This whiteboard screenshot is of me showing a music producer how to turn $1,000 per month into $9,000 and why the $1,000 is completely “worthless” unless it's deployed correctly.
Here's some context…
This producer has a full-time day job that pays him $3,000 per month and takes up 35 hours per week. Outside of that, he launched a (small town) local studio a few months ago that nets him $1,000 every month… Passive. He has other engineers that work the sessions while he's at his day job. Congrats to him on building his first “asset”.
However, this producer's goal is to earn $9,000 per month producing songs for artists so he can establish a reputation and travel to meet bigger artists. Again, he currently lives in a small town.
Here's what most producers would unfortunately do…
They would “cherish” that $1,000 per month from their studio and cling to it. Maybe buy some gear. Maybe save it all (thinking that they are being wise)…
But, both of those are the wrong move in this scenario because that's not the goal. The goal is $9,000 per month.
I explained to him that the $1,000 his studio is making has one job and one job only: To turn into $9,000
And in order to do that, he will have to invest it.
If he clings to that money then what he's essentially telling himself is that he cares more about $1,000 / mo than $9,000 / mo. And he will act accordingly.
So let's give his $1,000 a job…
Step one: Invest that $1,000 per month into growing the studio (some ads + hiring me to help him). We do that until the studio is earning $3,000 per month.
Step two: Buy back his time. By giving up the $1,000/mo, the studio now earns $3,000 / mo which replaces his day job income. He has essentially “purchased” 35 extra hours per week for himself to continue growing his business.
Step three: Deploy that time. Now he has 140 hours (more) per month that he can use to do full production projects (at $1500 per song). On average, that would be enough time to procure and complete, at minimum, 4 songs per month. 4 X $1,500 / song adds $6,000 per month to his business.
So now we have the studio earning $3,000 per month + full production projects earning $6,000 per month which all totals up to $9,000 per month (or $108k per year).
The lesson here is: That first $1,000 doesn't mean sh*t. It's worthless unless it's used as fuel towards the primary goal.
When producers start thinking this way about money (fuel source) then they will finally break free from the bondage of “scarcity thinking / slow growth” and give themselves a chance to build what they actually want.
It will feel very unnatural at first and that's totally cool. It's simple, but not always easy - I get that. Our brains aren't wired to think this way. Progress not perfection.
Produce prosperously,
Dan
PS - I'll be sharing this on our next episode of the
Music Pro Daily podcast but wanted you folks to have it first. Thanks for subscribing to The Producer Files! Much love.
