I was the king of excuses. Think I’m kidding? Ask me why I wouldn’t do something and I’d give you a million reasons why. Those days are long dead and gone. But it didn’t happen overnight. It took hitting rock bottom to make me realize that I had nothing to lose by trying things suggested by other people even if I didn’t think they would do much good.
Now don’t get me wrong. If somebody says to me to go to the top of the Empire State Building and jump off, I’m going to say no. And if they ask me why not, what my “excuse” is, I’ll simply tell them that I don’t like my chances of survival.
At some point you’re going to be faced with doing things that are a no brainer that you just don’t do them, either because they’re illegal, immoral or just plain dangerous and reckless. I’m not talking about those things. I’m talking about the guy who says to you, “You know, maybe you should upload some of your music to Audio Jungle and see what happens.”
I bring up Audio Jungle because this is actually a true story. I don’t know if you read my earlier article about the pros and cons of music sites like Audio Jungle. The problem with uploading your music to a site like that is you’re a small fish in a freaking ocean. The chances of anybody finding your work is slim to none. And in the past when people would suggest that I upload my music to these sites I would tell them that it was a waste of time.
But I’ve finally changed my tune. I have a royalty free music site with over 5,000 tracks. I’ve made 2 legit sales. Everything else has been illegally downloaded. So what do I have to lose by taking some of my music and uploading it to Audio Jungle. Sure, it’s going to take some time to upload any significant portion of my catalog but it just might do some good.
Am I holding my breath waiting for a sale? No, of course not. I realize that it might not come. But like Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss all the shots you don’t take.” So instead of making excuses for why I’m not going to upload music to those music farms, I’m going to give it a shot. If nothing else, if it totally bombs out and turns out to be a waste of time, I can turn around and say to these people “See, I told you. Waste of time.” That will at least give me some satisfaction that I was right and they were wrong. In the meantime, I’m doing something that just might make me some money. At this stage of the game, what do I have to lose?
For this reason, I am branching off into some of the business models I talked about in my last article. There was a time I would have never considered them. But now, I figure I have nothing to lose by giving them a shot.
Which ones am I going after? Well, if I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you. Let’s just say they all have something to do with music or music technology.
Okay, but how do you tell what things are sensible to at least try and what things are a total waste of time and can’t possibly turn a profit? For example, if somebody told me to place ads on FFA sites, I would absolutely refuse because I learned a long time ago that posting on FFA sites is a waste of time. How do I know? Because back in 2002, I did just that. So something like that, where I had actual first hand experience that the activity was a waste of time, I would refuse to do it if somebody suggested I tried it.
Another reason for refusing to do something would be ethics. There are a lot of activities that are done online that I feel are unethical. I’m not going to list them because I don’t want to give anybody any ideas. I’m sure you probably know of a few yourself. And I don’t care how much money these tactics could make me. I’m not sacrificing my integrity for a buck. You have to do what you think is right.
Of course there is legality which is totally off the table. If the activity is clearly illegal, I won’t do it. I’m not risking going to jail for any amount of money. Again, you have to do what you think is right.
Aside from those things, I’ll give just about anything a fair shot. Of course money has to come into play here too. If somebody wants me to do something that’s going to require me to take out a $100,000 loan, that’s not happening. I am finally out of debt and I’m not going back into it on the “chance” that I might make a few bucks. Unless it’s a sure bet, I’m not interested. That’s just basic risk/reward management. You don’t go to a Vegas roulette table and toss $1,000 on double zero. That’s just a stupid bet. So no, I won’t do something stupid. I draw the line at stupidity.
Where you draw the line is up to you. You may take more risks than me or you may be more cautious than me. But don’t say no to things just because you “think” they won’t work. I’ve been doing that for way too long and there’s no telling how much money I’ve left on the table because of it.
You do have to take some chances in life. If you don’t, you’ll never get anywhere. Very few things in this life will just fall into your lap. Everything that has ever happened to me that was good, I made happen. It’s when I realized that fact that I stopped making excuses. Because if I don’t make things happen, they won’t happen.
Audio Jungle, ready or not, here I come.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim