If I'm So Great...

Few things in life cause as much panic and anxiety to a self-employed freelancer as the deafening sound of the phone not ringing. It’s something we all must face at some point, and how you weather the storm is often the key to longevity in a tumultuous business. There have always been slow seasons and lean times and, for the most part, I’ve learned to adapt and prepare and try to have enough dry powder in the keg to wait out the harsh winters. Well, metaphorically of course. I live in San Diego where a harsh winter consists of five days of rain, a slight gust of wind, and temperatures dropping to nearly long-sleeve lows. But knowing slow periods are a natural part of being in business for yourself doesn’t always make it easy to deal with, and can easily send me into a spiral of self-doubt and cause me to seriously call into question my life choices.

One of the ways I descend into madness during a work famine is to hyper evaluate the way I promote myself, or more accurately, don’t promote myself. The mere idea of self promotion makes my stomach turn. There is nothing more nauseating than listening to someone try to tell you how great they are. So, I have a tendency to “play it cool” all the time by never talking about what it is I do or definitely anything I’ve ever done. In fact, my own children are often shocked to learn that I’ve worked with people they’ve actually heard of. So, if I can’t even tell my own family about my work, how is anyone else that may want to hire me supposed to find out?

Even in this newsletter, I have written and deleted multiple stories of working with well known artists because I was afraid it looked like I was name-dropping or exaggerating, or just plainly being a pompous ass. But, fear of self aggrandizing has perhaps been a detriment to my business. Yes, a person should be humble, but being humble in a business doesn't lead to new clients. So, how does one separate themselves as a business from themselves as a person? Perhaps if I had a cool business name that I used, like Mike’s Mix-O-Rama, or Butler’s Audio Production and Tire Service, it would be far easier to separate myself from the thing I’m trying to sell. I could get behind promoting a “business”, but it feels somehow gross to try to promote “Mike Butler”. Next I’ll be passing out 8x10 glossy photos of myself in a turtleneck gazing pensively into the camera. Perhaps with a pipe.

So, what is one to do?

When times are tough, and the inbox numbers are dwindling, it’s important not to panic. It’s happened many times before and it will happen again. It doesn’t mean you suddenly suck at your job or that the industry is dead or that everyone found out about that time in third grade you peed your pants a little at lunch and tried to cover it up by spilling a container of milk in your lap. It just means it’s slow and things will pick up. It doesn’t mean you should just sit around and do nothing waiting for it either. There are a couple things I do during those times that can help, and you don’t have to take out a full page ad with your pipe-smoking, turtlenecked headshot in Variety Magazine.

Reach Out

Go through your contact list and just reach out to people. Old clients, associates, other engineers, musicians, or just friends you haven’t spoken to in a while. People get busy with their lives and tend to deal with what’s directly in front of them. Often it’s an out of sight, out of mind world. So, by just reaching out and saying hi you put yourself on their radar again. It doesn’t mean they necessarily have work for you at the moment you need it, but if something does come up, you’ll have made the connection and they may think of you for it. This business is a garden, and planting seeds is a necessary part if you want it to grow.

Get Out

The older I get, the harder this one becomes. I love nothing more than making a nice dinner at home, watching a show, and being in bed by 10pm. But, my business revolves around music, so sometimes you have to go where the music is happening. I happen to still play locally in a few bands, so I do get a chance to get out and network (I hate that word) with other musicians on a regular basis, but I still think it’s important to go support other bands. Again, it puts you on their radar and it’s just a good thing to do. The majority of my work is remote from people I may never meet, but some of it does come from right here in my own back yard, so I try to remain a part of that community. We’re all in the same boat, just trying to follow our dreams of doing the thing we love, so a little support can go a long way.

Branch Out

In a freelance, gig based economy, the idea of just doing the one thing that you want to do the most and have that be enough, is a big ask of the universe. If work in your main field is drying up a bit, try to think of ways you can branch out and add other things to your portfolio. Or, at least be open to other opportunities. I am primarily a mix engineer, it’s where the bulk of my income comes from. But, I also engineer sessions in other peoples studios from time to time, I play guitar for people both live and in the studio, I have done sound design for advertisements, made custom music for commercials, and for a while I worked part-time for a University recording, editing and mixing orchestral music performances. I recently put together a mobile recording rig and have started doing location recording of live shows. The point is, doing extra things outside your main business identity isn’t taking anything away from your career path, it’s diversifying your services and adding value. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hired to just mix a song and ended up also playing guitar on it because I have the ability and equipment to do so quickly and efficiently. It doesn’t make me less of a mixer, it adds value to my services for my clients.

Bug Out

If all else fails, and you are left staring into the abyss, get out of your environment and go outside. Take a walk or a hike or go to a movie or anything at all besides sit and stew in it. My mind is my greatest asset and my worse enemy at times, and I can easily spiral into despair if I start to feel things aren’t lining up right and my career is getting off track. Sometimes a change of scenery is just the thing to get me out of that cycle and to start to see things differently. Distraction can be a good thing if it’s taking you out of negative thoughts.

I’m not writing this because I think I’ve figured anything out. In fact, I just came out of a few days of a deep depression that made me and my loved ones absolutely miserable. I didn’t do any of the things that I just wrote to help. I ignored it all and just let myself sit in it and spiral down into despair about the imaginary state of things that haven’t happened. And it wasn’t because I don’t have work. I’m actually pretty busy right now. But I started down a path of worrying that someday, maybe soon, or maybe down the line, work might dry up completely and my career will be over, and I’ll have to try to figure out how to start my life over and make a living in my fifties. I always think of it like extending the plank off the bow of the ship. Every day I have work I extend it just another foot, but one day I’ll run out of plank and plop into the shark infested waters below. Cheerful, I know.

But, today is a new day. I feel really good, energized and ready to tackle any challenges that lie ahead. I’m going to dive into the days work with enthusiasm and gratitude for the fact that I get to do this for a living and not work for someone else doing something I hate. I’ve worked hard to get to this point and I’m proud of it, but it has always come with challenges and will continue to do so. That’s the nature of the job. We all go through ups and downs, no matter what you do for a living. The important thing is that we pick ourselves back up from the lows and continue to fight for the highs. Today I fight.

Thanks always for reading.

-Mike

Mike Butler is a professional mix engineer, guitarist and producer currently based in Southern California. His list of credits range from The Rolling Stones, Phoebe Bridgers, The Pretenders, The Shins, Ray LaMontagne, Five For Fighting, Reba McIntire, Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers, Eminem and many more. He’s recently mixed music for the hit HBO animated series, “Batwheels”, has composed and produced music for commercial clients including Shure Microphones and Progressive Insurance.