The Client Who Wouldn’t Take No For An Answer...
(But Who Eventually Found His Own Niche)
With my Coaches Hat on, I once worked with a Christian Rapper. It was an interesting case to say the least…
At the time I was working more with Creators of Products (and developing Digital Educational Products too) But you know what they say - a change is a as good as a rest - plus with this one I had very little choice.
You see the person in question was the Fiance of a very close girlfriend of mine.
And im usually quick to say ‘Thanks but no thank-you.’ But this one was so interesting I decided to say ‘yes.’
And to give you a little bit of background - actually wait, first you should know this guys name - well for here lets just call him Jeremiah. (as he doesn't actually know that im writing this yet)
And Jeremiah was absolutely determined to make it. He dreamed of selling records by the ton. And so you should of course if you want to be an artist, but he also knew that family responsibilities were key. But he wasnt giving up on his dream though, so i told him, 'Ok Mikes got you covered.'
And we set about getting down to business.
And the rap scene in the UK is of course massive with 50 million streams and 1.4B in sales just from UK artists alone every year. (But don't quote me I just pulled that from uncle Google)
But the point I am making is that is BIG. But well, Christian Rap, hmmm, not so much friends. And this dude was struggling to earn much at all. Sure he was getting booked for the odd gig and stuff. But he was hardly making what I would call a good living. And his album sales, well he wasn't going to be ordering himself a Ferrari anytime soon, put it that way.
And his fiance was like ‘get a real job.’ Now I always have a soft spot for Artists. As in my own ways I class myself as one too.
So my first port of call was to listen to his whole album, and secondly to see him perform live. And i swear that his message was good. But im real in these posts and im telling you now that he was not going to be the next ‘big thing’ in terms of hit singles.
So the next phase was to check out his mindset, we did some sessions around self belief and all the other associated things too. But his mindset no, that wasn’t the issue, as his faith has propelled him to put his whole belief into the big dudes hands. So that was all fine and dandy, but the point of my work was make this guy bread. And im talking of course about the green stuff. And the way that I did it was like this.
In a session I break down your skills first, then in cases like this I develop you a plan.
And dude was never going to sell a million records, but I discovered something which i thought that could work. And it came about from one of my Modules, where we break down personality traits and percents. And this guys brain was firing on all cylinders, and being a rapper his vocab and wordplay were immense.
And i realized that Jeremiahs skills and his confidence could be used in much more than just album sales. And Mr Masters, I had me an idea...
So the plan that I developed with the J man was to spend time on practicing something first with me, (an associated word play exercise which i use when im training people on public speaking) and then later adapted this for him to try doing at every gig, with a dedicated section where everybody in the audience would call out a word or hold up an item from their pockets, and Jeremiah would then freestyle about them - and also rap consciously bars about faith.
The ideas was that he would draw on and apply all his intricate workplay, in a way that connected with each person too.
And would you believe it, wow massive - the response from the crowd was incredible. I needed my ear plugs that night ! The people responded and got hyped.
And before long he got known for his freestyles. In fact more thn just known he got BIG. The first few gigs he practized and honed it and then it eventually got known much more widely. Not mainstream but mainstream within Churches. And trust me they have more than a few quid.
And dude was getting booked practically every week soon! And he never did have to give up his dream. So a coach doesn't always just manage your mindset, but can help you to capitalize on your existing skills too.
His fiance also thanked me, and I did that one totally for free. After all maybe the big dude upstairs might have been listening. And i figured that's the best testimonial of all for Mr Masters to get.
Until next time friends, stay positive, stay focused and stay building.
Yours,
Michael Masters - The Info Architect.
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