S6E1: Pete Ellison — Assembly Music Shows & Show Operations
These are show notes taken from an audio interview.
To listen to the actual interview, please use the player above.
This week I talk to musician and school assembly performer Pete Ellison about how he started his very unique school shows and how he keeps all his show booking and client info straight!
Pete Ellison is the founder of One World Rhythm, which provides live, interactive, musical entertainment for schools, libraries, churches, and other private events. Their show combines multimedia with live instrumentation, even placing instruments into the hands of the students to create a unique, interactive musical experience for everyone involved.
Pete has studied for multiple years with Drum Circle Music, and is a Vic Firth Educational Artist. He’s also founded other notable groups like The Black Knights Drum Corps, which is a nonprofit youth organization in Burbank, California, and he was a founding member of the Southern California Percussion Alliance which serves over 3,000 youth percussionists each year.
In addition to this, he’s also created Show Operations, the ultimate show contact and booking system for entertainment professionals, which pretty much allows you to ditch your spreadsheet and Rolodex in favor of a more intuitive system.
Sponsors:
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Success Quote
Job security is not the job you go to each day or the time clock that you punch. Job security is the skill set you develop along your life’s journey and that will always give you job security. It’s the things you know and can do. — Pete Ellison
Show Operations
• Tells what Show Operations is and what he was trying to solve in creating it.
• It’s basically a system that keeps all your client, show, and book-keeping info all in one place. It’s kind of like a virtual assistant.
• It’s browser-based, so all your data is stored in the cloud. You have access to your data wherever you have access to the internet.
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Failure Moment
Made a cultural faux pas performing at a Jewish Chabad candle-lighting.
Favorite Success
Winning a bid to work for Radio Disney.
Biggest Professional Challenge
Getting the word out about his business.
Other Topics Covered
• The difference in mindsets of entrepreneurs vs. those that punch a clock.
• What is job security really?
• Tells how he started his business, how he tried different markets for his drumming idea and eventually decided on the children market.
• Don’t be consumed by a failure.
• Tells how he took his idea and pitched it to schools and libraries. He had the added challenge that nobody was currently doing what he was wanting to do.
• How he keeps control over 200 kids with percussion instruments in their hands.
• When you give kids something to do, they’re not doing things that you don’t want them to do. It’s replacing undesired actions with desired ones.
Parting Advice
Go out there and take action! You’re not getting any younger.
Recommended books and resources:
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Resource:
Books:
Be Our Guest! by The Disney Institute
Dan Kennedy books on Marketing