About Me and My Podcast

Hi. My name is James Newcomb.

MusicPreneur.Com is a combination of two things that are near and dear to me: music and commerce. I believe that these are two of the most powerful forces known to man and are able to do a great deal of good (and not so good) for humanity.

With this podcast, I want to go beyond simply Making Money Making Music. It's my hope that listeners will be inspired to live a lifestyle that is holistic, selfless and makes the world a little bit better place to live.

In a year and a half of running the show, I've identified 5 core areas of the MusicPreneur Lifestyle.

Expert musicianship

Business savvy

Innovation

Financial wellness

Physical, emotional and spiritual wellness.

As you listen to the show, you'll hear these core areas emphasized repeatedly.

It's more than just a job, or even a career. A MusicPreneur lives a life that reflects who they are as individuals and as musicians.

I hope you'll check out an episode or two. Of course, subscribing to the show will make it much easier for you to keep up to date.

Thanks for checking out my little podcast!

To your success,

James Newcomb

listen on your favorite podcast player

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Overcast

Spotify (Coming Soon)

Enjoy this interview I did for the Trumpet Dynamics podcast with Brian Newman, trumpeter and bandleader for Lady Gaga!

About Me and My Podcast

Hi. My name is James Newcomb.

MusicPreneur.Com is a combination of two things that are near and dear to me: music and commerce. I believe that these are two of the most powerful forces known to man and are able to do a great deal of good (and not so good) for humanity.

With this podcast, I want to go beyond simply Making Money Making Music. It's my hope that listeners will be inspired to live a lifestyle that is holistic, selfless and makes the world a little bit better place to live.

In a year and a half of running the show, I've identified 5 core areas of the MusicPreneur Lifestyle.

Expert musicianship

Business savvy

Innovation

Financial wellness

Physical, emotional and spiritual wellness.

As you listen to the show, you'll hear these core areas emphasized repeatedly.

It's more than just a job, or even a career. A MusicPreneur lives a life that reflects who they are as individuals and as musicians.

I hope you'll check out an episode or two. Of course, subscribing to the show will make it much easier for you to keep up to date.

Thanks for checking out my little podcast!

To your success,

James Newcomb

listen on your favorite podcast player

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Overcast

Spotify (Coming Soon)

 

Adam Rapa is easily in the conversation as being one of the world's best trumpet players. Truly an elite level of musicianship and technical proficiency.

He's also a great guy, as I came to find out when I helped him launch his new line of trumpets (called Lotus) at the International Trumpet Guild conference in May 2017.

I was able to catch up with Adam on a Skype call this past January (2018) and put it on the Trumpet Dynamics podcast, of which I was the proprietor. Now that the Trumpet Dynamics podcast is no more, I decided to share it on this podcast. It's just too good to go away forever!

A few highlights from our conversation:

How musicians pigeonhole themselves into one genre, or profession, much to their detriment

The laborious (and scary!) process by which Adam developed his considerable range and stamina on the trumpet 

Adam reflects on his time in drum corps and the modern state of the activity 

Why do we need YOUR line of trumpets? 

One final question... 

Got a question for Adam or myself? Drop me a line or leave a comment below and we'll get back to you ASAP!

Sometimes we must look past the superficial and ask ourselves a couple of things to know whether or not we're engaged in truly enjoyable work.

Find me on Twitter: @mrjamesnewcomb

Instagram Username mrjamesnewcomb

Facebook.com/musicpreneurdotcom

And of course the MusicPreneur.Community Facebook group.

About Me and My Podcast

Hi. My name is James Newcomb.

MusicPreneur.Com is a combination of two things that are near and dear to me: music and commerce. I believe that these are two of the most powerful forces known to man and are able to do a great deal of good (and not so good) for humanity.

With this podcast, I want to go beyond simply Making Money Making Music. It's my hope that listeners will be inspired to live a lifestyle that is holistic, selfless and makes the world a little bit better place to live.

In a year and a half of running the show, I've identified 5 core areas of the MusicPreneur Lifestyle.

Expert musicianship

Business savvy

Innovation

Financial wellness

Physical, emotional and spiritual wellness.

As you listen to the show, you'll hear these core areas emphasized repeatedly.

It's more than just a job, or even a career. A MusicPreneur lives a life that reflects who they are as individuals and as musicians.

I hope you'll check out an episode or two. Of course, subscribing to the show will make it much easier for you to keep up to date.

Thanks for checking out my little podcast!

To your success,

James Newcomb

Since I'm on the road this summer, I asked Billy Grisack if he would make a contribution to this week's episode of the podcast.

Billy is a "plant-powered" working musician. He's a third-generation musicpreneur and has a successful band he and his son operate called Big and Tall. And I highly recommend you follow Billy's blog in his weight loss journey at billyislosingit.blogspot.com.

I gave Billy the green light to say pretty much anything he wanted. He delivered a home run with this on setting goals and translating them to success.

Here are a few notes I took while listening to his monologue.

Dream big. Not just dream, but make it happen. A goal is a dream with a deadline. Better said, it's a dream with a target.

If you shoot for the highest goal, and get only halfway there, it's still pretty good.

If you need $500, then make $1000 your goal. If you don't make your goal, you've still exceeded what you need. (hopefully)

Oasis. Wanted to be "the next Beatles." They didn't make it, but they were very successful. Wonderwall.

"When we play Summerfest, we get paid." Not for exposure. Some bands don't even realize getting paid is an option. Getting there is a great goal, but Billy won't do it for free.

Make a 1 year goal, 5 year goal and a 10 year goal.

You need help from friends, family, fans, other musicians. Setting lofty goals makes you realize how much you depend on others to reach them.

Big goals will give you big results, even if you don't fully reach them.

most recent episodes

Have a question or comment for me (or my guest) about today's episode? Just drop me a line and I'll answer it right away!

Why should Jimi Hendrix' infamous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock the most patriotic rendition of the song in history?

Why is it that musicians put more more thought into politics than "professional" political scientists?

Wait! Aren't we supposed to not talk about politics in polite company?

It turns out that musicians have this history of getting political, and actually being more effective at affecting change than actual politicians.

My guest for today's episode is a professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He's the author of the book, Politics in Music: Musical and Political Transformation from Beethoven to Hip-Hop.

Happy Fourth of July!

For us Americans, it's a time for parades, hot dogs, a cursory mention of one of the greatest political documents ever written in the Declaration of Independence - and more or less getting a warm fuzzy about the good 'ol US of A.

And for us bloggers and podcasters - particularly of the evil capitalist variety, who salivate at the thought of the squeamish among the populace pounding their fists in rage over our latest controversy - it's a time to fire up the old boat, take a visit to Jimbob's Clickbait Shop and get under the skin of those poor souls who just can't accept that there might be a viewpoint other than their own.

Today's topic is one that in my experience as a (recovering) trumpet player gets people more riled up than anything I've ever seen in the music world. I've witnessed and experienced literal weeping and gnashing of teeth over it - at least it seemed literal.

The topic is whether or not trumpet players should charge a fee - or even accept one when offered - to play Taps at military funerals.

I've put together a collection of articles, podcast transcripts and even a course on debt-elimination for you. It's part of what I call the "MusicPreneur Lifestyle." You can get yours for FREE at MusicPreneur.Com/lifestyle!

So, I'm still on tour with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. I'm typing these show notes while in the sprawling metropolis of Palmyra, Wisconsin. It's got a downtown area, complete with a flashing stop light!

Since I'm on tour, my schedule is a little off whack, so this summer I'll be replaying interviews that have been featured on other people's podcasts!

Today I'm honored to feature an interview recently featured on Entrepreneurs on Fire, hosted by my friend and mentor John Lee Dumas. 

John recently reformatted his show from 7 days a week to 2 days per week. This means that the interviews are more loose and far-reaching than his old format, which if you're familiar with it, tended to be kind of predictable after listening to a few dozen, or hundred as I did.

Recently, he featured Steven Eugene Kuhn who discussed how to create your own personal H.I.T. Squad.

H.I.T. is an acronym for three qualities that are essential to winning people over and getting them to buy your stuff.

Honesty

Integrity

Transparency

In this dialogue between JLD and Steven, you'll hear:

-What Steven means when he says he has "woman's intuition" [spp-timestamp time="9:30"]

-Steven discusses how to deal with "Imposter Syndrome" [spp-timestamp time="10:30"]

-How does H.I.T. work? [spp-timestamp time="11:30"]

-How Steven got - and kept - a gig consulting Andrea Bocelli's business using H.I.T. [spp-timestamp time="12:45"]

-How Steven describes the "human sales funnel." [spp-timestamp time="17:30"]

-Steven describes a misstep he had in his career. [spp-timestamp time="19:30"]

-Steven gives some guidance on "selling." [spp-timestamp time="24:45"]

-How do you learn and develop the H.I.T. system? [spp-timestamp time="30:00"]

-Steven gives some parting guidance. [spp-timestamp time="34:45"]

Here are a few tasty quotes from the interview:

"For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. As the shell cracks, it causes the inside to come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it looks like complete destruction. But it's actually pure growth."

"Authenticity dictates your market value."

Is there a better advocate for the art of salesmanship than the great Zig Ziglar? He's easily one of the best at motivating people from all walks of life to improve themselves as well as their lot in life.

Many of his one-liners are now classic euphemisms in the realm of sales and entrepreneurship all over the world. His book, See You At the Top contains a chapter titled, "Fifteen Steps to a Healthy Self-Image."

Here are the 15 steps. This episode contains a bit of my own commentary on them.

Enjoy!

Take inventory of yourself. God don't make no junk!

When you dress up, you look up.

Read inspiring people.

Listen to inspiring people.

A series of short steps.

Join the "Smile and Compliment" Club.

Do something for someone else. (Pay it forward.) "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." -Charles Dickens

Be careful who you associate with.

Make a list of your positive qualities and keep it handy.

Make a "victory list."

Avoid pornography and other addictive forms of pleasure. "It is impossible to view mankind at its worst and not feel your own value has diminished."

Learn from "successful failures." (Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, etc.) "The big shot is just a little shot who kept on shooting."

Join and organization where you're required to speak. (Or start a podcast.)

Look yourself - and others - in the eye.

Improve your physical appearance when possible, practical and desirable.