Everyone is NOT a Star

Have you noticed with the invention of reality television shows like American Idol that suddenly everyone is a star? It seems even my hair dresser has a Christmas “CD” that she has produced and is selling on her website. I feel this is utter insanity.

 

The truth is that talent, true talent is rare. Not everyone who thinks they can sing or perform is Hollywood or Broadway bound. There are the few exceptions, but I am so tired of everyone thinking they are a “star.”

 

I guess I have Hannah Montana to blame. Good ole Miley Cyrus with her gravely teenage voice has convinced a whole generation that they are superstars. Uggg.

 

I know from where I speak. I was performing from an early age and played my first paid gig when I was eleven. I went to the top of where I could go in Clearwater, Florida and had to move on somewhere else when I got to high school.

 

The solution was that I went to North Carolina School of the Arts. In the 1980’s this was a totally different animal then it is today. It was a true conservatory. I ate, slept and worked everyday at music. I soon realized I was but a drop of talent in a vast ocean of even greater talent. I was humbled.

 

There are local arts schools run by people that had talent, had their fifteen minutes of fame and now make their money promising children stardom. These kids get starry eyed and slack brained. Many of these kids become homeschooled. What is that all about? Even if these kids have talent, do they want to be illiterate, socially retarded artists? Believe me there are plenty of those out there.

 

Who is to blame, the charlatans that are shoveling out these ridiculous promises or the parents that are squandering their child’s academic and collegiate future in the hopes of a bit part in a sitcom or a 30 second commercial spot. Maybe they truly believe in the term “starving artist.”

 

My solution? Following your dreams and have a back up plan. Get out of town and experience what is out in the rest of the world. NEVER EVER read your own press because family and friends will ALWAYS think you are a star. And for those home school kids- GO TO SCHOOL! Go to prom, try out for the football team or cheerleading squad and get a grip on reality. Turn off Idol and Dancing with the Stars and bury your head in a good novel.

Time to move ahead

Thanks for those who wished my daughter well. She still has a migraine after days of grueling medications, but she is moving onward past it. I am so proud of her and am in awe of her bravery.

I am excited that I am moving soon. The new house is 99 years old. I was wondering how people do centennial house birthday parties. Do I light 100 candles around the house? Do a decorate with balloons and invite those lived their in the past? It will be quite the experience.

It has a coal fireplace and I also wondering if people burn coal in their homes anymore?  If any of you out in internet land have any answers please post them.

 

John

Good News- The Executive Coaching Book is Back

After speaking with editors of my publisher, they have allowed me to redo my book-

How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Personal and Executive Coaching Business: With Companion CD-ROM

 

Here is the book copy. It will be bigger better and even more awesome this time around. If you are interested in preordering  go to

http://tinyurl.com/dap3af

In the U.S., the average professional coach makes roughly $150-$200 per hour. It is not uncommon for a seasoned coach to make well over $100,000 per year. If you are good at motivating and inspiring people, a coaching business may be a great choice for you. People seek out coaches to help them in matters of life, business, career, and even parenting. And they are paid very well with few startup costs.

 

As a professional coach, you will recognize and define your clients’ goals; construct a realistic strategy for achieving your goals; establish a detailed program of actions and activities; identify, manage, and change business improvements; get effective and timely results; monitor your progress and build on your successes; achieve what may have seemed impossible; and get the rewards and recognition you deserve. If you are investigating opportunities in this type of business, you should begin by reading this book.

 

If you enjoy working with people, this may be the perfect business for you. Keep in mind that this business looks easy but, as with any business, looks can be deceiving. This complete manual will arm you with everything you need, including sample business forms; contracts; worksheets and checklists for planning, opening, and running day-to-day operations; setting up your office; plans and layouts; and dozens of other valuable, timesaving tools of the trade that no business should be without.

 

While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through every detail that will bring success. You will learn how to draw up a winning business plan (the companion CD-ROM has the actual business plan you can use in Microsoft Word™) and about basic cost control systems, market research, getting new clients, tax laws, pricing, leads, legal concerns, sales and marketing techniques, and pricing formulas.

 

 

You will learn how to set up computer systems to save time and money, how to meet IRS requirements, how to generate high profile public relations and publicity, and how to implement low cost internal marketing ideas. You will learn how to build your business by using low and no cost ways to satisfy customers, as well as ways to increase sales and have customers refer others to you.

 

 

Successful coaches will appreciate this valuable resource and reference it in their daily activities as a source of ready-to-use forms, Web sites, and mathematical formulas that can easily be applied to their operations. The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms found in the book, as well as a sample business plan you can adapt for your own use.

 

Again to preorder go to

http://tinyurl.com/dap3af

Tonight, Tonight It all gets played tonight

Tonight is the big concert- Rossini and Tchaik, I play in your general direction (This is for Monty Python Fans). Rehearsal, food, concert, after party, sleep about 1 Am. Whew!!!

I am also finishing 20k in the wild Wine book. It is shaping up quite nicely! I am quite excited about it. I still need contributors. So if you have made wine, or drink a lot of wine, send me an email!!!! Drjohnnd@hotmail.com.

I hope to chapter 3 of Erl King up next week. It is also shaping up quite nicely. Let me go practice on my twig. (ok you dirty minded people- I play a wooden piccolo…..never mind!)

 

John

Bang on!

I am sitting through a rehearsal thinking about the universe of energy, as drums are tapped and cymbals are pummeled, while gongs are shook out of their slumber. It is quite backdrop for creating Law of Attraction Flash Cards. It is quite surreal. It reminds of the feeling that I had watching Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline”. There is definitely layers of reality and I believe music and sound vibrate seamlessly through all of them.

I am excited to play the piccolo solos in Rossini’s Overture to La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) and to finish the evening with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #5 in e minor, Op. 64 which is a devil of a piece on flute and piccolo. I have my work cut out for me. I will try to post sound bites of the concert next week.

You know I may have to treat myself to a late night snack after all of that. I really want some Thai!

If anyone reading this does home winemaking please look at my site,

http://tinyurl.com/dap3af, about participating as a case study.

gone

removed by me

Snowy Mind Drifts

March started with a snowy blanket, which is fine but my oldest Sarah is sick. See when they finally get around to making it a law requiring couples to have a license to have children, which I feel confident there should be, there will be a class called body fluids 101. I am convinced that unless you have cleaned after a child is sick, at least once, they should revoke your parent card. You just can not truly understand the joys of it all, without experiencing it. So without going into gory detail I will leave it at that!

I am constantly shocked that we live in a generation of folks that have such a high level of self importance mixed with an expectation of entitlement, that it makes me want to choke at times. I am often hired to find musicians and hire them for various gigs in the area. I am befuddled by the number of people that feel like they are slighted in some way if I don’t call them “first” for a gig. Now I have a large pool of musicians that I hire from and make a decisions based upon musicianship, attendance and reliability. If they do a good job and I don’t have any trouble with them, I would be more likely to hire them in the future. This is not a guarantee, and I am not required to do so.

I receive the calls and emails of grown adults whining that they did not get picked. Is this some left over issues from kickball games during recess?  This is business, and I treat it that way. There are no favorites, only the best musicians for the job. I think that there is some illusion that if I get pestered enough or am threatened with “ I will talk to you boss,” that I will in someway cave in. Actually the opposite is true.

Well enough of my bellyaching. I am off to write about WILD WINES!!

 

John