Nobody starts on top

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"I'm a big believer in stepping stones. It's very rare in life that all of a sudden at the snap of a finger or the drop of a hat you are on top of the world with everything you possibly could ever imagine for your career. It's a process, and I think it's really good for young artists, or just up and coming artists, to realize that. So, as long as you're going on the trajectory that you want to see for yourself, you should consider yourself a success at all times.”

—Ranaan Meyer of Time from Three (from TEM125)

Ranaan Meyer.jpeg

LOVE this reminder from one of the best and most successful bass players in the world, Ranaan Meyer.

This quote has extra meaning for me because Ranaan has been one of my best friends for over 20 years and it reminds me that he was "just" a really good bass player who happened to be a ridiculously nice guy when I met him.

He wasn't one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the music business. (yet)

He wasn't a household name for bass players. (yet)

He wasn't living in a huge house with an awesome wife and two beautiful children. (yet)

The fact that nobody starts on top is obvious when we focus on the people we have known for a long time who happen to be successful. We also know that the Ranaan's in our lives weren't "overnight sensations'' (whatever the hell that means.) It was a process.

I remember getting a call from Ranaan telling me about Time for Three when they had just started out. I could hear the joy in his voice. But he certainly didn't call to tell me he had formed a band a week ago and that they were already booked to headline shows in Australia! There was a very slow build to their seemingly meteoric rise.

Hell, 95% of all success stories I know in the music business sound something like Ranaan's. Supremely talented and motivated musicians who keep showing up and keep working their asses off who eventually find the right people to partner with or the right niche or get their “big break” (or insert just about anything here) and the rest is history.

Unless you are longtime friends with Ranaan or Sara Bareilles or Jacomo Bairos, you first hear about them when the rest of us do. When they've already "made it." But we always have to keep in mind that just because we weren't hip to their journey before they made it onto our radar doesn't mean it wasn't a long journey filled with lots of stepping stones.

So focus on your next stepping stone and you might be lucky enough to work your ass off until someday someone labels you an "overnight sensation."

TEM125: Time for Three's Ranaan Meyer Quotes (TEM Short)

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TEM125: Time for Three's Ranaan Meyer Quotes (TEM Short)

This TEM Short features thoughts on my favorite quotes from Ranaan Meyer in TEM124.

Quotes:

  • "Yeah, so I decided, based on what I had heard and sort of my professional evaluation of what we had done ... Of course I'm being sarcastic because I had no idea what I was doing, but I had the audacity to say, ‘Well, we're never going to play background music, and we're going to have a flat fee of $1,500.' And this was back 15 years ago right when we started, and like I said, we're college kids slash just out of college. $1,500 for a trio, that seemed like all the money in the world, and Nick and Zach were kind of uncomfortable, but they said, "You know what, Ranaan, if you really feel like you can go get that, go get it.”

  • "I always encourage people ... I mean, obviously not everybody goes to Curtis, but there are opportunities wherever you are in school, out in the professional world, to look for communities where you can be surrounding yourself with a place to fish. That's crucial. You want to fish in the right pond. So look for those places and then gun for them.”

  • "There's definitely this thing that happens constantly in our career which is, we were just playing at a show recently for a presenter, and I made the mistake of saying, 'Yeah, so-and-so recommended us for this, right?' and then one of the people that worked said, ‘No, who are they? I don't even know who they are.' I knew for a fact that the person that I mentioned definitely was the first introduction from them to us, but by the time we had arrived there, so many other people had taken credit for us being there. And that's good for us. I mean, that only makes us feel good, and loved, and all that stuff. But the point was is that, people want to take ownership of you, of what you're trying to sell. They want to believe in it, and when you get people to believe in it, that's when you've really succeed to the point of not having to sell yourself. And ultimately, selling yourself is getting them to believe it."

  • "I'm a big believer in stepping stones. It's very rare in life that all of a sudden at the snap of a finger or the drop of a hat you are on top of the world with everything you possibly could ever imagine for your career. It's a process, and I think it's really good for young artists, or just up and coming artists, to realize that. So, as long as you're going on the trajectory that you want to see for yourself, you should consider yourself a success at all times.”

  • "If you're interested in more than just picking up your instrument and playing it in tune and in time with a musical feeling behind it, then this is an amazing world that will open up so many doors."

  • "As a more mature young man, I now have at the top of my notes, whenever I write down the things that I need to do on my daily schedule, et cetera, in big, old, capital, bold font, DELEGATE WHEN POSSIBLE. And I think this is a really important thing to discuss because ultimately that takes a lot of maturity."

  • "I think it's important to work really hard, to work really smart, and then dream, Man of La Mancha, dream the impossible dream. You know, really, really think about it and imagine it happening because if you can really see it happening, there may just be that opportunity.”

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

1. Help me get to my goal of $50 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. I'm up to 60 ratings and 41 reviews on iTunes. Help me reach my goals of 75 ratings and 50 reviews by taking just a couple of minutes on iTunes!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz

TEM124: Ranaan Meyer of Time For Three on advice for young musicians, seizing opportunities and why you have to dream big (TEM Rewind)

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TEM124: Ranaan Meyer of Time For Three on advice for young musicians, seizing opportunities and why you have to dream big (TEM Rewind)

Ranaan Meyer is a bass player and founding member of Time for Three, one of the busiest chamber ensembles in the world.

TEM Rewind is a new format that will appear sporadically throughout 2018. Some of my favorite interviews were in the very early days of TEM, before many of you were following the show.

This conversation with Ranaan is from the very first episode way back in 2015 and is absolute gold.

What You'll Learn:

  • Why all it took was one band member who really believed in the band and was willing to bankroll it to get them on the road to success

  • How from day one they refused to play background music and never performed for anything less than $1500

  • How even as college students Time for Three was very serious and methodical about who they networked with and how

  • Why once you get people to take ownership of your product they then do the selling for you

  • Why you need to be set up correctly and know the right questions to ask before you potentially waste a lot of time and money showcasing at something like APAP

  • The difference between booking yourself through the commercial market versus the presenting arts market

  • The three words that Ranaan writes in bold at the top of every To Do list he ever makes

  • How a power outage before a Philadelphia Orchestra concert led to Ranaan wowing 5,000 audience members and the entire Philly Orchestra before Time for Three was even a thing

  • The importance of dreaming big because it just might happen if you do

  • Why it’s imperative to try get to a place in your career where you can delegate some tasks

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

1. Help me get to my goal of $50 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. Thanks to everyone who helped me get to my goal of 50 ratings on iTunes! I appreciate it very much!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Andrew Hitz

TEM1: Ranaan Meyer of Time for Three on advice for young musicians, the importance of a strong support network and founding time for three

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TEM1: Ranaan Meyer of Time for Three on advice for young musicians, the importance of a strong support network and founding time for three

Ranaan Meyer is the bass player for Time For Three, a teacher, and the founder of the Time For Three Foundation.

What You'll Learn:

  • How Time for Three started almost by accident and how the got (more like created) their big break

  • The business model Time for Three uses that continues to see them thrive

  • What's next for the group

  • The advice Ranaan has for young musicians trying to make a name for themselves in the business today

  • The importance of having a strong support network (Ranaan leans on his heavily)

  • The three words that are written in block leaders daily at the top of his To-Do list

  • How he and his colleague Zach DePue took advantage of a power outage while playing with the Philadelphia Orchestra and proceeded to wow the crowd, amaze the rest of the orchestra and how it helped propel them to stardom

  • The nonprofit he runs and his other entrepreneurial ventures he runs including two bass camps and his career as a soloist

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

Want to help "keep the lights on" and make future episodes of TEM possible? Please visit our Patreon page to see how you can help: 

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Austin Boyer and Buddy Deshler of FredBrass