Two months ago I made a change in my online strategy. I decided to re-split one of my blogs into two and start a third. I made an announcement at the time but want to be sure to point it out again. There’s no reason to write if I don’t have readers, and no way to gain readers without an invitation. So, consider this my invitation and a bit of shameless self-promotion too.
Here’s a link to the original announcement where I give insights into the content of each blog. You can also read about them at my online hub on netvibes at http://netvibes.com/stevegrossman. In addition to quick
descriptions and links, you’ll also find an extensive bio and my friendfeed page which tracks everything I do online.
What I didn’t mention was that I have a fourth blog at work too. If you’re an employee of Manheim, take a sec to check out All Things Inspections through Mainstreet.
So I invite you to check out my blogs and be encouraged. And drop me a line if you’d like me to discuss anything specific.
Thanks for reading.
I’m moving me again! Well, part of me.
For the past several months I’ve been experimenting with using this blog for any and all thoughts I had on any number of subjects. And while there have been advantages to this approach, I’ve come to realize that I’m serving neither myself nor my readers well. So, I’m moving part of me back to my other blog: The
Advantaged.
WhyIFailed.com
My writing and linking on Why I Failed.com will focus exclusively on the artistic community – or as a friend likes to call them: “creatives.”
And I know you know who you are.
It continues to be my passion to see you succeed as you are meant to succeed. And it continues to be my belief that most of you have no clue what it takes to succeed in business – and the entertainment industry is indeed a business. And this blog is all about business and success principles you can apply in your quest to reach your goals. You do have goals, don’t you?
Um, that’s lesson number one.
The Advantaged
My passion extends beyond the arts community and that’s what I’ll write about at The Advantaged. More specifically, I’ll write about business in general, manhood, marriage, Christ, technology, social networking and the society in which we live.
Why The Advantaged? Because we are, at least those of us who follow Christ. It’s my belief that we live in a fallen world, but we follow the One who created it. The One who knows its design, its workings and methods. And this One wants a personal relationship with us. Daily. In everything.
Seems like an advantage to me.
Visit me at The Advantaged for more.
I have my concerns, but for all the reasons eloquently written about in this piece, this is a great moment in American History. We are blessed.
America’s Bittersweet Change
Here’s what I do everyday:
In the fall of 2001, I was hired as a Tech Support Specialist at Manheim’s Inspection Solution. I’ve held many positions at the company, most recently product manager for our corporate inspection department. On August 7, 2008, I was asked to take full responsibility of Inspection Solution as manager.
Manheim is the world’s largest provider of auction and support services for the wholesale vehicle remarketing industry. We provide online and live marketplaces for automotive manufacturers, leasing & rental companies, dealers and wholesalers to buy and sell cars, trucks and a host of other things. We also finance the transactions and process the titles, as well as transport, recondition and yes, inspect the vehicles.
Across all our 90+ Operating Locations in North America, we inspect about 5 million vehicles per year. BUT, that doesn’t touch the approximately 20 million other vehicles that change hands outside of our facilities – dealer to dealer and person to person. Inspection Solution serves this niche. Through a network of small companies and independent contractors, Inspection Solution provides inspections for vehicles at dealerships. We take service requests, schedule and dispatch the appointments, collect the inspection data and deliver it to wherever it needs to go.
I’m blessed to be asked to lead this division. We have an amazing team of people and with the industry just now beginning to understand the power of online, we have the perfect combination of experience and expertise to capitalize on a booming segment in our industry.
The future looks bright.
This is how I learn.
I heard it once said that you can tell where a person will be in five years by two things: the books they read and the people they hang with. I’ve found it’s true.
I took full advantage of our team’s suggestions and read “How To Win Friends and Influence People”, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, “Wild At Heart” and dozens of others. These are the reasons I was able to move from music to the business world. In fact, the most influential transition book I read “What Color Is Your Parachute”, was recommended to me by a team leader.
Become a reader, it will change your life like it has mine.
The reasons I’m not in the music business anymore:
1994 was the beginning of the end. A few short months after winning the Academy of Country Music New Group of the Year award, the Gibson/Miller Band was done. Though I did work for several more years in the music business, my career never recovered.
Because I hadn’t been the “a-team session” drummer before the band and the band had never been a top selling act, I was left in an ambiguous middle ground. I thought that I’d quickly find work, but half the people in Nashville had forgotten about me while I was touring and the other half didn’t know the band had broken up. The result? Not much work.
I was in my late 30’s and at a crossroads. Down one path was building/rebuilding a music career and down the other was a BIG question mark. It took over two years of wrestling with myself and God until I realized it was time to move on. Though I had succeeded at working as a musician, I had ultimately failed to build a music business career.
More in my series on who I am. This time it’s pieces of my former life as a musician.
I worked as a drummer for 20 years and although I failed to reach my ultimate goals, I played in almost every state and several countries, worked TV/radio jingles, records and live shows and even won two awards (see below). I lived the life of a working musician and it was a dream come true.
I banged on everything I could from the time I walked and got my first set of drums when I was five. There was never anything else I did as well and never a question about whether I would pursue music as a career. It didn’t hurt that both my parents were musicians – trained music teachers in fact – and I took advantage of every opportunity to practice and play.
I attended the University of North Texas to put myself against the best in the country and graduated with a Bachelors in Jazz Performance in 1984. After a couple of years playing in top-40 bands in Dallas, my wife and I moved to Nashville when I got the gig with Russ Taff in 1986. This led to a long series of country, rock and christian gigs which kept me on and off the road for nearly all my career.
In the early 90’s while playing with the Sweethearts of the Rodeo, I had the opportunity to join a band called Twang Town. Lead by two successful writers, they were on the verge of being signed to Sony/Epic. I jumped at the chance to join this band that had amazing songs, killer players and a rock-n-roll attitude. A band that later became The Gibson/Miller band.
I say that The Gibson/Miller Band was an “almost famous” act. We had numorous top 20 songs, but never cracked the top 10. We toured all over, but never headlined arenas (opened for lots of acts though). What we DID do though was establish a loyal following of people who wanted rock-n-roll country about 2 years before it really took off. This led to our winning the 1994 Academy of Country Music New Group of the Year award – a crowning achievement for the band and myself.
Recording:
- Out of the Grey – Out of the Grey
- Gibson/Miller Band – Where There’s Smoke
- Gibson/Miller Band – Red, White and Blue Collar
- Kick In The Asphalt Band – No Bull
- Blue Miller – Blue
- John Cox – Sunny Day
- Eli – And Now The News
- India Arie – Acoustic Soul
- India Arie – Voyage to India
Awards:
- 1993 Academy Of Country Music New
- Group Of The Year — Gibson/Miller Band
- 2001 – 7 Grammy Award Nominations for
- India Arie’s Acoustic Soul
- 2002 Grammy Award Winner – Best
- Urban Contemporary Album for India
- Arie’s Voyage to India
Touring:
- Russ Taff
- Kim Boyce
- Paul Smith
- Cody
- Sweethearts of the Rodeo
- Gibson/Miller Band
- Kick In The Asphalt Band
- Trisha Yearwood (for about 5 minutes…)
- Sisters Wade
- Charlie McClain
- Shelby Lynne
Continuing the sharing of content from my upcoming “About Me” Google pages site, here’s me as a dad:
Jill and I have two kids; our 17 yr old son Kayce (Case) and our 12 yr old daughter Jennah.
Kayce is watchful, strong, throughtful and engaging. He is also an amazing drummer, dancer and actor.
Jennah is pure spirited, fearless and creative. She’s absolutely fearless on the computer and a captivating actress, dancer and singer.
We are blessed to have them as kids and friends and truly enjoy spending time with them as often as possible. This does not mean however, that we are not parents, because I/we take that role very seriously. It is our job to steward the growth of our children towards effective and successful adulthood and that can’t be done by being a big “buddy”. We will have succeeded if they both see and go further that we have.
This is why we homeschool. Though Jill and I are devoted Christians, it is the secondary reason behind our desire to give them an education that prepares them for success. An education designed to prepare them for the future of work by teaching them how to learn.
Today’s college graduates are likely to have seven jobs in multiple fields, some of which haven’t even been invented yet.Success in that marketplace (which is here today) will be based on the ability to explore, learn and adapt to ideas and technologies. It will also be based on the ability to create and synthesis ideas – a true knowledge and information based society. I’d like to say we saw all this coming 10 years ago when we started homeschooling, but we didn’t. I thank God we made that decision.
Day two of content building for my Google pages site. Today, who I am as a husband.
I am blessed to be married to a righteous babe who is captivatingly beautiful inside and out. We’ve been married over 22 years and have the wounds, wisdom and love to show for it – I wouldn’t trade the years for anything.
Jill and I met in the music scene in Dallas and eventually wound up in a band together – she’s a gifted singer (and actress). After working together every night for 6 months, we went on our first date. and were engaged 26 days later. 3 1/2 months later,we were married.
She is a woman full of youthful joy, wisdom and compassion as any of those that know her will attest. She homeschools our two kids, produces and acts at Lamplighters Theatre Company in Smyrna, TN and mentors and teaches a huge circle of awesome ladies.
We’ve had our share of difficulties and tragedies over the years but have fought our guts out to have a healthy marriage. We’re huge advocates for marriage, consider it to be the most important thing in our lives and encourage everyone we can to make it theirs too.
Here’s what I know as a husband.
First, our one simple rule – divorce is not an option. And we’re not the only ones who think so. When asked how he and Jada Pinkett have stayed married in Hollywood, here’s what Will Smith said:
“Divorce can’t be an option – it’s really that simple. If you just remove the option… because, if you have the option, one day that person’s gonna make you wanna divorce.”
Second, I’ve learned that Jill’s level of happiness and security is directly proportional to my strength, passion and faith as a man.
I’ve begun a Google pages site as an “About Me” section for this an other pages I have online. It’s built around the series of words I use to describe who I am.As I build out the content, I’ll share each section here. First up, Man.
Above all else, I’m a man. And though I find myself falling short much of the time, this is a role I take seriously. My definition? Leader, provider and protector – as a husband, father, businessman and member of my community (local and global). These are the traits I was born to manifest.
It’s difficult. It’s meant to be.
Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be discouraged,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go – Joshua 1:9
I hope to live out:
Strength - The poet Carl Sandburg wrote these words of Abraham Lincoln: “Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock and soft as drifting fog, who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect.”
Passion - “Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
Faith – Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high-achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
