August 5, 2023 • 37 mins
>> Rate and review in Apple Podcast <<
Have you ever dreamed of leaving the nine-to-five grind behind and making a living doing what you love? In our latest episode, online music sensation Dayquan Bowens shows you how he did just that. Starting from humble beginnings in Syracuse, NY, Dayquan shares his journey of growing from a novice YouTuber showcasing his hometown and talent to an international sensation teaching gospel piano online.
When Dayquan chose gospel music as his focus genre, he discovered a gap in the online gospel curriculum. His determination to fill this gap led him to overcome personal struggles with self-doubt, striving to balance entertainment with practical knowledge. Listen in as he shares the importance of building a robust local following before branching out to national and international stages and how finding your unique approach in the music industry is crucial to success.
He discusses various ways to monetize social media platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, and how to leverage your audience for branding deals and affiliate marketing—Have you ever wondered how to start generating income with a small number of subscribers? Dayquan shares his insights into how even an audience of just 2000 subscribers can be turned into a profitable business. Tune in to this episode to discover actionable insights from Dayquan's journey and learn how you, too, can build an excellent online music business from home.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I had no real plan to do any of this stuff.
My goal is very shallow, to behonest.
It was to get that YouTubeplaque.
I just wanted that plaque, man,yeah, yeah.
But once I started doing thetutorials, I started doing Skype
lessons.
Yeah, and that was cool, but itwas difficult to go back and
(00:23):
forth with students.
And that was successful, thoughfor a brief moment.
But two months in, someoneasked me do you have a piano
membership?
I'm trying to join.
And I was like I just repliedlike yeah, coming soon.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And I was like what the heck is a piano?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I was like what the heck is a piano membership?
And I didn't know anythingabout the subscription model or
anything like that, so I justdecided to just continue to
upload the videos on YouTube andthen while in the back end just
doing tons of research, tryingto figure out what a piano
membership was and how toimplement that.
(01:05):
So until I got that started, Iwas like let me just do courses
and just sell tutorials andthings like that online.
And then that got me thatbought time until I built my
membership platform in 2020.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Six years ago, I took my teaching skills online and
now I make multiple six figuresin annual revenue, teaching
piano to students worldwidewhile working less than eight
hours a day.
My name is Warren McPherson,the founder and CEO of PNLesson
with Warrencom, and if you wantto learn how I broke free from
(01:43):
the nine to five piano studioteaching, the late nights and
weekend gigging schedule, youcame to the right place.
At the Business for Musicianspodcast, I'll share tips,
strategies and tools to help youbreak free from the trading
time for money hamster wheel soyou, too, can build a profitable
online business while workingfewer hours and from the comfort
(02:06):
of your home.
Welcome back to the Businessfor Musicians podcast.
I'm joined here today withDayquan Bowens from Dayquan
Bowens YouTube channel, DayquanBowens a piano program.
They come by all over the placeTikTok.
(02:27):
You're on TikTok, right?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Instagram and all of that stuff.
So Dayquan is, like myself,another one of those musicians
who have stumbled into theonline game and realized that we
can monetize our skills both asa performer and a teacher
online.
So I wanted to bring him on,get his perspective, how he
started, so he can share withyou guys that it is not too late
(02:53):
and it's still possible.
If you wanna build an onlinebusiness, build an online
following, you can still do thattoday.
So welcome again, my brother.
It's good to have you here.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yes, sir.
Thank you for inviting me, man.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So the first question I have for you is what made you
start a YouTube channel?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Man.
So I started a YouTube channellike early, and the main reason
for me starting the channel isto showcase myself as a player.
My goal at the time was to be atouring musician.
So I was like, all right, atthe time, youtube was the only
video platform online and Ikinda saw how the internet was
(03:42):
moving.
I was like let me put myself ina position to be noticed by the
important people, if you will.
So that was the initial goal.
And I'm from a town Syracuse,new York very small place known
for basketball so, and there's areally great amount of players
(04:03):
here and but we don't getnoticed.
So I was like, all right, letme do my part and try to put
Syracuse on the map, if you will.
So that was the initial goal.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah yeah, that's cool.
That's cool, and so youremember what year this was.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So yeah, it was actually.
I created my YouTube channel in2007.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That was when YouTube just came on the game to yeah
before Google.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I think I think I had a yahoo login account, bro,
before it's acquired by Google.
Yeah, my first video was in2008.
It wasn't a tutorial oranything like that, but the.
You know, I just wanted toshowcase myself playing, so I
was like, all right, let me, letme just show you see what you
(04:54):
know, let the world see what Ican do.
You know, I just created avideo and at the time it was no
real crazy algorithm, anythinglike that, you know, just bunch
of cat videos and the Charliebit my finger.
That was.
That was Viral video back inthat era.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember when I came across your
channel, I saw you were doingsome lessons.
You remember when you'retransitioning to start Doing
lessons and what made you dothat?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So I I uploaded my first video in actually in 2012.
I did an organ Tutorial, like Iwas a jam session at the church
, mm-hmm.
In this there was a camera guyjust happened to be there and he
was just recording.
You know me and I was just justtalking over look, gospel organ
preacher chords and things likethat.
(05:42):
Yeah and Ever since, I did thatone video and it actually did
pretty well for the time, andthen I just took this long break
, kind of like you.
And then 2018 is when Iuploaded my first tutorial and
ever since then I've beenuploading pretty much every week
.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Since then, people start requesting stuff and, yeah
, asking me to shoot stuff likethat.
So you also have a membershipprogram for we teach more
in-depth Subscription-basedbusiness.
Yes, so did you map, map outall of that when you got it?
When you started doing YouTube,did you envision that?
(06:24):
Or just kind of just Eventuallymorphed?
How did that came about?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
so about two months into 2018, when I, you know,
started uploading tutorials on aconsistent basis, I had no real
plan to do any of this stuff.
My goals very shallow, to behonest YouTube plaque.
But I, once I started doing thetutorials, you know, I I was.
(06:55):
I started doing Skype lessons,yeah, and that was cool, but it
was just it was difficult to goback and forth with students and
about, and that was successful,though for a brief moment.
But two months in, someone askedme for do you have a piano
membership?
I'm trying to join?
And I was like I just repliedlike yeah, coming soon.
(07:18):
I was like what the heck is apiano membership?
And I didn't know anythingabout the subscription model or
anything like that.
So I I Just decided to just,you know, continue to put the
upload, the videos on YouTube,and then, while in the back end
like just doing tons of researchtrying to figure out what a
(07:41):
panel membership was and how toimplement that.
So until I got that started, Iwas like let me just do courses
and just sell tutorials andthings like that online, and
then that's how that got me that.
That bought time until I builtmy membership platform in 2020.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
How did you market your channel initially?
Was it just through thealgorithm?
Was just sending you viewersalready?
Do you have a special way to Iwas.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I was like, I Was like a troll, almost like.
A positive way.
Yeah, so so I I used to go onpopular Piano tutorial channels.
I might have did it on yourchannel too.
So I was like I would, if Iwould see someone post a video
(08:31):
right and it was similar to minethat I uploaded, I would go
under the comment section andleave a thoughtful comment.
A Look, but if it was somethingsimilar to mine, I would say I
guess I got to delete my video.
So that would be the comment.
And I know that you know the.
The youtubers and contentcreators, you know, check the
(08:53):
comments, even though they maynot respond, or at the very
least, your community will see,see the comment.
So I'm like, and they're like,okay, who's this guy?
And then they'll check out thevideo and then notice I have
about 10, 15 videos in thecollection and Then watch.
And then they'll be like, okay,this, this guy can play and
(09:13):
teach, so let me just subscribeto him.
So that was my method for alittle bit great, and I was like
enough subscribers.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And that's actually a very powerful point because I
mentioned that, I believe, inone of the previous episodes,
and a lot of big names, sort ofonline content creator gurus
Mention that as well.
Like when you're just gettingstarted, one of the best way to
get authentic followers Is tohang out on other channels
that's doing similar things asyou and, like you say, just
(09:41):
leave thoughtful comments,answer questions, if you see
people post question there andthat goes a long way in helping
your channel.
So that's pretty cool.
How did you figure that out?
Did someone tell you that wejust like Well, the street
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I Notice how powerful the comment section was back in
like 2012 when I uploaded myfirst tutorials back then.
So there was a musician and weall know, corey Henry he posted
a video, you know, just straightkilling on piano.
(10:15):
But there's this one littlething.
I was like I want to, I want toruffle the feathers.
So I was like I'm pointing outsomething that will be
subjective, but it was anegative thing that I thought
was in his playing.
So I I just Unpurpose, likebeing your troll.
I said something that I didn'teven mean.
It wasn't even that bad, he wasstill killing Bro.
(10:37):
Yeah, I just said something andthen the comments went wild for
years, like how dare you talkabout Corey Henry like that?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
even though I didn't mean it.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I Was just being funny being a dumb kid and I
realized like, okay, can I, canI use that in a more positive
light?
Because the the negativeattention was crazy people I was
getting threats and everything.
I was like let me not do thatagain.
So I'm like let me use that ina positive way and leave
(11:10):
thoughtful comments and Try tofind a way to get people to know
that I also do this as well,but not be spammy on other
people's content.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So that's pretty cool .
That's pretty cool.
So your thing is predominantlygospel similar.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Why?
Why you need to gospel, so CuzI know you can crush it in
multiple other styles as well.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah so actually like pop in R&B is my
first love like, or at leastwhat I learned first.
Yeah, but you know, once Ilearned gospel piano at around
like 11, 12 years old I was, Iwas like this, this thing is fun
, man, I Can see myself doingthis forever.
You know, playing gospel music,yep.
(11:58):
And then so, once you know, Istarted going online, I started
doing like tons of research andchecking out like are there pop
Piano tutorial based likechannels, and it was that's just
everywhere.
R&b stuff like that, that'salso.
I will consider that along thelines of pop.
(12:19):
So that's everywhere.
Also, I was considering jazz,but that's, that's, that's next
level, right there, yeah,everyone is doing that.
Yeah, yes, I was like wait, IPlayed gospel every single week.
Why am I overthinking this?
(12:39):
Let me do what I love and whatI actually have expertise in,
like all those other genres,like jazz.
I just I don't, I don't evenconsider myself a jazz guy.
I just play jazz, like things.
So I'm like I can't even go inthat realm, so I need to stick
to what I know.
And then I saw that like well,actually being a gospel student
like there's no real academicway to.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Explain it or there's .
Speaker 1 (13:07):
There hasn't been in the past no real method like
jazz.
You have a jazz school to havejazz curriculums, classical
curriculums, but there's nogospel curriculum and All of the
artists that we like popartists and things like that are
using gospel musicians.
So I was like there's a marketfor gospel musicians and but
there's no one serving them.
(13:28):
So I decided to just Go in thatlane because I know that's
something that I can teach everyday and I will never, ever get
sick of it.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's cool.
That's cool.
It's crazy how a lot of youranalytical Process as to how you
got into YouTube is verysimilar to mine.
Wow, for me it was more of.
You know, I'm classicallytrained but I've always been
interested in gospel.
So I said, once I set out onour road to really learn, I said
my will just bring folks alongwith me.
(13:58):
So when I scoured the internetI was like, okay, I'm leaving
the classical thing behind andthe pop, the pop thing wasn't
really my thing, even though Icould do it.
But I, like you said, everybodywas doing it, and I dabbled in
jazz.
But you know, once you dip yourfoot in the jazz world it gets
pretty deep pretty fast and it'slike I'm not, I'm not planning
on going all the way, not reallya jazz guy like that.
(14:21):
So it was a thing, the gospelthing.
I was like, well, I could playsome gospel.
Well, I was never really like asolid gospel guy, right, but I
wanted to learn more.
So I figured, as I'm learning,I'll be sharing with my audience
.
So that's why I decided toNiche to the gospel then.
Also, it was so hard to serveeverybody, right, people coming
to you wanted gospel, theywanted jazz, they wanted pop,
(14:42):
and then I said you know, if Ihad to pick one, which one would
it be?
And so I went the gospel route.
So that's cool to see how youyou ended up in in that realm,
mm-hmm.
So what are some of theobstacles you experience when
you were trying to Turn?
Now that you have a followingand you decided to turn into a
(15:03):
business?
If you were to highlight someof the the biggest ones, because
you know we all struggle withobstacles every day in this
business but if you were tohighlight a few.
What would you say are some ofthe biggest ones.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So I would say that when I first started out on
YouTube, it seemed likeeverything just worked.
Every video that I put out itwould get a tons of views, and I
was.
I grew at a rapid rate when itwas very oversaturated, like
everyone teaches piano now.
So, yeah, at big, in thebeginning I didn't see like any
(15:41):
real obstacles, but because ofthe lack of planning that I had
during the my earlier stage andand now that the Shiny object
syndrome has faded away with meas a new piano teacher during
that period, I'm starting to seethat like no real plan is is
(16:03):
really Locking me up now.
So that's one of my biggestobstacles, so a lot of the
obstacles I feel like you don'treally see immediately.
So, like, now I'm spoiled myaudience to expect All-star game
level core for questions.
(16:23):
Okay, now I showed you guysthat I'm credible, but now can I
?
I need to actually teach youguys something like how, how can
you create this on your own?
Yeah, so I'm struggling with,like, the transition this is
more of a current thing likewith, yeah, balancing the
entertainment side with actuallyimparting knowledge, practical
(16:46):
knowledge that the student canmove forward and actually apply.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So one more thing one more thing.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Go ahead, so, but as far as in the beginning, though,
the the obstacles that Iexperienced was self-doubt and,
in perfection, being perfectperfectionist.
So with the editing on theteaching part being a just
teaching, being a presence on ononline man, like dude the
(17:18):
self-doubt.
Then, believe it or not, thepeople in my town, in my city,
cuz I feel like you know you gotto build your local before you
start, yeah, branching off andyou know the national,
international stuff but mostpeople didn't consider me a
gospel player.
They considered me in church,they considered me Jazzy and
then when I played Jazzy gigsthey considered me gospel.
(17:40):
So I had this self-doubt like I.
I played gospel every week, butit was this fear that I
wouldn't be authentic as aplayer.
And then the perfection was thepresentation of the content.
Like man, my early videossucked, but but my audience saw
(18:01):
something in it out and I wasjust always like Wondering, like
why are people liking mycontent?
And meanwhile got like the, theOG guys have all these this
nice setup and I just have ajust I'm just in my basement,
just no backdrop, no, anything.
So I'll just.
I held off a lot because oftrying to make Per be perfect in
(18:25):
the way I speak, in the way mycontent looks.
So that was the biggestobstacle.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, we're gonna put a pin and dive a little bit
deeper yet, because a lot ofpeople, a lot of my colleagues,
would reach out to me Like howdo you start at this online
thing?
I think that's one of theirbiggest obstacle the self-doubt,
because they already have theknowledge and the skills.
Some of these guys are burningon your yeah.
The self-doubt how did you?
How did you overcome it?
(18:51):
What did you do?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
therapists.
My therapist was is my wife.
Okay, that's good.
Yeah, she holds me down a lotand Helps me to see the value in
myself.
So, like I know, everyone maynot be married, but you need to
find a group of people that thatgenuinely Supports what you do.
(19:18):
Yeah, you know, and uh, this isanother thing that helped me
get over the self-doubt in theperfection.
I used to teach at a collegecalled court Sunni Cortland in
upstate New York.
We used to, I used to teachgospel music and we used to.
(19:38):
I used to develop the choirsand things like that.
At the end of the semester theywould the school would fund us
to go on a tour.
So we went to Jamaica.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You're home, you're home, you're home.
Man, I love it there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Man, I love it there, so we went to.
It was a music school there, Idon't know, you may know it.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
You went to the Edna Manley College.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
That's where I went, man.
That's where I studied mydegree.
What year was this?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
2019.
Oh wow, it's recent, recent,bro.
So the YouTube channel was.
I was posting consistently fora year.
I had about 2,000 subscribers.
We just went through the college.
I don't even know how we gotthere.
We just end up going throughthe college, walking around and
just touring a place, and thisrandom guy calls out my
(20:29):
government name, jake Juan Bonas.
Is that you and I was like yo,what is happening?
And then my wife was like youcan't go back now, like this is
who you are now.
So there's no turning back, youcan't quit now.
So every time, that's kind oflike the thought process, like
(20:52):
that moment, and then my wifebeing there to witness that, she
told me like bro, she calls mebro when she's in the coach mode
you can't quit, I'm not goingto allow you to quit.
So I still have moments whereI'm like, yeah, I want to give
it up.
It's still nerve-wrackingputting yourself out there.
But she helped me with that bythat moment in Jamaica and in
(21:15):
her, reminding me of that everychance I talk about quitting.
Yep, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
That's good and we all suffer from this, and I tell
folks that if you continue towait on the sidelines and say,
but I don't have the best camera, I don't have the best
microphone or my backdrop setupis not that good Initially, when
I started for those of youwho've seen my YouTube videos
(21:41):
one of the reason I used a greenscreen behind me was where I
was living at the time.
I just couldn't find a goodplace that has a decent backdrop
that I would want to see in thecamera.
I had this like old 80s, likewhat they call it the stuff they
put on the walls.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I know what you're talking about.
I don't know the name, it'sspacing out Linonium.
Oh, that's the one for thefloor.
Linonium, I think.
Yes, that's the one for thefloor I think that's how you say
it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well, the wall version of that, whatever, yes.
It was old, it was somethinglike 80s and I was like I can't
shoot a video with that in theback, so I just put up a blue
screen behind me and then Iwould just key it out with a
sunset, and that became my thing.
So I still keep it, even thoughI'm in a spot and I wear the
background.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm in a background.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So I tell folks you can't let those little
limitations stop you, becauseeach time you wait on the
sideline, your mind comes upwith more reason to not get in
the game Right, and so it's coolto see how having a wife slash
coach to help you yeah, but thecommunity aspect of that is
definitely important.
You're thinking about doingsomething.
(22:52):
Link up with like-minded folks,reach out to folks that will
support you and someone you canbounce ideas off, and stuff like
that.
So that's really cool.
That's really cool, yeah, man,yeah man.
So for those listening, I saidwow, man, it's 2023.
(23:13):
All these guys started whatCreated a channel in 2007, and
all of that that's years ago.
They've had years of growth intime.
I don't even have a channel yet.
What are some things you wouldshare with someone who's trying
to get in the game?
What would you say they shoulddo, how they should start?
Anything you want to sharealong the line.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I would say you should be finding your unique
approach.
If you're trying to you lookfor people for inspiration and
guidance and a proven trackrecord to see what works, but
you have to figure out whatmakes you stand out beyond the
(24:01):
music.
Like a C major chord is a Cmajor chord or whatever, or a
passing chord is just what it'sgoing to be.
And we often kind of talk aboutthe same things a lot, but I
think everyone has a differentangle and the angle isn't really
always that big.
(24:23):
For me, one of the things that Istruggle with is always saying
ums and uh and things like thatin between my sentences.
So at the time I used to belike man, over-editing my videos
, cutting out all the ums.
But I'm like man, you know what.
That's just how I speak.
Someone out there speaksexactly like me and resonates
(24:47):
with me so excited your thoughtsdon't come together.
You just you know all thisstuff.
So I'm like people like me theway I am.
So let me focus just on beingme, being a relatable guy, and
someone will just resonate withme on that alone, not
necessarily because I play abetter chord than someone else
(25:07):
or someone you know.
I got a better camera or bettersomething you know, and that
doesn't matter and a lot oftimes, as musicians, we're
always looking for the gear andthe ability.
We judge based on ability, andwhat I just basically just think
you should do is just focus onyour approach, just be yourself.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Focus on the thing that makes you unique, because
you got me, you got you, you gotSean Wilson, you got you know,
you got Corey, you got KC, andwe're all basically teaching
gospel music, but we all have asizable following online,
thousands of people that allfollow us stuff, purchase our
(25:49):
stuff, even though a lot of alot of the materials are
overlapping in terms of what weteach.
And that's because, while thematerial might be seen, all five
of us teach differently, speakdifferently, we have a different
personality and camera, andthose are the things that
attracts people theindividuality, right, and so
that's a good point.
(26:09):
That's a good point.
If you were starting overknowing what you know now, what
would you do differently, ifanything?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
man, I would have started my channel in 2012, when
I uploaded my first video.
You would have started pushingfrom them.
Yeah man, youtube was moresimple, there was a lot less
people teaching, and also onething I kind of noticed is that
(26:44):
it's not really about like beingperfect so much it's about
being first.
Like coming to the market firstor being one of the newer people
there.
So if I had to do thingsdifferently like I would have
just went with it in 2012,because I always had the urge to
teach.
I didn't know it was gonna beonline, but I would see some of
(27:10):
the early guys, wheatworks andgospel musicians John Hartwell,
jamal Hartwell, teach.
And I was like, oh man, I can dothat, and at the time there
wasn't that many, it was justthem, or at least from what I
saw, and I'm like man, I couldhave had about half a million
subscribers by now.
Yeah, and a lot of those guyssort of it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
A lot of those guys sort of fade out, because when I
was in college in Jamaica,people was passing around
Jamal's DVDs like it was candyand I remember getting a hold of
it and I was like man, thisstuff is cool.
You know, he sort ofmatriculated into the more tech
VST creating realm, which iscool, but so you know, I think
(27:55):
the takeaway right here is thata lot of people who've had this
idea of doing something onlinetwo, three years ago and they're
still waiting.
Basically, what we're tellingy'all is to start Like this week
, shoot a video, upload it thisweek, learn as you go along,
(28:18):
because you might be looking atour videos and our channels and
you're like man, but these guys'cameras look so good and their
sound.
But the thing is we had tolearn and upgrade and you will.
It's a natural process as youstart to do this, if you're
gonna naturally see areas thatyou can improve, and you know go
(28:39):
ahead.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Oh, yeah, I would say also to that is to document
your journey.
Like, even if you just writedown a journal or something like
that, maybe record yourself,whether it's video or audio, so
you can see how far you've came.
Like, the day by day is justreally hard to track your growth
, and I know we talk about thisin our teaching and stuff like
(29:03):
that, but it also applies withstarting a business and stuff
like that.
Like, I looked at some of myold videos yesterday actually I
was like, wow, I really improveda lot.
I still have a long way to gowith the production value and
stuff like that, but it has.
It came a long way.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So yeah, cause you know there's always going to be
room for improvement, cause Idon't remember who said this,
but the day you stop growing,not meaning you're on the down
path.
You don't want that to happen,and so, by constantly looking
out into the horizon, you'regoing to see things that you can
aspire for and things that youwant to include in your own
growth and development.
You may have seen me post thison Facebook a snapshot of a
(29:45):
video and how much money it'sgenerated since I posted that
was insane.
Dude that was video number 10.
It was 10 out of 10?
That was video number 10.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Cause I number my I number my videos.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So that was when I posted my 10th YouTube video.
Wow, and that video now hassomething like 1.5 mil.
It's the most viewed video.
I have 1.5 million video and itwas video number 10.
That's insane.
And when I looked awkward oncamera, my audio was not great,
my camera editing was not great,but yet still that one video.
(30:24):
Now I have over 500 videos, butthat one video video number 10.
It's the most viewed video andthat's what showed me that, oh
man, it's really has nothing todo with your gear.
Sure, your gear isn't actuallyprobably not even on most
people's radar who are lookingfor the content.
So the thing is, the contentthat I shot was solid and that's
(30:49):
what keep bringing people.
And so, for those of you whoare like but I don't have the
right gear, if you havesomething solid, you're missing
out and you're also doing yourpotential viewers and customers
of this service because you'renot there to help solve their
problem.
Yeah, so, yeah, man, that's asolid thing.
Start now, keep going and learnalong the way.
(31:10):
Yep, anything else you want toadd to musicians doing the
hustle out there playing 300gigs a year, and they're like,
man, if I could just startsomething online, you know, but
I don't know how to.
There's so many people doingwhat I'm doing already.
Anything else you think theywould find useful?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Man.
I think just all musiciansshould have some type of online
income stream, Like it doesn'talways have to be a membership.
You know, all of theseplatforms are paying musicians
now YouTube, Instagram, TikTok,Facebook, you know.
So there's ways to generateincome and I wouldn't shoot,
(31:56):
like you know.
Just get to level one.
You know.
If you make $50 on social media, that's a start, yeah, you know
, like you know.
And then once you get 50 on aregular, then just move the
goalposts, like, but just createsomething.
It doesn't have to be anythingthat you quit your main gig or
job for, but I feel, I justthink that all musicians should
(32:19):
have at least one stream ofincome coming from online.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yep.
So that's for those who arewondering like, but I had to
make money online.
Like, what do I do?
So the simplicity of it is,once you start to build an
audience, your audience are likegold.
Yeah, man, people pay you toget in front of your audience.
Once you have people followingyou for your content whether
(32:44):
it's just you jamming on yourinstrument or you doing weekly
tips once you have a good enoughaudience.
So we're not talking.
You don't need thousands andthousands of subscribers like us
because, dayquan, you justpassed the 80,000 threshold and
your Instagram's blowing up,which I still can't understand.
I'm like, my Instagram is goingslow.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
There's another podcast for later.
We'll follow that later.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
You know, but you don't really need thousands and
thousands before you can start.
I hear people would like youknow.
2000 subscribers already startto monetize.
So the way I do it and ifDayquan want to speak on this,
you can as well so brandingdeals is one of them.
Behind me, for those of you whoare watching this on YouTube,
there's two keyboards on theground.
(33:27):
Those were sent to me for free.
Companies reach out and say wesend you this for free.
We also pay you on top of thatand you just shoot a video
talking about a keyboard.
Boom, that's money in yourpocket right there.
Another way to get money onlineis, once you hit the thousand
subscriber mark, you're eligiblefor monetization on YouTube.
(33:47):
You're turning that on, whichmeans every video you post after
that adds run on the video.
You make some change.
You get a monthly recurring,almost passive income check,
basically from YouTube becauseyou don't have to do anything
else.
And then we have affiliatemarketing.
So, like you know, you talkabout the gear you're already
using to produce your video.
(34:08):
You link to Amazon in thatsomeone buys it, you get a cut
and then again it's passiveBecause that video lives on on
YouTube.
So every time someone sees it,follow your link and there's so
many other affiliate sources.
We're not going to dive toodeep into affiliate marketing,
but those are just some of theways outside of your own content
(34:29):
, because they can't have amembership program.
I have a membership program.
We make money from there.
Probably the bulk of our onlinerevenue comes from the program
that we sell, but these areother elements of income stream.
By just having an audience, youcan start to leverage that.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah, I agree, man, and there's also other little
things that you can get withbeing having online presence as
well, and that's endorsements,man.
I actually got an endorsementwith Hercules Stans through my
social media content.
It's basically keyboard Stans,bro, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
They outfitted my whole keyboard studio content
area with Hercules Stans.
I have Hercules Camera Stans,those Z Stans for my keyboards,
the X Stans.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And it's a paid endorsement, so it's like
there's so many, so muchopportunity man, with YouTube
man, and there's none of thiswould have happened without
YouTube.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
So, so that's it, guys.
If you're on the fence, youwant to start something, you're
probably trying to figure out.
But what should I do?
Don't worry about that.
Just start posting video ofanything that interests you.
This whole thing when we talkabout finding your niche finding
your niche eventually it comes.
You wake up one morning and belike you know what?
I think I want to go this way,and the good thing is because
(36:00):
it's online.
Even if you want to pivot later, you can do it.
Nobody's going to stop you.
But you don't have to have theanswers to all of this stuff yet
before you get started.
All you need to know is you gotskills, you got a phone, start
shooting stuff and start postingit.
All the other stuff will startto fall in place.
(36:22):
You'll start to figure thingsout.
Yeah, I agree, man, cool, cool.
Well, thanks, man.
I think we got to everything wewant to get through today.
That was great.
Great day Kwan, for taking thetime out of your day to join us
here on the Business forMusicians podcast.
For those of you who want toconnect with Day Kwan,
daykwanboanscom or on all socialplatforms, just search Day Kwan
(36:47):
Boans.
You know he's a pianist.
I, like myself, keyboard isdoing a lot of amazing things,
so check him out, see what hegot, and if you want to pick his
brain about how he gets allthem crazy endorsements and
stuff, reach out to him.
He'll drop you some tips.
All right, yeah, man, yeah, Ithank you guys for listening and
(37:08):
stay tuned for the next episodedropping next week.
All right, Bye for now, takecare.
I had no real plan to do any of this stuff.
My goal is very shallow, to behonest.
It was to get that YouTubeplaque.
I just wanted that plaque, man,yeah, yeah.
But once I started doing thetutorials, I started doing Skype
lessons.
Yeah, and that was cool, but itwas difficult to go back and
(00:23):
forth with students.
And that was successful, thoughfor a brief moment.
But two months in, someoneasked me do you have a piano
membership?
I'm trying to join.
And I was like I just repliedlike yeah, coming soon.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And I was like what the heck is a piano?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I was like what the heck is a piano membership?
And I didn't know anythingabout the subscription model or
anything like that, so I justdecided to just continue to
upload the videos on YouTube andthen while in the back end just
doing tons of research, tryingto figure out what a piano
membership was and how toimplement that.
(01:05):
So until I got that started, Iwas like let me just do courses
and just sell tutorials andthings like that online.
And then that got me thatbought time until I built my
membership platform in 2020.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Six years ago, I took my teaching skills online and
now I make multiple six figuresin annual revenue, teaching
piano to students worldwidewhile working less than eight
hours a day.
My name is Warren McPherson,the founder and CEO of PNLesson
with Warrencom, and if you wantto learn how I broke free from
(01:43):
the nine to five piano studioteaching, the late nights and
weekend gigging schedule, youcame to the right place.
At the Business for Musicianspodcast, I'll share tips,
strategies and tools to help youbreak free from the trading
time for money hamster wheel soyou, too, can build a profitable
online business while workingfewer hours and from the comfort
(02:06):
of your home.
Welcome back to the Businessfor Musicians podcast.
I'm joined here today withDayquan Bowens from Dayquan
Bowens YouTube channel, DayquanBowens a piano program.
They come by all over the placeTikTok.
(02:27):
You're on TikTok, right?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Instagram and all of that stuff.
So Dayquan is, like myself,another one of those musicians
who have stumbled into theonline game and realized that we
can monetize our skills both asa performer and a teacher
online.
So I wanted to bring him on,get his perspective, how he
started, so he can share withyou guys that it is not too late
(02:53):
and it's still possible.
If you wanna build an onlinebusiness, build an online
following, you can still do thattoday.
So welcome again, my brother.
It's good to have you here.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yes, sir.
Thank you for inviting me, man.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So the first question I have for you is what made you
start a YouTube channel?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Man.
So I started a YouTube channellike early, and the main reason
for me starting the channel isto showcase myself as a player.
My goal at the time was to be atouring musician.
So I was like, all right, atthe time, youtube was the only
video platform online and Ikinda saw how the internet was
(03:42):
moving.
I was like let me put myself ina position to be noticed by the
important people, if you will.
So that was the initial goal.
And I'm from a town Syracuse,new York very small place known
for basketball so, and there's areally great amount of players
(04:03):
here and but we don't getnoticed.
So I was like, all right, letme do my part and try to put
Syracuse on the map, if you will.
So that was the initial goal.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah yeah, that's cool.
That's cool, and so youremember what year this was.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So yeah, it was actually.
I created my YouTube channel in2007.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That was when YouTube just came on the game to yeah
before Google.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I think I think I had a yahoo login account, bro,
before it's acquired by Google.
Yeah, my first video was in2008.
It wasn't a tutorial oranything like that, but the.
You know, I just wanted toshowcase myself playing, so I
was like, all right, let me, letme just show you see what you
(04:54):
know, let the world see what Ican do.
You know, I just created avideo and at the time it was no
real crazy algorithm, anythinglike that, you know, just bunch
of cat videos and the Charliebit my finger.
That was.
That was Viral video back inthat era.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember when I came across your
channel, I saw you were doingsome lessons.
You remember when you'retransitioning to start Doing
lessons and what made you dothat?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So I I uploaded my first video in actually in 2012.
I did an organ Tutorial, like Iwas a jam session at the church
, mm-hmm.
In this there was a camera guyjust happened to be there and he
was just recording.
You know me and I was just justtalking over look, gospel organ
preacher chords and things likethat.
(05:42):
Yeah and Ever since, I did thatone video and it actually did
pretty well for the time, andthen I just took this long break
, kind of like you.
And then 2018 is when Iuploaded my first tutorial and
ever since then I've beenuploading pretty much every week
.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Since then, people start requesting stuff and, yeah
, asking me to shoot stuff likethat.
So you also have a membershipprogram for we teach more
in-depth Subscription-basedbusiness.
Yes, so did you map, map outall of that when you got it?
When you started doing YouTube,did you envision that?
(06:24):
Or just kind of just Eventuallymorphed?
How did that came about?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
so about two months into 2018, when I, you know,
started uploading tutorials on aconsistent basis, I had no real
plan to do any of this stuff.
My goals very shallow, to behonest YouTube plaque.
But I, once I started doing thetutorials, you know, I I was.
(06:55):
I started doing Skype lessons,yeah, and that was cool, but it
was just it was difficult to goback and forth with students and
about, and that was successful,though for a brief moment.
But two months in, someone askedme for do you have a piano
membership?
I'm trying to join?
And I was like I just repliedlike yeah, coming soon.
(07:18):
I was like what the heck is apiano membership?
And I didn't know anythingabout the subscription model or
anything like that.
So I I Just decided to just,you know, continue to put the
upload, the videos on YouTube,and then, while in the back end
like just doing tons of researchtrying to figure out what a
(07:41):
panel membership was and how toimplement that.
So until I got that started, Iwas like let me just do courses
and just sell tutorials andthings like that online, and
then that's how that got me that.
That bought time until I builtmy membership platform in 2020.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
How did you market your channel initially?
Was it just through thealgorithm?
Was just sending you viewersalready?
Do you have a special way to Iwas.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I was like, I Was like a troll, almost like.
A positive way.
Yeah, so so I I used to go onpopular Piano tutorial channels.
I might have did it on yourchannel too.
So I was like I would, if Iwould see someone post a video
(08:31):
right and it was similar to minethat I uploaded, I would go
under the comment section andleave a thoughtful comment.
A Look, but if it was somethingsimilar to mine, I would say I
guess I got to delete my video.
So that would be the comment.
And I know that you know the.
The youtubers and contentcreators, you know, check the
(08:53):
comments, even though they maynot respond, or at the very
least, your community will see,see the comment.
So I'm like, and they're like,okay, who's this guy?
And then they'll check out thevideo and then notice I have
about 10, 15 videos in thecollection and Then watch.
And then they'll be like, okay,this, this guy can play and
(09:13):
teach, so let me just subscribeto him.
So that was my method for alittle bit great, and I was like
enough subscribers.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And that's actually a very powerful point because I
mentioned that, I believe, inone of the previous episodes,
and a lot of big names, sort ofonline content creator gurus
Mention that as well.
Like when you're just gettingstarted, one of the best way to
get authentic followers Is tohang out on other channels
that's doing similar things asyou and, like you say, just
(09:41):
leave thoughtful comments,answer questions, if you see
people post question there andthat goes a long way in helping
your channel.
So that's pretty cool.
How did you figure that out?
Did someone tell you that wejust like Well, the street
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I Notice how powerful the comment section was back in
like 2012 when I uploaded myfirst tutorials back then.
So there was a musician and weall know, corey Henry he posted
a video, you know, just straightkilling on piano.
(10:15):
But there's this one littlething.
I was like I want to, I want toruffle the feathers.
So I was like I'm pointing outsomething that will be
subjective, but it was anegative thing that I thought
was in his playing.
So I I just Unpurpose, likebeing your troll.
I said something that I didn'teven mean.
It wasn't even that bad, he wasstill killing Bro.
(10:37):
Yeah, I just said something andthen the comments went wild for
years, like how dare you talkabout Corey Henry like that?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
even though I didn't mean it.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I Was just being funny being a dumb kid and I
realized like, okay, can I, canI use that in a more positive
light?
Because the the negativeattention was crazy people I was
getting threats and everything.
I was like let me not do thatagain.
So I'm like let me use that ina positive way and leave
(11:10):
thoughtful comments and Try tofind a way to get people to know
that I also do this as well,but not be spammy on other
people's content.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So that's pretty cool .
That's pretty cool.
So your thing is predominantlygospel similar.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Why?
Why you need to gospel, so CuzI know you can crush it in
multiple other styles as well.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah so actually like pop in R&B is my
first love like, or at leastwhat I learned first.
Yeah, but you know, once Ilearned gospel piano at around
like 11, 12 years old I was, Iwas like this, this thing is fun
, man, I Can see myself doingthis forever.
You know, playing gospel music,yep.
(11:58):
And then so, once you know, Istarted going online, I started
doing like tons of research andchecking out like are there pop
Piano tutorial based likechannels, and it was that's just
everywhere.
R&b stuff like that, that'salso.
I will consider that along thelines of pop.
(12:19):
So that's everywhere.
Also, I was considering jazz,but that's, that's, that's next
level, right there, yeah,everyone is doing that.
Yeah, yes, I was like wait, IPlayed gospel every single week.
Why am I overthinking this?
(12:39):
Let me do what I love and whatI actually have expertise in,
like all those other genres,like jazz.
I just I don't, I don't evenconsider myself a jazz guy.
I just play jazz, like things.
So I'm like I can't even go inthat realm, so I need to stick
to what I know.
And then I saw that like well,actually being a gospel student
like there's no real academicway to.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Explain it or there's .
Speaker 1 (13:07):
There hasn't been in the past no real method like
jazz.
You have a jazz school to havejazz curriculums, classical
curriculums, but there's nogospel curriculum and All of the
artists that we like popartists and things like that are
using gospel musicians.
So I was like there's a marketfor gospel musicians and but
there's no one serving them.
(13:28):
So I decided to just Go in thatlane because I know that's
something that I can teach everyday and I will never, ever get
sick of it.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
That's cool.
That's cool.
It's crazy how a lot of youranalytical Process as to how you
got into YouTube is verysimilar to mine.
Wow, for me it was more of.
You know, I'm classicallytrained but I've always been
interested in gospel.
So I said, once I set out onour road to really learn, I said
my will just bring folks alongwith me.
(13:58):
So when I scoured the internetI was like, okay, I'm leaving
the classical thing behind andthe pop, the pop thing wasn't
really my thing, even though Icould do it.
But I, like you said, everybodywas doing it, and I dabbled in
jazz.
But you know, once you dip yourfoot in the jazz world it gets
pretty deep pretty fast and it'slike I'm not, I'm not planning
on going all the way, not reallya jazz guy like that.
(14:21):
So it was a thing, the gospelthing.
I was like, well, I could playsome gospel.
Well, I was never really like asolid gospel guy, right, but I
wanted to learn more.
So I figured, as I'm learning,I'll be sharing with my audience
.
So that's why I decided toNiche to the gospel then.
Also, it was so hard to serveeverybody, right, people coming
to you wanted gospel, theywanted jazz, they wanted pop,
(14:42):
and then I said you know, if Ihad to pick one, which one would
it be?
And so I went the gospel route.
So that's cool to see how youyou ended up in in that realm,
mm-hmm.
So what are some of theobstacles you experience when
you were trying to Turn?
Now that you have a followingand you decided to turn into a
(15:03):
business?
If you were to highlight someof the the biggest ones, because
you know we all struggle withobstacles every day in this
business but if you were tohighlight a few.
What would you say are some ofthe biggest ones.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So I would say that when I first started out on
YouTube, it seemed likeeverything just worked.
Every video that I put out itwould get a tons of views, and I
was.
I grew at a rapid rate when itwas very oversaturated, like
everyone teaches piano now.
So, yeah, at big, in thebeginning I didn't see like any
(15:41):
real obstacles, but because ofthe lack of planning that I had
during the my earlier stage andand now that the Shiny object
syndrome has faded away with meas a new piano teacher during
that period, I'm starting to seethat like no real plan is is
(16:03):
really Locking me up now.
So that's one of my biggestobstacles, so a lot of the
obstacles I feel like you don'treally see immediately.
So, like, now I'm spoiled myaudience to expect All-star game
level core for questions.
(16:23):
Okay, now I showed you guysthat I'm credible, but now can I
?
I need to actually teach youguys something like how, how can
you create this on your own?
Yeah, so I'm struggling with,like, the transition this is
more of a current thing likewith, yeah, balancing the
entertainment side with actuallyimparting knowledge, practical
(16:46):
knowledge that the student canmove forward and actually apply.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So one more thing one more thing.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Go ahead, so, but as far as in the beginning, though,
the the obstacles that Iexperienced was self-doubt and,
in perfection, being perfectperfectionist.
So with the editing on theteaching part being a just
teaching, being a presence on ononline man, like dude the
(17:18):
self-doubt.
Then, believe it or not, thepeople in my town, in my city,
cuz I feel like you know you gotto build your local before you
start, yeah, branching off andyou know the national,
international stuff but mostpeople didn't consider me a
gospel player.
They considered me in church,they considered me Jazzy and
then when I played Jazzy gigsthey considered me gospel.
(17:40):
So I had this self-doubt like I.
I played gospel every week, butit was this fear that I
wouldn't be authentic as aplayer.
And then the perfection was thepresentation of the content.
Like man, my early videossucked, but but my audience saw
(18:01):
something in it out and I wasjust always like Wondering, like
why are people liking mycontent?
And meanwhile got like the, theOG guys have all these this
nice setup and I just have ajust I'm just in my basement,
just no backdrop, no, anything.
So I'll just.
I held off a lot because oftrying to make Per be perfect in
(18:25):
the way I speak, in the way mycontent looks.
So that was the biggestobstacle.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, we're gonna put a pin and dive a little bit
deeper yet, because a lot ofpeople, a lot of my colleagues,
would reach out to me Like howdo you start at this online
thing?
I think that's one of theirbiggest obstacle the self-doubt,
because they already have theknowledge and the skills.
Some of these guys are burningon your yeah.
The self-doubt how did you?
How did you overcome it?
(18:51):
What did you do?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
therapists.
My therapist was is my wife.
Okay, that's good.
Yeah, she holds me down a lotand Helps me to see the value in
myself.
So, like I know, everyone maynot be married, but you need to
find a group of people that thatgenuinely Supports what you do.
(19:18):
Yeah, you know, and uh, this isanother thing that helped me
get over the self-doubt in theperfection.
I used to teach at a collegecalled court Sunni Cortland in
upstate New York.
We used to, I used to teachgospel music and we used to.
(19:38):
I used to develop the choirsand things like that.
At the end of the semester theywould the school would fund us
to go on a tour.
So we went to Jamaica.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You're home, you're home, you're home.
Man, I love it there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Man, I love it there, so we went to.
It was a music school there, Idon't know, you may know it.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
You went to the Edna Manley College.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
That's where I went, man.
That's where I studied mydegree.
What year was this?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
2019.
Oh wow, it's recent, recent,bro.
So the YouTube channel was.
I was posting consistently fora year.
I had about 2,000 subscribers.
We just went through the college.
I don't even know how we gotthere.
We just end up going throughthe college, walking around and
just touring a place, and thisrandom guy calls out my
(20:29):
government name, jake Juan Bonas.
Is that you and I was like yo,what is happening?
And then my wife was like youcan't go back now, like this is
who you are now.
So there's no turning back, youcan't quit now.
So every time, that's kind oflike the thought process, like
(20:52):
that moment, and then my wifebeing there to witness that, she
told me like bro, she calls mebro when she's in the coach mode
you can't quit, I'm not goingto allow you to quit.
So I still have moments whereI'm like, yeah, I want to give
it up.
It's still nerve-wrackingputting yourself out there.
But she helped me with that bythat moment in Jamaica and in
(21:15):
her, reminding me of that everychance I talk about quitting.
Yep, that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
That's good and we all suffer from this, and I tell
folks that if you continue towait on the sidelines and say,
but I don't have the best camera, I don't have the best
microphone or my backdrop setupis not that good Initially, when
I started for those of youwho've seen my YouTube videos
(21:41):
one of the reason I used a greenscreen behind me was where I
was living at the time.
I just couldn't find a goodplace that has a decent backdrop
that I would want to see in thecamera.
I had this like old 80s, likewhat they call it the stuff they
put on the walls.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I know what you're talking about.
I don't know the name, it'sspacing out Linonium.
Oh, that's the one for thefloor.
Linonium, I think.
Yes, that's the one for thefloor I think that's how you say
it.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Well, the wall version of that, whatever, yes.
It was old, it was somethinglike 80s and I was like I can't
shoot a video with that in theback, so I just put up a blue
screen behind me and then Iwould just key it out with a
sunset, and that became my thing.
So I still keep it, even thoughI'm in a spot and I wear the
background.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm in a background.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So I tell folks you can't let those little
limitations stop you, becauseeach time you wait on the
sideline, your mind comes upwith more reason to not get in
the game Right, and so it's coolto see how having a wife slash
coach to help you yeah, but thecommunity aspect of that is
definitely important.
You're thinking about doingsomething.
(22:52):
Link up with like-minded folks,reach out to folks that will
support you and someone you canbounce ideas off, and stuff like
that.
So that's really cool.
That's really cool, yeah, man,yeah man.
So for those listening, I saidwow, man, it's 2023.
(23:13):
All these guys started whatCreated a channel in 2007, and
all of that that's years ago.
They've had years of growth intime.
I don't even have a channel yet.
What are some things you wouldshare with someone who's trying
to get in the game?
What would you say they shoulddo, how they should start?
Anything you want to sharealong the line.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I would say you should be finding your unique
approach.
If you're trying to you lookfor people for inspiration and
guidance and a proven trackrecord to see what works, but
you have to figure out whatmakes you stand out beyond the
(24:01):
music.
Like a C major chord is a Cmajor chord or whatever, or a
passing chord is just what it'sgoing to be.
And we often kind of talk aboutthe same things a lot, but I
think everyone has a differentangle and the angle isn't really
always that big.
(24:23):
For me, one of the things that Istruggle with is always saying
ums and uh and things like thatin between my sentences.
So at the time I used to belike man, over-editing my videos
, cutting out all the ums.
But I'm like man, you know what.
That's just how I speak.
Someone out there speaksexactly like me and resonates
(24:47):
with me so excited your thoughtsdon't come together.
You just you know all thisstuff.
So I'm like people like me theway I am.
So let me focus just on beingme, being a relatable guy, and
someone will just resonate withme on that alone, not
necessarily because I play abetter chord than someone else
(25:07):
or someone you know.
I got a better camera or bettersomething you know, and that
doesn't matter and a lot oftimes, as musicians, we're
always looking for the gear andthe ability.
We judge based on ability, andwhat I just basically just think
you should do is just focus onyour approach, just be yourself.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Focus on the thing that makes you unique, because
you got me, you got you, you gotSean Wilson, you got you know,
you got Corey, you got KC, andwe're all basically teaching
gospel music, but we all have asizable following online,
thousands of people that allfollow us stuff, purchase our
(25:49):
stuff, even though a lot of alot of the materials are
overlapping in terms of what weteach.
And that's because, while thematerial might be seen, all five
of us teach differently, speakdifferently, we have a different
personality and camera, andthose are the things that
attracts people theindividuality, right, and so
that's a good point.
(26:09):
That's a good point.
If you were starting overknowing what you know now, what
would you do differently, ifanything?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
man, I would have started my channel in 2012, when
I uploaded my first video.
You would have started pushingfrom them.
Yeah man, youtube was moresimple, there was a lot less
people teaching, and also onething I kind of noticed is that
(26:44):
it's not really about like beingperfect so much it's about
being first.
Like coming to the market firstor being one of the newer people
there.
So if I had to do thingsdifferently like I would have
just went with it in 2012,because I always had the urge to
teach.
I didn't know it was gonna beonline, but I would see some of
(27:10):
the early guys, wheatworks andgospel musicians John Hartwell,
jamal Hartwell, teach.
And I was like, oh man, I can dothat, and at the time there
wasn't that many, it was justthem, or at least from what I
saw, and I'm like man, I couldhave had about half a million
subscribers by now.
Yeah, and a lot of those guyssort of it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
A lot of those guys sort of fade out, because when I
was in college in Jamaica,people was passing around
Jamal's DVDs like it was candyand I remember getting a hold of
it and I was like man, thisstuff is cool.
You know, he sort ofmatriculated into the more tech
VST creating realm, which iscool, but so you know, I think
(27:55):
the takeaway right here is thata lot of people who've had this
idea of doing something onlinetwo, three years ago and they're
still waiting.
Basically, what we're tellingy'all is to start Like this week
, shoot a video, upload it thisweek, learn as you go along,
(28:18):
because you might be looking atour videos and our channels and
you're like man, but these guys'cameras look so good and their
sound.
But the thing is we had tolearn and upgrade and you will.
It's a natural process as youstart to do this, if you're
gonna naturally see areas thatyou can improve, and you know go
(28:39):
ahead.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Oh, yeah, I would say also to that is to document
your journey.
Like, even if you just writedown a journal or something like
that, maybe record yourself,whether it's video or audio, so
you can see how far you've came.
Like, the day by day is justreally hard to track your growth
, and I know we talk about thisin our teaching and stuff like
(29:03):
that, but it also applies withstarting a business and stuff
like that.
Like, I looked at some of myold videos yesterday actually I
was like, wow, I really improveda lot.
I still have a long way to gowith the production value and
stuff like that, but it has.
It came a long way.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So yeah, cause you know there's always going to be
room for improvement, cause Idon't remember who said this,
but the day you stop growing,not meaning you're on the down
path.
You don't want that to happen,and so, by constantly looking
out into the horizon, you'regoing to see things that you can
aspire for and things that youwant to include in your own
growth and development.
You may have seen me post thison Facebook a snapshot of a
(29:45):
video and how much money it'sgenerated since I posted that
was insane.
Dude that was video number 10.
It was 10 out of 10?
That was video number 10.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Cause I number my I number my videos.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So that was when I posted my 10th YouTube video.
Wow, and that video now hassomething like 1.5 mil.
It's the most viewed video.
I have 1.5 million video and itwas video number 10.
That's insane.
And when I looked awkward oncamera, my audio was not great,
my camera editing was not great,but yet still that one video.
(30:24):
Now I have over 500 videos, butthat one video video number 10.
It's the most viewed video andthat's what showed me that, oh
man, it's really has nothing todo with your gear.
Sure, your gear isn't actuallyprobably not even on most
people's radar who are lookingfor the content.
So the thing is, the contentthat I shot was solid and that's
(30:49):
what keep bringing people.
And so, for those of you whoare like but I don't have the
right gear, if you havesomething solid, you're missing
out and you're also doing yourpotential viewers and customers
of this service because you'renot there to help solve their
problem.
Yeah, so, yeah, man, that's asolid thing.
Start now, keep going and learnalong the way.
(31:10):
Yep, anything else you want toadd to musicians doing the
hustle out there playing 300gigs a year, and they're like,
man, if I could just startsomething online, you know, but
I don't know how to.
There's so many people doingwhat I'm doing already.
Anything else you think theywould find useful?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Man.
I think just all musiciansshould have some type of online
income stream, Like it doesn'talways have to be a membership.
You know, all of theseplatforms are paying musicians
now YouTube, Instagram, TikTok,Facebook, you know.
So there's ways to generateincome and I wouldn't shoot,
(31:56):
like you know.
Just get to level one.
You know.
If you make $50 on social media, that's a start, yeah, you know
, like you know.
And then once you get 50 on aregular, then just move the
goalposts, like, but just createsomething.
It doesn't have to be anythingthat you quit your main gig or
job for, but I feel, I justthink that all musicians should
(32:19):
have at least one stream ofincome coming from online.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yep.
So that's for those who arewondering like, but I had to
make money online.
Like, what do I do?
So the simplicity of it is,once you start to build an
audience, your audience are likegold.
Yeah, man, people pay you toget in front of your audience.
Once you have people followingyou for your content whether
(32:44):
it's just you jamming on yourinstrument or you doing weekly
tips once you have a good enoughaudience.
So we're not talking.
You don't need thousands andthousands of subscribers like us
because, dayquan, you justpassed the 80,000 threshold and
your Instagram's blowing up,which I still can't understand.
I'm like, my Instagram is goingslow.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
There's another podcast for later.
We'll follow that later.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
You know, but you don't really need thousands and
thousands before you can start.
I hear people would like youknow.
2000 subscribers already startto monetize.
So the way I do it and ifDayquan want to speak on this,
you can as well so brandingdeals is one of them.
Behind me, for those of you whoare watching this on YouTube,
there's two keyboards on theground.
(33:27):
Those were sent to me for free.
Companies reach out and say wesend you this for free.
We also pay you on top of thatand you just shoot a video
talking about a keyboard.
Boom, that's money in yourpocket right there.
Another way to get money onlineis, once you hit the thousand
subscriber mark, you're eligiblefor monetization on YouTube.
(33:47):
You're turning that on, whichmeans every video you post after
that adds run on the video.
You make some change.
You get a monthly recurring,almost passive income check,
basically from YouTube becauseyou don't have to do anything
else.
And then we have affiliatemarketing.
So, like you know, you talkabout the gear you're already
using to produce your video.
(34:08):
You link to Amazon in thatsomeone buys it, you get a cut
and then again it's passiveBecause that video lives on on
YouTube.
So every time someone sees it,follow your link and there's so
many other affiliate sources.
We're not going to dive toodeep into affiliate marketing,
but those are just some of theways outside of your own content
(34:29):
, because they can't have amembership program.
I have a membership program.
We make money from there.
Probably the bulk of our onlinerevenue comes from the program
that we sell, but these areother elements of income stream.
By just having an audience, youcan start to leverage that.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah, I agree, man, and there's also other little
things that you can get withbeing having online presence as
well, and that's endorsements,man.
I actually got an endorsementwith Hercules Stans through my
social media content.
It's basically keyboard Stans,bro, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
They outfitted my whole keyboard studio content
area with Hercules Stans.
I have Hercules Camera Stans,those Z Stans for my keyboards,
the X Stans.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
And it's a paid endorsement, so it's like
there's so many, so muchopportunity man, with YouTube
man, and there's none of thiswould have happened without
YouTube.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
So, so that's it, guys.
If you're on the fence, youwant to start something, you're
probably trying to figure out.
But what should I do?
Don't worry about that.
Just start posting video ofanything that interests you.
This whole thing when we talkabout finding your niche finding
your niche eventually it comes.
You wake up one morning and belike you know what?
I think I want to go this way,and the good thing is because
(36:00):
it's online.
Even if you want to pivot later, you can do it.
Nobody's going to stop you.
But you don't have to have theanswers to all of this stuff yet
before you get started.
All you need to know is you gotskills, you got a phone, start
shooting stuff and start postingit.
All the other stuff will startto fall in place.
(36:22):
You'll start to figure thingsout.
Yeah, I agree, man, cool, cool.
Well, thanks, man.
I think we got to everything wewant to get through today.
That was great.
Great day Kwan, for taking thetime out of your day to join us
here on the Business forMusicians podcast.
For those of you who want toconnect with Day Kwan,
daykwanboanscom or on all socialplatforms, just search Day Kwan
(36:47):
Boans.
You know he's a pianist.
I, like myself, keyboard isdoing a lot of amazing things,
so check him out, see what hegot, and if you want to pick his
brain about how he gets allthem crazy endorsements and
stuff, reach out to him.
He'll drop you some tips.
All right, yeah, man, yeah, Ithank you guys for listening and
(37:08):
stay tuned for the next episodedropping next week.
All right, Bye for now, takecare.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.