When I was 17 I bought a copy of Rollins book "Get In The Van". I am no exaggerating when I say it changed my life. Before I read it, I was expecting to grow up, work, marry, and die in the small town I lived in. After I read it, I realized there was this whole world out there and it didn't matter if I had talent or even money. I just had to get up and do it. Work hard good things will come. It inspired me to think bigger.
When I turned 18 I moved to Los Angeles with nothing but a phone number in my pocket and the ambition to work in the music business. I landed a job at a recording studio aligning tape machines, setting up mics, and fetching coffee. I worked my way up quickly to being the head recording engineer there. One day I came into work and guess who was slated to be on that session that day? Mr. Henry Rollins. Will forever be one of the coolest days of my life. He was very smart, very kind, and had more energy than anyone I've met since. He took me out to dinner and I got to hear a ton of seriously cool stories about his punk rock days with Black Flag. I didn't tell him how much his writing meant to me. He wouldn't have wanted to hear it anyways.
I have long moved on from that career path (turns out that programming is more lucrative than working in the music business...) but I'll never forgot that day. It showed me that hard work and courage go a long way. Say yes and take chances wherever you can. Your heroes are just people like you and some day you might get a chance to meet them and work with them.
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When I was 17 I bought a copy of Rollins book "Get In The Van". I am no exaggerating when I say it changed my life. Before I read it, I was expecting to grow up, work, marry, and die in the small town I lived in. After I read it, I realized there was this whole world out there and it didn't matter if I had talent or even money. I just had to get up and do it. Work hard good things will come. It inspired me to think bigger.
When I turned 18 I moved to Los Angeles with nothing but a phone number in my pocket and the ambition to work in the music business. I landed a job at a recording studio aligning tape machines, setting up mics, and fetching coffee. I worked my way up quickly to being the head recording engineer there. One day I came into work and guess who was slated to be on that session that day? Mr. Henry Rollins. Will forever be one of the coolest days of my life. He was very smart, very kind, and had more energy than anyone I've met since. He took me out to dinner and I got to hear a ton of seriously cool stories about his punk rock days with Black Flag. I didn't tell him how much his writing meant to me. He wouldn't have wanted to hear it anyways.
I have long moved on from that career path (turns out that programming is more lucrative than working in the music business...) but I'll never forgot that day. It showed me that hard work and courage go a long way. Say yes and take chances wherever you can. Your heroes are just people like you and some day you might get a chance to meet them and work with them.