What is up gigging pros. It is Jared. And I want to share with you that I rented a cello. And I didn't just rent it because I'm excited to learn cello. Although I really am. I've never played cello except when I was an undergrad, learning the string methods class for music education, where you learn how to play instruments that are not your own, so that you can teach them. Because, you know, it's kind of crazy. But the education system expects music teachers to be able to teach everything, even though we are specialists. So the real reason I rented a cello is for marketing purposes. Now, I know that renting a cello will get me more gigs. And you might be wondering, why, how is this going to get you more gigs? Jared, you sound crazy. I am kind of crazy, just because I am very passionate about playing music. And I will do whatever it takes to book and play more gigs, especially as we come out of this, you know, gig deprived season, I'm setting myself up for success here with renting a cello. Now, let's talk about booking gigs. My group Dream City Strings, books, high ticket gigs, they are not $200 gigs, we don't play in bars for free. We book weddings, which are high ticket gigs. And what that means is I ask people, specifically people getting married for a lot of money in exchange for me and my group performing at their event. So asking people for something of that is a big ask. It's kind of like when you're, you find somebody that you're interested in dating or you know, somebody who's a potential life partner. And asking for something as big as you know, as a high ticket gig, it's kind of like asking them to marry you. So when you first meet somebody that you think is cute, you don't ask them for marriage on the first time you meet them, you know, that would be extremely off putting it would unless they've, like researched you and know what you're all about. Even at that point, asking for marriage is still inappropriate? And would, you know, probably make them think you're crazy. So what can you do instead? You know, what did people do? Before marriage, typically, they go out on a lot of dates, you know, before asking for their hand in marriage, they'll you'll ask for their hand at the ice rink when you're skating and it's real cute. But before you can even ask for their hand at the ice rink, you have to ask them out on a date. A date is a low pressure lower commitment tool, that you're still giving value, you're showing them who you are as a person that, you know, it's if they don't like the date, they don't have to continue with the potential relationship. And so bringing it back to gigs here, instead of asking them for marriage, which is asking for them to pay a high ticket gig fee. What can I offer them for a lower commitment that still gets them to know who I am gets them to like me and trust me, and plant the seed that they want to engage more deeply with me, you know, by having the performance they're getting? Well, that can be a variety of things. One of those is putting on performance videos on my social media. And so here's the real reason why I rented a cello is because I am creating multitrack videos where I am playing all four instruments of the string quartet playing some of the tunes that we play regularly at weddings. And so I know that the multitrack format is very popular on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok. And I want to start putting out more items on my value ladder. I just introduced the word value ladder, which is a marketing concept that, you know, the high ticket item is at the top of your ladder. But you can start at a lower level and ascend people up your value ladder. And so my multitrack String Quartet videos are the lowest level of my value ladder. It's free, so it doesn't cost them any money to consume it. It's entertaining. So it provides value. But also it's songs that I do play at weddings, so if they like it, and we've been getting a lot of likes on them so far, which is awesome. And maybe they want to engage further in my value ladder. So I'll put a link to book me in my bio. And I'll keep putting them out. I do know I need to work on optimizing them a little bit more by putting, you know, having some indication that hey, you can book me for my wedding within the video itself, but I'm just getting started here. So That is the real reason why I rented a cello. And I'm learning a new instrument, because I want to bring more people into my ecosystem by creating entertaining videos that people will watch and start planting the seed that maybe they want to ascend up my value ladder and eventually booked me for a high paying gig. So that is how I use social media. I don't just use it to blast out performance opportunities, because mostly mostly events I play are private anyway, so people can't attend them. Although a public performance opportunity is you know, the live showcase. I mentioned that in another episode of using a live showcase to bring people into your ecosystem. That is another entry point into your value ladder. It's free people should not have to pay to attend your live showcase. And it'll plant the seed and send them up to them booking you for a higher ticket gig. So hope that gives you a couple ideas of how to use social media. If you have any thoughts questions, be sure to reach out and make sure to like and subscribe this podcast. I appreciate all the reviews I've been getting. And if you want to go deeper into how I booked gigs, how I play enough to earn six figures of bookings. Then you really got to check out my free book Gigging Secrets. It is the underground playbook to making a living performing. It talks a little bit about what I mentioned on this podcast and the live showcase. And then how to actually book those high ticket gigs. So you can get your Free copy at GiggingS crets.com And remember you are j st one gig away.