Snake in Sheep's Clothing

So this article is a little different.  I was going to write about this a bit ago, but to be honest I wasn't ready.  Failure is not an easy thing to admit, not to yourself, and definitely not to an audience.  BUT, you have to move on from it, take some time to grieve, but during that grievance figure out what went wrong, how you can fix it, and how you can grow from it.

     Now, you're probably wondering about the title....well, I wanted to learn and grow fast and do things that to be honest, I wasn't quite ready for.  Not that it was a bad thing, but I should have definitely slowed down and done some research, not some, a lot.  Unlike most of my artist I blindly paid someone to be my "Mentor" they said they would send me a syllabus of sort, they never did.  My drive to learn blinded me and I decided to help this person have a show in LA.  If you know me I just want to help people and make them feel good, because I think the world needs more people like that.  There are some people though who take advantage of this, and that person did.

     After I set up the venue for them, got the deposit for them without taking any money myself, I started seeing posts on their Facebook talking about how people are trying to sue this said person, or how they were saying that this said person took advantage of them, and then my heart dropped.  It was too late to pull out of this deal, since my name was in the contract. All I could do was just market the show the best I could, I did it for the opener who I cared about and who I previously featured. Artist K-OH really pulled through.  He was there to keep my spirits high and he brought a great crowd and killed it on the performance.

     So a few lessons I learned from this and want to share.  1. DO YOUR RESEARCH.  Don't believe what anyone says, see what they do, if you can find people they've said they worked with and ask them questions.  2.  DON'T SIGN ANY CONTRACTS UNTIL, you already know what the contract is saying, spend a little money for a lawyer to go over it with you.  Make sure that you're safe from any bad decisions they can create.  Even have a contract between you and the artist.  If someone is not going to sign a contract, you probably shouldn't go into business with them in the first place.  3. DO YOUR RESEARCH, the internet has so much information, even people experiences, so do research on someone else's first event experience.  Don't be embarrassed to ask for help from people who have done this before.  4.  STAY STRONG, good results or bad, you have support all around you.  Strong doesn't mean you can't feel sad, but it does mean you will keep moving forward!

    I just want to say thank you to all the friends who came and supported me and K-OH, I want to say thank you to the staff that run Station 1640. Also there will be more shows in the future.  Just need to do a little construction beforehand. Happy #MusicMonday and have an amazing week!