Today’s blog is about establishing credibility in your field for people to find you. If your measurement of success is how many followers you have on Instagram or how many subscribers you have on YouTube, you may not be doing it right.

I had a guy recently ask on a Facebook group that I frequent (I go there to answer questions and try to help with anything I can). This guy asked a question about the difference between the hardware version of the Tube-Tech CL1b compressor and the software version of the same unit. 

We had been in the middle of doing a bunch of these VS. videos or comparison videos and had recently posted one about precisely that. The Hardware version of the Tube-Tech CL1b and the software version. The results were massive in this particular video (The hardware unit was much better than the software counterpart). So I referred the guy to YouTube and put a link in the post about where to find the video. And I told him he should go check it out as there was a noticeable difference between the hardware and software versions.

He came back literally 2 minutes later and posted this;

“You only have 120 subscribers on Youtube. You must suck. You don’t know what you’re talking about because you have 120 subscribers. How can I trust anything you say to be true if you suck so bad.”

Well, that was fun.

My response to him was:

I’m sorry my subscriber count is not where you think it should be for me to be credible. It might be that instead of spending all of my time trying to get subscribers on YouTube, I may have been spending my time making records. You know, the ones that go Gold and Platinum. Oh, and that Grammy that I won could be a good indicator that I might know about some stuff. Or, it could have come from the 35 years I have been doing this for a living. Maybe even that I have been a Mentor and a Coach for more than 17 years at a very prestigious Audio Engineering/Recording school? So if you strictly determine someones worth by how many subscribers they have, I feel sorry for you. Maybe your goals will change one day. And if you watch, listen, and pay attention, you might learn something and get some work done instead of pretending to do work on your YouTube channel.
I somehow got blocked from that Facebook Group. They said I was being disrespectful. And that I was perpetrating hate speech. Again, more fun. Can you say participation trophy kids?

We’ll save that discussion for another time. That one will make some people angry. Hey, the truth can hurt sometimes. But you know what? If we stop pretending and pay attention to those that came before us, we might make better records. Who knows?

Back to the topic.

If you pay attention and take in many different opinions and other ways of doing things. You should be able to carve out “YOUR” way of doing things that will make you unique and stand out from others in the same field. 

You know, if you think a field is “Over Saturated.” There is a reason for that. People need and want whatever that field is offering. If you think, Oh, I can’t go into producing music, there are just too many other producers, and most are better than me at producing music. You need to remember that there is only one you. No one is making music like you do. You are unique and may have the exact gift of music everyone wants. If you don’t do it because you think you’re not good enough or there are way too many people doing the same thing. You will go through life wondering - What IF?

Don’t do that. Wouldn't it be better to say, Man, I’m glad I tried that because now my song, which I produced and wrote, is being recorded by Beyonce, and the world will love it. If you had not tried, the world could be worse off because you never wrote the song that helped change it.

The next thing that you should be concerned about.  And this is a much better indicator of success than having a lot of subscribers. How much money are you making? That could be a goal, right? At the end of the day, it’s all about what kind of incredible work I did and how much I made. That is how you should measure your success. Not by getting to a million YouTube subscribers. Of course, having a million subscribers would be good too. That is just not the goal. If you have a million subscribers, you should monetize your content on YouTube and start getting paid by the ads. For some of us, that may be the goal. Being a YouTuber.

Also, remember that another goal is how much time you have to put in to make money. If you have to spend 80+ hours per week and never take days off. Sure, you might get to six or even seven figures in time. But is it worth working all those hours? You know your relationships and physical and mental health are just as important as money. So let’s make it a point to make more money by working fewer hours. You know that if you work only 22 hours per week and still make six figures, it’s way better than never having time to enjoy it.
Your health is just as important. So take time to keep that in check. Eat right—exercise, meditate, relax, etc.

That way, you might be around longer to enjoy making all that money. You can’t take it with you.

The point is, go out there and make great records by being you. Don’t let others try to force you to be someone you’re not. Being creative is YOU. You are the only that is you. Go be “YOU.”

Thanks for the hang. See you next week. Padawans.

dB