This is how Christina Perri, singer of the (amazing) smash song Jar of Hearts, and my friend Barrett Yeretsian became famous overnight and what you can learn from their success.
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I recently wrote a column titled "The Secret to Success for Artists and Creatives" where I revealed that true financial and personal success comes from creating. That is, if you are an actor, musician, writer, director, sculptor, graphic designer, or what I simply call an artist, the only way to succeed is to stop aspiring -- talking, hoping, wishing, and dreaming -- and start creating.
Last week I received a call at 10:30 at night that reminded me just how important using the other 8 hours to create really is. "Rob, you're not going to believe this..." is how the call started. Was I his one phone call? Did he need bail money? No and no. Turns out he was becoming famous overnight...
The call was from Barrett Yeretsian -- a friend of mine for several years. I've been a huge fan of his for a long time. He's an amazing musician, drummer, song writer, and producer. He's an artist with a head for business. He was one of the first people to read a draft copy of my book The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose. In fact, his insights into the business of music helped me write the "Music Cre8tor Channel" in the book. He's someone who has exploited (in a good way) his other 8 hours to create.
Over the past three months, Barrett has been working with Christina Perri, an unsigned singer-songwriter who has been serving coffee at a small cafe in Los Angeles and consistently creating and posting videos of herself on YouTube. She's been struggling for the past four years to make a name for herself, but all that changed suddenly last week. After hours, Barrett, his writing partner, and Christina have been tweaking and producing a rough version of a song Christina originally wrote.
Christina has a friend who has a friend who works for the show, So You Think You Can Dance. This friend liked the original version of Christina's song, "Jar of Hearts," but it wasn't quite ready. Now that Barrett, his writing partner, and Christina got "Jar of Hearts" where it needed to be, she took it back to So You Think You Can Dance. They loved it and decided to play it during last week's episode. That's when things got interesting for Barrett and Christina.
First, the song is amazing. It's raw, riveting, and emotional. She has an incredible voice and the production is haunting. After just a two minute version of the song airs, the internet lights up. People love the song. "Jar of Hearts" rockets into the top 20 songs on iTunes and becomes a top 10 download on Amazon. She has become one of the most searched for terms on Google. Christina Perri has since performed "Jar of Hearts" live on the CBS Early Show and is scheduled to perform live on So You Think You Can Dance. Barrett has been flooded with requests and is talking to several of the largest labels and publishing companies.
It took years of hard work and long hours in order for Christina and Barrett to experience those life-changing two minutes. They both had other jobs and commitments. They both made time to focus on their passion. They both stopped talking, dreaming, hoping, wanting, wishing, and aspiring. They both created.
Becoming famous overnight takes hard work. It takes talent. It takes perfecting your passion. It takes sacrifice. It takes saying no to things that might be fun right now to focus on things that might not pay off for years. It takes creating something unique and special. Becoming famous overnight takes time. When you get your two minutes will you be prepared?