Today on the show, I have fellow Rutgers alum Jason Nelson (@essentialjasonnelson). He is a self employed entertainer who left his nine to five in order to pursue his career. A high-energy entertainer, Jason has been sharing his love of music with the world ever since he was a child.

In this episode, we really hone in on what it means to find your strengths, the things that you love, how to monetize them and how to really triple down on what it takes to brand yourself to build a clientele.

Passion is an intense feeling, a strong emotion, and it can drive a person to achieve great heights. Jason did exactly that, and proved himself right.

In this episode:

• A random fun fact Jason learned in his twenties
• Jason has always been passionate about music, playing piano + sax as a kid
• He realized that Rutgers was the school he would fit in
• Jason commutes 2 hours each way just to go to work
• An opportunity came to play piano and sax at his first wedding event
• Jason learned to read music + he also have the gift of playing by ear
• After the wedding gig, he reached out to different entertainment companies to play at events and gain exposure
• He grew up as a perfectionist, but soon realized that it’s not always about the music, it’s about the personality that people book you for
• Word of mouth for small businesses will forever be the number 1 referral source
• Prepared to quit his day job but then the pandemic happened
• By September of 2020, Jason pursued his love of music and finally quit his job
• Despite the fluctuations in the entertainment business, Jason remained optimistic
• Jason built his brand around his personality + being his authentic self
• By switching his brand from musician to entertainer, Jason felt more confident + his career really took off
• It's never been about proving haters wrong, it's about proving myself right
• Jason uses a few different tools to keep his financials organized and ready for the tax season
• To figure out your rate, research what the market price is and what people in the industry are charging for
• Doing things for free will always work out in the end, if there is an end goal
• It's really important to find the balance no matter how successful you might be

To learn more and connect with Jason, head over to:

On his Website

On Instagram

On Facebook

On LinkedIn

On Spotify

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Host: Tinah (Tina with an H) Ogalo @tinah.ogalo

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