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Geekwhat.com

A blog about music, technology, and financial investing


Cool Silly, the Brainchild of Tony Chung and Taking the Driver’s SeatNovember 24 2009

Last month, I wrote a post on taking the driver’s seat and grasping control of my career and artistic direction.  Well, sure enough, I did just that in the last thirty days and achieved some groundbreaking results.

coolsilly

Since leaving my previous agency last month, I started a pop trio called Cool Silly with two of my closest friends in Taiwan who I had previously written music with. The idea for this group came about when I saw a poster for an upcoming nationwide songwriting contest which would require live performances in each round of the contest.  I figured the three of us could 1. write a song for this contest without any problems, and 2. put on a pretty decent show.

Well, one month later, the results are in:

  1. We are number one in the country (hear our #1 song below).
  2. We have performed in front of 100,000 people.
  3. We have accrued over 3,000 views on our live performance video on youtube.
  4. We have our own concert lined up at the end of December.
  5. We are performing on a TV show later this week.
  6. We have an official band website (designed by yours truly ;) ) and close to 500 fans on our Facebook page.

This all happened in the span of one month…

What is key to all these milestones is that we achieved them with zero financial or agency backing a.k.a. we did everything ourselves with the help of some amazing friends. I guess desperate times really do call for desperate measures.  Sometimes you just have to get out of your comfort zone and believe in yourself and challenge your limits.  A few of the things that got my drive going:

  1. Leaving my previous agency i.e. no more income.
  2. Fast-approaching deadline of songwriting contest when I first heard about it (we wrote and recorded the song in literally a few days).
  3. The personal satisfaction and inspiration of gaining achievement upon achievement based solely on one’s own hard work and efforts.

To-be-achieved goals for Cool Silly:

  1. Break the 1,000 fans mark on our Facebook page.  Add us!
  2. Hit the radio airwaves.
  3. Release our own album next year.
  4. Start (and maintain) a youtube TV show (check).

And finally, here is the song that garnered us all the above achievements:

Why ‘The Big Bang Theory’ is So SuccessfulOctober 23 2009

Big Bang Theory cast

One of my favorite TV shows is ‘The Big Bang Theory’.  The show is currently in season three and is getting more and more popular with each season.  I think of it as the modern day Star Trek.  The show airs on CBS weekly and basically revolves around the lives of four geek buddies, from Wikipedia:

“Set in Pasadena, California, the show concerns two male Caltech prodigies in their twenties, one an experimental physicist (Leonard) and the other a theoretical physicist (Sheldon), who live across the hall from an attractive blonde waitress with show-biz aspirations (Penny). Leonard and Sheldon’s geekiness and

On Success and Taking the Driver’s SeatOctober 18 2009

career

For the last two or so years, I have been signed to various entertainment agencies here in Asia.  It’s been a very interesting ride and I have learned many things along the way.  I have released an official Mandopop album (now available on iTunes), appeared in a handful of television shows, and done many radio interviews.  Unfortunately, the way it works here in Taiwan is that your agency basically owns you and you wait for them to supply gigs for you.  As you can imagine, it can sometimes be a long waiting period.

After all these experiences, one of the most important lessons I learned is that 1. I need to know what I truly want, and 2. I need to take the driver’s seat and take control of my career. This revelation comes after finally understanding more about myself.  I have realized that the only person that can most accurately execute my artistic vision is myself.  I believe that all the most successful and visionary artists have a good sense and control of their career and artistic direction, case in point: Ryan Leslie.

I have recently moved on from my most recent entertainment agency contract and for the first time in two years, I am starting fresh on my own t

Committing to the EndOctober 6 2009

I have a problem.

Yes I will admit it.  Perhaps you share the same problem…

commitment

What is my problem?

Committing to the end.

Now I am referring specifically to ambitions and ventures in life.  In the past few years, I have created or delved in several projects, including the following:

I Prefer Success (But Only After Failure)September 29 2009

One of my favorite posters/quotes of all time:

nikeair

I prefer success only when it is following several failed attempts.

Why?

  1. Like cold Gatorade after a game of basketball. Success tastes that much sweeter, because you worked your tail off and overcame failure to reach the final milestone.
  2. Become a pro. You have a much better chance at sustaining that success long term, because you have much stronger knowledge of what doesn’t work due to your experiences in failing.
  3. Makes life interesting. Imagine a life where you succeed at everything on the first attempt by default… it would be boring and totally uninteresting.  For us competitive folks, there would be no incentive.

As I wrote earlier about finding 10,000 ways that don’t work, I still believe that trying and failing is the only route to long term success. Sometimes we care too much about saving face and make conservative decisions in life to avoid failure and embarrassment.  Well I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Trying is believing.  Most people will believe but never try.

Give it a shot!  Carpe diem and no regrets!