's a hundred potential people, a hundred precious lives that could follow and support you. And um, you know, we're gonna get into a later step about the mailing list, but the I part of the idea of our followers is making sure we pull them in and we nurture this relationship that we have with them so that we we give so much to our followers and our fans that they want to give back to us. And and it's a concept called the goodwill vault. Uh I deposit into the goodwill vault of the relationship, and then eventually I can make a withdrawal. But I want to make three to five deposits before I make a withdrawal. So the idea is that I'm saying depositing by here's some exclusive behind-the-scenes content uh just for you. Um, here's a free single MP3 just for you. Uh oh, and I'm gonna send you a sticker that I signed to your house just for you, and then boom, now it's time to make a withdrawal. Hey, our album's coming out. We got special edition copies on our mailing list right here. Um, and we're doing a bundle with the shirt and the CD and assigned vinyl. It's only $80 if you order it from me right now on the email list. Normally it's $120 if you buy them separately at the show. So just because you're on the inside track with us, you know, and that that's kind of the idea that leads us to step seven, which is dominate your mailing list. But yes, back to what you're saying, it doesn't matter how many followers you have, it matters that no matter what, if you're providing value for your ecosystem uh and and you're contributing to the lessening of suffering, then people are going to follow you and they're gonna join this journey, and uh they want to be a part of your story, you know.

George Blitch 9:20

And you know, before we

The Goodwill Vault Method

George Blitch 9:22

jump into step three and and busking there too, the thing you just mentioned there, I think is something that's paramount because whenever I saw one of the things in your bio is saying you want it to help lessen the suffering of others, and that is a lifelong goal that you have. I'd love to just take a quick minute for you to be, or two or three, uh, for you to be able to expand on that and why that's important because that jumped out at me, and I think it's a a a big thing to cue into on who you are and what your goal is with that.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Thank you so much for for bringing that up. I I believe that we're all that everyone suffers, and it's just a big part of of what happens here, but there's so much joy, and joy is the highest vibrational frequency uh that we can tap into. So if there's a way that that we can increase joy and ultimately contribute to the lessening of suffering, that is a noble goal that feels good to me, and I feel good about that being my north star. That in every interaction I have, that every piece of music I play, that in every book I read, that in every movement I make, can I contribute to the lessening of my suffering and those around me? So that's just it's a it's a good north star for me because I s I did suffer for a long time and I increased my own suffering and those around me by the way I was acting in in my life. So um I just believe that it's uh it's a nice, easy guide to to focus on how can I contribute to the lessoning of suffering today, right now, in this moment, you know.

George Blitch 10:50

I love it, man. I

A North Star To Reduce Suffering

George Blitch 10:51

I always think about what it what can I do today to be able to make people around me uh better, and that obviously betters yourself by doing that and having that kind of mindset of always trying to be a go-giver, giving back. So I love that. And speaking of giving back this idea of sharing those talents and being able to share your joy of music in busking, step three, walk me through that.

Step Three Busking For Real Feedback

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Step three, thank you for bringing that up. What a great segue. Busking, the Beatles did it, Bob Dylan did it, Ed Sheeran did it. If it's good enough the Beatles, it's good enough for me. And uh the uh you know, the idea is that we are out there sharing our music, working on our craft, making money, and really working on our show and honing our chops. So it's it's really the most important uh way to do the uh build it because when we're building in our room and we're practicing in our room, it's very different from having a person real time respond to your music and your personality. So I say get out there and busk, get out to a place where people are walking by and try test out songs on them, test out melodies, you know, because I tested them out on the freeway off ramp and we got to test out and also on many streets, but I choose freeway off ramps because the money is better there, um, just hands down. But I can't legally say that you should do that because it is illegal, but it it there's a lot of money to be made on the freeway off ramp. But I will say it's safer at a uh downtown square and wherever your downtown is. Um, but yeah, you're going there, you're gonna play music, you're gonna people are gonna say, Hey, I love that song, or people are just gonna keep walking by. And if they're keep walking by, we need to change this melody. Maybe we change the key, maybe make it hit a hit the the third scale degree quicker, or just you know, maybe make the melody more conjunct, you know, whatever it is, we're gonna change it because we're studying each person as they react to our personality and to our music. And so it is the way to build, you know, it's to build our music and our personality and our show. And we can test out three song sets, and I talk about that in the book, where choose a cover to pull them in, hit them with uh an original second, and then get them on a sing along for the third one. So they remember this experience of like, I had this great time where they were doing this cover, so I stopped, and they did some original song, and then then we sang together. That's gonna be an elevational spiritual experience for whoever comes, and they're gonna never forget that. I have people who come up to me at a festival the other day in Long Beach. We were playing, and the guy's like, Are you from the same Watertower Bucket Boys like in Portland in 2005? And I was like, Yes. He's like, gloomy Saturday mornings, you were there busking. I had my kid, we stopped by and listened to your stuff, we sang this song together. I'll never forget that. You know, that just happened to me the other day, and that's why busking is so important.

George Blitch 13:33

Well, it's a huge imprint, and I think that you know, you we and I we talked about this in the last podcast, and I'll put the notes in there in the shows, make make sure people uh in the show notes to go check that one out too. But like you had brought out Nick Hexham from 311, you guys went on a tour, and maybe we'll get into that here in a minute. But the idea of busking was like for him, he was like, wait, what? Here's a guy who's played all these major shows, but it got him in a point of uncomfortableness, he said, that to go and busk in this in kind of a freeway off ramp. But he talked about how there was such a benefit to that. And sometimes making yourself uncomfortable uh leads to comfort and putting yourself in those kinds of things, you never know what you're doing on any given day until your example into that point, too. You never know how something 20 years can come back and result in a lifelong fan. And even if you're just sometimes playing a show for one person, like you had talked about uh in this book, I've done it before. I played a show of eight people. I just had on Billy Bob Thornton uh on the podcast to talk about with his band Boxmasters, how sometimes playing those smaller venues and those smaller numbers is sometimes more important than the big festivals when everyone's there because of that kind of intimate uh connection you can have with that audience. So whether it's busking or playing the shows, and I think that's a good segue too to talking about step four of playing shows.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Well,

Step Four Playing Shows Like It Matters

SPEAKER_01 14:55

yes, thank you. And I'm that's so I'm I love that you had Billy Bob on the show, and I love his band and his harmonica playing, it's so cool. And um, yes, the intimacy of a small show. And in in the book, I talk about how we drove, we had a show in 24 hours that was a 23-hour drive away, and so we we made our five-minute pit stops along the way. We made it in 24 hours, and we showed up, and the promoter had forgot that we had a show. There was no promotion, there was no nothing, so nobody showed up. It was like a snowy Tuesday in the middle of a mountain town in Colorado, and uh we, you know, there was money for us, there was a check with our name on it, and we had to play a show in order to do that. So we're gonna play the show, and man, we were so out of it from driving through the night and all day without stopping, and we were so tired. And the only person there was the bartender, but he was staying open just in case somebody showed up. We played for two hours, not a single person showed up. We had so much fun, we were on the tables dancing, the bartender was singing into his broom on the on the table with us, and it was a show I'll never forget because we sang our hearts out to each other, just us dudes singing to each other and to the bartender, and we had an unforgettable night. And I know everybody in the band will never forget that night, too. It was just such a special night. Now, not that I'd recommend driving 23 hours um or 24 and 24, uh, but you know, and and always, you know, this was like years ago, so marketing was done very differently. Um, and but yeah, all that to say is that sometimes those intimate shows where you're just singing to the bartender are very formative and life-changing. And that was one of the greatest shows. Well, definitely one of my top 10, you know, what top top 10 or you know, 311 Day with Nick Hex and with 5,000 people listening to us do Nick's uh the songs and the songs that we we worked on with him. Uh, you know, Tell You Ride Bluegrass Festival with 10,000 people, Vans Warp Tour, and then this little show that we sang to the bartender. So it's it's it's really special. You never know what's going to be a very special show.

George Blitch 16:55

Yeah, and that's where you have to bring it every single time and put everything into it that your love and your passion and and all the practice, everything that leads up to it. You never know what that one person, and we've heard about this kind of thing too, is bands at play, and all of a sudden there's one person in the very back that has a connection. They're the connector or they're the person who signs or whatever. You just never know who's going to be able to make the difference. And so you owe it to your audience of one, a thousand, ten thousand, whoever it is, to put on the best show, to be the most professional you can. And that also applies, I think, in other avenues. And we'll kind of get into that too, because uh that's one thing I want to just mention as a caveat is that this book is not just for for, I know it is based on you know, for music, but I found this beneficial in the podcasting world. I know that other people will find this beneficial, so I I wouldn't you're listening right now to this, it's not just for I think for musicians. I think anybody can glean things from this because these are step-by-step processes in order to be able to be successful in whatever creative world you're in. So I I know it has a target audience, but I think it it ripples beyond that. And so I just wanted to kind of have that on there and and and make sure people are who are listening say, oh, maybe I should pick that up because you should.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah, and thank you for saying that. I do appreciate that. And like just a I didn't realize it was gonna be so successful outside of the music genre, but um, there's an Emmy winning filmmaker, a two-time Emmy winner, Ben Staley, and he says, I'm a filmmaker and a photographer, and I can't recommend this book enough. And he gave me a call after he he bought it, and he said, like, how helpful it was to him as a filmmaker. And so these can be applied all over, and then also it hitting number one in all three categories on Amazon, which is number one music business, but also number one in entertainment, number one in performing arts, showed me you know, a lot of the reviews of people who I don't know saying, Hey, I'm an actor, or hey, I make movies, or you know, I'm a writer, and that people saying that that because ultimately, yes, I come from a musician perspective, but all the the concepts in here are how you build a business modern day. So any it'll apply to any business with an entertainment focus. Um, but yeah, I you know, thank you for bringing that up.

George Blitch 19:03

Yeah, you're welcome. Um, let's let's get back to the steps there. I know people are are one to hear about all this, and I know you want to play a sewer, and guess what? There'll be links in the show notes below to do that. But let's go to step five websites that sell for you.

Why The Steps Work Beyond Music

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Websites that sell for you. So I'm talking about websites like Sound Better, uh The Bash, Gig Salad. Um, these are so, for example, like Sound Better is a way that you can put yourself up there for whatever skill it is you have, whether you're a songwriter, a trumpet player, um, they have these also, you know, for voice actors or actors as well. But you put your skill up on a website, and this exists for any industry. So if you're outside of the music industry, whatever your industry is, go find the websites that are gonna be a net-based approach for you to getting leads, which means if you're fishing, just put a

Step Five Lead Websites That Sell

SPEAKER_01 19:49

net out there. This is just this is a net that we can say, hey, I play trumpet and I do jazz trumpet, and then I charge this much for this, and then that way you're out on one of these websites, and people can just, when they search trumpet for my album that does jazz, then you're gonna be one of the people that comes up. And of course, there's a way to increase the SEO and get you to the top of those lists, um, which can be done. That's a more advanced skill, but just getting them in the first place, you know, and then the the bash or gig salad is for like events. Hey, we play we're a five-piece punk rock band who play 80s covers, or we're a two we're a duo salsa band, or we're a comedy duo, and we do parties for this much. We'll travel up to 500 miles, we'll come out if you fly us. You know, these websites are crucial for selling your services for you. So making sure that you have as many nets as possible, you're gonna catch a fish for sure. And um, yeah, so that's that's all that

Step Six More Fans Now Campaign

SPEAKER_01 20:46

is. Um and step six is run a more fans now campaign. And that's really it's a name that I came up with because I thought about labels. What do labels want? They want more fans now. Why do they want it? They want money, they want to sell records, and so we can be aligned with labels because as artists, we're also looking for more fans now. And a lot of labels or artists, you know, including myself, for years didn't know how to do that and was doing all doing all kinds of things. But now there's a simple, easy process that has been figured out to a T. It's a science, it can be studied and replicated on virality, on building connection, and establishing homophily, which is you know uh the the way that we feel like we may be cut from the same cloth, you know, triadic closure. Um, the triad between you and me was Nick. You know, Nick introduced us, and because we both trust Nick, we automatically both trust each other, and we feel like there's we're cut from the same cloth because Nick is like, hey, you guys need a meet, right? So that's the strongest form of homophily is triadic closure. And so a More Fans Now campaign is a way of establishing thousands of instances of triadic closure online, meaning there's a Video of your band playing and singing. I share that video to my followers. Now all my followers have been closed the triad between me and them and the artist. There's the triad being closed. So running a More Fans Now campaign means you find your viral video and you put money behind it, maybe five bucks a day. It's going to take you 30 to 100 posts before you find your viral post. It might take you a thousand. But after your th once your 998th post goes viral, then put five dollars a day behind it and get a very specific direction for your fan when they come in because they're going to share it, they're going to like your page, they're going to go explore. Um and and it brings me to us to the overarching seven-step process of the psychology of fan acquisition. Don't want to get too deep, but I just want to give you an overview.

The Fan Journey From Scroll To Show

SPEAKER_01 22:47

The way that it works for musicians and um in our ecosystem, in our business, is that first someone's introduced to us, they're introduced through social media. They then educate themselves. They say, I'm gonna go over to their TikTok, I'm gonna go to their Instagram, I'm gonna go to their website. On their website, step three happens permission. The permission phase is when I say, Can I get permission for your email address so I can market to you and give you value in our relationship? So step one is introduction on social media. It goes right to step two where they educate themselves, brings them to their website where we get permission to market to them. Step four is nurturing the relationship. We nurture them with content and videos over the next few weeks and days so that step five may happen an affirmation of this relationship. We'd like to take it to the next level and affirm this relationship by making a purchase of a t t-shirt or a CD. Then that goes to step six, which is an ascension, which means there's a there's a value ladder. At the bottom of the value ladder is a is a post or is a sticker, and then you move up the ladder to a CD, up to a vinyl, up to a hoodie, and finally an ascension style product after you've ascended the value ladder is coming to a show. You buy a ticket, you spend money on gas, you get some food, you bring all your friends out, you pay for parking, you spend hours there, you buy some merch. That's an ascension style product. So a lot of artists say, I just want to sell tickets to my shows. And I say, Well, have you done the six steps for the five steps before that to get ready to sell tickets to your shows? Because you need to introduce them, you need to educate them, you need to uh get their permission to market to them, you then need to nurture the relationship and then affirm it. Then you can ascend them to come into your show. Finally, step seven is referral. After you've done all these six steps, you say, Hey, go check out my friend's band, and it goes back to the front to introduction through homophily through triadic closure. So that was a lot of info. Any questions on what I just said there?

George Blitch 24:30

No, I think that's it's super important because you're building those steps and those foundations. And I think some people don't maybe as a musician, especially it's just starting out, trying to figure out, okay, how do I I get these things? How do I be able to create success and be able to see that kind of formulaic expression of how you're actually building an authentic fan? Because you can have somebody watch your stuff and be like, okay, that's cool. You throw your like down, but they might not come back to you. But you're building a relationship, and it's something that I see you've done obviously uh with great success. I mean, I'm a part of your newsletter and I'm seeing the fun stuff that you're posting, whether it's you guys uh covering a Snoop Tune and then all of a sudden he's you know reacting to that or whatever it is that you're doing that creates these viral moments, it's something that is always authentic first and it's fan forward focused, and it's that authenticity of your joy and the joy of sharing it. And it's the same kind of thing we've talked about before when you're on stage and you you put out this energy, man, that that the fans out there pull it back to you. And then it's like you continue to uh evolve that kind of energy through your live shows, through your busking, and through this kind of you know, it's it's a it's a marketing of sense of who you are and what you're doing, but it's really a sharing of the joy of music, whether you're on the stage side or you're on the fan side. So that authenticity plays through, and I think it's great to see that kind of formula for success and how to do it in the most uh progressive and positive way to make an impact to that audience.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Thank you for saying that. And yes, it it's a testament to what like the system that I've come up with here because Snoop shared us, you know, recently, and and basically Snoop said, you know, is try closing that triad between his 88 million fans, followers on Instagram, and we made a video covering his song that provided enough value for the relationship between us and Snoop that he decided to, you know, affirm the relationship. He was introduced to us, he immediately educated himself on us. We didn't get any permission, but he basically went ahead and after us nurturing the relationship, he went and gave us that, you know, took our More Fans Now campaign and referred us. So he went through all seven steps within one. I mean, he didn't come to a show or buy our merch, but he skipped those steps just to be able to refer us because we provided value for him. And all of a sudden, press is writing about it, you know, people in the bluegrass Reddit or going crazy saying, What? You know, it was a quite an uproar when the Snoop thing happened, and it was a dream come true for us because we love Snoop Dogg. And uh, you know, I called Nick, I was like, dude, look, Snoop shared us, and he was all stoked because you know he knows Snoop, and uh it was a big deal, man. So anyway, it's a it's a testament to the system. Uh, this can work for anybody.

When Snoop Dogg Shares Your Cover

George Blitch 27:12

Well, and and I think this also brings it back to something that that we need to focus on, and that's the step seven of dominating your mailing lists. Because while you may be able to get those kinds of views and the people who are maybe following you on socials, we've all seen social accounts and big names, you know, maybe not Snoop but itself, but I've also seen big name folks who all of a sudden their stuff is shut down for one reason or another, all of a sudden they have to start over from from fan one. And I've seen that happen in what different industries as well. When all of a sudden it's like, wait, how did I just get blacklisted? Why is my my page gone? And if you are only relying on your socials, you could really be hurt on being able to take

Step Seven Own Your Mailing List

George Blitch 27:56

that next step and have those lifelong fans because you need the mailing list. You need to have that, like you talked about in those points there, have people sign up to be able to build that relationship. So I know you kind of mentioned a little bit about that in the book and why that's important, but I'd love for you to expand on why dominating your mailing list is an important step seven and maybe one of the most important.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Yes, I would say step seven is the last step for a reason um because it's also inherent throughout every step. So when you go back and study the other steps, you're gonna want to always be thinking about dominating our mailing list because the mailing list is the central asset of any business, no matter what, because business is now online, so all businesses mailing list and The Grateful Dead in 1976 put out a record and they said, Hey, deadheads, uh, where are you? Who are you, how are you? Send us notes to this address. And that was the start of a band's mailing list, and it changed everything. And um, the thing is, this is there's there's three types of traffic there's traffic that you control, there's traffic you don't control, and there's traffic that you own. Traffic you control is like we go on Facebook and post to our people. Zucky owns the traffic, but we're going ahead and we have a little control over it, and we can share to our to the people that follow us on Zucky's page, right? Traffic you don't control means um if I provide value at the 311 show and I I get a video of Nick doing something awesome on stage, and then 311 then shares my video to 311 stories. That's traffic for me, but I don't control it, and I don't own it. It's traffic I don't control. Zucky owns it, 311 controls it, but I'm getting traffic. Then there's traffic that you own, which is the the gold standard, it's the holy grail of traffic. That's your mailing list, that's your text list. And text list has a 90% open rate. Mailing list has about a 20 to 30% open rate, but mailing list is is even though the open rates are different, mailing list is still central to a business because there's a very different way that we talk on those, but let's focus on mailing list. It's the central asset. We control that traffic. If if Zucky decides to turn off our account today on Facebook or Instagram, which happens all the time for no reason, no recourse, boom, your hundred thousand, your million account is gone, you're done. You can go to your mailing list and say, hey, my account's done, but I'm here. Here's my new page. Let's start up here, right? So it's a place you can directly send an email to your people and make an offer and make sales and nurture that relationship and provide value. So the most important asset is our network. Our network is our net worth, and the mailing list is the way that we stay and tapped in with those people. So that's step seven. That's really the seven steps. There's more to an uh entertainment industry career, but I touch on most of that. But if you do those seven things, guaranteed you will have a lot of success.

George Blitch 30:42

Well, absolutely, man. And like I said, I found this beneficial in the musical realm. Obviously, I was a Turing musician. I see all these things. We practice some of them. Some of them I wish I had done better in the times. I'm looking at this in the podcast world and what I can do, what value I can provide for my listeners, for my guests. I'm always thinking about things like that and this idea of like growth

Books That Shape The Mindset

George Blitch 31:02

mindset. And that was another question I had for you because, you know, we talked right right before we started hit and record. There's books that you're always diving into. There's things that you are always trying to find that growth mindset and to become better for yourself and for your craft. And I was kind of curious, who are some of the people, what are some of the books that you're studying that you would say, hey, not only should you buy more than talent, but here are some other ones that you find of benefit lately that are just kind of speaking to you, or some of those that might have been uh, you know, longstanding, like this is a must-read. Whether, you know, I mean, I I know for for mine, I got a couple over my shoulder here, you know, whether it's Rick Rubin or Stephen Pressfield, those are two that always spoke to me and that I always am uh really quick to say, hey, you guys should check this out in that kind of world for creators. But I was curious if there are some that uh you know stick around to you and that are always on that shelf that you always are are promoting and and uh you know wanting to share with your friends.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Oh, thank you. The four agreements, yes, it's one of my favorite books. Uh, have you have you done that one? Oh yes, absolutely. Right? Oh, yeah, it's it's so important, you know. Um don't uh don't take anything personal or don't take anything personally because whenever somebody does something, it's not about you, it's about the way they were socialized and the things they're thinking, right? Never assume anything and ask questions to clarify. If someone says something you're not sure, ask some questions if you're not sure what they mean. Let's clarify that. Be impeccable with your word. Pecar is to sin, no sinning with your word. Essentially, use your word in the direction of truth, light, and love. Because we're these are casting spells. When we say something, it's magic spells. We want to use it in the direction of love. And finally, the fourth agreement is always do your best. And your best may vary from day to day. If I'm sick today, then the best I can do is just get out of bed and make myself some soup. And and maybe I can't play guitar, but that's okay. I did my best. So the four agreements, so crucial. Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner. It's the art of one note, it's the joy of one note. Um, it's how to enjoy ourselves when we're when we're just hanging out. And uh Career Picking by Joanne Ledesma. It's just an amazing book uh about how to make it in uh the bluegrass industry. So that's very niche specific, but um anyway, those are those are some great books.

George Blitch 33:08

They are. Well, another one that everyone needs to add to their shelves is more than

Where To Follow And Get Help

George Blitch 33:12

talent. Again, you've got yours, I've got mine. We're high fiving these. And uh I'm gonna have the show notes below. And why don't you just go ahead and also uh tell folks um your socials for yourself, for music, and also for uh work smarter music marketing where people might be able to learn more about this and future books that may be coming.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Thank you, thank you. All of our socials are Watertower Band, right? And if you want to find me, I'm Kenny Feinstein, and then WorkSmarter Music Marketing. So, but I'd say go to watertowerband.com or WorkSmarter Music music work smarter music marketing.com if you're interested in checking in about how my team can help you, because all the stuff I talk about in the book, uh our agency will will help you do as well. So uh we always suggest people doing it on their own. But if if you got the budget and you don't have the time, we'll take care of your funnels and online stuff as well.

George Blitch 34:01

Absolutely amazing. Kenny, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for putting out this book, all the work that you're doing, all the amazing music that you create, all the joy that you're bringing into my life, other people's lives, and it's a continual cycle of just greatness and uh growth of positivity, man. And uh you are making a difference, and you are helping people every single day with all you're doing. So I just want to say thank you for all of that, and uh, you know, I just wish you the best success with this book and your musical journey and everything that you got going on.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Thank you so much. I appreciate you, George. It's wonderful to be on the Son of a Bleach podcast.

George Blitch 34:34

Good deal. Well, we'll have to do it again there, I think. Yes, sir. Good deal. Well, until then, thank you very much, Kenny. Everyone, go check out the show notes below. Google it's your more than talent seven steps book and order that today. And uh make sure you're following all the socials that Kenny's a part of. Y'all take care. Bye-bye.

Sponsor Neurogum And Neuromints

George Blitch 34:51

I'm here to tell you that this podcast and all my podcasts are powered by na na na na na neuro. That's right. Neuromint and neurogum, they're my favorite. I take a neuromint before every single podcast, 10 minutes beforehand, gives me the perfect caffeine, the perfect L-theanine, B vitamin balance, no sugar, no crash, scientifically backed. I'm telling you, neuromint, neurogum, you gotta learn more. Go to neurogum.com today, pick out your favorite flavor, or go to your favorite retailer near you. Go look for neuro, get your favorite gum mint today. Neurogum.com.