How I started a business in 2020

Like many others, I came into 2020 with grand dreams of success. People do that every year of course, and few succeed. I thought that was going to be my lot in life after a severe stomach pain sent me to the hospital. Once there, I discovered I needed a colonechtomy and my blood pressure was off the chart. I ended up spending three weeks in the hospital and a total of six weeks recovering. That was a very depressing time because I had been slated to do two tours this year, one of them overseas.

Ultimately, it did not matter because Covid hit hard and effectively shut down all live venues for musicians to perform in. As a touring musician, I was devastated. What would I do to bring in sufficient income to survive?

Being laid up for six weeks gave me plenty of time to brainstorm and I decided to fall back on my old mainstay, producing other artists. I had gotten away from that once I became an in demand keyboard player. So I chose two dedicated singers and got to work. We got into the habit of releasing one song per month. As we began to share those releases, more artists reached out to me to work with them as well. So that became a source of income.

Producing artists became something I did on top of regularly contributing meditation music on the Insight Timer meditation app. I had been earning money for doing that, but due to my prior touring schedule, I was not able to earn enough to make a living off of. Shortly after beginning to produce artists again, that changed. Insight Timer reached out to me to become part of a pilot program. I would livestream my piano meditations and reach a much larger audience. And the realtime interactions meant I could better serve my listeners and get to know them and what they needed. In less than a month doing the livestreams, my followers on the app nearly tripled.

A handful of Guided meditation leaders reached out to me to do work for them as well, and that caused me to have to revamp my recording studio into a combination recording and broadcast set. I started slowly with the livestreams. Fifteen minute sets turned into thirty minute sets and then one hour sets. It seemed the more I put myself out there, the more followers I obtained.

So while all of that was going on, I also began receiving payments through the state for unemployment, specifically the PUA payments. Those allowed me to keep up with bills and to purchase equipment to further expand what was becoming a full blown production house. As a result, my work on Insight Timer began to be more of a full time career. I got into the routine of composing at the end of each month, uploading several new pieces at the beginning of each month, and doing up to seven livestreams per week.

Between that work and producing other Artists, I attracted the attention of certain individuals who wanted me to perform for their meditation groups. I was elated. My brand and my fan base were growing. I decided I needed a logo that would define me. I hired my nephew to do the design and he came up with the perfect Brand logo. After placing it on all of my social media, I found my audience growing even more.

It had become increasingly harder to shoulder my entire workload without a staff. Around that time, I was approached by a marketing group to assist with helping me grow my brand even further. Best yet, they would take on the responsibility of running all of my social media, which freed me up to make even more music and finish up two passion projects as well.

I also asked an artist friend to be my CD graphic designer and she agreed. I was releasing solo singles by this time and her work attracted attention on sites like Youtube and TikTok. I was finally getting to the point I had wanted since I was fifteen. To have a global fan base.

One thing I had to learn though was how to politely tell people my services were not free, which seemed to tick a lot of my friends and family off. Since they only knew me as Tim, they figured music was just a hobby and I should hook them up with free music and shows, etc. My mentors advised against that. Things such as performing on free sites such as Facebook Live could help with attracting new fans, but since none of my followers/friends seemed much interested in meditation, I was not gathering much attention there. Once I got into the habit of treating what I did as a business, things changed a lot.

Covid 19 helped me realize how to do what I do best because I was forced to work from home. I could perform on stages with ease during better times, but in this case, I had to create the career I wanted and work very hard to make it work. Earlier in life I had taken the time to learn how to produce, write songs, copyright them, register them with my PRO and keep records for tax purposes. I honestly never thought most of that would be utilized to sustain me this late in life. I thought I would be performing onstage for most of my later years. I am glad that I learned all of that and kept up with it along the way, This has been a very hard year for many, but I give thanks my Creator for seeing me through it all.

As I write this, I am about to officially sign up with Victus Business Marketing in the hope that my brand will surge ahead and thrive all through 2021 as well. I will keep you all posted.

I am including pictures of some of my recent works, my website and my latest book ( Yes, I even write fiction ). If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected].

All recordings are available on Amazon Music, Spotify and anywhere else fine music is sold or streamed. All books are available on Amazon.com