Why me taking on this “Executive” role has forced me to be more…PC.
I get on twitter and do a lot of rants. It’s my release from dealing with multiple projects, deadlines, putting out fires, dealing with family life, accounting, marketing, advertising, collaboration, and trying to run errands in between. I’ve been an avid user of the platform since 2009 and I still tweet as though it is. (Sometimes, I’ll post the hashtag #followtrains just to get a reaction.) However, since I am now the owner of a production company and representing every member of this organization I can’t just get on social media and call people out. Not that I haven’t done that before, but like my contemporaries I need to be a bit more tactful because I don’t want to scare away our future clients. Here’s how the process has gone so far.
Tweet Like a Politician: My job as founder of Room380 is to run the day to day business and work on ideas that will generate more revenue. Whether that’s hiring another musician, producer, engineer, or songwriter to assist with a project (or a few) I have to keep this machine running and on track. Part of doing that, to my surprise, is to be a great example of what it’s like to work with these talented people. If an artist’s first impression of me is that I’m messy and always starting drama then why would they want to work with me. Let’s say an artist is running a social media campaign using bots and inflated analytics. That’s not something that they would want to get out to the public because the goal for the campaign in the first place is to give a certain perception of their brand. Now as much as the purist in me thinks that may need to be called out, it’s not necessarily good for business.
One, it’s none of my business even if they tell me. Our role in the production and marketing of the record(s) we work on is just that. To work on the production and marketing of the record! It wouldn’t leave a good impression if the artist would be worried that I would go on IG live and tell their business.
Two, maybe this is an opportunity to educate the artist on other ways they could increase their brand awareness. This actually could turn them into a client for another service we offer down the line. The goal is to give the artists we work with a great experience, not put them on The Shade Room.
Be Solution Oriented: Look, I’m from Southwest Houston where we wear the term “being real” on our sleeves. That term is so ingrained in our culture that we created the term “Trill” (Too Real) just to show how dedicated we are to being just that. However, since taking on this role I’ve had to step back and become the guy that listens and then offers a solution. Since running this ship I can’t scream “there’s a f — ing iceberg” and run around like crazy when people are going to look to avoid it. I’ve had to take a more laid back approach so that I can asses things properly before saying anything. The term “listen twice as much as you speak” has been on repeat in my head the past six months. I’m always juggling multiple things but I have to make sure our clients feel like their being taken care of. Whenever there’s a fire or not I do not point the finger. I look around at what’s happening, listen to everyone’s side and then make a decision. We have to keep things moving if we’re looking to get to the mountain top and complaining about who didn’t do what isn’t going to get us there.
I will confess that from time to time I do slip up and say something. I’ve even gotten better at just throwing subs, it’s really an art form, but I have to practice patience and learn that exposing my every thought isn’t healthy to the future of this company. From our sound designer to even the bass player that’s worked on a few projects these people are depending on me to bring in the clients needed for them to either make a living or make enough for their personal financial goals. I can’t go off every time Spotify or UMG makes a bad decision.
Okay….that was the last one……
