A few days ago I walked out of my apartment, on the way for a Starbucks coffee and lo! I saw 2 young fellows and one of them was stringing an acoustic guitar.
He was winding the pegs slowly by hand, so I had to pre-empt the Starbucks trip.
“Hold on, let me help you.” I went back upstairs, snagged a pegwinder (with clippers) and an extra set of strings, and a CD as a gift.
“Gimme that” I said. I showed him how to wind strings on quickly using this tool. I offered him the strings as a backup, and the CD was simply to inspire him.
I asked the guys their plan.
“We’re gonna play in the subway and see if we can make some money.”
“Cool, kick ass!” I told ’em.
On the way back from Starbucks, they were still in front of my building, rehearsing.
“Hey do you guys have a postcard or something to give out to people?” I asked.
“Um, no.”
“What if you draw a crowd and people dig it? You gotta hand them something otherwise they’ll have no idea who you were. They’ll forget about you in 10 minutes.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
We went on with a few other topics, but my point is that these guys needed a coach.
My years of experience allowed me to call up “bullet points” in seconds, and quickly identify the “holes” in their strategy.
That made me think “Heck, I am no different. I need a coach, since there are probably things slipping past me too!” (In fact, I’d love to still be taking guitar lessons…)
I went home immediately and called Rick Goetz – (http://musiciancoaching.com/) a well respected music coach – to set up a session for myself. I meet him at 4:30 today.
With a the new “I Remember Michael” CD out – I bet there’s something that Rick can teach me strategically.
I’ll let you know how the meeting goes, I am excited.
I can’t wait for ‘the rest of the story”.
I’m sure you inspired those two.
Let us know what you get out of it Adam. Been thinking the same thing.
Cool Adam. Never to wise or talented to learn!
Funny thing about a coach, and reaching out for help, is their greater experiences lets them notice things ‘obvious’ (to the coach) while those same actions/thoughts are mysterious and unconsidered by the coached.
I love this post – it’s great to remember that there’s always someone you can help out and there’s always someone more experience than you. – good reminder.