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Just Keep Working
200 Plays2 years ago
Life doesn’t always follow the path we expect. For Whitney Maxwell, starting out playing classical pieces led to a winding path of dueling pianos, cruise ships, Swiss clubs, a French major, a Midwest circuit of gigs, and finally back home to Iowa to open up Bloom Music studios. The key to success for Whitney was the willingness to embrace new opportunities as they came and to just keep moving forward.
In this episode, we talk with Whitney about her music background, the pros and cons of being a cruise musician, and how a surprise newspaper article allowed her to bail from corporate work into full-time music teaching. Plus, the impact of faith on her work, things she wouldn’t do again as part of growing her business, and her Airbnb journey.
To learn more, visit bloommusicstudio.com
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Transcript
Introduction: Living an Uncommon Life
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello, welcome to your favorite show, the uncommon wealth podcast.
Meet Whitney Maxwell: From Corporate to Creative
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm your host, Philip Ramsey, and I am Aaron Kramer. Thanks for tuning in. We have a guest for you today. Her name is Whitney Maxwell from bloom music studio. She is a pianist.
00:00:44
Speaker
That's really what I just wanted to say. Like she plays piano. Amazing. Let me quick do her bio because it's short and I liked short ones. So after leaving corporate world in 2007, Whitney's path has taken her around the actual world as a dueling piano
00:01:01
Speaker
What would you call yourself? Just like a musician? I would say that. And like the true musician of like, what song are you playing? Boom, you're on it. That wasn't part of the bio. And she's turned teacher and CFO. She also gives lessons. Welcome to the show, Whitney. I'm glad you're here. Thank you. It's so good to be here. Yeah, absolutely. So first, um,
00:01:24
Speaker
This is Erin. Erin, you got Whitney to come on. Yeah. And she's a pianist. That's such a cool name to say. So how did you even get into that? And did you have to do a lot of lessons? OK. Where do we start? Right. So let's see. Where do we start? Where do we start? Piano lessons growing up. OK. My whole life. And you love those or did not love what you did? I did. I was one who practiced. I loved my teacher. I was in it.
00:01:51
Speaker
I was in it for 10 years. And we did classical music. We did a lot of reading music. And then when I was about 18, I started playing at church. And I said, OK, where's my sheet music? And they don't give you sheet music. What's that? Right. Yeah. So that's when I, and I had a decent theory background. We did a little, I did maybe one or two competitions growing up. And with that, you do have to have some
00:02:21
Speaker
writing and scale. You have to know the theory. But we just read music. She was very classically trained. And so then I began the whole journey of learning how to play from a lead sheet, learning how to accompany the worship team, that kind of thing. Oh, man. So that was a whole different style. And I were like, we are out of our element here. I know. This is like why it's so extra fascinating. I'm like, I think I know what you're saying.
00:02:46
Speaker
Because if you think about traditional music, they have the book up there and all the notes are there.
Transition to Teaching: A Career Boost from Media
00:02:54
Speaker
And if you learn to read well, you can play every single note and you don't create anything. You take the information and you recreate that. But when you're playing in any type of band or whether it be like a worship
00:03:08
Speaker
type band or a band at the club, they don't give you the sheet music. They sure don't. They sure don't. You gotta know the chords, you gotta know when to play, you gotta know when not to play.
00:03:19
Speaker
So in my head, it's that when you were watching a movie and they're like, people are sitting around and start getting something going and they see the guitar started going along with it. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. See, I'm so musical. This is, we're staying with us. Yeah, we're staying with Whitney. Okay. First off, if you're the first time listener to the show, why in the world are you listening? One, it's because of Whitney and she's that cool.
00:03:43
Speaker
Aaron and I are financial advisors that like to help people invest in themselves. The reason why we wanted you on the show today is because you've done that. You've taken a passion of yours and you've created a business and you can pay the bills with your passion. Holy cow. That is something that not a lot of people, one, have enough, I don't know, gumption to do, risk tolerance, but also tenacity to do it. So in 2007, this is not what you were doing for a full-time gig. What were you doing then?
00:04:13
Speaker
Out of college, I worked corporate. I did Wells Fargo. I worked for a logistics company. And I always taught piano on the side to supplement.
00:04:25
Speaker
And then I, my mom is also a piano teacher and so she has been a big part of, she didn't teach me, but we are essentially now colleagues in a way because we talk all the time, all the time. And so she has taught my whole life.
00:04:43
Speaker
In 2007, I had stumbled on a new method and it was very different. It was no reading at all, where there were just these patterns on the page that had nothing to do with music.
00:04:59
Speaker
And we taught kids how to play songs with zero music based on patterns. And this is so random, but the Des Moines Register did an article on me in 2006, 2007. And it was first in Juice. Do you guys remember Juice? Oh, I remember Juice. Oh, I loved Juice. Whitney, I'm with you. You keep going. This is amazing. So Juice was for the... The hipster. Yeah, the 20s and 30s. And it might be before your time.
00:05:29
Speaker
I think it was. I'm right with you. Okay, thank you. So Juice came out and it was all about like what was going on in Des Moines and it was activities. The who's who. The who's who. Of course you are. I got a little page in Juice and nothing happened. Well, what they didn't tell me is that the register could possibly pick it up as well. I think this was like 2006. I actually have it.
00:05:58
Speaker
the article. You should have brought the article. It's framed so, so fast. This time, you know, internet, um, it wasn't what it is, right? There was no social wall. Right. It was the, it was a newspaper. Yeah, it was a newspaper and juice. It mattered. It mattered. And so then, um, I woke up one morning and someone messaged me and they said, you're on the front page of the domain register. Oh my goodness. Whitney, I want your artograph. This is so good.
00:06:26
Speaker
I had, at the time, I had 30 students. And so that's, you know. That's pretty significant. A great amount. For a part-time gig, by the way. Right. Supplement what? Exactly. So it was, I was happy with it and it was going well. And after
Musical Journey: Branson to Orlando
00:06:41
Speaker
that article came out, I went from 30 to 90. Oh wow. Oh my goodness. And I quit Wells Fargo. Yeah, you did. And that was a hard decision. Right. Right.
00:06:52
Speaker
So yeah, so that that started my first full time teaching experience, I guess. And I did that for I'm from Ankeny. So I did that in Ankeny. And then I stumbled into doing pianos while I was doing that.
00:07:08
Speaker
But here, there's no place that you can do it full time. In Des Moines, there is not a full time. You can learn it, learn the gig, work the gig, pay your bills. But there are clubs around the world. That you can. That you can. If you're good. Let me just say that right.
00:07:24
Speaker
And so I dabbled in it here and then I found a place in Branson, Missouri. Oh yeah, you did. You kind of look like you could totally rock the Branson, Missouri. Like, yeah, I like it. Oh, okay. All right. So I went down there and auditioned and I was not good, but he was willing to take a chance. Sure. And he trained me. This was the, they called it the entertainment director, the entertainment director at that particular club, which was called Ernie Biggs.
00:07:52
Speaker
They took a chance and I moved to Branson and it turns out Branson is not my jam. It's not. It is not. So I spent about a year there. What part of it's not your jam? Oh man.
00:08:05
Speaker
I was your GM because I was awesome. It's a small town. At the time there were like a million tourists a year. Just some crazy high number that could be exaggerating. But a lot of people come through, but maybe 10,000 people live there. So it's a small town, but it's heavy tourist town. It was okay. It's a whole other feel. It's a whole other feel.
00:08:33
Speaker
Um, we are less than 10 minutes from Arkansas. Um, just a different vibe. And so then there was a spot in Kansas city that opened up and I moved there and that was great. Cause then instead of being six hours from home, I was three and I love Kansas. He's great. It really is. So I did a year at a club there. And then I did, how was the learning curve? By the way, let's go back to horrible. Why? I mean, I can only imagine, I have no idea what to do, but
00:08:59
Speaker
So, you know, with dueling pianos, you essentially want to be able to know or fake any song because we are making a large part of our money from the tips and the song requests. So you want, and also the demographic of Branson was such that it was, it was, um, a slightly older crowd. And so that meant older requests, you know? And so.
00:09:25
Speaker
Just learning the songs, learning the gig, it takes months, takes years to get comfortable. And that was just piano. At that particular club, I only played piano. And that was maybe even a good thing because that was, I'm confident in my piano playing abilities. Whereas a lot of people will start this gig and don't really play the piano. They might be trained singers, or they might be more entertainers. I came with really strong piano skills.
00:09:55
Speaker
Whereas when I moved to the other clubs, then I learned drums and bass, and then you start to jump on the other instruments and things like that. I feel like I'm totally kyboing this, because poor Aaron has a lot of questions. But what did you do with the 90 people that you were teaching piano? OK, right. So I taught for a few years. And then I moved to Branson in April, and I transitioned them
00:10:19
Speaker
to my mom's studio. Cause we would co-teach, we had our separate studios, but we would co-teach as well. And so it was a really natural transition. We're very similar, real easy. And then those who wanted to continue in the fall did. So they finished out that school year with her April, May. And then also when I moved to Branson, I thought, well, I'm going to try this. I signed a three month lease. And I thought, well, if, you know, we'll try the summer and maybe we'll be back.
00:10:49
Speaker
and then I realized three months is not enough time. So. To really fully engage. Did your mom pay you for those clients or just handle them? I didn't just give them to her. Yeah, yeah, okay. I don't know. I just have questions I have. Okay, so question that I have. You're back in, no, here's a random question. Are you ready for this? Yes. Off the wall. Okay. What is your karaoke song? Like if you're going to go up to the karaoke, what is your song Whitney?
00:11:15
Speaker
I have to be honest, I avoid karaoke. I don't care if you're a good singer. I'm just saying like, if you had to and nobody was there, it's in your own confines of your own house, what would it be? You know, one of the biggest crowd pleasers is always, I love rock and roll by John Jett. Oh yeah, that would be good.
00:11:31
Speaker
Okay. People just love it. I think instead of bios, we should just ask that question. You could tell a lot about a person. Okay. Perfect. All right. So now you're back back into it. Sorry for that brief hiatus. You did Branson, then you're in Kansas city. It's going well. And then what then? So in Kansas city, I worked for a club called how look the moon. I don't know if that would be anything you'd be familiar with it. It's the largest prestigious.
00:11:57
Speaker
It's the largest dueling piano chain in the, probably in the world, really. And then there are four Norwegian cruise line ships that have what's called a Howl at the Moon show. Wow. It's really just the name, but Howl would be, Howl is in Chicago. It's all over the US. And so I was at Howl at the Moon in Kansas City, and then I got the opportunity to go down to Orlando. So I did two years in Orlando at Howl at the Moon.
00:12:23
Speaker
Wow. And that was, you look like you were, that was a fond experience. That was a great move. Yeah. Really excellent, excellent talent down there. Awesome people. It was good. And it was, you know, it's like Branson, but on steroids because it's, it's your tourists, but
00:12:43
Speaker
already a way bigger city, lots to do, Florida, hot, nice weather. Yeah. Huh. Yeah. This is fascinating. Yeah. I don't even know where to start with the questions because this is such a different world. What do you think one of the biggest timeframes that when you're going down this journey that was like, Oh, like, yes, I want it. Cause it had to be hard to learn it. Like you mentioned.
00:13:07
Speaker
But when was there a defining moment where you're like, yes, I love this, and I'm all in? Oh, that's a great question. No. All right. It just kept working. Yeah. And as I got better, then the confidence did grow. But there's not one day that you're like, oh, I'm really good now. OK. I'm going to do it. Yeah. It just, I loved it.
00:13:37
Speaker
Typically, like before that, I would have probably considered myself. Well, I'm very introverted. Uh, I can be on the quiet side. I can be on the soft spot. I'm an Enneagram nine for anybody who's into that. That is totally my wife. You just want to please everybody avoid confrontation at all costs. You want to minimize yourself. You want to hang out in the corner. And so I, when I.
00:14:00
Speaker
I wanted to try this. I wanted to see if I could essentially run a room, you know, yeah, control a room, not in a weird way, but in a just not entertainment way, right? Because you have to command them. You know, you tell them when to sing. You tell them what actions to do, how to participate. When you bring people up on stage for celebrations, you are, you're like, you're, yeah. So I thought, can I do that? Is that even a part of my makeup?
00:14:31
Speaker
But it is, and it's so fascinating, because as you describe yourself, you would think to do what you're saying. Well, personality-wise, that's got to be kind of scary for your mind. Definitely. Mm-hmm. You figured it out. Yeah. I guess. I like it. That's awesome. I'm taking notes like crazy. Let's talk about your faith in all this, because I feel like it's been strong. So tell me about that.
00:14:55
Speaker
kind of journey of your faith through your journey of your career. And we haven't even got to the part where you're here yet, so sorry we're taking a little longer in your past, but I feel like it's fast-forwarding. I'm gained. So, gosh, we grew up, we did a little time in Pentecostal, so we had some assembly of God. Yeah, you did. Yeah. Holy Spirit. Yeah, he was there. And then some Baptists. We did Baptists for Shabbat. Wow. Yeah.
00:15:29
Speaker
I'll jump ahead a little, but when I left Orlando and I moved home, what that meant was I no longer had a home club and home would be Des Moines. And so once I got back here, it got trickier because I was on the road every weekend. And so I have spent some time playing and being a part of some of the local churches in the area, one in Ankeny, um, a while back and one kind of in the Beaverdale area. But other than that,
00:15:48
Speaker
and since then non-denominational.
00:15:59
Speaker
It's always been an integral and huge part of my life, but the consistency in attendance has been really tricky on the road. Yeah. No, totally. There have been longer contracts on cruises. And so Bible studies, things that I can do when I am in town that are shorter have been my goal.
00:16:21
Speaker
And now, now that I'm here, essentially all the time, I get maybe once a month now. So it's, it's low. Um, but since I've been back, I've mostly been at a church in Johnston. Sure. Oh, that's good. Okay. All right. So we're back in Florida. Where are we going from Florida now?
Freelancing: Embracing Musical Freedom
00:16:42
Speaker
Well, cruise ships, I bet. You're going to cruise ships? Yes. So when you work at a club that you are an employee of, they need you there all the time, right? To do whatever you need to do. In some of them, you are actually W2 status.
00:17:02
Speaker
And so you have to ask for time off. You have to go to rehearsal. You are playing with the same group of people all the time. So the positives of that are you can get really tight with your people both musically. You can work up amazing band songs because you'll have some five instruments going. You can work on your parts and you can work on your harmonies. And then, of course, just the relationships. And then you get to sleep at home every night.
00:17:30
Speaker
It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing, right? The downsides. Right. And so then the downsides are you are an employee. And so I hit a point in the spring of 2009 where I, or no, sorry, 2013, where I said, I'm ready to do more. And I also had the opportunity to do a contract in Switzerland and they let me, how will the moon let me go? And I did that and I thought, oh,
00:17:59
Speaker
Um, I'm out. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. He's gone. I'm gone. I immediately booked another Swiss Swiss contract and, and oddly enough, you cannot do howlet the moon cruise contracts if you work at howlet the moon. Very weird. Right. Because any of the howlet the moon cruise players, it's all 10 99. Okay. Right. You're your own business. Right.
00:18:22
Speaker
Yep. And so I just, I thought I want to, I want to play with more people. The more people you play with, honestly, the, the better you can get because the challenge is real. You get into a rut with, uh, the same group. You know what songs they're probably going to start with. You know what jokes they're going to say. It's, it's kind of routine, but when you've never played with someone and, and they start the show, you're along for the ride. And so it's a whole different feel.
00:18:51
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Whole different ballgame. I bet the thrill is a lot more like... Yeah, which one do you prefer? There are, there are perks to both. Yeah, I bet. I love freedom. Uh-huh. Yeah. Adlib seems like your jam. Okay. So you're going on a cruise. How did that transition go? Like you had to quit your job, but maybe it's because you're going to Switzerland that was pretty easy to do.
00:19:14
Speaker
They were very cool. We left on good terms. And the very first thing I did when I left was actually a short military tour in Japan. So I drove home from Florida to Iowa. And a couple days later flew to Tokyo. And then we did Air Force in Masawa.
00:19:35
Speaker
And I ended up being really, really sick. So it was actually horrible. It hurts a lot to fly like your ears when you're really painful. And then I was sick. So the shows were, the experience wasn't amazing because of that, but that is what kicked off my, my 10 99 journey, my director journey, which is scary to do. Right. Especially driving, you're going to places that are, I don't speak our language. It's interesting with your,
00:20:04
Speaker
kind of high level, you were an employee doing a job that wasn't for Whitney. Then you jumped out and you did your own deal with 90 of your favorite little friends. And then you pull back into a passion of yours, but as an employee, and now you're pulling back into this world of, okay, 1099, doing what you're doing. Okay, okay. I'm just for my brain to let the listeners know how I'm thinking through this.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah. And with that, that transition, I've lost track of which one that is, but now I am responsible for finding myself work. Wow. So now I have to connect and network and find places to go. Still number nine, still nine on the Enneagram. Yeah.
00:20:54
Speaker
And, um, gosh, I don't even know how that all came together. I just started reaching out to players. They will often give you a chance. They'll let you come. And so then I ended up falling into mostly a Midwest rotation. I would go to Nebraska.
00:21:11
Speaker
Oklahoma actually was probably my favorite room. That's really not Midwest, but it seems Midwest. It's not far far. It's dry. I flew, but, um, I drove it many times too. It was about eight hours. Chicago, Madison. Chicago.
00:21:26
Speaker
Chicago has so many players and Chicago rooms do not pay travel. So that's what you have to find. You have to find the rooms that pay travel and some pay driving travel, some pay airfare. And so you just find your people and I found them. And then that was enough to keep me as booked as I wanted. And then I would do cruises as I wanted.
00:21:53
Speaker
For sure. So what's the difference in the atmosphere on a cruise to like in a club?
00:21:59
Speaker
I'd rather do club. I'm just going to tell you that right now. Yeah? Oh, for sure. Why? Because they like willingly paid to be there, or like they did. Where a cruise, it's like, this is what we're going to do tonight. OK, fair. That's me. The only advantage of the cruise is they're in vacation mode. Oh, they are going to get it. They don't have to drive home. They don't have to drive home? Yeah, well played. Oh, that's one of the jokes. That's one of the jokes on stage. Yeah. You don't have to drive, so let's do a toast. Yeah. Right? Wow. Yeah.
00:22:27
Speaker
So cruises, oh man, cruises from a, from a performer standpoint can be isolating, lonely, monotonous. You know, you don't have, you have to pay for very slow, expensive internet. So you're not streaming. You're not, you're not connected. You're isolated. Yeah. And
00:22:52
Speaker
If you do it with players that you enjoy working with, it's a blast. Okay. But I have done it both ways. Yeah. And so it's less, it's just less enjoyable. Yeah. You're away from, and plus, you know, with that you're fully away. Someone needs to be checking on your animals. Someone needs to be taking care of your home. Oh man. You're gone, gone. Whereas with the other ones, it was often you would leave Thursday, come home Sunday.
00:23:15
Speaker
Okay. So you would get Sunday potentially to start your recovery. Yeah. And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then started over again. Did you ever track to like where you made more money either on a cruise or in clubs on average? I mean, I know it's probably different to club to club. It does vary club to club with cruises.
00:23:39
Speaker
I think it's getting more and more this way every year, but people don't have cash on them necessarily like they do in a club. And even since, even with COVID and all of the changes that have happened lately, people are doing Venmo now. You put a table, gosh, what are those called? A table tent out with your Venmo code and people scan it and they can pay you that way, which is crazy.
Cruise Ship Chronicles: Challenges and Growth
00:24:03
Speaker
And in my day, we didn't really do that as much because
00:24:08
Speaker
It's cash. Yeah. Yeah. There it is. Which is kind of nice too. There are other reasons. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, Cruz is quick, small, cold, close quarters. You're sleeping in really weird. You don't have a balcony, you know? Yeah. You're really tight. Do you have a porthole?
00:24:25
Speaker
which is helpful because you can see light. You're talented. Some people don't have that. We were guest entertainers, so we did get it. And then usually every person on a cruise ship has a secondary job. Oh, you mean like staff? Yeah, or like if things go south, this is what we need you to do, Whitney. What was your job? We were guest entertainers.
00:24:49
Speaker
So you just like, Hey, everything's fine. The ship's on fire. We did have to do weekly drills. Okay. So once a week you have to go stand in a room for a couple hours with a life jacket. Okay. And then you have to go outside and that apparently taught us what we needed to know. Okay. Totally equipped to help everybody. Anything ever go South on a ship?
00:25:12
Speaker
The worst ship contract was when there was a, so illness spreads really quickly on a ship. And there was a gastro outbreak. So gastro issues are very, very serious. Yeah. And you are actually, it's mandated that you report them. If you have them, that's how serious and serious. And this particular cruise was a two week.
00:25:37
Speaker
two week voyage, which meant our average age was a little bit higher because those who that are taking two week trips are not always working parents and families. So it's a little bit older demographic. And I don't know if that's why, but this has never happened on any of the other ships. We actually, it was like a precursor for us to COVID because we had to isolate for 19 days.
00:26:01
Speaker
So we had to sit in our cabin for 19 days and we were allowed to come out for our show.
00:26:08
Speaker
So we have four shows a week. We were allowed to go to our stage and do our show for four shows a week. They took away all of our other privileges. We were no longer allowed to eat. We were no longer allowed to be anywhere on the ship. So we had to go to crew mess to eat, which we had never been to crew mess before. And you know, granted that's where everyone eat. A lot of people eat and that's fine. It was just a different experience. But you're an entertainer.
00:26:36
Speaker
I'm Whitney, okay? I will be totally honest and tell you that not one player that I work with would take a contract if it was those parameters. For sure. We just wouldn't. It's already a lot. Hard enough. There's great things. You see great places. You get to do amazing things. There's trade-offs though. And so those 19, our mental health, I watched, and the TV shows are on loop.
00:27:05
Speaker
You know, so there might be like four episodes of one show that just loop. So there's certain seasons of like Downnabi where I've seen those four episodes eight times. And then you can rent DVDs. You can borrow DVDs. No, those were actually free. You could go check them out from the DVD library. So you could get different things, but you know, you can't, you can read.
00:27:32
Speaker
you can practice and then they would let us out on some of the port days. It's basically you're in prison. It felt like that. Okay. We're going to go back because I have so many questions and we're just going to just stop them and just, we're going to keep moving on. Okay. So you're now in Switzerland and then you went to the cruise and then now where are you at?
00:27:54
Speaker
It just depends on the month. I, I ended up taking four contracts in Switzerland and that is such a, such a wrong thing. No, no, they, um, I don't know that they're bringing Americans in much any, well, since COVID at all, to be honest, but I was a French major in college.
00:28:13
Speaker
accidentally, not on purpose. Sounds about right. She's not going to confront anybody. Just like we're going for it. And I didn't want to make a decision and I didn't want to spend any more money on an undergraduate degree when I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I was in France for a year in college my junior year and that got me that and all my other courses got me enough
00:28:36
Speaker
credits to be a French major. And my advisor said, well, you have a French degree. And I said, you know what, I'll take it. And then I was done. And so there's a small portion of Switzerland that is French speaking. And so when I did those Swiss contracts, I was able to just be in the French part, the French culture of Switzerland, the
00:28:58
Speaker
I was able to go over to France and see friends. I was able to do part of the show in French. And so it was like the most full circle thing because I never would have imagined making any money in music or using French. And then now here I am doing both, super random.
00:29:16
Speaker
Where'd you go? Where'd you get your French degree? Iowa State. Okay, good. Okay, so then you come back and now you find yourself in Iowa. Is there any other career things we need to talk about before you got to Iowa or no, you're
Pandemic Pivot: Teaching and Airbnb
00:29:31
Speaker
back. So COVID kind of
00:29:33
Speaker
halted things. Yes. So 2013 I moved back, traveled for seven years, almost seven years and was really honestly ready to transition out anyway. I, I, the late nights, it's hard. You would have five am flights after finishing, finishing a show at two am. Wow. And you know, you're maybe by Tuesday you start to feel normal and then you leave Thursday and it just,
00:30:01
Speaker
It takes a whole and everything about it is not, um, not condoning, but like you, you're, you do your best to live a healthy lifestyle, but then you're not sustainable. It's not sustainable. And you're starving because you are low on sleep. And so then you're eating in the airport and you're making bad choices. And so you're, you're under hydrated. You're potentially not eating well. You may not be working out and I never really wanted
00:30:27
Speaker
to commit a lot to a gym membership because if you're gone more than 50% of the time. So it just was time. And I had taught piano part time once I moved back.
00:30:43
Speaker
I started teaching in like 2017, but then I had a couple longer cruise contracts. So then I took a year off and then bam, COVID and everything is shut down obviously. And so it was a year of hodgepodge cleaning, cleaning. And I found an office that I can work in. Um, I started going to homes and that's where I met this guy. Yeah. She like came into her home in Patalina.
00:31:10
Speaker
Man, you're a hustler. Yeah. And didn't want to go back to like an employee. No. Because you're too talented. And you've seen it work. Right. Yeah. I couldn't go back. Yeah, yeah. It proves that statement. Once you take that leap you do, you don't go back. You should go in common. Yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker
I don't know. And yeah, I'm a gypsy and I want the freedom. And I also have done Airbnb since 2014. And so that was supplementing my income. And I purchased a duplex in 2016. Oh, good. So that really helped in COVID too. I was able to rent out, honestly, both sides. I just kind of kicked myself out of my own house. Kindred spirits. That's crazy. Kindred spirits.
00:32:00
Speaker
I hustled hard for the first couple of years. I didn't live in my house much at all. I just stayed with friends or I was on the road. And I actually just shut that down about a year and a half ago. I said, you are no longer allowed to kick yourself out of your house. I would actually set up a futon at my studio and spent nights in my studio and showered at Planet Fitness just to get things off the ground. And Airbnb, man, they say, Hey, can we book? And you're like,
00:32:29
Speaker
It's hard to say no. Sure. And then the money just comes in. I'm hearing what you're saying. So the other, so this is a while back. We were counseling two people. They were newly or married. They're like, we want to get into rentals. And I was like, okay. And they're like, but we can't like, we have no money. And I was like, why don't you rent out your own house? And they're like, no, you can't really do that. Like, I was like, well, you could anyway. So I came home that, and I was like,
00:32:56
Speaker
I don't know if it was that day, but it was, it was soon after that meeting and I was like, Hey, would we ever do this to my wife? And she was like, okay, but we're doing it my way. If we do it, which meant that she's going to buy all new, you know, yep, yep, comforters and sheets. And like, so we've done it, we've done it. And do you have no idea? Like, so you know, I know what you're saying, Whitney. I'm like, you and I kindred spirits. Okay.
00:33:22
Speaker
Okay, so yeah, I guess having all these little
00:33:28
Speaker
Breadcrumbs. I just thought that wouldn't work for me anymore. It's hard. We don't need to go into it because that's not about the show. But it's just hard getting your house in order as well as trying to figure out everything else. Although that money might be good, you've got to think about the sacrifices you're making in order to get that money. And is it worth it? No more.
00:33:53
Speaker
But I want to highlight the grind. The grind you had to go through to get this back up and running. And then you went through it. The current studio now? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, you're Airbnbing, you're sleeping in your studio, traveling. I remember seeing you at the Des Moines Home Garden Show. Yeah. And you were asking questions about the booth. And I don't know if you thought this, but maybe it's like, is this worth it? I thought that.
00:34:23
Speaker
But I did it anyway. I got a booth at the Des Moines Home and Garden show, which is like, do people go to- Play piano? No, this was now to promote, I'm kind of jumping ahead. This is now to promote the studio. Studio of the pianist. Yes, of the current business. Okay, which is Bloom Music Studio. Okay, thank you. Exactly, you read right. We have to get up and running and do those things and I did like,
00:34:52
Speaker
Stuff like that. For me, nothing came from it. The hustle, the hustle. I'm just loving the hustle. I love the hustle stories. I know for sure I got two students from that. Sweet. So at the very least, actually it would have been more than break even because one is still there and one was really little and she did a year and now she was three. And so I think she'll probably be back. Oh, awesome.
00:35:18
Speaker
Technically it was worth it. Would I do it again? No. Yeah. Absolutely not. Yeah. But it was a lot of those things in the first. You got to do something. You got to try something and it feels better to try something even though it doesn't work because then you feel like you're doing it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm right there. Okay.
00:35:34
Speaker
We went to Farmer's Markets. I'm trying to think of where all we've, and what I loved about that is it gave the students a chance to come play. So it became a performance opportunity for them. And they're like in a real environment. People are walking by. That was fun because nobody would be there and then they start playing and people just stop to watch. Because she played? Yeah, she did play. I love it.
00:36:01
Speaker
Okay.
Bloom Music Studio: A New Chapter
00:36:02
Speaker
So tell me where you're at now. You do bloom music studio and this is the new Whitney Mac. This is it. This is it. Yeah, it is. My whole personality is this now. Okay. Um, gosh. So I signed the lease in December of 2020, 2020. And I opened January 19th of 2021 and
00:36:26
Speaker
today. I think we have 200 students this month. Holy cow. And, um, we have four other teachers and it's just amazing. Yeah. Your mom's still, she moved. No, don't do that to me. Gosh. She, um, she came back a couple of weeks ago for my birthday and
00:36:50
Speaker
She asked what I wanted and I said I want you to co-teach with me. I want you to move back, right? She knows that that is definitely that is be the number one present But she came in for a night and co-taught with me and it was awesome. Yeah Chicago area now she's teaching out there, but wonderful
00:37:08
Speaker
Well, how's the, how, like, what are the biggest things you're, cause you're hiring people then. So what different difficulties have you had? Cause you've always kind of been your own boss and stuff. Now you're managing people. It's a whole different world. I feel your number nine. Cause I have a wife that's a number nine. So I have to see different things through her eyes. So this is not your.
00:37:28
Speaker
That was not part of my dream. And it's been a huge learning curve for me. The growth area, character development. The ones that I have are so fantastic. And I feel really grateful to have them. And it's good to just learn how to manage people and take conflict head on.
00:37:57
Speaker
We have created really strong boundaries and create cohesiveness. It's been a journey. Yeah. Yeah. And my options really were raise my prices and stay me.
00:38:13
Speaker
or bring people on to take. And, you know, I think in some, in some areas, you know, coaches and things like that, you can charge thousands. You can. And you can't, you could do that in this too. Realistically, you're not going to charge $500. You can't really, if you want to be in common, because you just want to impact people, right? Like you want to bless other people with a gift that you have. And in order to do that, you have to get out of your comfort zone.
00:38:40
Speaker
right so good that you did that of course you did that yeah it makes sense but it does challenge you to stretch yourself in ways you never thought you would be able to do it definitely you're unique i mean i feel like i am not musical i know my my wife's more musical so you guys can have your guys's talks but i know when you're coming over to our house during the pandemic to help teach elena like you guys got into conversations about
00:39:04
Speaker
disabilities and learning and all those, and how the brain works. So you really get into it. It's not just like a piano lesson. You know, like, like you're helping combat other things while teaching piano. You're a life coach. You're a pretend psychologist. You're a cheerleader.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah. You're all of that. You're all of that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Which is phenomenal and amazing. Like, when you think about it, because I'm not musical at all. Like, I am like the... I don't... I can't make music.
00:39:37
Speaker
so it's not my strength and it never will be but that's okay and but it's so cool to see that come from that side because for me i'm looking at the athlete side right and it makes such sense there and when i see the musical side i'm like no you know like beforehand but then he starts saying oh my gosh it's like it is just like that
00:39:56
Speaker
And maybe even a little bit better. It's, it's the reason why people put their kids in Taekwondo because it's not about Taekwondo and you're not going to use it to, you know, you're not going to break boards, but what you are going to use it for is a confidence builder and discipline. Yep. And all the other ancillary things that you get, and here's the deal at the end of the day, it's the dojo. It's the person that's pouring into them is what you're really going after to make sure that you're doing the right thing.
Teaching Philosophy: Making Music Enjoyable
00:40:22
Speaker
So you're perfect, you've hit your stride, you've followed the breadcrumbs to where you're at now, and I would say that you utilize not only your passions, but your experiences to craft where you are now. Man, this has been a hugely enjoyable interview for me. Nailed it, knocked it out of the park. Okay, how do our listeners hear more about Bloom Music Studio, about you, Whitney Maxwell,
00:40:49
Speaker
Well, they can always go to our website www.bloommusicstudio.com. And then our socials where we do Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. And my only goal right now with socials is just having fun.
00:41:06
Speaker
I enjoy your TikToks. They're silly. They're goofy. People reach out and say, I enjoy seeing these. And they're not looking for piano. And just kind of looking to bring lightheartedness into it and not be serious and try to make a piano student for 10 years.
00:41:27
Speaker
We hope they do that, but we just want, we want music to be whatever part of their journey it is. We want to be part of that with them and make it joyful and kind of eradicate some of the stereotypes of learning music growing up for us. It kind of in our generation, it was, you know, it might've been with a little old lady. Mrs. Sheltanis, I'll just tell you.
00:41:50
Speaker
No way. Oh yeah, that's mine. Yeah, it was the devil. That's why I don't. Oh my goodness. You know her? Wow, this is awesome. Small world. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I'm totally going to send this to my mom.
00:42:06
Speaker
We're trying to reframe it. We're trying to create a new environment, make it fun, make it enjoyable, make it engaging, have them learn through play and not just a serious structured 30 minutes that's just you and the teacher.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. That was a tangent. I don't know. No, that's great. Tangents are building. How many students do you like to impact? Like what is your kind of goal or do you just not know? Like I'm just the next student. I'm going to give my best. Yeah. Okay. Right now in our current space, we, it's starting to feel cramped. And so I guess at this point we're looking at, do we want to stay where we are and status quo?
00:42:53
Speaker
Or do we want to take it to the next level? And that is, that is unanswerable right now. Because that would involve a lot of big changes. It would involve a move, more equipment, making sure we have great staff. It's a whole world. It's a whole world. So TBD. Yeah, good. Whitney Maxwell, you are a pleasure. Thank you so much.
00:43:16
Speaker
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