How the 4hrww made me quit my job (part 4)

+ What happened to the song ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Several weeks before I quit my "real" job at Kobalt Music Publishing I submitted a song I'd co-written to my boss named "Make You Wanna Dance". I was nervous as hell sliding that CD across her desk and asking for feedback. But about 6 months earlier, I'd made a grave, career-ending, error. I read the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. It absolutely destroyed my brain. Wait... there are people exploring the world while running businesses from their laptops? Sign me up. I'd gotten a taste of traveling all throughout college. I'd gone to Costa Rica, London, Dublin and New Zealand. But when I started a real job I pretty much assumed that was it for my wanderings (excepting the holidays). The 4hrww lifted the veil so-to-speak. Even though I was excited by how quickly I'd been able to get my foot in the door in the music industry, I was more excited by the idea of traveling the world AND making money at the same time. I started consuming as much content on the 4hrww lifestyle as I could. (Maybe some folks will remember this blog -- Life Nomadic. It was my go-to.) The first step I made towards realizing this new dream was saving money like a mad man. I made a spreadsheet and tracked every dollar I spent. I'll be honest, it wasn't an extremely easy or happy period of my life. I was post college, had a good-ish job, living in a house with 4 of my best friends in Los Angeles... but I refused to spend money. That created some difficult moments and tough decisions. But I didn't really care. I wanted to be out traveling and making money. Pretty quickly, the FOMO of it all overwhelmed me. I had to make this happen NOW. Which lead to the decision to quit... but before that I wanted to submit the song. I saw my position in the music industry as an extreme opportunity. I was "in front" of decision makers. And I knew that just 1 song could generate thousands or even hundreds of thousands to millions over its lifespan. I knew I had to "go for it" or I'd forever regret it. But a week or so after I submitted the song I started to get nervous. My boss hadn't mentioned the song at all. And I started to feel stupid and unworthy. But then one Friday afternoon she called me into her office at the end of the day. "I listened to your song." "Great! And?" "I was really impressed by the production value." My heart sank. When you're a songwriter, the last thing you want to hear about is the quality of the production value. (Interestingly, the guy who produced the song is definitely the best musician of all of us that were involved and he's still making music for film and tv to this day.) "The lyrics are pretty good but I'll be honest with you. The music itself is a bit lacking. I don't think we can use this." "Oh." I tried to save some face, "Well, it's not our normal style, I just thought it might work. Thank you for checking it out." Then handing the CD back to me she said, "You should keep at it. There are nuggets in there. I'll listen to more." The whole interaction is a blur at this point but I do remember feeling surprisingly okay with it. I'm guessing it's because I'd already planned to quit. And... my mindset at the time was, "No regrets. Go for it. There is nothing to lose." I didn't NEED that song to be a hit. It would have been really f-ing nice if it was, but I had a clear goal in my mind (build a biz while traveling) so a little bit of rejection along the way wasn't going to stop me. Of course I had no clue the difficulties and more extreme levels of rejection that lay ahead. More to come soon! - Derek P.S. I'd like to take this low-hanging fruit opportunity to sell you on a course that can help you build your copywriting skills so you can quit your job too! Introducing... CopyHour ---- Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( ) CopyHour.com, 340 S LEMON AVE 5007, WALNUT, CA 91789,