Dusty's Blogs: Volume 1
My Crazy Mind, Life, Relationship w/ Music & A Promotional "Pivot"
Hey There,
Welcome to the first official blog for the new website!
There's a multitude of reasons I wanted to start doing this and I am going to try to keep up with it regularly. We'll see...
A little insight in to how my brain works...
I often try to look at the "30,000-foot-view" of my music journey, and to be completely blunt about it, it gives me a ton of anxiety. I never feel like I can do it all. There is SO MUCH work to do to do it how I want and be happy with the results and continue growth. When you're doing this all yourself (and, of course, with the help of close team-members and family supporting your crazy obsessions) it's overwhelming. Period. To build and grow, it's not just as simple as writing and recording music. Not even close.
I feel like fleshing out my ideas and thoughts and sharing them with you might actually provide you with more insight into my mindset, processes, and feelings on a myriad of topics. Additionally, I can provide you with more content, improve my Search Engine Optimization (nerd alert!!!!), and hopefully it brings us closer together. At bare minimum, maybe a few of you will find it entertaining.
Now, please don't think I am complaining. There is a reason I do it. I love it and feel as if it's something I HAVE to do. It's not as if I have a choice to OBSESS over a release strategy or promotion idea before bed, it's just gonna happen. It's not as if I can help it when I sit to play guitar and 2 hours disappear as I explore my psyche and feelings. Music is catharsis to me in so many ways. I love every aspect. I love writing, recording, playing shows, promoting, networking, designing, managing, social networking, analytics, website-building, touring, writing blogs (LOL), and any other facet of creating music you could possibly name. The main issue I ALWAYS run into is lack of time. It always comes down to prioritizing what I want to do vs. what I can do given my time constraints.
My life: A balancing act...
For those that don't know, I have a full-time, 55 hour-per-week job, a wife that I love very much, and 3 amazing kids (including twins!) and a step-daughter. They are my world. I also train in kickboxing, jiu jitsu (I am a brown belt under Jake Fox), and try to keep myself in decent health. So, as you can imagine, it's hard to balance it all. But, I "embrace the grind" and try to continue to make small steps towards larger goals. I try to keep the faith that if I keep doing the right things, the right way, my visions and aspirations will manifest themselves in real life.
What's next...
The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results (or something like that). Long story short, I need to make a few changes to make the most efficient use of my time possible and continue to build in effective and sustainable ways. That leads me to the meat-and-potatoes and "pitch" of this blog. The pivot, so-to-speak...
Since 2017, I have dedicated a ton of time to building my following, streaming, views, etc. on social media. This has been beneficial work. And, it will always make sense to continue that growth. It led me to most of you and many amazing opportunities. HOWEVER, without spending a significant budget across those platforms consistently, I do not have the ability to reach all the people that have shown interest in my music by simply posting to social media. So, in my crazy brain, I am trying to shift the focus and add a couple of powerful wrinkles. I'm trying to bring folks into my network where I control when, where, and how the narrative is delivered and take my fate out of the hands of an algorithm designed to sell ads. I'm not saying I won't keep active on social media, I will, definitely. But, a lot of my really in-depth posting, and behind-the-scenes, layers-peeled-back content will now be found in other places. If you want to up your level of support for me, the growth of this project, and get the information first, right from the source, here's how:
How you can take action:
1. Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/DustyGrant
There are various tiers, and for as little as $3/month, you will be more "in the know" than anyone else. For instance, people that signed up in the "Best Friends" tier have a personalized, special "thank-you" gift mailing out from me to show my appreciation THIS WEEK. There is all kinds of cool stuff I'm planning to do on this platform. And, I promise you, every dollar I receive will go back into "DG" to make it bigger and better. I want you to feel like you're getting your money's worth. As much as I hate that this is a business, it is indeed that. It would be killer to have a few bucks coming in to soften the blow from time to time. Everything I do is out-of-pocket at this point.
2. Subscribe to my email list at https://www.dustygrant.com/sign-up
It's completely FREE and I plan to keep this up very regularly and give updates about the project, shows, new music, news, new merch offers, and everything else. I will also send you emails every time there is a new blog post (like the one you're reading now).
**Please consider doing one or both of the above. If you don't have the funds, I get it. At least sign up for the emails. They are gonna be solid, I promise. And, if you think they are weak sauce, you can always just unsubscribe. But, you won't, because they will be awesome.**
Until Next Time,
Dusty
PS- Merch sales always help, take a look around...