Sunday, July 17, 2011
Learning Chinese with MC Jin
Chat with Jin
When did you start developing a passion for hip hop?
Around the age of 12 is when I first discovered this form of music called rap. I'd say at age 14 is when I officially fell in love with Hiphop culture.
What made you decide that you want to pursue it as a career rather than keep it as a hobby?
That dream sparked at around age 16-17. When I graduated from high school was a pivotal point. Especially with my decision to further pursue a career in music as opposed to taking the college route.
How did you manage to keep the motivation to pursue your career as a rapper instead of trying to find a safe stable job?
I had to do both.. It was just a matter of seeing how persistent I could be and how much I believed that this is what I was meant to do.
How did you support yourself financially before you started making money in your career?
I did the same thing anyone else did.. worked.
What were the major obstacles you faced when trying to reach your goals?
The biggest obstacle was probably staying dedicated and passionate about what I was doing. Sometimes setbacks can really be discouraging.
Its hard enough trying to pursue a career as a musician, you were the first Asian rapper to score a major record label deal. What is it that helped you do that?
Lots of determination and hard work.
You separated with your record label and decided to pursue your career as an independent artist. Are you making enough money in your career to support your financial needs or are you working another job to do so?
Currently, my main occupation is entertainer. Which includes music, tv and film.
What are the major lessons that you have learnt through your journey?
Through out my career in the last 10 years, I've seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I just feel really lucky to still be doing what I love while taking care of myself and my family.
From your experience, is there anything you advice young people out there trying to pursue the same line of work not to do?
Be wise in who you choose to work with. You are only as efficient as the people you surround yourself with.
What is the one tip you have for everyone out there trying to pursue a rap career?
Don't do it for the money. Do it cause you love it. If you love it, the money will come. If the money doesn't come, at least you still love it.
Tell us about some of the things you are working on now?
I travelled to Hong Kong in 2008 to do some promotions for the release of my first ever Cantonese album. I've pretty much been in Hong Kong ever since. Beyond just music, I've been able to expand my career into various other platforms such as TV and film. Just humbled and thankful for all the opportunities. God has really blessed me in abundance. In regards to projects, I am hoping to release an English album later this year. It will be my first in almost 5 years, so that's exciting.
Hope you guys liked it
Peace
Aaron Koo
www.akooxp.com
Monday, January 10, 2011
Starting up a restaurant franchise with Stuart Cook
Starting up a restaurant franchise with Stuart Cook:
Stuart grew up outside of Coffs Harbour (New South Wales, Australia) on a small hobby farm and then moved to Sydney where all the action is. When he arrived in Sydney he got in contact with the not-for profit organisation Rotary, not long after that he attended one of their international leadership conferences.
It was at this conference where Stuart met Dr. Sam Price the founder of the Emagine foundation in Australia and decided that he wanted to get involved in this charity. Initially Stuart was much more interested in working for the charity rather than the franchise business, however approximately 6 months after working in Emagine, he was offered the CEO position for the restaurant franchise by Dr. Sam Price. He was being coached and mentored when he first took up the role and was empowered to make big decisions in the business so that the owner could focus on other matters.
Stuart manages his time for the roles between CEO of Zambrero and director of Emagine by blocking out specific time periods to work on each specific company as things always pop up for both organisations all the time. For example, Stuart would block out a specific day where he would only work on Emagine.
As anyone can imagine, being a CEO is tough enough but being a CEO and a director for a charity would definitely make you wonder whether Stuart has any time to himself at all. Stuart responds with "I always make time, health is always something that has been neglected in the year. There’ll always be a million things to do and it’s important to make time for yourself and leisure time. Relationships have taken a toll, still single because has to schedule dates 2 weeks in advance. If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know because they will make time. When I started out I worked really hard 80-100 hours a week, I lost some friends along the way but its because I believed in the business and the vision.”
When asked about business plans, Stuart responds with "We all live our lives by the business plan, taking the time to write a 30 page business plan might take 2-3 days. But if you ask me about strategies etc.. I can tell you them straight away. If you need bank money or investors do it, but not everyone needs it. For new business people, I recommend to just do it (the business) rather than spend too much time planning. Do your research for the key areas but you need to start something to get it going."
One might imagine that starting up a franchised restaurant may cost a lot of money but you might be surprised. "We started out Zambrero’s with $10,000. People think starting a business cost more than it actually does. We negotiated first 3 months rent free, paid initial deposit, painted the store ourselves."
Stuart suggests that certain "must do's" for every new entrepreneur are to talk to people and watching the cash flow of their business. "Talk to people, ask them what they did right and wrong. Learn from people’s mistakes rather than successes. You learn a lot more from someone who has failed rather than someone who is successful. Watch your cash flow as people like to avoid conflict, its easier to pay people you owe money too and hard for you to collect money from people who owe you money."
As a very young CEO, Stuart struggled initially with his inexperience and the way people perceived his youth. "Being young and not knowing what I was doing. Being old and not knowing what you are doing you can still have the respect that you would not get when you’re young. But when you show your results and confidence in what you are doing, you gain that respect."
"Use your youth as an advantage, ask people for advice, knock on CEO’s doors and ask them for a coffee. I have never had anyone said no, I’ve talked to people who have made millions of dollars and they have never said no."
Stuart reveals that his initial mistakes involved managing people.
"I have got a great team, but sometimes they were disconnected with the vision and when the leadership wasn’t around they couldn’t make the decisions right. So its important to encourage the team, support your team. Impart the vision of where the company is going and teach them how to deliver the right results to reach that end point the more independent and autonomy they will get, less reliance on you as a leader."
Stuart felt that his strength was creating excitement and hype around the brand and was able to show complete transparency, which helped him gained loyalty and trustworthiness.
If you like to check out a Zambrero's restaurant (if you live in Australia) please click here.
If you like to support or get involved with Emagine please click here.
Hope you all learnt something and enjoyed your holidays!
Peace
Aaron Koo
www.akooxp.com
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Entertainment and Business with David Allen Jones (Part 3)
Aaron:
What's the biggest challenge in the media industry when trying to balance the creativity/artistic aspect along with the business aspect?
David:
I think in today's environment you need to have an understanding and appreciation for both. I am not saying that the business guy has to be creative but the business guy has to appreciate what the creative guy brings to the table. It used to not be that way, you use to be able to be in the business area and continue to exploit people. We're now in the information age and people quickly know what's going on, so its much more difficult to keep people in the dark.
This works well for a guy like me because when I went around and was talking to music companies on how do they combat what's going on, you have p2p networking, file sharing and Napster. What in the world do you do? One of the things I told them is that you go back and change and modify your relationships with the talent. You no longer base your relationships on keeping musicians dumb. You take them on as partners.
How do I balance it? I'm transparent, I work in partnership with creative people and together we all collectively try to get a project accomplished. For myself my creativity is often helpful but not just from a creative side but from a business side as well Aaron.
For an example, there was this film "The Coffin" that was sitting in Thailand that couldn't get made. We ended up getting investors out of Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand to do this movie. Now putting a movie business deal like that is very difficult because you got four different parties, four different interests, three different languages, three different agendas, it was very difficult. My creativity allowed me to get everyone at the table to find everyone a way to get involved in this project with their own agendas being met.
Aaron:
What is the biggest difference between working with Hollywood and Asia?
David:
Building relationships is very important in Asia. I've spent years building relationships with executives here before we even to start talking about business. This is because the business is an extension of you and when the trust is there that is when people would want to do business with you.
One of the major differences here is that most people in the film industry here don't get rich. I don't mean just stars but the service people and everyone involved. In Hollywood if you work in the film industry regularly you make a lot of money. If you pull cable or if you're an electrician or a carpenter, you make a lot of money. In Thailand you don't, its a job just like any other job, you might make an extra $100 bucks or so compared to someone in a different industry.
For example all the TV actors (not movies) here make very little money, so the promise of big dollars in Thailand, you can't sell it the same as you would in Hollywood.
Hollywood really is an American General, they think globally and internationally. In Thailand they don't. They large movie and distribution companies here are so focused on Thailand, that when I come in and say to them "listen it's great, Thailand's wonderful but you got this big marketplace." They neglect to see this whole other side outside of Thailand, it's not in their thinking, business plan or mission statement.
I have to spend a lot of time educating them on that aspect and after years of education, they say "ok we're going to take a chance and give you one shot." But the film business doesn't work this way, normally a director would say to an investor "give me enough money for 5 movies, one would fail miserably, 2 might barely make their money back, 1 would make a little bit of money and 1 would make a lot of money." So much money it would take care of all the other losses and make a lot of profit.
Aaron:
What about the difference in terms of working with actors and actresses?
David:
Not much difference, but there is one small exception. In Thailand there is this hierarchy level of respect you have going on. In Hollywood, you're not only dealing with actors and actresses, you're dealing with agents and managers. You have to be careful because not only don't you piss of the actor but also their agent and manager. In Thailand its very different, for example when I speak to Ananda who is the biggest actor here in Thailand, I go out with Ananda we go out and have drinks or catch a movie. It's easy, in Hollywood its much more complicated.
I have a story where one of my friends who wanted an actor who had an agent who is was so difficult that when he asked to talk to the manager directly, the agent said "if you go to the manager, you will never work with this agency again." That's the challenge in Hollywood.
Aaron:
Finally do you have any advice for people out there who want to get into the entertainment business?
David:
Number one, go get a complete mental and physical examination because you are crazy (joking).
Learn the business, the major difference between 20 years ago and now is that you have to have a clear and firm understanding of the business that you are entering. You can't just be a guy who can play guitar, you have to understand what you mean in the equation. Like how valuable are you? You know how to go in and ask about things that are important with your business dealings. - If you're a creative person.
If you are a business person, START NOW!! And throw away most of what was going on before with the exception of a few things. I tell people that I think that this is the best and the worst time for the music business because technology (filesharing etc..) have made it difficult to for traction. BUT it has made access to your fans much easier, back when I was coming up you couldn't do that. The record companies controlled your access to the audience. You can put something up on Youtube and get 25 million people viewing what you just did in your bedroom. Understand how to do that and you would be very valuable to the entertainment industry.
If you were a guitar player and singer and you weren't very good and you manage to get 20 million people to watch your video on Youtube, any record executive would tackle you before you left the room.
This is the end of the very long interview I had with David Allen Jones, I hope you all enjoyed reading it and maybe even learnt something from it. A big thank you to David Allen Jones for spending a large amount of time contributing to this!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Peace
Aaron Koo
www.akooxp.com
What's the biggest challenge in the media industry when trying to balance the creativity/artistic aspect along with the business aspect?
David:
I think in today's environment you need to have an understanding and appreciation for both. I am not saying that the business guy has to be creative but the business guy has to appreciate what the creative guy brings to the table. It used to not be that way, you use to be able to be in the business area and continue to exploit people. We're now in the information age and people quickly know what's going on, so its much more difficult to keep people in the dark.
This works well for a guy like me because when I went around and was talking to music companies on how do they combat what's going on, you have p2p networking, file sharing and Napster. What in the world do you do? One of the things I told them is that you go back and change and modify your relationships with the talent. You no longer base your relationships on keeping musicians dumb. You take them on as partners.
How do I balance it? I'm transparent, I work in partnership with creative people and together we all collectively try to get a project accomplished. For myself my creativity is often helpful but not just from a creative side but from a business side as well Aaron.
For an example, there was this film "The Coffin" that was sitting in Thailand that couldn't get made. We ended up getting investors out of Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand to do this movie. Now putting a movie business deal like that is very difficult because you got four different parties, four different interests, three different languages, three different agendas, it was very difficult. My creativity allowed me to get everyone at the table to find everyone a way to get involved in this project with their own agendas being met.
Aaron:
What is the biggest difference between working with Hollywood and Asia?
David:
Building relationships is very important in Asia. I've spent years building relationships with executives here before we even to start talking about business. This is because the business is an extension of you and when the trust is there that is when people would want to do business with you.
One of the major differences here is that most people in the film industry here don't get rich. I don't mean just stars but the service people and everyone involved. In Hollywood if you work in the film industry regularly you make a lot of money. If you pull cable or if you're an electrician or a carpenter, you make a lot of money. In Thailand you don't, its a job just like any other job, you might make an extra $100 bucks or so compared to someone in a different industry.
For example all the TV actors (not movies) here make very little money, so the promise of big dollars in Thailand, you can't sell it the same as you would in Hollywood.
Hollywood really is an American General, they think globally and internationally. In Thailand they don't. They large movie and distribution companies here are so focused on Thailand, that when I come in and say to them "listen it's great, Thailand's wonderful but you got this big marketplace." They neglect to see this whole other side outside of Thailand, it's not in their thinking, business plan or mission statement.
I have to spend a lot of time educating them on that aspect and after years of education, they say "ok we're going to take a chance and give you one shot." But the film business doesn't work this way, normally a director would say to an investor "give me enough money for 5 movies, one would fail miserably, 2 might barely make their money back, 1 would make a little bit of money and 1 would make a lot of money." So much money it would take care of all the other losses and make a lot of profit.
Aaron:
What about the difference in terms of working with actors and actresses?
David:
Not much difference, but there is one small exception. In Thailand there is this hierarchy level of respect you have going on. In Hollywood, you're not only dealing with actors and actresses, you're dealing with agents and managers. You have to be careful because not only don't you piss of the actor but also their agent and manager. In Thailand its very different, for example when I speak to Ananda who is the biggest actor here in Thailand, I go out with Ananda we go out and have drinks or catch a movie. It's easy, in Hollywood its much more complicated.
I have a story where one of my friends who wanted an actor who had an agent who is was so difficult that when he asked to talk to the manager directly, the agent said "if you go to the manager, you will never work with this agency again." That's the challenge in Hollywood.
Aaron:
Finally do you have any advice for people out there who want to get into the entertainment business?
David:
Number one, go get a complete mental and physical examination because you are crazy (joking).
Learn the business, the major difference between 20 years ago and now is that you have to have a clear and firm understanding of the business that you are entering. You can't just be a guy who can play guitar, you have to understand what you mean in the equation. Like how valuable are you? You know how to go in and ask about things that are important with your business dealings. - If you're a creative person.
If you are a business person, START NOW!! And throw away most of what was going on before with the exception of a few things. I tell people that I think that this is the best and the worst time for the music business because technology (filesharing etc..) have made it difficult to for traction. BUT it has made access to your fans much easier, back when I was coming up you couldn't do that. The record companies controlled your access to the audience. You can put something up on Youtube and get 25 million people viewing what you just did in your bedroom. Understand how to do that and you would be very valuable to the entertainment industry.
If you were a guitar player and singer and you weren't very good and you manage to get 20 million people to watch your video on Youtube, any record executive would tackle you before you left the room.
This is the end of the very long interview I had with David Allen Jones, I hope you all enjoyed reading it and maybe even learnt something from it. A big thank you to David Allen Jones for spending a large amount of time contributing to this!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Peace
Aaron Koo
www.akooxp.com
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