24 Hours in the Life of an Entrepreneur

This is just one day…a Monday…of my life. I want people considering starting their own company to remember just how much time and effort it takes to make it happen, because one of their competitors could be a dude like me.

 

8am: Wake-up to an email from USPTO that a legal action has been placed against one of Spirit and Groove’s® trademarks and we have forty days to respond.

8:15am: As I shove oatmeal into my mouth, I investigate the claim and the party bringing it against my company. I find it legit, but winnable. However, it could be extremely costly to challenge. A HUGE decision must be made that will be 90% on faith, impacts my entire business plan, and could hinder my personal finances for the next few years.

9:00am: My regular job begins. Currently booking and contracting nine lounges for the next three months, two holiday weekends of parties for fourteen, managing the company social and website, and fielding inbound applicants.

1:00pm: Lunch-break and P90X workout…still fielding company emails.

2:00pm: Back at the daily grind.

3:30-3:45pm: Afternoon break, contact lawyers to represent Spirit and Groove® in the claim.

6:30pm: Filming Spirit and Groove’s® weekly Drummer Challenge. I record myself drumming, then green-screen intros.

7:00pm: Editing footage and preparing social for Wednesday’s launch of the video I just shot.

9:30pm: Work on Lesson 12 from Rosetta Stone® Spanish.

10:00pm: Open a company checking account and secure a company credit card after updating finances.

11:30pm: Begin investigating Angel Investors.

12:30am: Find a suitable business plan template and get to work.

2:00am: Bed.

CwF + RtB in the Drumming Community

Spirit and Groove’s Instagram presence is being established as a community of drummers to share their beats, ideas, drum-pinions, and grooves.  Check out our recent promotion video.

 

 

We do this because: (1) we totally dig drummers and want to spend as much time as we can hanging out with people who are generally more happy than anyone else; (2) it is part of our marketing plan, which is founded on the Connect with Fans + Reason to Buy (CwF + RtB) model.

 

Nine Inch Nails frontman, Trent Reznor coined the term CwF + RtB during his post Napster career. Like those around him in the music industry, Reznor needed to find ways to create his own stream of revenue without the assistance of major label deal money that had disappeared with the collapse of physical music sales.

 

CwF + RtB is one of those methodologies that is so simple it is complex (or we make it so). Basically, you build a fan base and then give them reasons to buy into your brand.  The math totally makes sense.  If you have a loyal fan base of 10,000 fans and you get them to spend $100 per year on your brand. You earn $1,000,000 per year.

 

I would say $1,000,000 per year is a good chunk of change for any small business and one that is completely reachable if your foundation fanbase is world-wide and within a supportive niche. This is why we chose it for Spirit and Groove.

 

Plus it is a REALLY cool way to build a company.

 

I mean, we totally dig this. For the first years of our business we have to concentrate on connecting with, watching, listening, and learning from drummers.  For a drummer, what could be better?

 

So, if you play the drums or like to groove. Connect with @spiritandgroove on Instagram and tag us in your groovy videos. As of the publishing of this blog, we are within 200 followers of hitting 10K on our feed and when we do that, we will celebrate with deals and monthly contests where community involvement will be the key indicator of how many drum tees we give out and whom earns that drumming clothing.