Band

Below is an email response to the band I used to manage.  Pretty amazing that 3 years later, the first paragraph holds true.  There's a bad curse word in the second to last paragraph.  It didn't feel right to edit out any of the email for this post.

Singer's email to the band:

"i have 2 sets of questions that i'd like to you all to answer to get a sense of what i can expect from you guys and to get you thinking of what you expect of yourselves and the band. 

what does success look like for you individually?

how do you get there?

what does success look like for the band?

how do we get there?....and what do you control?"

My response (after first responding to see if I was one of the guys and him responding "yes"):  

Success to me is being proud of what I am (or what I'm doing) and making a positive impact on the lives my work touches.  When someone asks me, "what do you do?' if I can answer them with genuine enthusiasm that would signify personal success in my eyes.  Another aspect of success is for my husband and family (sisters and parents) to be proud of me and my accomplishments.  Financial security also has an impact but not nearly as important as feeling fulfilled, enthused, and making a difference.

Getting there will only be possible by having a positive mindset, working hard, and constantly coming up with different ideas and/or avenues to continue succeeding.

Success for the band would be for you to have international notoriety.  Ideally you will start in the U.S. with radio time and opening act tours and then tour all over the world. 

We get there by coming up with a strategic business plan.  We also get there by constantly communicating with each other on where we are and where we are going.  We need to all be accountable, dependable, and constantly have the band's best interest on the forefront of our minds.  For you guys, making sure you are all performing to the highest degree and for me, having the business (bookings, promotion, etc) side as my main focus.  I like all of you in my own special way but my involvement is based on my belief that your music is something that needs to be shared with the world.  Music has always been extremely personal to me and has gotten me through some really rough times.  And I'd like for you fuckers to be able to do that for other crazies all over the world. 

My control is to take care of the business aspects of the band so you guys can focus on your music and achieve my goals (haha, I hope they are your goals as well)."

The keyboardist responded with a thoughtful response.  The guitarist brought up at our next meeting, when the singer and I confronted him, that he didn't think it was a serious email and that he was supposed to respond.  The band broke up a few months after that.  

I learned a lot about myself from managing the band for a little over a year.  I also learned a lot about how tricky the dynamic can be when working with and for friends.  I don't mean by me working for my friends, but the situation that involved the band members being friends.  I am still very close friends with the singer and have the utmost respect for his talent, drive, and beautiful soul.  He will go very far in life and I will be right next to him to encourage and promote him to my fullest extent.