Entrepreneur

Here are a few of my most recent entrepreneurial ventures to give you a little peek into some of the things I currently spend my day doing.  Don’t worry, I decided to leave out the lemonade stands and paper routes I had when I was 12.

	Sound-n-Vision Website Design, Internet Marketing and SEO In January of 2001 I started a new venture called Sound-n-Vision which began as an internet marketing company for musicians and artists. Named after a David Bowie song, Sound-n-Vision started out as a way for me to expel some creative energy while at the same time helping other musicians and artists do what I was able to do so well as a successful musician…market myself. The company was a big hit and within a year some big companies like Nike, American Express, Travel+Leisure Magazine and others took notice and Sound-n-Vision grew into a big player in the website design, search engine optimization and Internet marketing world. Now, over 10 years later we continue to work with companies of varying sizes from startups to Fortune 500 companies…and of course still stay true to our roots and continue to help musicians and artists. For more information, please visit Sound-n-Vision.
	Selling Your Ass Off Sales Advice, Coaching and Information Products The idea behind Selling Your Ass Off came during the early part of 2011. My business partner and I saw a lot of companies struggling due to the recession and yet we had just doubled the business the previous year and were up an additional 50% for the current year. The primary difference was a somewhhat unconventional method to selling that was a healthy mix of building relationships and doing whatever it taks. We have become known to deliver pizza to clients in our custom branded pizza boxes, send flying pigs, drop off donuts or bagels, drive 500 miles to meet a potential client and more. We saw an opportunity to help those struggling and created this blog in September of 2011 and have already had a lot of success with it in terms of building a following. For more information, please visit Selling Your Ass Off.
	How to Make a Living as a Musician Books and Information Products My entreprenurial life began as a musician…yes, as a musician you are an entreprenuer. If you don’t see yourself that way, you need to buy my book! I was very successful as a musician…played on Broadway, wrote instructional books, recorded with Grammy Award winning musicians and much more. What helped me to succeed was not all of the hours in the practice room, although that was time well spent. It was my ability to market myself and see myself as an entreprenuer. In an effort to help other musicians navigate through all of the muckety muck, I stopped by a Starbucks and started writing down all of my secrets. Four hours and about 40 pages later I had the start of what would soon by my book “How to Make a Living as a Musician: A Freelancers Guide” which will be available on November 1, 2011. For more information, please visit How to Make a Living as a Musician.
	Zootstrap! Internet Startup They can’t all be winners! Zootstrap! was an idea that I had to help other budding entreprenuers get funding for their ideas in order to help their businesses get to the next level. It was my answer to the issues revolving around banks not lending money to small businesses. I auditioned for the ABC reality show “Shark Tank” with the idea and they liked it enough to bring me back although I never made it past the second round. I still think there is something to the idea but I didn’t pursue it ironically enough because I would need a lot of funding to pull it off. One day I would like to see this come to fruition! For more information, please visit…nevermind.
	Shark Tank Entrepreneurial Reality Show Finalist I saw an opportunity to audition for the ABC television show “Shark Tank” and jumped at the chance. I had an idea swimming around in my head that needed to get out so I showed up at the auditions. The first step was to pitch the idea to casting agent sitting at a table. I had 5 minutes or less to knock him out. I was cut off after 2 minutes because he loved the idea and handed me some paperwork and sent me off to a room in the back of the studio where they rolled the cameras and asked me questions like on the show. The audition went really well, but in the end I was not called back for the taping of the show. I’m not bitter. It was an awesome experience and I would do it 100 times over again!  For more information, please visit the Shark Tank.