Last month, I wrote a post on taking the driver’s seat and grasping control of my career and artistic direction.  Well, sure enough, I did just that in the last thirty days and achieved some groundbreaking results.

Since leaving my previous agency last month, I started a pop trio called Cool Silly with two of my closest friends in Taiwan who I had previously written music with. The idea for this group came about when I saw a poster for an upcoming nationwide songwriting contest which would require live performances in each round of the contest.  I figured the three of us could 1. write a song for this contest without any problems, and 2. put on a pretty decent show.

Well, one month later, the results are in:

1. We are number one in the country (hear our #1 song below).
2. We have performed in front of 100,000 people.
3. We have accrued over 3,000 views on our live performance video on youtube.
4. We have our own concert lined up at the end of December.
5. We are performing on a TV show later this week.
6. We have an official band website (designed by yours truly ) and close to 500 fans on our Facebook page.

This all happened in the span of one month…

What is key to all these milestones is that we achieved them with zero financial or agency backing a.k.a. we did everything ourselves with the help of some amazing friends. I guess desperate times really do call for desperate measures.  Sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone and believe in yourself and challenge your limits.  A few of the things that got my drive going:

1. Leaving my previous agency i.e. no more income.
2. Fast-approaching deadline of songwriting contest when I first heard about it (we wrote and recorded the song in literally a few days).
3. The personal satisfaction and inspiration of gaining achievement upon achievement based solely on one’s own hard work and efforts.

To-be-achieved goals for Cool Silly:

1. Break the 1,000 fans mark on our Facebook page.  Add us!
2. Hit the radio airwaves.
3. Release our own album next year.
4. Start (and maintain) a youtube TV show (check).

And finally, here is the song that garnered us all the above achievements:

Bottom line: Get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in an area you believe you have authority in! You won’t regret it!