Congratulations Dennis!

Hey, what's up gigging pros. It's Jared Judge. Welcome to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. It's Friday, at least it is when I'm recording this. I don't know what date it's going to be published. But it is the day after a venue tour that I took of that beautiful venue in Littleton, which I actually just posted to my socials. So I'm not sure, like I said, when this is gonna be released, but scroll back in my timeline to August 10. And you'll see some pictures from that venue tour. It's a beautiful space. Anyway, today, I wanted to talk about another musician. While I talk about Dennis, Dennis D., he doesn't really know of doing this episode about him. But he is like a brother to me or an uncle or something like that, because he is amazing human, such a pure heart and spirit, and a fantastic guitarist and singing singer. And so I love him like a brother. He's awesome. And he came into my world, I think it was like a year or two ago. And he came through one of the Fulltime Music Challenges that I ran, which I'm thinking of starting those backup, because they were just so fun. And people got such great results from them. And so he came into my world. And during the challenge, you know, so a little backstory on Dennis, singing guitarist, great, great musician, but had not been playing many private event gigs. You know, he'd been playing a lot of open mics, and that kind of thing. But he hadn't been in the private event scene, much didn't know the possibilities of these high paying gigs. His background, he is a retired law enforcement officer. And he was a church musician, back in the day as well think he actually went to the University of Las Vegas UNLV for for music at one point, and then actually played, played and sang on the strip for a little bit with some amazing artists. But he had retired from that and did his law enforcement job, and then retired from that pretty recently to and wanted to get back into music. And that's why he joined the Fulltime Music Challenge. Went through it. And then I think he, one of the tasks of the challenge, like the challenge is awesome. It actually gives you homework, that if you care enough about your music career to take action on it, you do the homework. But the homework is not just boring, busy work. It is actually like practical. Get on Facebook, join one of those Facebook groups and post an ad for your services. That was one of the homework, which by the way, you're welcome to do now you may get some results. So he did that. I think he actually posted on next door, which is the neighborhood app. And then he got somebody replying, saying, Hey, I am looking for a singing guitarist for my wedding. And they actually hired him during the challenge, which was awesome. So Dennis is an action taker. So he joined my larger full time Music Academy program. And we've been in touch ever since he actually helped me run one of the challenges, because he was just so gassed up by it, and he sees the vision of what we're doing here. So then, you know, fast forward, he winds up getting a regular church music job as a result of one of the things that I suggested. And that pays him to sing and play and lead worship at a church near him every Sunday. So he's been continually making progress, getting the kind of gigs that he wants, which is awesome. And plus, on the side, I also see him doing all this other creative stuff, like song writing, and playing festivals and things like that. And I hope he's having a good time, it seems like he is. But I wanted to share his recent success, which is directly related to The Gig Vault that I've been talking about so much. One of the strategies that I suggest, just backup for those of you who have not been listening very long, but one of the biggest strategies for getting gigs is by getting people in the events industry, aka the event planners, and the venue owners. We want to get them to know like and trust you very quickly and put you on what's called a preferred vendor list. And I'm not gonna go too deep into that because I've covered it a lot on this podcast, but you want to be on that preferred vendor list 99% of the time, it's free. And so one of the strategies to get on preferred vendor list fast is by sponsoring a networking groups networking event. And there are networking groups in the events industry. One of the ones out by Dennis is called ILEA, the International Live Events Association and with my courage Mr. Dennis decided to sponsor their next event. And quick thing about sponsorship, it does not mean he gave the money just means he donated his services as a singing guitarist to their event. And so he did that. On one of our group coaching calls on Zoom, I think we actually like, did some Google searching to find this networking group and showed him exactly how to reach out to them. And he did, they accepted his sponsorship. And then the event was, I think, August 8, so two days ago, three days ago at this point. And so he went to the event, set up his guitar, center his mic, and played and sang and entertained them, while also getting a chance to introduce himself, and spread the good word about what he's doing. And he posted pictures, he was so excited. And then he posted after the event, how many contacts he made, and the fact that at these networking events, like they usually in the events industry, they like to go hard, they like to do it up. And so he got to try some new wine. And I'm sure that was really good food, too, because these events, industry people, they love to put on a good event, even the ones that they attend. So that's awesome. He got some great contacts. But like, what's the return on investment? for that? He put in time he put an effort, you know, is it actually worth it? And typically, you don't necessarily see results immediately. All right, it takes some time for one of the people who heard you to have an opportunity for you to play. But then this morning, about five hours ago, so he must have been a blade that would have been probably two in the morning here. He posted in our Facebook group, saying let me just grab this screenshot. I received a referral from someone I don't know, to play a three hour club member release party at a local distillery, which is amazing. So this, I commented back to him, this is how it begins, congratulations, which is the fact that when you do these sorts of things, you are literally injecting yourself into the memories, and basically the knowledge database of all the event planners, and venue operators in your area. And you become part of their their actual daily knowledge. So when someone like this person at the distillery needs a musician for their upcoming members only release party, they think of you as pretty amazing. So I don't know if this gig came directly from him sponsoring that eylea event. And he doesn't know either yet, I hope that he finds out. But this is how it begins. You get referrals from people you don't even know, which is pretty dang awesome. I that actually that happened started happening for me a couple of months ago in Denver. You know, I've been in Denver, just under a year, I've been putting in my time and putting doing the Gig Vault Strategy that I teach here. And I'd be getting referrals from people I don't even know. And two days ago, I got a lead in my inbox, which is a repeat customer from a destination management company. I played for their event, I think it was back in May or June. And then they had another client looking for, in his words, a fun musical accessory or something musical entertainment. So this was my second gig from the same DMC which is awesome, right, we want to get you to a point where you don't know where these referrals are coming from. And they come in very consistently. You know, I've paid a lot of money on Wedding Wire, TheKnot, GigSalad, The Bash, Thumbtack, those are kind of the main ones. And I will say the return on investment on those has been a lot lower than the return on my time and effort on depositing into my Gig Vault, using these kinds of strategies that I share in the podcast. So works for me, works for Dennis, I'm just so proud of him for sticking with it and doing it. Because there is like, it is a new thing. It is like a big undertaking, but it's so worth it. However many musicians when they see that it's a big task or an undertaking, they're like, Oh, this isn't for me, I'd rather do things the way I've been doing them as that you I hope it's not. But when you do things the way that you've always done them, you get the same results that you've always had. So it takes time and effort. It takes belief. It takes faith and trust that I'm not going to steer you wrong. And it also you can mitigate that by Just looking at the results that people like Dennis have gotten, and having faith that it will work for you, too. So, Dennis, I'm so proud of you. You make me proud, you make me a happy teacher and coach and mentor and friend. And this is just the beginning. So congratulations, Dennis, I cannot wait to see how many more referrals you get. And I hope this inspires you. And to all of the other people listening to this, to keep going, do more sponsor more of these events, visit those venues, take your instrument play for them, and get on their preferred vendor lists. So that is all that I got for you guys today. By the way, if you want a list of leads, who should I reach out to? Well, I'm gonna get you that list for free. Because we put it together we put in a lot of work and effort into this so that you don't have to spend as much work and that is yours for free. I call it The Gig Vault. And you can get your free copy along with a 30 day trial of Fulltime Music Academy at OpenTheGigVault.com to grab your copy, I cannot wait to see you get results like Dennis. Alright, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Gigging Musician Podcast. Remember,"Your music will not market itself!" Bye everybody.