Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandro Garces.
Hi Alejandro, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
As a child, I’ve always wanted to do something relevant in society, for my family, for music. I don’t know, but maybe this feeling was triggered by the influence of some family members who were entrepreneurs. The 2000s, while I was in college studying music, was a perfect breeding ground for music students like me who decided to lead the view toward art innovation and the creation of music. In those years, my business approach was notably different, and I didn’t care about the music business. Instead, I used to follow my instincts, and I preferred (following the pianist Bill Evans philosophy) being discovered by an artist’s angel investor who eventually could “knock on my closet door” where I was rehearsing my songs. Naturally, this never happened. It wasn’t until 2017 and after full immersion in the vast ocean of entrepreneurship bibliographic references that I started to see consistency, efficiency, and organization in my job, especially when I discovered the customer development thesis from the author “Steve Blank” and his remarkable approach to entrepreneurship. This journey could be resumed by the 3 milestones that I think I’ve gone through to reach the point I’m currently at. The first one was when I realized I assumed everybody could listen to my music, a mix of several genres across the continent.
The second big moment was when I read an article explaining how Demand and supply laws govern any market, including the music market. This caused a shock in my brain since every source of information and all the data they provided confirmed the worst scenario that I could stay in it. “A bear market,” which means there was a massive number of bands trying to get traction in the music market and, even worst, facing a low audience demand effect triggered by these scary “twilight zone” episodes like the Covid-19 pandemic.
The third moment was hopeful in many ways: I discovered all those Disruptive Markets theories appearing everywhere in this new entrepreneurship universe from all those interesting books, articles, and YouTube videos that I was interested in. Author Tony Ulwick and his Jobs especially attracted me to Be Done theory. My brain just blew up after watching some YouTube videos from his page. Basically, these people encourage other entrepreneurs to “Create” an unprecedented product that potentially can attract new audiences/markets when facing bear markets, and I’m currently following that line.
Although my main task as an entrepreneur doesn’t finish yet (and every entrepreneur should set this finishing as a goal), nowadays. I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel since there are tons of tools available for us out there that you use to get and analyze your “data” to make better business decisions. I’ve also given more room to the “the client” component represented by my audiences. And although it is more natural for musicians to start a business building the musical product itself. Trying to understand the audiences in a different way it’s been a notorious positive change in this journey, and if you remember, “Iridium,” the tech-communication company that failed in 1999 with those brick-sized phones. I promise you won’t underestimate how important the client is in your business development. Anyways, for now, I’m accepting this bull market out there though I always try to adapt my goals to this reality, you know, making sure my feet are firmly on the ground.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It is not an easy thing, of course! I believe resolving problems is essentially the core business in the early stages of any entrepreneurship, including mine. I could provide you with an extended “issues list” I’ve been facing inside the music market. Still, I would be more than glad to share with you probably the most interesting one from my experience: facing results that were far removed from my expectations (often exaggerated in an optimistic approach) after launching my music material as a band. If you are a genuine entrepreneur, you may have passed through this enormous issue at least one time, but I think it is crucial to take your time to:
1. Quickly Accept that your gold product (a band & its music, in my case) didn’t get the traction that it was supposed to get in your market (the audiences, in my case)
2. Overcome the emotional impact or pain that it could cause to you and
3. Iterate or pivot your business model quickly and without recrimination.
For example, if you discover that your income model doesn’t work, you have to encourage yourself to change it. Why hesitate to make a change that could impact your business positively? Another example from my field: If the song is bad, it is bad, and I accept what the people decide. Again, this is just one problem from that list, but at the end of the day, you have to consider this is about resolving problems one at a time, and the faster you learn, the faster you move forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am Alejandro Garces Colombian music composer and guitarist based on Nasvhille. My project is a World Music Band, and it is called SINUFONICA.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://proyectoneopel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sinufonica/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdhPNgl2jhClJuRb03JiaZQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5HrXJ9Ot4Amc0fBY5DUS3p?si=BwnAdwkYQ1ORvbesBmpJmA
Image Credits
Mayanthi Jayawardena – Alejandro Rising Hand Photo Sean Mcgee – Sinufonica Band at Recording Studio Photos Mateo Osorio Eniat222 Howler Monkey Album Cover Photo
