45. How to Become a Rockstar

If you were going to start a rock band and you wanted to be successful and sell number one hits and do awesome, how would you do that? There's really two approaches and they're very related to how one does a business. Some people want to do things right away. They want to take an approach that's like this. Okay, I'm going to be a rock star, so I'm going to play gigs. I'm going to play events six nights a week, and I'm going to do that for a year. I'm just going to work real hard. I'm going to hustle. I'm going to grind. Whatever words you want to use, I'm going to work really hard for a year. And you know what? If that doesn't work out, I'll probably run out of money, so I guess I won't be a rock star. That way does work sometimes for some people. It can be awesome. You hear about people that they're an overnight success and they work so hard and everything happened in a very quick period of time. But if you know anything about music, most people don't reach the level of being able to perform at a rock star level in less than a year.

Even more so, let's say that the person already has the skills, but they say, I'm giving it a year. If it doesn't happen in a year, they just quit. And yet there's another approach that could be taken and one that says, Okay, I'm going to give this longer time, but I'm going to balance it. What I'm going to do is I'm going to pay two times a week. I'm only going to play gigs two times a week. I'm going to choose the best places. Because I'm only playing events two times a week, I can actually keep a job and I can pay my bills because right now the music is not making any money for me. Because I'm doing that, I can open my time window to two years, five years, or even an infinite number of years, or I guess as long as I'm alive, because now I found a way to make my dream come true by allowing a longer time window for it to happen. Now, neither way guarantees you will or won't be a rock star. But the first way of trying to do everything in the year and just hustling and pushing and dropping everything else, and I'm not going to get a job, I'm just going to play my music, it's very romantic and it sounds awesome.

And certainly it's the making of a movie if it works out, but it doesn't happen all that often. More likely, the people who are authors or rock stars or athletes or whatever it might be, business people, they look like overnight successes, but they've taken years to do it. And along the way, they figured out a way to pay their bills. They figured out a way to honor their obligations. And because of that, people supported them. And so when they had an event or they had a gig, there was all these people around them supporting them rather than the person who says, Forget everybody, this is all about me. I'm getting my dream. Everybody else, I'm going to borrow money from you. I'm not going to do any work that serves over here. I'm not connected with people. I'm just going for my dream. It's tunnel vision. And again, sometimes it works, but I'm so intense about this and it's all or nothing. It's not necessary. And again, usually it doesn't work. So I'm going to suggest to you, if you're looking at your business and you're thinking that you're going to be successful within a year or two years by the definition of you're going to go from zero starting from scratch and you're going to make the income you want, and you're going to work the hours you want and you're going to work the hours you want and have the lifestyle you want, most people don't get that done in a year.

In fact, statistically, after five years, most entrepreneurs fail. They're just completely out of business and they have to go back and get a job. This is not to say don't dream big. This is to say make dreams that are big, but be more like the farmer. The farmer plant seeds and expects that things are going to come over time, rather than somebody that just shows up and hopes that something's going to happen. In all of this, there's a way you can approach things where you're constantly increasing your game. You're getting better at what you do. You're building relationships, you're building networks, and you're building your ability to earn an income, or in the case of the rock star, you're building your following, your fan following, your customer base, your list, however you want to word that. But as you're doing it, it's allowing for a more natural progression that allows you to constantly get better and still in the meanwhile, have a life. So you might say you eventually want to get to a lifestyle where you're working four days a week, and you might say, Wait, I'm going to go at it for a year.

I'm going to work 80 hours a week. That doesn't guarantee anything. Whereas if the whole way along, you're working 40 to 50 hours a week, and maybe you're working five days, maybe not six, you're working five days, you're working long days, but you're constantly seeing some progress and you're saving money and you're making connections and you're growing a business, there will be hiccups. There will be times where you think you have it and then all of a sudden things drop off and you'll have to get back on again. Again, the path to success. Maybe some of you all have seen this. There's an ad or a meme going out there that what people think success is like and what it's actually like. It's like this and hopefully it has an upward trajection. If it's success, it will. But it doesn't just do that. It's a process. It goes over time and goes in that direction. I encourage you, if you want to be a rock star, if you want to be a four day work week entrepreneur. If you want to be a professional athlete, whatever it is, certainly go after that. But as Thoreau said, build your castles in the sky, but build the foundations under them.

Or maybe that was Emerson. Gosh, Mrs. Kim, I would be so mad. I forget, I forget which one it was, but I think it's throw. Build your castles in the sky, but build the foundations beneath them. Make sure that you're working that way along and you're doing the things you need to do. Don't go for it necessarily in a year unless you have to. If you're young, you're single, you don't have kids, you don't have commitments and you want to go for it, that's awesome. But at least have a plan B. Don't set yourself up to where if it really is your dream and it's that important to you, don't set yourself up to the point to where either you make it or nothing happens. Make it more likely, you'll be successful along the way. I hope you find that helpful and valuable. As an 18 plus year entrepreneur, that's what my journey has been like. I've had ups, I've had downs. It's gone in an upward direction overall for sure. But there have been times when things haven't worked out. So hopefully that helps you and benefits you. If you have any questions on this, let me know.

As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time. Do what you do best to create the type of lifestyle life you want for you, your loved ones, and your family. If you want to learn more about how you can create your own 4 Day Work Week, go to 4dayworkshop. Com, and you can learn about our live event, 4 Day Work Week entrepreneur academy, where we spend two days focused on creating the framework and the game plan for you to set up your 4 day work week lifestyle. We do hot seats where we focus on your business and your situation. We do exercises where we share ideas with each other, and we help build a network and a community of people that supports each other. This live event is supported by an online program, a Facebook group, regular meetings over Zoom calls and face to face calls, over the internet where we support each other and help each other create this. We have a community of people already doing this, and 4 day workshop is the best place for you to go to get started to come to one of our live workshops and get doing this.

As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time, do what you do best so you can better enjoy your friends, your family and your life. I look forward to seeing you at one of our workshops. Thank you.