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Inspiration Bomb – John Watson

It’s no secret that here in Australia, there are far more good musicians than there are good music managers. And as for GREAT music managers? You could kinda count them on two hands.

Over the past decade, I’ve been fortunate enough to know and learn from most of them, few more so than John Watson, founder of Eleven Music. As one of the masterminds behind the rather extraordinary success of bands like Silverchair, Gotye, Birds of Tokyo and Missy Higgins, he’s a pretty smart cookie.

John is notoriously generous with his advice, and can spin a tale like the best of them, which is why we’re featuring him as our Inspiration Bomb “Creative Hero” for this week.

Regardless of what industry you’re in, I know you’re gonna get something from hearing what John has to say, because at the very least, it’s a rare insight into how the mind of an incredibly successful person works. Which, in fact, is one of the things that is so interesting about John’s story: he didn’t begin his “career” with the intention of being a massively  successful/stupidly-wealthy person. As you will hear, he just followed the things he loved, one after the other. You gotta agree, it’s worked out pretty swell for him!

And lucky us! We also have author/illustrator/BHB Conference Speaker Rachel Power in the hotseat as our Creative Bomb artist for this month! Boy, does she know her way around a beautiful mind-map! You’re gonna love it.

So on that note,

Get into it and please make sure you add your comments below. We want to hear from you!

CB and the BHB Crew x

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  • Clare Bowditch

    Oops, sorry. Our comments broke for this one. When we re-booted it, they vanished! Vamoosh! Oh well. Feel free to add new ones though!

  • A.J. Steel

    My fave Bomb so far! Just real world honest words. Been at this dream for awhile now and I can see where I’ve made some mistakes and where I’ve done some things right, but perhaps probably didn’t really trust it. Thanks for all your work CB!

  • Nicole Brownlee

    This was great! The 4 burners. I love that analogy. I have been running on one for a while now (business/work) and striking that balance is, as John says, incredibly difficult. I also love his comment about starting small and starting local. So, so so true. Love it, as always you have rocked my world, Clare and the BHB team!!

  • Catherine Mollica

    Re: the “networking” thing, I prefer to think of connections. To me the idea of connections is more reciprocal, and based instead on genuine understanding and communication 🙂

    • Nicole Brownlee

      Yes Catherine, I was thinking Connections also. This is how I describe what I do.

  • Freya Bennett

    Start small, start local. That’s the best piece of advice and one I need to remember.
    I also hate the word Networking because it suddenly makes “drinks with new people”, a pressure situation. You suddenly feel like you have to be INTERESTING, SMART, DIFFERENT, TALENTED and when all these pressures come into your head, it makes it hard to be genuine. As a bit of an introvert, I find it particularly hard being asked to go to a Networking event and I end up shy in the corner. Better to make take the pressure off and just meet people.

  • Yeah, I never really use the word ‘networking’. I think about it more as …developing really open, honest & trustworthy relationships like John Watson. This is my first comment about all these amazing Inspiration Bombs… thankyou Clare & your wonderful team of workers… you have no idea how much “Big Hearted Business” is impacting my life .. 🙂 xx

  • Lisa

    Yes, loved this Inspiration bomb today. Networking=finding the story or message behind the person + caffeine. Traditional networking is usually so forced. I am an introvert too which is sometimes makes it harder. Really related to the 4 burner analogy too.

  • Kiri Bear

    In the same way as marketing is actually about telling true stories, networking is actually about building community. It’s about taking up your position on the web of humanity and connecting people with each other and with ideas. It doesn’t have to be all about pushing your own barrow.