What price are you willing to pay?

When drumming taught me about business

For most of my life, I’ve been flaking on various projects, adventures or career paths. It’s probably part brainwashing about “finding your passion” and part not knowing what I was getting into and being disappointed.

Weirdly enough, drumming helped me understand why. It has to do with a lack of awareness and understanding of the lay of the land.

How stupid is it to ask kids what they want to become when they grow up without any awareness of the realities of the actual job? Why would you want to choose to become a doctor without knowing you’ll be underpaid for roughly a decade to then make a lot of money while being stressed out and overworked?

Anyway, back to drumming. I started classes, then stopped, then came back to it to stop again. Somehow, throughout this process, I understood why I was flaking.

Let’s start at the beginning.

The price to pay to be a drummer

I got an Oculus Quest and downloaded Ragnarok where you smash drums on a Viking boat following metal songs. I’ve never had more fun.

I also had a bad experience with learning music throughout my youth so I decided to get my revenge and learn the drums as an adult.

I had my full-time job, so I bought a package of 4 drum classes on Sundays to try it out. I only bought sticks, a rubber pad, and two books. Very minimal equipment. If I didn’t like it, it wasn’t a huge loss. I could flake without too many consequences and it’ll limit disappointment.

Sunday wasn’t the best time and I obviously needed space I didn’t have to practice with my own drumkit. Also, I didn’t feel I’d have the energy to practice every day. So I eventually went through the 4 lessons and stopped. Sad but I didn’t see another way.

So I tried a free singing lesson (I always thought singing was cool). I didn’t want to give up on music, but singing wasn’t as fun as drumming. For some reason, the idea of banging on stuff with sticks in complex rhythm appeals to me.

Nothing happened for a full year.

Then, I quit my job and thought, “What a perfect time to pick it up again. I’ll have so much more freedom in my schedule.” So, I took classes every Tuesday at 2 p.m.

I was quite excited. I took a couple of lessons and practiced at the school before finding an electronic drum set. Their schedule was all over the place, so I was happy to rent one from a local music store eventually. Turns out it could fit in my living room after all.

Then, I quickly realized a few things about drumming.

Drumming is fun, but the goal is to play with other people. To play with other people, you need to dedicate a chunk of your life to it because there are logistics involved in finding a place, coordinating schedules, practicing, etc. My goal was to get to a decent level and find people to play with.

Month after month, I was slowly getting better, and my teacher was noticing it. After many boring, repetitive exercises, he gave me a song to practice. He was playing on the piano, and I was playing the drums.

It was quite exhilarating! Finally, I understood why people love it so much, and I did too.

Playing with others

I wanted to recreate this experience for myself, so I went on Craigslist and joined several Facebook groups to find people to play with.

I found a military band that, I think, was desperate for drummers. I told them many times that I was a beginner, but they all seemed to think I’d do all right. So I went there very nervous.

The practice lasted for two hours. The whole thing was sight reading, and I was playing this big bass. I can read music sheets, but it’s better if I can analyze it and practice a ton before. So we went through sheets and sheets of music I’ve never seen, with tempos and time signatures changing mid-song multiple times.

I’m all for going out of my comfort zone, but I was probably in flow for 30 seconds out of those 2 hours. Freaking overwhelming, to say the least. But I didn’t know any better, so I thought it was part of the process. It shouldn’t deter me from searching.

Then a friend invited me to a Brazilian drum circle. The contrast was quite interesting because they hummed the various drum parts to teach you how to play them with the drums. No music sheet, no mention of quarter notes or anything. Beginners welcome. Starch contrast.

After going over those experiences with my teacher and numerous conversations about drumming with him, it dawned on me.

If I put in the minimum amount of effort, I won’t get to a decent level to have enough fun. But if I want to get very good, I need to put in a ton more effort than I’m willing to.

On top of that, the fact that it costs an arm to get a proper drum set and finding people to play with was a challenge. I decided it didn’t make sense for me to continue.

There. I connected it to the various times I gave up. All those times, it would have been way simpler to understand the level of effort I needed to put in to get the results I wanted. I could have decided then and there if I was willing to pay the price.

But there is a necessary trial-and-error process. Hence, it makes sense to try a bunch of different things with low commitment before going any further.

That’s why I started this newsletter. I want to share with you what it takes for me to freelance and develop side projects. I also want to learn from other people how they manage to do it and what it takes for them to do it. But most importantly, I want to do it sustainably.

Sure, we can read about people making 250k per month. But does it take constant anxiety over salaries, thinking about work non-stop, and being flooded with customer tickets?

If you want to make money sustainably, we need to be aware of the path before walking the path.

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Let’s put the spotlight back on you. What price are you willing to pay to fulfill your financial and business goals? Reply to this email or let me know on Substack in the comments below.

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3 juicy links of the week

1. The Hidden Cost of Success

   1. To continue in the vain of this article, a great breakdown of what it takes to get to success but also what it takes to maintain that success. That’s why I love watching documentaries of successful people and understanding what they go through.

2. The documentary about Robbie Williams

   1. I’ve heard about the guy but didn’t listen to his music. It’s an incredible documentary to see the juxtaposition of massive success and a descent to hell. Really puts your ambition in perspective.

3. Podcast about the dark side of entrepreneurship

   1. If everything is only ever positive or ever negative, it’s usually some sort of dogma or deceitful discourse. Entrepreneurship is glorified nowadays so I appreciate this kind of podcast sharing the ugly side of it and interviewees being honest about their experience.