2 Types of People Every Artist Needs in Their Lives

One… someone to push you down.  And two… someone to pick you up.  And I mean, reeeeally push you down.  And reeeeally pick you up.

And by the way, this applies to a startup company (especially, in the music biz) or just life in general.  I am convinced, if you truly want to grow, then you need that person in your life that’s going to annoyingly and frustratingly poke a hole in every grand idea you have.  You need that person that lands two left jabs followed by the devastating right hook in every conversation.  You need that person to tell you, “it’s not good enough.”  You need that person that’s going to piss you off.

On the flip side, taking a beating like that isn’t fun.  And it can (and probably will) cut your confidence by about 72% and make you feel like you don’t know what’s up or what’s down.  That’s where the second person comes in.  These are hard to find.  It’s easy to tear someone down.  It’s hard, and scary, and risky, to believe in someone enough to pick them up.  My advice is to find the good cop before you find the bad one.  You’re going to need him or her.

At the end of the day, it’s about your gut and your instinct.  Trust it.  Follow it.  And if you feel as confident in yourself and your ideas as you should, then don’t be afraid to challenge them or have them challenged.