Productive Flourishing Podcast Episode 61 - Mixing Freelancing, Music, and Entrepreneurship with Graham Cochrane
The stories we often hear and tell ourselves about entrepreneurs, are that successful entrepreneurs somehow had it in their blood or it was always what they wanted to be. The problem is that a lot of people who are now entrepreneurs never thought they'd be one or even have a hard time owning the title now. Graham Cochrane joins me to talk about his journey from freelancer to a successful entrepreneur in the music industry.
About Graham Cochrane:
Graham is a freelance recording and mix engineer living in Tampa, Florida; and he is the founder of one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs, The Recording Revolution, having over 200,000 readers each month. As a lifelong singer/song writer and musician, his passion for recording and mixing has grown from the bedroom studio, to university where he studied audio production, to multi-million dollar studios, to fortune 500 software companies; and all the while freelancing for artists and bands worldwide. Graham's work in business has been featured in Yahoo, Business Insider, and Creative Live to name a few. He thinks of himself as a musician and an artist and never thought he'd be in the position where he is now a success that other people are turning to.
Key Takeaways:
[02:07] Graham shares on how he got started in the music business.
[04:44] He returned the book Four Hour Work Week, because he thought it’s a fantasy.
[05:59] Graham never thought it was in the cards for him to make a good living as a musician.
[07:48] How did he get the idea he could make good money doing something he loves?
[09:16] Feeling like an impostor makes it tough to feel confident at the beginning.
[11:29] It takes having a vision that most of us don't have at the beginning.
[13:53] We're not a good judge of what we can sell, so sometimes we have to try & that is how his blog started.
[14:23] The thing we're best at, we undervalue the most!
[15:45] Blogging is a great way to find out what people are willing to pay for.
[16:30] What was the process of going from free to paid to premium content like for him?
[19:34] Graham shares a few ways to make money as a content creator.
[22:01] Major lessons he learned when first starting The Recording Revolution.
[24:41] His entire business model is…
[25:52] Spark moments & how his website's traffic doubled in just a month.
[28:39] Graham’s advice for content creators when they're in the pre-hockey stick phase.
[33:06] Graham summarizes his 3 pieces of advice.
[34:16] Quality over quantity!
[36:44] Don’t get away from the core of what made you great, plus more advice on succeeding.
[40:16] People & relationships outweigh numbers.
[43:45] Most people won't buy from you - create the best free content in your niche.
[45:41] Front load with free content because it's like advertising & grows your audience.
[48:17] You have to really like the content you're creating.
[50:27] What is the most unanticipated challenge he is currently facing?
[52:52] What is an unanticipated challenge he is facing on the personal level?
[54:58] It’s important to learn to say ‘no’ as your business grows.
[57:37] What is the one thing people should remember from Graham?
Mentioned in This Episode:
The 4 Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss
Impostor Syndrome, by Ramit Sethi
Ryan Lynch - niching down 3 levels
Mr. Money Mustache - Personal Finance Blogger
Career Renegade, by Jonathan Fields
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