6 Figure Creative

In this episode (recorded live in The Six Figure Home Studio Facebook Community), Brian and Chris discuss a dilemma faced by many engineers: artists who wish to record themselves. With more and more artists choosing the DIY option these days, how can you add value to them while still providing a service that they can’t do themselves?

In this advice buffet, podcast hosts Chris Graham and Brian Hood discuss how you can make your business stand out from the crowd. Find out why you need to be unique and what the best methods of doing differentiation are. Answering this one question will set your studio leaps and bounds ahead of the “me too” studio down the road.

In this episode you’ll discover: Why having a side hustle isn’t selling out Why you need to consider what your side hustle is so you don’t devalue your studio work What skills can be gleaned from side-hustles that benefit your studio Basic non-audio side hustles that can earn you cash Audio-related side hustles How you can harness the “sharing economy” as a side hustle The new business that will let you use your audio skills while helping home studio owners achieve their dreams

In this episode, Chris and Brian cover the importance of building a team not only for yourself, but for the added value to your clients. If you have the connections to a solid team of freelancers who you can refer artists to, you are adding value to both the artist and the freelancer, strengthening connections and creating a win/win/win situation.

In this episode of The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast, Chris and Brian go in depth with Graham Cochrane, founder of The Recording Revolution and www.grahamcochrane.com. They discuss topics such as making time for the important things in life, tips for content marketing, and much, much more!

In episode 45 of The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast, Brian and Chris discuss the 80/20 principle. This is something that affects not only your business but your personal relationships, your health, your hobbies, and so much more. Learn to harness the 80/20 principle so you can increase your income, happiness, and time available for the productivity in your life. You will also learn how to use the 80/20 principle to reduce the negatives in your life, from toxic people to gear addictions.

In this episode, Brian and Chris cover the three hard conversations you need to have with every client in order to set the precedent from day one. These conversations will ensure your relationship can last not just through the project, but for the rest of your career.

Last week we showed you five different strategies you can use to generate leads for your studio. The problem is this... If you don’t know the right way to convert someone from a lead into a paying customer, none of those lead acquisition strategies will matter. In part two of this series, we’ll be discussing how to sell your services to these new leads in an ethical, effective, relevant way.

If you ask any struggling studio what their number 1 problem is, the answer will almost always be “we need more clients”. This is because no studio can survive without a consistent stream of paid work. In this series, we’ll be tackling this issue head-on. Our goal is for this series if for you have clarity on what steps you need to take in order to make this career an attainable goal instead of just a pipe-dream.

Striving towards a big overarching goal when starting your business is great to aim for. But without the ability to test and measure your progress along the way, there’s no way of knowing where you might end up.

Checklists may seem dull and boring, but the reality is this: Checklists help you to systemize tasks in your business which frees you up to focus on the things that actually matter. The things that actually push the needle in your business. In this episode, Brian and Chris explain their thought process behind some of the checklists in their business and how you can start implementing them in yours today.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the popularity of video games like Fortnite and PUBG has exploded over the past year. Is it possible to take what we learned from these games and apply it to running a business? You bet your sweet ass it’s possible, so enjoy this ridiculous episode of The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast.

You cannot be successful if you fail to address what we call “single points of failure” in your life. One of these alone could severely hamper your chances for success. In this episode, we explore many different potential “single points of failure” in our lives.

We’ve all heard the phrase “the riches are in the niches”.... While this may be true, it’s important that you do a few specific things in order to make the most of your new audio niche. In this episode, we give you a checklist of things you need to implement ASAP in order to give yourself the best chance for success.

Passive income is the Holy Grail of income types, but it’s something that eludes most audio entrepreneurs. Most of us simply trade dollars for hours. One way to start building passive income is to venture into the world of sync licensing. In this episode, we interviewed the CEO Soundstripe – a rapidly-growing micro sync licensing platform. He helps break down the wall of confusion and helps us make sense of what’s working in today’s world of sync licensing.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever gone “batch it crazy.”

Software has all but replaced the need for much of the popular hardware from 20+ years ago. What little hardware that is required to get started keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. Recording budgets have been shrinking, and many major studios have shut their doors. While many people have struggled and failed to adapt, massive opportunities have been opened up for the average home recording studio.

Working on BIG records for major artists is probably a dream for a lot of you and most likely a big reason why you got into this industry. The hard truth is that for most people, this won’t happen quickly. So listen as Brian and Chris break down 5 audio niches that you maybe didn’t know existed and could take advantage of today (even if you’re trying to break into another niche).

Consistent income is something that all of us strive for but most of us struggle with. While there are plenty of ways to make money in the audio industry, how do you know which one is right for you? Well in this episode, Brian and Chris break down the positives and negatives of the different ways that can help you pull in a consistent income.

Self-doubt is the biggest enemy to success that we see in our community. This is something that has prevented a lot of us from achieving our goals. If you’re unable to get out of your own damn way, then no amount of marketing, gear acquisition, audio training, or networking will make up for it. This episode explores the root cause of self-doubt, as well as some potential “seeds” of self-confidence that you can plant today in order to start the long journey of overcoming this crippling problem.

Whether you realize it or not, you negotiate with people nearly every day of your life. Even if you refuse to negotiation, you’re STILL using negotiation tactics. In today’s episode, you’ll learn 11 negotiation tactics you can use in your career today, in order to earn more. So before you negotiate the rates on another project, buy another piece of gear, or sell off some unused equipment, this episode will help you improve one of the highest “dollar per hour” skills you could ever use.

We’ve all heard the quote “The right tool for the right job.” Well this especially true if you’re looking to optimize your business and grow it at an exponential level. In this episode, Brian and Chris break down their 12 favourite tools that have helped them both grow their businesses to where they are today.

Warren Huart has worked with bands like The Fray, Korn, and Aerosmith, and he’s worked on movies like Inglourious Basterds and Transformers. Further adding to his clout is his success on YouTube. With over 196000 subscribers and 17,000,000+ views, his tutorials are some of the most popular you’ll find online. If you’re ever lucky enough to meet someone like Warren, it’s best to do a lot more listening than talking...

If you had the chance to run your studio out of a fancy commercial facility designed by Bill Putnam, would you take it? Most of us would jump at the chance...but is this the right move? Matt Boudreau was given this chance in 2007, and in this interview, you’ll hear how this quickly shifted from an opportunity of a lifetime, to one of the lowest points in his career.

Building great systems into your business will eliminate many of the unnecessary friction points that are holding you back from reaching your true potential. In this episode, Brian and Chris break down the systems they use in their companies and why they think it’s important for you to implement them in yours.

In this episode, Chris and Brian live out a hypothetical scenario where they join the witness protection program, move to a new city and start their audio careers from scratch. Find out what they would do and how they would do it if they had to start all over again.

This episode challenges you to see the upside of selfless service to your clients. Brian and Chris offer ten ways to help connect with your artists on a more personal level, ultimately nurturing relationships and showing how selfless service can really change the way your artists respond to your services.

In this episode, we will talk about why paid advertising is an important skill to develop in this fast-changing recording industry. We also discuss who should be investing time, money, and effort in paid advertising, and who should NOT be bothering with it.

This episode also kicks off a new series where we interview people who took two passions and combined them in a way that created a unique niche. On this week’s episode, you will learn how Emily has used unique niche to work with hundreds of clients and build a life that has allowed her to do what she loves...day in and day out.

Whether you run a small home business or a large multi-million dollar business, you will run into roadblocks. Your ability to “figure it the f*ck out” will be a large reason behind whether or not your company is successful or fails miserably.

Trying to run a recording studio AND maintain your day job? We get it...quitting your day job is not an easy decision to make. You could end up ruining your life by jumping ship at the wrong time or in the wrong scenario. The goal for this week’s episode is for you to have a better idea of whether it’s time for you to finally quit that damn day job or not.

Your studio’s website sucks and we can help.

Taxes have always sucked ass, and they always will suck ass. Unfortunately taxes are impossible to (legally) avoid if you’re a freelancer, and the repercussions for evading taxes far outweigh any benefits you could ever gain from cheating.

Everyone is going to be in different stages of their company but it’s important to know exactly what stage you’re in. Understanding these 5 stages and properly accessing which one you’re in is crucial for the next steps of your career.

When a new client contacts you, your immediate reaction is to take the money no matter what. The problem is that some projects can quickly turn into an absolute nightmare. This episode of The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast talks all about how you can spot nightmare projects before they start. Instead of saying “yes” to every single project, learn how saying “no” just might be the best thing you can do for the long-term enjoyment of your career.

At some point in your career, you’ve probably experienced some form of burnout. It’s something everyone will experience at some point, and it can drain you both physically and emotionally. Understanding exactly what you can do to minimize or eliminate burnout is crucial if you want to push past it and have a long-lasting, happy, and healthy career.

You’ve probably spent countless hours studying recording techniques, the nuances of different gear, and maybe even learning how to run your business effectively. You probably have NOT put much thought into the effect your social skills have on your business. The thing is... social skills can have a much bigger effect on your income than any other single skill. Your ability to get people to like you can go a long way when it comes to growing a home studio business.

Billy Decker is one of Nashville’s top country mix engineers and has worked with a large list of labels and independent artists. But more than just mixing, Billy is known to be one of the most kind, generous and passionate persons that you will ever meet.

Answer this question: When it comes to your studio, what is the one thing that you're known for? If you can't answer that, it may be time to find some way to "niche down". Most people think that "niching down" means you’re going to be turning away money even when you aren’t making much to begin with. The reality is this: Your fear is keeping you from seeing the bigger picture. "The riches are in the niches," so this episode is all about helping you choose a profitable niche to dominate.

We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news...The bad news is that no matter how hard you work, there’s always someone in the world that will work harder. The good news is that there’s a difference between working “hard” and working “smart”. In this episode, learn all the ways you can use automation, delegation, or elimination to outsmart your hard-working competitors.

Are you tired of clients and tasks sucking the life out of you and your business? Well in this episode, Brian and Chris give you seven specific boundaries you can implement today, that will positively impact your business and ultimately lead to a happier, healthier you.

This episode is all about harvesting your current motivation, and using that energy to implement long term healthy habits into your life.

When business is not going well for your studio, the initial reaction is that you need to "improve your marketing". The thing is...this is NOT the solution for most struggling studios. There is a very specific set of problems that need to be addressed in a very specific order. This episode covers each of those areas in detail.

In this episode, learn what a CRM is, why it’s absolutely essential that your home studio business implements one, and how you can use it to help grow your business in 2018.

This podcast series will be covering many of the topics that home studio owners need to learn about if they want ANY sort of sustainable career.

This podcast series will be covering many of the topics that home studio owners need to learn about if they want ANY sort of sustainable career.

Are Google and Facebook reviews REALLY that important for recording studio owners? In this episode learn how Chris Graham has managed to gather nearly 200 five-star reviews for his mastering studio, and how this sets him apart from his competitors.

In this episode, Brian and Chris discuss Brian’s story and how he went from recording local bands in his parents basement to becoming the successful entrepreneur he is today.

Chris Graham shares his story and how he went from living in “the hood” to becoming the successful six-figure business owner he is today.

In this episode, Brian and Chris discuss how the audio industry has undergone a MASSIVE change, and how this has opened up some great opportunities for you. They also shed some light on how educational resources, like podcasts, have been crucial to their success, and why going to audio school might not be the best investment.