Tiamo: So my keynote concert fee is $10,000 per gig. Earlier I mentioned my next one is 15,000, so sometimes I get paid more for it. But this is about average. Okay? So $10,000 per keynote concert. The way that relates to conference budgets is $10,000 is less than 1% of their conference budget.

Michael: It's easy to get lost in today's music industry with constantly changing technology and where anyone with a computer can release their own music. I'm going to share with you why this is the best time to be an independent musician and it's only getting better. If you have high-quality music, but you just don't know the best way to promote yourself so that you can reach the right people and generate a sustainable income with your music, we're going to show you the best strategies that we're using right now to reach millions of new listeners every month without spending 10 hours a day on social media. We're creating a revolution in today's music industry and this is your invitation to join me. I'm your host, Michael Walker.

I'm very excited to be here today with Tiamo Devettori. Tiamo is the founder of Musicpreneur Academy. He's a music prosperity mentor. Love that. The Music Prosperity Mentor just feels good coming off, off your tongue. Spoken over a hundred thousand people. On more than 250 stages at universities, conferences, seminars.

He was actually named personally, LA Music Award, Singer/Songwriter of the Year. It's been featured on Fox, CBS, NBC. He's also a number one best-selling author. He is just given me some advice on, on book writing, but backstage before you hopped on here. And now he's you know, he's empowering music artists to be able to thrive outside of the conventional music industry model.

And he has some very valuable perspectives. I think that you guys are gonna find really interesting as it relates to the traditional music model versus keynote concerts. Some other opportunities that you might not even be aware of that can, can really be a, a lucrative, both in fulfilling and like a way to provide a lot of value.

So, Tiamo. That's kind of a long intro, but thank you so much for taking the time to be here today, 

Tiamo: Michael. I so appreciate it and I'm really excited to share what's what we're going into today. 

Michael: Heck yeah. Awesome. So maybe we can start off with a little bit of background in terms of, for anyone who this is their first time connecting with you, could you share a little bit about your story and how you discovered what you're teaching now with keynote concerts and, you know, we're able to be featured on those, those platforms and, and become a bestselling author as well.

Tiamo: Yeah. So thank you Michael. And for, for me it's It's something where for years as an independent solo artist, I'm a singer songwriter. I play acoustic guitar and I sing, and so like so many other music artists, I was just struggling for a really, really long time. I had albums out. I was getting radio play, I mean, those kind of things, which was really nice.

But I felt like, well, once those things happen, like once you get ready to play, once you get a manager, once you get an agent, then everything is supposed to take off for you. And that's not really how it was happening for me. And so I was searching for some kind of alternative solution outside of the mainstream that was no longer serving me.

'cause I felt like at time it was really just like crushing my soul to be honest with you. Like I still had this big music dream, but I was like, but. I'm still not having the impact that I wanna have in the world with my message, with my music, with my lyrics, like all of that. And so I was on this search of what else there could be that would be so much better.

And I didn't quite know what that looked like, but I knew it was out there. And then eventually I discovered it. And Michael, it was. Incredibly life changing for me. And when I discovered it, I completely I let go of how I was doing all the things before, which was the hustle, the grind, like all the conventional gigs not getting paid or getting paid very well.

So I, I walked away from that and I stepped into this whole new world, which is the conference world, and that provided everything for me that I was looking for. I provided the audiences. It provided great pay. It provided a trajectory where I could see where I could grow and scale and evolve. And you mentioned a couple of key words, which is around fulfillment.

And you said something about being lucrative. And I wanted both really, like as far as the value of getting paid for my music but also the, the fulfillment and the deep gratitude that I was truly living my calling. So I found that, and as I discovered it with keynote concerts, I felt like, you know what?

I don't wanna keep this to myself. Like eventually one day if this grows and I'm really successful with this. Like, I didn't know 'cause I was trailblazing at the time. But I thought like, I'm gonna take a lot of musicians with me. So I started documenting all the things that I was doing. Now here we are and, and I'm, I'm sharing with musicians what has worked for me, what hasn't worked, but most of all, how tangible yet inspiring this can all be.

At the same time, a keynote concert is when you combine live music with speaking on conference stages. And what I didn't realize years ago is as a performing songwriter, I was speaking, right, like I would have my original songs, but I would tell the stories about the songs and eventually I discovered that speakers are just great storytellers with a message.

And so I thought, well, wait a second. If I'm telling stories and speakers are storytellers, then maybe I can package this differently. I could change the language so that I could deliver keynote concerts. And not get booked as a musician. 'cause we know what that looks like, where it's basically you don't get paid or you get paid very little.

Right. You don't really have the respect or the value there versus getting booked and paid as a keynote presenter or a speaker that has a musical talent. Mm-hmm. So just changing that around completely changed my life. It's something that I love sharing with other musicians because, I really in my heart want other musicians to seek these opportunities and get to benefit from it.

And then most importantly, share the power of their music with the world.

Michael: That's so cool. Yeah. And it rings so true for me, like in the, the experiences that I've had as it relates to, you know, there's like purple cow effect, how like sometimes. Just by putting something out of context or like surrounding it with something different, it just like makes it seamless.

So much more special. And it does seem like, as it relates to like conferences or businesses or you know, corporate things like your ability to make music, it gives you an ability to create something unique or special and really valuable. And yeah, it. It just seems like in general, like this philosophy that you're talking about allows you to make a bigger impact and provide more value in the form of weaving together your music with a higher purpose and a message and sort of a statement that you're making.

So this is awesome and I would love to hear in, in more detail kinda a breakdown between. Keynote concerts versus you talked about like the traditional shows that you had played leading up to it. Yeah. And you, maybe you could, you could display kind of like a contrast or the difference between those types of shows.

Tiamo: Definitely. Yeah. And I love that you use the word impact because for me that's something that's the most important thing. Getting paid well is great. It's extremely rewarding. But then as far as the reach, the impact, the connection with audiences, the engagement, like all of that. For me has been the most important thing.

And I, and I get that in, in just tremendous waves. So you talk about the contrast. I think what I'm gonna do is just share what this looks like visually. 'cause I know a lot of, a lot of viewers here may be visual and I think that might help. And I'm gonna do a little before and after comparison so that music artists here see that this isn't just like some idea.

Or something that's just arbitrary, like this is something that's, that's really tangible. So let's jump into that. I do have some slides that I'll share to make this easier to absorb, if that will work out with everyone. So let me pull that up for you. There we go. So this is audiences from live gigs and my average audience size in the past years ago was in front of about 20 people per gig.

That's average. This would be like in coffee shops, bars, clubs, hotels, things like that. Like you said, traditional live gigs. So that's what it looked like for me for a long time and this is what it looks like now. So, just recently, couple weeks ago, I got booked for my next keynote concert, which will be in front of 1500 people for one gig.

Now if I have the option, I would much rather perform for 1500 people than 20 people. Michael, this is a completely different experience. So then what does that look like? So that means that 75 gigs at 20 people per gig equals one keynote concert for 1500 people. But to me like this contrast speaks for itself when we talk about audiences reach and impact.

So that's what it looks like from an audience perspective. And then let's look at revenue. So this is the typical revenue that you, I used to make from live gig. So my average pay in the past would be about a hundred dollars per gig. Now sometimes it would be less, sometimes it'd be more. That was about average, a hundred dollars per gig, and usually I would gig about once a week.

So $100 times four weeks is. $400 a month. And Michael, you and I know, and everyone watching this knows that. Like, we can't even live off of that today, right? Like that's what that is, is like hobby money. Okay? That's just like side money or side change. That's not a career. But then the way this compares to my next keynote concert gig is this.

So that next keynote concert gig for me at a live conference is $15,000. For one hour. I mean, it almost feels ridiculous to say this out loud, but isn't it the obvious? Like which one is a lot better? Right? And so that's, that's 5,050, excuse me, $15,000 per hour, right? If we break it down that way to do something that I absolutely love, right?

To be able to speak and perform and tell my stories and all of that. Which I do have to say, like for me, because I'm a songwriter something that I really cherish is that I get to do all of my original songs. Like I haven't done a cover Michael in like, in like a decade. Okay. So I get to do original songs that people listen to.

Every lyric, every note that's played because it's a live conference audience. Something that I do wanna clarify is you can do covers as well, right? So, because I'm a songwriter, I do originals, but you can do covers or you can do a combination of both, like originals and covers, you know, things like that.

I'm a solo artist, so it's just me, but you can do it in different ways. So it could be a duo, a trio quartet, a full band, like however you wanna do it could, it could be different genres, right? So, Another thing that I love about this is the creative control that you have because this is your business and you get to create it in the way that you want.

So I wanted to share what this looks like. So this is me doing some keynote concerts on the upper left. That's me at the San Diego Convention Center. On the upper right I'm doing a keynote concert for 1500 county employees for their annual event. Then on the bottom left, that's me at an entrepreneurial conference in front of about 700 people.

And then on the bottom right, I'm in front of 15,000 healthcare professionals at their annual conference. What I love about this is, you know, before I used to have a dream of performing in front of thousands of people, well, it wasn't quite happening, right? 'cause I was performing in front of 20 people at coffee shops and bars.

Then with this model I leapt forward and I was doing it in this context, not like the way I envisioned when I was younger, but like in a way that was so within reach and doable. [00:12:00] And so as this grew for me, and this is what it continued to look like, so I found a niche in the personal development world.

So on the upper left, I'm doing a keynote concert there, and on the bottom right. I'm doing a keynote concert at a business success seminar. And so for me, this really started to grow and evolve and that's where I could really see how I could create a very viable, rewarding, lucrative career doing this.

And then this last picture I'm gonna show you is this is me, like, this was like a mic drop moment. Like I just did my hour long keynote concert set. And what I want everyone to hear know is the people that, that you connect with to get booked for keynote concerts as event planners, also known as meeting planners.

And that person on stage in the white shirt is an event planner, and he was in the back of the conference ballroom, which is where most of the event planners and organizers hang out.  So as soon as I finished with this keynote concert, he ran all the way from the back of the conference room up to the stage.

'cause he was so lit up about the impact of it. Now he's like run up on stage and he is coming in to gimme this big hug and you can see that I'm like laughing and I'm smiling. And it was like this peak crescendo moment where like we're hugging on stage. As you can see, the audience is on their feet, like arms in the air and like everybody just went crazy.

And it was like the energy in the room like was completely elevated, which is the whole point of doing the keynote concert, right? Because of the impact, the emotional experience that people are having. At the conference, which then becomes the highlight of the event. So those are just a few pictures. I could show you so many more.

But just to give everyone a sense, and so this is what I'm sharing with all of you that are watching this right now, is this is probably the most common thing that I've heard in the conventional music industry model, which is we won't pay you to play, but it will be good exposure for you. Now, how long have we been compromising our souls around that, right?

Like, For so many music artists, like years, maybe even decades, where like they're still doing this in the name of good exposure. Mm-hmm. But what I'm talking about here is now getting paid what you are truly worth because what you get paid and your fee is an expression of your self worth and value. And so if you are watching this right now, it's time now, isn't it?

Isn't it time now? For you to finally get paid where you are worth to be respected, to have the experiences where you feel like people really treasure your gift for music and your passion. So you brought this up earlier, Michael. Let's do a quick comparison between keynote concerts and music revenue, and it gets really fun here.

What sounds easier? 1500 album sales at $10 each. Or one keynote concert for 15,000, which is. My gig coming up, and that's a lot of album sales to equal one keynote concert or what sounds easier. 2.4 million streams or one keynote concert, or 15,000. I've got another one for you. What sounds better? 150 live gigs at a hundred dollars per gig or one keynote concert for 15,000.

We're not talking about like 20 or 50 gigs. We're talking about 150 gigs to equal the impact and the pay of one keynote concert. So you can see why I get excited sharing this with music artists because I want everyone to be doing this. If you wanna be performing in front of large audiences and you wanna get paid well, doesn't this combine both?

So then let's look at conference budget. 'cause when I talk about getting paid well, Of course, this is one of the most common questions I get. Okay. What? What does that look like? Well, first I want everyone here to know that there are 2 million live conferences per year. That means that there's 5,479 every day.

So this is a blue ocean of abundance that. Musicians are not tapping into. And I also wanna say that there's, this means that there's, there's way more conference stages than there are keynote presenters to fill them. So we're so used to as musicians, like this overly competitive. Saturated market where we're all competing for the same handful of stages.

Right. And that's why so many musicians are willing to play for free or even pay to play, which is what I used to do back in the day. Versus this model, the conference industry makes 890 billion per year. I mean, that's not million. That's, that's  billion. We know That's a lot. And the average budget per conference is 1.3 million.

Per event. So my keynote concert fee is $10,000 per gig. Earlier I mentioned my next one is 15,000, so sometimes I get paid more for it. But this is about average. Okay? So $10,000 per keynote concert. The way that relates to conference budgets is $10,000 is less than 1% of their conference budget. So what that means is, They still have 99% of the conference budget left over, so they don't even feel that, right?

This is actually with their conference budgets. They're supposed to spend it. That's their job is to spend it. And something that I wanna share with all of you watching this is event planners are given this budget, which averages 1.3 million. If they don't spend all of it, then they get less of a budget next year.

So if they only spend a million of it, then next year they don't get 1.3 million. They get 1 million. So they're actually trying to fulfill as much of the budget as possible, which means that they're literally trying to get rid of the money. And another thing here is that it's not their money. It's the company's money, which we are talking about millions and billions of dollars.

So to pay you 10,000 is like nothing to them, and they expect to pay you and they actually pay you in advance. So usually for me with Keynote concerts like this gig here that I talked about earlier at 15 k. They send me half of it in advance before I even show up. Right. So there's like you get paid half beforehand and then half when you do it.

So it's like they value it so much that I'm even getting paid [00:19:00] half before I'm even there. Mm-hmm. Which is completely different than the conventional model. We think about like traditional music venues and bars and clubs and everything else where you're like having to chase down venue owners just to get your $50, you know what I mean?

Like this is totally different. So, and this is also how I monetize keynote concerts. 'cause it goes beyond that. And then I'm gonna wrap things up with the slides here, but I wanna show everyone here the expansive opportunities. 'cause it doesn't just stop with the keynote concert itself. So, the first level, I'm gonna say 5,000.

Okay? I wanna be more conservative here. I'm not gonna say like 10,000 or 15,000. Like we could definitely go higher than that. 'cause there are speakers that. Make so much more, but let's just start smaller. Gonna be more conservative. Let's say you're making $5,000 for a keynote concert, which is great, but then the first upgrade would be what I call the premium level.

That would be an additional $5,000 in album sales where you get to sell your music at these conferences. So how does that work? Well, when you get booked for a keynote concert, I encourage you to talk with the event planner or the event planning committee about the opportunity. For them to buy your album or your EP as an employee gift of appreciation, right?

Because they, they would do this for their company culture 'cause it makes them look really good. So those are the key words there. Company culture, and when people feel appreciated, that ties into their company culture. Right? So the way this works is, I would say an average audience size at conferences for me is about 500 people.

It could be less. Sometimes it's a lot more, but average is about 500 people. So if the conference buys your album or EP for $10 for everyone at the conference, and the average audience size is 500 people, then 500 people times $10 each is $5,000. So you're making an extra 5,000 here in passive revenue.

And what I love most about this is everyone is going home with your album. Now this could be a digital album, right? Like maybe they're given a code, like a QR code or something like that. Could be digital, could be physical, could be both, you know, depending on what they want. But again, this would be like, A gift of appreciation for their employees or their members or their students or whatever.

It's then the next upgrade is an additional $7,000 for you to write and record an original custom song that would serve as the theme song for the conference or the company. So they love this upgrade 'cause of the level of creativity and how unique it is, and it ties into their branding and their company culture and the whole thing.

So this would be a song that you not only record for them, but then you [00:22:00] could perform it live at the keynote concert. You could dedicate it to all the employees or the members of the students. It would be like the world premier of their very own song, and that would be an additional $7,000. Then the next upgrade is what I call the private VIP concert.

So since you're already doing the keynote concert at the conference, you could stay longer and that that same day, like that evening. So you've done the keynote concert during the day and then that evening I. You could do a private VIP concert for a more exclusive, more, right? So instead of let's say a thousand, but the conference, maybe this group is like 50 people or a hundred people, which is their VIPs.

This might be like their top sales reps or their management team, or their leadership team, or the most revered clients or whatever. It's, so you're giving them the, the VIP experience then. The next upgrade is what I call VIP Elite. This is an additional $10,000, and this just makes sense because now if [00:23:00] they're ordering the custom song from you, They're probably gonna wanna sync it to some kind of visual media, right?

Let's say like a company slideshow or a highlight reel or something like that. So now imagine that you are doing a keynote concert live on stage. You got the two big screens on both sides of you, and they have a slideshow featuring their employees or their members or whatever it is, and they have the custom song playing in the background.

So now we have a sync opportunity, right? So now we're syncing the original music to the slideshow video. So then you're, you're giving, or you're, they're purchasing these two licenses, which should be the master use license and the synchronization license. So that'd be an additional $10,000 for them to do that.

And then they can also use this in their marketing, their branding and, and those kind of things. So if we add all this up, that's a total of $30,000, which is, I mean, years ago, what I remember I used to make. At my full-time day job, you know, so that's $30,000 for one keynote concert package. If we [00:24:00] add that up 30,000 times, 12 months equals $360,000 per year.

Right? So now making multi six figures doing one keynote concert package per month. I can't think of a better model than this. I mean, that's, that's why I do it. That's why I'm teaching it. So, what I wanna share before I show this quick video clip is the reason why, going back to this, the reason why companies, associations, organizations, and schools will pay you this much is because your keynote concert is an emotional experience for their audience and what I know and what event planners know.

People don't remember content and information. They remember emotional experiences. As Maya Angelou best put it, people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but [00:25:00] they will never forget how you made them feel. So the emotional impact of your keynote concert in that one hour is something that people will, will remember for years.

Which is why they hire you to do this, because it's an unforgettable experience. So, I'm not gonna show, this is, this is actually my, my my demo reel. So, I'm not gonna show the whole thing. I'm just gonna show like the first minute of me talking and then a little clip of me performing. And I wanted everyone to get a sense of what that looks like.

Fear is the only thing in the world that gets smaller as you run toward it. So I face my fear. This is the kind of stand that they have not been able to take for themselves, but that you have this opportunity right here at the edge to take a stand for them because they don't even know how. But we're not worried about the [00:26:00] how.

'cause the how doesn't matter until you know the why. Because it's all about content. It's all about helping people to make money, but really, is it or is it about helping people to find themselves? Is it about helping people make better choices and live better lives and connect with each other? There's an energy that's carried through generations.

The lifeblood of artistry and creativity keeps living on for centuries, centuries, and centuries more. Because of people's passion and that's it. So I'm not, okay. So those are some clips of me talking. And then let's fast forward to the music side of keynote concerts. Change. So when I lay my head on my pillow tonight, I'll smile because I've just changed another life

because it all starts with me. I'm in the middle creating the ripple with love and

in the middle, creating. The ripple healthcare is transforming the sharks in the middle, creating the ripple effect.

Okay, so that's just a snippet, so that that song was performed for healthcare professionals as in front of 15,000 people. So this to me, combines all the things that I love and probably you watching this love as far as not only the exposure, but the connection, the impact getting paid. Well, there's one of the quick thing that I wanna show you, Michael, and I want everyone here to really absorb this, which is if you look at these pictures here, if you look closely, you'll see something that all of them have in common, right?

So what all these pictures have in common. Is these built in audiences that they put in front of me. Right? So one of the biggest three words that I want all of you here to, to really remember from this is these three words. Okay? Other people's audiences. Mm-hmm. So with all these conference gigs, I don't have to do a thing to get the people there.

I don't have to self-promote, I don't have to hustle. I don't have to grind because you know what, Michael? I just show up and it's an instant sold out crowd every time. Like it's the the company or the association or the it's the organization's job to take all their resources, all their efforts, all their people, all of the money.

To get everyone in the conference room and I just have to show up and do what I love. And then from there, which I'm not gonna go into right now, 'cause then that would be like a whole other hour. But then I also get to grow my fan base every time I'm in front of all these built-in audiences that are just put there in front of me.

And it's really, really incredible. So when I, when I think of the difference, it's like, Before I used to have to hustle to get 20 people to come to my, my bar gig, right? Like, I keep asking my friends, I'm like, but this one's really big. You know, this one's, this one's the album release. You know, I just, I keep asking the same friends over and over and family, like, you could, but you gotta come to this one.

Versus me just showing up and hundreds or sometimes even thousands of people in the seats. It's it's truly inspiring. So thanks for giving me the opportunity to share a little bit of that [00:30:00] background. Hopefully that gives people a really nice picture of what this looks like and what's possible for you.

Michael: So Cool. Yeah. Thank you so much for, for putting that together and, and sharing it and there's like, there's so much so much good, there's so many like different you know, gems that I feel like we could, we could go, go deeper on. But just in general, I just, what I love about this model is how.

One, you know, it feels like it sort of helps artists to reclaim their value in a way that feels sort of lost. And you know, the, I I, it's funny, like I actually have an experience that happened a few months ago. I, I've, I, after touring for 10 years, full time, having, you know, plenty of experiences, especially early on where we were like, You know, playing shows for the bartender in the back of the room and for no one and was pay to play.

And, and then, you know, in the last, like last five years as I've entered a new world with modern musician, with conferences and, you know, my mentors who are putting together big conferences like the ones that you're describing most of them that I've been to don't incorporate music and. It's a huge missing opportunity.

And they, they love it. Like, they, like, music is like a superpower. It's like, so for someone who doesn't know how to play music or make music, it is like magic. Like, you know, you can do magic. And so, a few months ago, one of my mentors invited me to perform in front of the, the conference of, of people who were there for the event.

And I tag teamed it with one of their coaches at the team who like rewrote the lyrics to Wanted Deader Alive and turned it into like, you know, something that fit their fit the event. And it was a huge hit. Like they absolutely loved it. And and it just sort of, it created a, a really unique experience and it's just totally rings true with everything you just described in terms of.

Being able to provide value and you know, being able to amplify. Both like the, both the value for the conference and the people who are meeting there, but also be able to, to, you know, put yourself into that and share your message, which you know very clearly, like, you know, you've been able to, you've been able to create a concert experience where you're impacting people and making a positive impact on, on their lives and aligning it with, with the companies.

So, I just, yeah, just think it's awesome. And I think for everyone who's here right now it represents such a cool opportunity to be able to, you know, even if you align it with like, and I don't wanna like ramble here. I feel like I just like so much, so much good stuff. But like one of the first things in my mind goes to as well, and we should totally sync up on this.

Is you're creating a integration, you know, maybe with StreetTeam to create like a funnel for when you're at these live keynote concerts and maybe there's a QR code on stage or something like that where people can scan it. And now those 15,000 people per keynote concert, you know, now you can invite them into your email list and your community.

You can create lookalike audiences based on things you could It seems like there's some really cool alignment opportunities too. So personally, I'm just excited to, to be able to connect with you more as well and create, you know, templates and resources to be able to to help both you and the, the artists that that you're working with and helping them to create their own keynote concerts.

So, one thing I would love to to dig into a little bit a little bit, because I think this is probably a key A challenge that artists might have that, that when they first kind of get into this world is around the mindset and the value of feeling like, you know, do I deserve to charge $5,000 or $10,000 or $15,000?

And I'm, I'm wondering, For someone who's maybe just getting started and, you know, and they it's a big, you know, mindset shift for them to be able to fully realize the value of their music and what they can offer to these conferences. Do you have any thoughts or advice as it relates to like, having that identity and, and being able to, you know, create the mindset required in order to be able to.

You know, show up on stage in front of 15,000 people and be able to charge, you know, 10, $15,000 or more for, for that kind of experience. 

Tiamo: Yeah. I love what you shared, Michael, and I love your question 'cause it's an honest question and it's an important one. So I wanna speak to the value exchange here.

'cause right now what's going on in the music industry is there isn't a fair value exchange. Just not, and. Like you, I'm sure I talked to so many musicians who feel like they just keep compromising themselves. They keep settling and they're sick and tired of it. The problem is they keep doing it, so then we have to take ownership and responsibility of that.

Like if you're so tired of it, then why do you keep doing it? As far as how you go about doing this from a mindset perspective? Is that there is a threshold here, and the threshold is being clear about what no longer serves you in your life and your music, and then what could serve you, what lights up your soul.

You can feel the difference in your body. Like I feel like the body's a sacred place for truth. Like we can feel it inside, and if we get in tune with that, we know the truth of it and the truth for most music artists, including myself. A while back is that this doesn't feel good. It feels actually diminishing, demeaning, being taken advantage of.

And so there's an opportunity for for you to take a stand here because so many music artists that I talk to feel like they wanna cross that threshold. Just don't know where the opportunity is, right? Other than becoming like some big rockstar or something like that. Other than that, it's like they don't see where the opportunity is and Michael is here.

I'm here telling you that there is this opportunity right now that you could fully step into if you saw your own value. And I'll tell you this, if you undercharge, they'll completely pass you up because of perceived value. And you know all about this, Michael, perceived value where people. Associate price with value and demand.

So in this world, if your fee is too low, they'll assume you're not very good. The higher your fee is, they'll assume the better, more talented, and the more in demand you are. So to [00:37:00] actually be taken seriously here, you, you have to like to even get in. You have to charge a lot more for them to initially, See your value.

So when I'm talking about the threshold, for me, the way this worked is this, I was really frustrated and tired of like all my bar gigs, my coffee shop gigs, and I mentioned earlier that I canceled all the gigs on my calendar, right? I actually had six month worth of gigs that I, I completely canceled because I knew that I couldn't.

Step into this, this world of value and abundance and prosperity. If I had one foot in the scarcity struggling artist world and another foot in an abundance world, because that split energy. So I made a commitment to myself that I'm no longer doing the low value gigs. I canceled them all. Was it super scary?

Yes, and all discomfort signals growth. So I knew I was growing. I, I didn't have the results yet, but I knew energetically that I had to make an announcement to myself and the universe that this was no longer serving me because I wanted this. And so this was the whole conference world and I was really scared and I didn't know what I was doing, and I was lost.

I was doubtful and I was insecure. But you know what, Michael, do you know what? Everyone watching this, I moved forward anyway. Mm-hmm. Because there was no other way anymore. I was no longer gonna go back to the person that I was, the music artist that I was, 'cause I was no longer willing to not get paid for my gift.

For me to not be able to share it on larger stages for me to keep compromising and saying like, how many more decades had to go by for me to figure this out? And that's what I'm asking you. I'm turning it on you. How many more decades have to go by until you decide that you wanna create a change in transformation in your life around your music passion?

So for me, it was this big commitment of what my no's were in order for my yes' to emerge. Hmm. And the yes is, I didn't have them figured out, but I had a really good sense. I had an intuition that this would work out really well. And so as I started getting involved with these conferences and learning about them a lot more, yes, I was confronted with having to speak my feet, and that was one of the most greatest, most powerful personal growth.

Exercises I've ever had to do in my life is to have an event planner or a committee say, Tiamo, we love this keynote concert concept. We would love to book you, but how much is your fee?

And it all comes down to this of like, are you going to speak your value or are you just gonna go back to playing for free? And I'd say it out loud. It was scary, but the key is when I said it, I made sure I didn't say anything else. Right. So let's do a rule of role play. Right? So, Michael, you're the event planner.

I'm myself. We just had a meeting. You're very interested in booking me for a keynote concept, but you, you don't, you have no idea what my fee is. So let's, let's role play that. 

Michael: Cool. Awesome. So, Tiamo, we've had a chance to look over, look over you sent, and it looks like an, an amazing experience. But for our budgeting, we need to figure out how much it's gonna cost.

What, what does your fee look like for the keynote concerts? 10,000.

Okay. We should, should be able to handle that. Let me run that by our team and we'll get back to you and, and go from there. 

Tiamo: Sounds great, Michael. Thank you so much. Is when you asked me what my fee was, I said 10,000, and then I stopped talking. Mm-hmm. Right. I didn't try to justify, I didn't say 10,000 because of this, and you're gonna get that and the audience is gonna love and it's gonna be like I, I didn't justify it.

I didn't run away from it. Like I just said, the number and then nothing else. And that is you standing in your confidence. Now I get if you're watching this, you're like, but what if I don't have the confidence yet? You have to start somewhere. Okay. I'm not saying you're gonna start at 10,000. Maybe for you it's 5,000, but whatever it is, I want you to say it.

Be scared anyway, but say it. Here's what happens is we have to create new neuropathways in our brain. 'cause right now, neuropathways, for most musicians, they think in terms of like, Maybe tens of dollars or maybe a hundred dollars or a hundred, like 250 do like whatever it is. But once you start saying these things out loud, it actually changes your expression of your value and your self-worth, and you start to train your brain about how valuable you really are.

And then your heart starts to believe it because the hardest booking is to get the first one. And once you get the first one, it feels. Real. Mm-hmm. And then you realize, 'cause you have another breakthrough, which is, well, if this worked one time, I could probably duplicate this and this can work a lot of times.

Mm-hmm. So then it gets easier every time you say it. So to answer your question around mindset, it's about really owning what no longer serves you, recognizing what does. Stepping into it, letting go of the past, embracing who you're becoming, and then when it comes time for them to ask you what your fee is, you just say your fee and nothing else.

And you can do that, like you can say a number out loud. Right. Can you just say a number out loud and then say nothing else? 'cause actually, that's actually the hardest part of this, is to say nothing else after you've said the number out loud. But when I, the first times I would do, I would say the number and then I'd be like, Tiamo, okay, shut up.

Like, don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't anything. And like, but I'd have like the poker face going on. I'm like, just stay cool. Don't say anything else. Right? There's like two seconds of silence. I'm like, just stick with it. Don't say anything. And then over time, like over and over and over again, I started getting proof.

There is this whole new world. 

Michael: That's so awesome. . . Yeah.