The Hip Stuff...

...is Outside the Comfort Zone

I watched a film the other day documenting the making of an album by one of the greatest musicians alive today. Entitled "Herbie Hancock - Possibilities" it follows Hancock during and around the in-studio collaborations he has with some other current greats, like Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Carlos Santana, Annie Lennox, Trey Anastasio and Johnny Lang among a handful of others. (You can watch this on Netflix Online.)

It was a great watch. Very entertaining and informative, especially if you're a music fan and musician like me.

I had a basic idea of who Herbie Hancock was before seeing the film, but my picture of him was from 1982 and beyond; basically, the iconic hip-hop track "Rockit" that, by the way, is the first documented song to use the record scratching sound that became a staple in hip-hop.

What I didn't realize is that in 1963 Herbie joined jazz legend Miles Davis' "Second Great Quintet" and was his piano player for the next five years. Herbie was 23 when he joined the group; Miles Davis was 37.

It was this time of his life that Herbie points to as being one of his greatest discovery.

I'm sure no one is surprised. Miles Davis was possibly the most influential musician of the 20th century.

One of the most amazing comments that Hancock makes is about the way Davis required his band to play back then. Hancock said something to the effect of Davis "paid them to practice on stage." That is, he didn't care how perfect they sounded, as long as they were "working on something."

As a musician I see that type of thinking is counter-intuitive. I practice by myself so that when I screw up I'm not embarrassed. I practice enough times that when I play the same piece in front of someone it sounds good.

But, as Miles put it, "The hip stuff is outside the comfort zone." In his eyes, that's where jazz truly lived. And who would argue with him?

Connect the Dots

The connection really came together for me this morning. The hip stuff isn’t just arpeggios, dominant 7ths and free form solos. It’s quality content. It’s a well designed web site. It’s well integrated and efficient social media campaigns.

Internet marketing is outside the comfort zone, especially when you are your own boss.

• It’s more comfortable to sit on the couch and watch TV than to write the 5000 words I want to write today, but then I won’t get anything done.
• While I write I could come up with 400 words per page pretty easy, but by getting to at least 800 I create more engaging and informative (i.e. better quality) content that will be easier to rank in the SERPs.
• I may think I know how to do something the right way but if I read a training or ask for help in live chat or forums I may find out that I’ve been doing it all wrong!

Just like building any other business, an internet marketing business takes a ton of hard work and dedication to get off the ground. What makes it different, though, is accessibility.

Internet marketing has low-to-no overhead and education is readily available to those who want it. Can the same be said for most other businesses?

Just don’t let the accessibility fool you into thinking its easy. The fact is that on the surface IT IS EASY. This isn’t rocket science. Most of the tasks involved with internet marketing are easily done with a small to moderate amount of training. The same can’t be said for molecular biology.

But with easy tasks I find myself “going on autopilot” to get things done. To write truly engaging content, autopilot isn’t good enough.

Hey, maybe autopiloted content is good enough to make some money. Maybe I could autopilot my way to a good yearly wage.

That’s not why I’m here, though. I want my business to be successful. I want to travel the world. I want the best for my family. I want to retire at some point in my life.

All that hip stuff is outside the comfort zone.

-Andy