Chapter 3: “I Wanted to See You Smile”

Posted by admin on February 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

“I wanted to see you smile.”

That’s what my friend said to me after my gig this past Wednesday.  It was my first gig in a couple months and I was nervous for a number of reasons, and apparently I didn’t smile onstage.

Here is why I was nervous:

1) It was my first gig with my new friend Arthur, a truly remarkable bassist and music business veteran.  He said to me before the gig that we had not rehearsed enough (we had played together twice) and suggested I play the stint solo so that we could have more time to practice before getting in front of an audience.  I asked him to play anyway, saying it would be fun, loose and casual.  He is a nice guy so he acquiesced even though he knew that it would be sub-par.  He was right.  In my next post I will discuss what I learned regarding my attitude to things being “fun, loose and casual,” but more on that later.

2) I was nervous because the venue, a college dive-bar in the west village booked me on the basis that I would bring 15 people to the gig because they didn’t have a built in crowd.  Give or take, I had around that many people confirm with me beforehand, and almost all of them canceled last minute.  Showing up “empty handed” so to speak was relatively embarrassing and added to my anxiety.

So why didn’t I smile? My friend said he wanted to see me smile, he wanted to feel me more and that the few times I got into it were the best parts of the show.  I was playing music, my favorite thing to do on the planet and I didn’t allow myself to open up because I had convinced myself that in order to protect myself from “looking bad” or “being embarrassed”  by the small turnout, I had to just “play it cool.”  The bullshit I made up in my head was that if I was to really get into it for an audience of just 5 people at a dirty bar then I would look like a loser, AND I would make my 5 friends uncomfortable.  In reality, I deprived my true gifts from the people who wanted to come to see me at my best and missed an opportunity to show the strangers that were there how truly powerful my music can be, like it or not.

In the war against my Ego and my Highest Self, unfortunately my sheepish ego got the best of me this time.  This won’t last for long though.  I promise.

Zach

Chapter 1: How I’m Going to Make It: Anything Can Be Accomplished In Life With 3 Things

Posted by admin on February 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

This is the first chapter of a story that both you (the readers) and I (the author) will have the pleasure of seeing and helping unfold in real time. Here is the basis of the story:

I believe that ANYTHING can be accomplished in life with three things:

1) A vision: my definition of vision is a clear, burning, and unbridled desire manifested in the form of a dream, or a want to become or create something in life. This could be becoming a doctor, a father, the president of the United States, a teacher…whatever.

2) An unwavering belief in oneself. This is self-explanatory

3) A shit load of hard work. Again, self-explanatory

This story begins with me, Zach Maxwell, who has had the vision of being a world-renowned singer, songwriter, performing artist, guitar player and motivational speaker since I was a young lad.

Why is this my vision? Because I believe that I have something to offer people, and that I have something to say. I believe that my soul is here to express my unique flavor of joy, passion, connection to God, the Universe, whatever you want to call it for the sake of helping others experience something greater for themselves as well. Call this arrogance, call it self-confidence, call it what you like. I call it my vision and it’s unwavering.

For the past ten years I have spent thousands of hours, at times, regularly practicing my instruments alone over 8 hours a day; refining, focusing, living and breathing my craft 24/7  to get to a point where I feel I am remarkable enough to offer something of value to people. I will continue to consistently practice my ass off and get better as this story unfolds.

For the past year also, I have been reading a lot on how the music business has changed, and how independent artists have a chance to “make it” in ways that they never could before with a lot of hard work and the technological resources available to us that weren’t available even 5 years ago. I am going to prove it.

Not only am I going to prove it, I’m going to use this blog to transparently share the steps I’m taking, as I’m taking them for all the world to see. This will be my “story.”

Just so we’re clear on what my vision is: My definition of “making it” is becoming world renown. Not being on the cover of People Magazine, not being a tabloid “celebrity,” but being a “world renown” artist…known for making a difference for people with my music and message. Right now I have about 10 fans. A few people, if any are reading this first post. At the end of this story I will prove to millions of people that with a burning desire and vision, a firm and unwavering belief in yourself, and the willingness and integrity to work your fucking ass off for your dreams, ANYTHING is possible. How long it will take? A year, 2 years, 10 years…who knows?

Stay tuned as the story unfolds.

And if you would like to help make this story happen, feel free to comment, share and spread this post to anybody and everybody that you feel would be interested.