People online. I feel like they're just worried. You might not be there. You know what I mean? Like when they see me go live or something if they don't feel like I'm going to come back. Why would they want to support me? So first off I just want to say welcome to the podcast before we jump into the episode. Let me tell you a little bit about myself and what you can expect I have been in the business now for coming up on 30 years what we're going to talk about in this podcast or things that go on in my day. Today life whether it be as a manager whether it be as a consultant whether it be as someone who is creating products that's helping musicians all over the world. If there's something going on in the industry, we're going to talk about it. If there's a strategy that needs to be taught we're going to talk about it. And if there's some way that I can help get you closer to your goal. Then you're in the right place because that's what we are going to talk about here on the music industry blueprint podcast. Now, let's jump into the episode helping you navigate the music industry. Here's Rick Barker with the music industry blueprint podcast. So here we are. It's taken a while to track her down World traveler the wonderful Dawn buyer tell us where you are waking up and having coffee this morning yesterday. I was in Florida this morning. I'm in the snow. I'm in Idaho. Okay. So Jews finally make enough money to have your own jet or helicopter or you just straight. Right? Right. Don't think I spent on that. I'd probably just buy a bunch more merch just that's all money. Especially if you get a jet because the cost of fuel, you know is going to be totally crazy. So for those of you that don't know Dawn so because this podcast has fired up since you and I have spoken last we're 80 something plus episodes deep in this. So a lot of people may not know who you are. Those of you that follow me know exactly who she is Don is a gal that I tracked down probably two years ago. A lot of people were making reference to what she was. do it online with these Facebook lives and I just became a fan we got together helped her create a course if she could teach you guys what it is that she's doing and what's interesting and this is something that doesn't surprise me, but we've helped hundreds of people know the exact strategies that she's doing but she still the most consistent one of all and as most won't do the work and this is the part Don that trips me out. The most is that you laid the groundwork you laid the foundation but you're the only one that I see still everyday on there doing it introduce yourself and then let's talk about this whole mindset thing because we can't make it any easier on them, but for whatever reason Is it man you got to going on and your your fan base continues to grow your checking account continues to grow and I wish it was duplicatable, but it's nuts. Tell everybody who you are and what it is that you're doing. My name is Don Beyer. I'm a independent singer-songwriter kind of I started, you know, I moved to Nashville like everybody else. I moved to Nashville and I was 16 tried to do the whole thing that I really didn't know. I was what I was trying to do. I went to Nashville on I guess the dream that was sold to me I guess is what I think. Of it now. It's like that's the dream. Maybe maybe it was my dad's. Maybe it was someone else's and it was like, oh you saying you think they sent you should go to Nashville. And once you get there, everything's gonna happen the way, you know, you show up and you're if you're good enough you'll make it right but I showed up and there's a crap ton more singers out there just like me better than me and it's super humbling when you everyone knows who's who's listening to this who, you know showed up in Nashville with their guitar thinking they're going to make something happen real quick and the fact there's a 10-year town. And I think that a lot of that is so true because there's so much you got to do on your own and now so I showed up at 16. I did the whole thing. I moved back and forth went home a couple times ended up playing in the bars in Nashville. Just like people say that you know might want to stay out of playing Broadway because you just get in a rut of playing there for hours, you know for our shift doubles whatever and it's hard on your voice, but I ended up getting into it because I was like, well, I don't want to do anything else but music and so I don't go and work. These jobs and working I hated I'm sitting here in Nashville inside of office going. Why am I here? Why am I doing this? So I just jumped all in and started with Broadway and I did it and just kept playing Broadway kept playing Broadway and just playing for tips ended up making enough in tips, you know, just you know pay my $500 a month rent that I had this little Shack that had no heat no like my floor in my bedroom filled literally filled up with rain like when it would rain it filled up with mud and I had a I had just a mattress on the floor. That's where I was. When I jumped all in and was like no, but I just want to do music that's got to figure this out. So I started with God because I guess that's what you know, my other musician friends were doing and then so I started with that and I just get beat me up beat my voice up. I just I was not able to play my own songs. It's horrible for a songwriter. I feel like to be always constantly having to do just the ten top ten top 20 songs that everybody wants to hear what you've course. It makes sense that they all want to hear when they come into Nashville and they want to hear the same zones and it's like it just breaks you I feel like it just makes you feel like you're not actually getting your singing for a living but you're not actually getting good to do so I came home we talked about this I think in the program that we did. It's like I came home one day had lost my voice again. And I'm like, I can't keep doing it this way. There's got to be another way. I went on Facebook. There was a go live button there. I started right away like as soon as Facebook came out with that. It was just the perfect moment and I just started like I clicked the button and I just started singing my songs. I put my phone up on a stack of books in the show. I was in and started singing my songs all the time when I wasn't like playing on Broadway and doing that stuff. So I just started singing my songs and in the very beginning I thought well, I'm playing for tips on Broadway. Why don't you just throw a tip jar appear? How do I do that? Well, I'd just grab a PayPal Link at the time. I'll just grab Fey Lake throw it up there and we'll see what happens and tell people it's a virtual tip jar because it's just like if you know if you like my music no pushing lit like hey, do you like my music just like on Broadway you could you could throw some love in a jar and it'd be awesome in to support my music and let me know you like my original stuff. So I started doing my original stuff and I started contacting and more and working on getting other big pages to share my videos and one making connections there. So you treat them like venues you went out and found other venues to play you had your own venue, which was your Facebook page. And now you said okay just like touring let me go find other venues to play and get in front of their audience because you can only grow your I mean I can only grow my page organically. So, you know, I can grow it keeping consistent and grow it but like why not get on yeah, why not get on a page that already has a million country music fans like that so much sense to me. So I just started doing that sending my videos sending my videos and all comes down to consistency and like we talked about like it will always come down to that because no matter what like if you are just consistent like say they don't like the first video you something. Well just send them another one like you just got a distant like that's and that's what I started doing and I started going on there every day going live us. Stay on there live I go live and my shack I go live in the shed. I go live everywhere. I could and just kept doing it until I was making enough doing that to stop playing Broadway and just continue to do that living out here in the middle of nowhere like out out in Tennessee out Milla nowhere and just do it as outside with you know, then I finally got a tripod I was outside with the tripod and just doing it and then it started to grow where people want to buy my albums and then I started making my own from the house and then I would just like right on the album sign. Name on the album and then from there people wanted more albums than this area, but I think you and this is where I think that that people miss it is that you went live every step of the way because I recall you go and live thanking him go and live when you were filling out the mailing addresses going live from the car on your way to the post office going live introducing people to the postmaster go and live with the people once they received your stuff. I mean to say you took him to every single step of the way and And it was interesting because when I first met Don I said if you don't mind me asking I said, what did you make last year because I had my own idea and she goes, you know, what I'll have to ask my accountant to find out she came back and it was it was seventy-four thousand something something something almost 75,000 bucks. I was like wow. Yeah, holy cow. And then the next year you went into over a hundred thousand and it just continues to grow and grow and it turns into all different stuff those like if we can just be consistent with that. That you think about like if I think about all my income comes really stems from me going live because if you think about it, every gig that gets booked every merch item that gets sold every album that gets downloaded every everything every tip jar hit everything comes from stemming from me just continuing to live and I we've talked about this. I've talked I told my friend so many times. What like why are you going live? Why are you not? Why are you going on? Probably still doing the same thing. We were do I go back there and I still the same. See the same and I love them but I see the same people there every single time I go by sickening. I just don't even down there but this is four years later and it's interesting because a lot of people aren't willing to get out of their comfort zone a lot of what Taylor Swift and I did together was we went and did things that we knew other artists wouldn't do we would go stand out and signed for three and a half hours because we knew the other artists didn't think that was cool or it wasn't something that they were willing to do. So she did it and that's what what's interesting with you in That this this internet folks it one. Okay. It's not going anywhere it one. It allows you. I mean when I sit there and I just took a screenshot a couple things from your Facebook page recently to show some folks to say look, you're telling me you can't go live once a month and I see a see here. She's gone like three times a day one day. She's playing songs one hour. She's playing songs couple hours later. She plays a couple songs and shows them a Christmas ornament. Flowers later she's playing a request that what people don't understand is if they go and click the link that that person paid fifty dollars to have that song sung as a gift to somebody else. It's like it just it drives me crazy that you can give them the step-by-step details, but at some point folks you've got to step up and do it. Now. Here's the thing most people like Dawn she goes out and she teaches it and if the teacher is still doing it, Shouldn't I tell you something, you know, it's some of these gurus that will but that's what's so cool about the online thing is it's not like you have to do the same. I mean you can re keep Reinventing but just be consistent like you see on my page. I do. You know now I kind of you know gone to where people actually go and make a request and pay the certain amount. Well, I didn't start that way I started with hey throw a dollar in the tip jar and what I mean, but like start reinvent, we just did a whole two months of tour where we only played in living rooms. We We only allow ourselves to play in living room. So that way people can't just go and see me at a bar or something right now during that tour. It was like you have to book me to come into your living room and sing for you and we took videos of it and we shared that with people in another people wanted to have me in their living room and just you can keep coming up with new and fun ways, but just be consistent and then it's like people online. I feel like they're just worried. You might not be there. You know what I mean? Like when they see me go live or something if they don't feel like I'm going to come back. Why would they want us? Courtney the there there maybe they're hanging out in the living room with her hanging out at work. Are they listening? That's a great point and it's like they want to know you're going to show up for them. And if they know that that's like they feel like they're your record label over there. You're like they feel like they're keeping you going on there well and what it's a couple bucks here and five bucks here then it turns into 20 bucks and it turns into a house concert. I mean you wouldn't they flew you to do weddings and like Mexico and stuff. I mean you've been all over the place morning. I mean, it's crazy. You're going we're in March England. I'm going to Ireland we're going to Paris all people have been listening to me that live in Ireland or living in there having me sing at their wedding or they're bringing me out too. I mean, it's just insane. We've been all over the place the mountain place. So I probably been 30. I was just like counting this up. I've been to like 30 places 30 different like 30 different flights here. They're just like in the past six months to this whole year has been crazy. It's been amazing. Now what what What made the shift for you? I mean, I think getting sick I think losing your voice kind of gave you a not everybody has that that's which you know, and I always tell people to I don't want to convince a whole bunch of people just to get in the way and do it for a week because and they just they make noise and they get in our way. I only want people who are willing to take this serious and consistently show up every day. What is it that you say to yourself? I'm sure you don't feel like singing every day either. No, I asked myself a question that I had tell everyone when they messaged me because I get messages asking me how did you do this what you're doing on Facebook and it's like I'm going to just throw it out here for you guys and tell you exactly what it was in the bit in the beginning. I asked myself a question that needed to be answered for me. What which was what is making it? Because you know how people come up to you and they're like, I hope you make it one day or you're a good singer. Why don't you really try to be a singer? I'm like I just sang for you. So I am singing the whole idea of like if you're good enough wiring on the radio if you're good enough wire. Making it well that always felt weird to me. And so for me it was asking myself. What what is making it for me? Not for everybody else. What is it for me? Do I really want to sell out Arenas? Do I really want to be on what do I want and and getting clear on what making it meant like for me for me. It means playing my own music smaller crowd so I can connect with them making a living having a personal life being able to have all of these things was what making it was for me and once I got clear on that I swear it's like doors just And opening for me because I was clear on what making it really was for myself. And a lot of people don't know that they just follow the dream. I I say, it's like the dream that will lose is it like they are maybe your parent or someone said this is what you know is making it is it really just depends on what it is for you. That's that's what I got clear on and that's what kind of changed everything for me. I want to talk about a couple of things that are very unique to you. Is that because you kept showing up also doing your original music. Yes, there were times that you did covers because May have been a first introduction to someone who just showed up to your life for the first time and then they got introduced to your original music. There was a time when you were holding a hosting online workshops teaching people how to play your songs. How did that feel? I mean, you just never know until someone signs up like I always like I try all new stuff all the time and I always say if one person buys it or one person does it one person that song makes one person feel something and it works then from there. I just, you know, the fact that people would sign. Sign up to learn my own songs. It was so cool. And all I did was just go live with them and show them me playing my me. So there's so many different Avenues. You didn't like yes. I'm a singer and I write songs and I play them on line. But I also am in coaching other artists now after doing our thing, and I'm also teaching guitar lessons and I'm doing songwriting stuff and just using every different avenue. Once you give me the platforms there and we talked about that. You know, we've talked about that is the platform is there and it's not going away. Like you said, it's like You can't just do it the old way what I call like the old Nashville. You can't just do it the old way and think that's it fell upon broadly sit on the stool and think that some record Executives going to go in there and and give you a record deal. Well tell us about your private group. Now that people are paying monthly to be in a group and how much you love on them in that group. So basically what it you know, and right now I'm doing a thing called daily dose December and just kind of basically showing up on my page every single day. Just with one song reason. I'm doing that. Because I'm kind of cutting back on playing really long shows on my page for that's just where I am right now because I kind of want to have one small group inside a private group where it's like a monthly subscription type thing and I just love on them. You know, like I go on there just rent hang out with them. I send them gifts. I mean, I just go on there and what we're just more connected and I'm able to because like, you know, when you get a lot of people watching your stuff, it's hard to respond. It's hard to even see the comments coming through, you know what I mean like and be able to really see Everything everybody's saying so the thing that people really like about the private group is that you might have 30 people in there and just put a limit on it like okay. I'm going to have 25 to 30 people and I'm just going to really respond to each of them each of them get to pick they get to pick set list. So I do like an hour show and they and let them pick a set list of 10 songs. Let them be part of that let them play lyric games and stuff giveaways and give them Special coupons for your website and it's just basically like kind of a Super Fan type. They were able to see that There's thousands of people watching you here, but you gave an opportunity for them to be a part of something exclusive with a higher tag on it. And those that are really true want to get out of the big group and move themselves over to a smaller group. Yeah, knowing that there can't be thousand people in there like right let that be a thing or just going to keep it at this and and for an artist like me I'm always looking for ways to have some type of income I Can Count On You know what? I mean? Like it's there's one thing to make really good money, but it's just kind of all it's you just have all these questions. Yeah. Having anything for it can be monthly like that. I feel that makes me feel comfortable. So for me another making it thing for me, it was like, okay, I want to have monthly things that I do that I would do it every month. You know what I mean? So that that makes that's good because then it pays whatever it pays maybe it pays your house payment her face, whatever it pays and that's awesome. And that's just one of the things that you're doing where can people find out more about you will link out to this. I want them to one be able to follow you and then to if if they're interested in learning Earning your system. I know that you have put together another program exclusive to you. I want to be able to send people to find out about that. So I did a whole video series a whole program on what we were talking about about getting clear on what it really means for you and kind of put together a list of questions to ask people like, okay. This is how we figure this out. This is how we get clear on what is making it for you. So the website that I have is called the real making it.com and in there, is that is that The real making it and then also making it on Facebook. So it's basically just a program of me just talking about how I made it on Facebook the real making it.com. All right, we will get them to that. Once again. I appreciate you those of you that don't follow her go follow her on Facebook coffee and country. That was crazy 9:00 a.m. It was like religiously. It's like maybe you're a morning person. Definitely. Talk to you too. My dear will chat soon. I hope you enjoyed this episode to the music industry blueprint podcast. Be sure to subscribe and tell a friend remember there is no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to the music industry. So check out my website Rick Barker.com take the quiz and I will send you information specific to you to help make sure that you are on the right track. You've been listening to the music industry blueprint podcast with Rick Barker you can Follow Rick on Twitter at Brick Barker music and remember you don't drown by falling into the water you drown by staying there.
On today’s episode of the Music Industry Blueprint Podcast, Rick talks with Dawn Beyer. Dawn is an independent singer/songwriter and online mentor. She started her career at Nashville and Broadway. But what makes her successful is when she starts singing live on Facebook. Discover how she make it big on Facebook and what motivates her to keep doing what she's doing. “Once I got clear on what it was making it real for me, doors just started opening for me.”-Dawn Beyer What do you want to hear from the Music Industry Blueprint Podcast? Tell us here! ***Want to be a guest on the Music Industry Blueprint Podcast? *** Send an email to podcast@musicindustryblueprint.com With the following information: Name, website, social handles, questions you would like to ask Rick and contact information   Time Stamps: 1:57 - Dawn’s background as a singer/songwriter in Nashville and in Broadway 4:25 - How she started singing on Facebook live and make money out of it 5:40 - Growing her Facebook page connection, increasing her music influence and making albums 9:57 - The importance of consistently putting music online 11:10 - How she went to 30 different places because of her live music on Facebook 12:16 - Dawn’s mindset and how she motivates herself to keep singing live and doing what she’s doing 14:03 - Doing online workshop and giving guitar and songwriting lessons 15:08 - All about her exclusive Facebook group and the importance of having a consistent source of income Connect with Dawn:  www.therealmakingit.com Facebook  Connect with Rick:  Facebook Instagram Youtube  Twitter Soundcloud RickBarker.com Contact: podcast@musicindustryblueprint.com for a chance to be a guest on the MIB podcast show  ---   Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/music-industry-blueprint/message 