Career and Living. Heaven or Hell (a great Black Sabbath song from my youth).  

Scott Galloway who is a respected public figure, educator and entrepreneur has stated many times: “Don’t follow your passion in business, do what you’re good at”. He further goes on to say that wealthy people typically make their money in smelting or freight forwarding.

So my question is, how does a person who is young interpret this statement when Scott is in the media all the time and an educator at NYU? 

Do you get good at something because it’s naturally there? Do you get good at something because you are passionate about it? Do you get good at something because you put the time in to learn?  

Rick Rubin will tell you to follow your creativity and passions and maybe work is just work. Work is there to support your income and maybe your passion develops into something people are willing to pay for.  

I was in the music industry for a long time and I sold a lot of different bands to retail when it was still there. I sold in the first Tragically Hip EP when they were living in Kingston. I sold in the first and second Whitney Houston albums. I sold Dolly Parton records including the one she made with Kenny Rogers. That record was a huge success.  

I sold the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing which sold a million copies in Canada. That was unheard of. I had a marketing guy at Sam the Record Man tell me my label sucked because we would not give them a discount on that same record. At 21 years old, Sam himself kicked me out of their flagship store because he hated the label I worked for. Sam was an icon in the business but there he was, shitting all over me and kicking me out of the store. I didn’t know what was going on and felt humiliated. He had some personal issues with a past management executive and took it out on me.  

I never forgot that moment.  

I walked in every week and sold new releases. Some were from releases we had signed in Canada. Most were from all over the world.  

Nobody when it comes to music, creative or business has a crystal ball. Nobody.  

You can build a business model and forecasts and they never go in the direction you think. Some people blow up fast and have great success without years of experience or grind. It just happens easy. Some people grind for years to get seen and have a successful career. Usually the latter happens.  

I played golf with Noah Kahan a couple of years ago. We were sitting on the back deck of a house on the property, hitting balls into the range area. We had a fire going and were just chilling. I had only met him that day and was introduced to him through his management team who I knew from my golf days.

Earlier that same morning, I played with Michael Jordan and was standing on the tee box trying to A.) not cold top it B.) not crap my pants. It was a surreal moment. He is the greatest basketball player of all time. Maybe the greatest athlete of all time. His work ethic unprecedented.  

I came off 18 and walked over to meet Noah and his brother Simon as we were going to play that afternoon.  

So 36 holes in a day. First 18 with MJ and the second 18 with Noah Kahan.  

Noah was just coming off tour and his career was beyond massive playing multiple nights at Fenway etc. Back to the deck and fire: Noah told me that he was ready to give up music and thought he would never actually make it. He put Stick Season up on social media one night and didn’t think it was very good and was going to take it down the next morning. Then he woke up and his world changed. He is a fucking great musician, songwriter and an incredible dude.  

What if Noah didn’t chase his passion and build his career on his terms? What if he didn’t post that video? 

The biggest takeaway from all my meetings and time spent with MJ is his ability to live in the moment. I listened to him talk to a top college player on the range and his main goal with giving guidance was to be completely present. No matter what.  

The shot you missed. Gone. The error you make. Gone. The drive you hit in the water. Gone. That is not how I have lived my life.  

I let work consume me to the point where it was all I thought about.  

Brutal.  

I do believe you should go after something you believe in. You will get good at it. You need to put the time in to be the best you can be. You do need to surround yourself with like minded people who have drive and grit. True grit. And I mean true grit because that is very rare.  

Decide what you want to do because you love it. Then you will get good at it. Then people find you. Then people talk about you.  

Live in the present moment and DON’T be consumed with tomorrow.  

Trust me on that because life will blow by you.  

I have done a lot of cool shit in my life. Built three brands from thin air. Met a lot of great people who believe in me. Met some people who straight up fucked me over.  

But I let life and living get consumed by my work and my job. I do believe strongly in what I do and what we do. I do know we have zero control of the outcome of how long it may take.  

The reality though, are you living each day fully in the present moment?  

Our past haunts us. 

Our future worries us sometimes. 

The present is what makes living actually living. It’s super cliche but it’s true.  

I learned only on a motorcycle what feeling present felt like because you have no choice. You need to be present when on the road. Then when I got off the bike it was back to the future or lugging around my backpack full of my past.  

Fuck that.  

This FR. journey is a road that has taken my whole life to get to because I was never fully present or living my life.  

I couldn’t figure out why until recently.  

Because I would not stay true to my beliefs and values and made compromises to build a business that wasn’t a reflection of what I am really good at.  

Fuck that. Do what you’re good at. Do what you believe in.  

But ultimately, live your life and really live it.  

And Sam getting mad at me as a kid—was he wearing an invisible backpack that day with his past in it or worried about tomorrow? Probably a bit of both.  

Dolly who you see in the photograph here, was one of most in the present moment people I have ever met. Thanked every one of us for working on her records and took the time to really show that appreciation.

Thanks for reading. Now it’s time to go live my life, believe in what we are building and be like Mike.  

Peace 

- ralph | fr.