Hi Friend 

Legendary film producer Jon Landau worked with a young sound engineer named Jimmy Iovine...

While producing the Bruce Springsteen record “Born To Run” in 1975.

(Jimmy Iovine is the guy who went on to create Interscope records. There he became friends with a young aspiring rapper named Dr Dre.

And together they went on to create a billion-dollar business selling headphones. Beats by Dre.)

While working on the Springsteen record, it became clear Bruce was a bit of a perfectionist…

Spending days trying to find the perfect drum sound.

They hit everything.

From plastic containers, studio walls…

Even rolled up carpet.

Each time they found the wrong sound, Springsteen shouted the same thing:

“Stiiiiick!”

After a few days of this, a young Iovine got sick of it.

“That’s it. I’ve had it. I’m done”. He cried.

That’s when Jon Landau pulled him to one side and whispered a few sentences to him…

Which changed his entire perspective and convinced him to go back into the studio.

What were these words?

He didn’t have to threaten him, that's for certain.

He said this to him;

“What is the job? Look at the bigger picture. What are we here for?

We’re here to help Bruce make the best record he can make.

That’s it. That’s the job.

We’re not here to make me happy or you happy.

We’re here to contribute to the project. And it’s his project.”

So what does this have to do with you Friend?

Every day you’ll interact with clients and customers of yours. There’ll be times when they are driving you insane.

Asking the same questions over and over again…

Asking why they aren’t seeing results when they’ve been to three whole sessions with you.

I’m sure you can picture these people in your head right now.

The thing is, as frustrating as these clients may be, they’re not there to make you happy…

It’s their project.

You’re there to help them become whatever it is they’ve hired you for.

Whether it’s to lose weight. Bulk up. Get on stage.

Whatever.

You’re there for them.

It’s worth thinking about and remembering this the next time you’re frustrated with a client.

Best wishes

Naomi.

Ps. I know the emails got a bit hectic last week. Thank you for your patience. If you’ve any questions, please feel free to reply.