How I built a 6-figure business as a producer, one step at a time

Whenever I meet somebody new, the conversation usually goes a little something like this….

Them: So what do you do?

Me:  I’m a musician.

Them: Oh that’s nice!  What do you do for work?

Me:  I’m a pro musician

Them:  I mean what’s your actual job that pays the bills?

Me:  I’m a pro musician that makes a living producing from my home studio for various projects for film/tv/commercials, and for clients all over the world.

Them:  {Looks at me confused}

Whether it’s my fiance’s parents, somebody I’m meeting at a public place, or new acquaintances , nobody really comprehends that there’s an entire industry of professional musicians that not only make a great living, but that we’re doing it from our home studios…

…and that we’re quite possibly the very people behind some of the TV shows, commercials, and...

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is today."
-Chinese Proverb

This might sound crazy but…

I truly believe that in this day and age, having a home studio is just as important as having strings on your guitar.

And I think the pandemic showed us that working from home is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Which is why right now is the best time ever to build your home studio and start your production company. 

3 Reasons Why Now is the Best Time to Start a Production Company 

1) A Financially Smart Move for Music Producers

Starting your production company is now more cost effective than ever before. 

If you have a laptop, you could build a functioning home studio for under $1000 and be production-ready in a weekend! 

I love the saying “use what you got until what you got pays for what you want”

Case in point: My first home studio consisted of a used interface ($300), a used mic ($200),  and a wonky used...

The ONE Question Every 6-Figure Producer Needs to Ask Themselves:
^{_{AKA Why I stopped chasing “record deals” to find true happiness as a songwriter}}

I got kicked out of the house when I was 15 years old.

I’ve been on my own ever since, always struggling, always hustling, and always living in survival mode.

I’ve lived with friends’ parents, on people’s couches, and even in my car at one point.  

I was always that friend that my more successful friends always had to pick up the tab for if we went out to dinner.

I always had “hand-me-down”... well… everything…

…from furniture, to clothes, to makeup, you name it.

And I wouldn’t even think of buying myself anything new until the duct tape that held the old thing together was falling apart.

Still, my big “why” in wanting to build a successful career as a musician was so much more than just wanting financial freedom. I wanted to be a 6-figure...

Check out this video of us producing a sync ready track in 1 hour!

While a lot of talented people want to get their music into Film & TV, believe it or not, a lot of them are wasting their time!

What often happens is they invest in a course that teaches them how to get their music into film/tv or they spend a whole lot of time and effort trying to get a library to return their emails or a music supervisor to listen to their ONE song.

Here’s the thing though.  It takes so much more than ONE song, or heck, even FIVE songs, to truly break into the exciting world of SYNC. This is a career, and it takes an investment of time as well as a LARGE catalog to break into the biz.

To make the most of the sync opportunities out there, you’ll have a much better chance at that if you produce your own music (and can make necessary edits requested by the client).  At bare minimum, you should at least be able to record yourself to a degree that enables you to collaborate...

Since the evolution of hip hop, producers have been taking pre-recorded music & ‘sampling’ it to make their own new sounds. This can include anything from taking the original sample of the music & adding drums &/or bass, all the way to ‘flipping’ the original sample, completely repurposing it into something completely unrecognizable. But in the midst of this practice lies the question;

“Is it actually better to make your own sounds from scratch so that you can be truly original?”

In short, not necessarily! Most people truly don't care if you make your own sounds & loops, they just care about one thing: does it sound good?

Loops are a tool & you should use them when you believe it sounds right to do so. No one is looking over your shoulder to say "You didn't make this yourself, what a fraud!" because loops are, quite literally, made for YOU to use! No one expects you to be an expert in Latin percussion technique & play your...

There’s a reason why I’m so passionate about teaching artists how to produce all on their own stuff. It’s so you can take your musical destiny into your own hands, create opportunities, and dominate the music business!

What I’m talking about is not the traditional music business as you know it. I’m talking about making your music YOUR business. I’m talking about becoming your own unstoppable force who builds their own empire that nobody can take away from you because nobody gave it to you.

I remember when I first moved to Nashville, I really wanted a major publishing deal -- that was my starry, doe-eyed dream -- to write for major artists. After a few years of hustling, writing 2-3 songs a day, doing writers’ rounds, and facing countless rejections from publishers & labels, I decided I was done waiting for someone to give me frickin’ permission to not only release music but to write it and monetize it. I knew I had...

Have you ever caught yourself ‘white-knuckling’ your way through life trying to make things happen a certain way? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there, especially in the music biz. I used to think the only way for me to ‘make it’ was to get a major pub deal or record deal & if I wasn’t “Beyonce Big” then I had failed. Boy was I wrong! Do you know how much money is floating around for creatives to make money outside of the “music industry?”

The truth is, I just wanted to make a great living with my music & I wanted to make an impact. Once I realized that I didn’t need to define the how or what was going to get me there, I discovered a whole new world. That world was music production & custom songwriting! What started off as a necessity because I couldn’t afford to hire producers soon became an obsession & a passion!

Learning how to produce opened doors I could have never imagined, it created...

If you’re an artist then I’m going to assume you’ve been hit by a little thing called “Blank Page Syndrome.” You know the feeling of those dreary beginning stages where you’re staring at a blank page before the actual songwriting begins or as a producer staring at a blank DAW. The options are truly limitless, do you write a love song or a party song, do you start with a loop or build a kit, maybe you want to track guitars first, list goes on & on

The fact that you can start anywhere is honestly a little too much to handle.  Especially if you have perfectionism lingering around & you’re wanting everything to be perfect straight out the gate (spoiler alert, that isn’t how great art is made.) After all, they say the best writers are re-writers?

This is a little thing called decision fatigue. When we are faced with too many options we often get overwhelmed & therefore are not able to gain clarity on our main objective....