Want A New Gig? Just Start Serving.

18 months ago, I was navigating some difficult waters. I had spent over 20 years building up a band in the music space, but I was trying to figure out where I fit in the real world, the world of business. My resume included expert collaboration (songwriting), building a b(r)and from my basement to international recognition, stage design, merchandising, crafting marketing campaigns with measurable ROIs, and 4 Grammy Awards. Additionally, I had gone back to school and obtained my marketing degree all while growing a successful business. I was thoroughly impressed with myself.

Everyone was going to want me.

Where should I start? CMO of Coca-cola? Maybe I should take over Delta’s medallion program? I knew it like the back of my hand from 20 years of travel. Perhaps, I’d fit in at Chick-Fil-A. I too had based my customer experience on Ken Blanchard’s Raving Fans. I knew the real success of a company wasn’t just attracting customers, but turning them into brand ambassadors. That’s kind of the whole gig in music! That’s why we sell T-shirts in the lobby.

Everyone did not want me.

After about 3 months and over 350 job applications, I was in a serious funk. I’ll go a little further and self-diagnose it as a depression. I felt invisible. I couldn’t even get responses on jobs I wouldn’t really even want. I knew that my experience, my drive, my hustle, and my unique perspective would be invaluable to whomever added me to their team. But, no one seemed to get it. I was convinced that there was some kind of glitch on LinkedIn where job applications somehow just went directly to a cloud-based shredder.

Something had to change. Just a few months before, thousands of fans were cheering for me when I walked onto a stage. Now, I couldn’t seem to even get hiring managers to answer my Inmail. It was getting to me. I needed a new plan. I needed a new brand. Maybe the problem wasn’t the hiring managers.

Maybe I was the problem.

One morning over coffee, I re-read a life-changing proverb.

“He who walks with the wise will become wise.”

Proverbs 13:20

It was time to find some start people and start doing what they do, reading what they read, even dressing like they dress. I started ambitiously with a mentor who started a large PR firm in Atlanta that now served the most prestigious brands in our city. Maybe he would have a job for me. We connected over lunch and I left the meeting with 3 connections, a reading assignment, and encouraged that I still might be able to wear jeans in the workplace!  At that meeting, I realized that I ultimately didn’t just want a job, I wanted to change lives. I wanted to do for others what he was doing for me.

As I connected with the people with whom my mentor connected me, the refinement continued. With more margin, I joined more boards, and volunteered more. I stopped talking about my Grammy awards and instead  starting serving the music community in Atlanta with the Recording Academy. I changed how I looked at a coffee or lunch. Rather than trying to see if a meeting could turn to employment, I looked at the meetings as opportunities to learn from people with more wisdom and experience than me. I looked at networking as an opportunity to give rather than to get.

Even though I was at a place where I really needed a job, (I have 6 kids!) I started ending meetings by asking, “How may I serve you?” Or, “Is there anything I can do for you?” That turned into making connections for those people with whom I would meet. I also started ordering extra books that had inspired me and giving them to people I would meet as a “thank you” for their time. Yes, the stress of looking for work was there, but I was really enjoying myself. I was finding myself. I was changing.

I started realizing that I had been presenting myself as a risky hire, a challenge, to an organization. Who wants to hire a new challenge?  I was presenting myself as a musician who may, or may not, be able to translate his experience in music to the real world.  So, I transformed. I adopted these ideas from the people I would meet and the books I would read…

1. Just start serving.
2. Connect great people to other great people.
3. Add value/insight from the first meeting, without asking to be compensated.

Rather than a musician who might be able to cut it at marketing. People started seeing me for what I was becoming; a networker, a friend, a champion, a brand consultant, a leader.

Recently, I transitioned to a great role with Leadercast. In case it’s not on your radar, you must join us on Friday as we host the world’s largest one-day leadership event. You will leave changed and inspired.

My job has 3 components:

1. To help our corporate partners find more meaningful connections with our audience.
2. To serve our team and motivate them to be the best they can be.
3. To serve the marketplace helping build leaders worth following.

I’m transforming. A friend asked me to turn in a brief bio with an article I had written last week. I did. She then sent a follow-up reply. “Don’t you want to say something about your time in music?” Oops, I had forgotten. I was so passionate about talking about what I was doing at Leadercast, I forgot to talk about my time in the band. I think it’s a sign I’m changing into more of the person I ultimately want to be. I want to become a better leader, and I want to help you become one too.

Here’s my advice for all of you looking for a new gig.

1. Don’t present yourself as a challenge to a potential organization. Present yourself as a solution to their challenges.
2. Transform yourself from a qualified applicant to an expert in your field.
3. Embrace networking rather than job-searching, but approach it as “what can I give,” rather than “what can I get.”