From Seven Figures to Six and Beyond: The DEEPER™ Model

I’m going to tell you something most people don’t say out loud.

In 2006, I watched my bank account go from seven figures to six — and on its way down through the sixes, heading toward five figures. I had to make sure it didn’t hit zero.

I had a record label. I had it funded with support from BET founder Bob Johnson. I had artists on the Billboard charts — real chart positions, back when charting meant thousands to tens of thousands of physical CDs sold every week. That was significant. I was on the air at 105.9 Smooth Jazz, and we’d just beaten out a competitor’s morning segment in the demographic.

And then the bottom fell out.

The 1996 Telecom Act had quietly done its work. Overnight, radio stations that were worth $10 million became worth $80 million. Companies like Clear Channel — now iHeart — were consolidating everything. Playlists became homogenous. Consultants were strangling the ability for new music to reach the people who needed it.

At the same time, MP3.com was disrupting digital distribution before anyone had a real answer for it. Peer-to-peer services were decimating sales. And satellite radio, with the Sirius-XM merger, meant there was now one channel for jazz where there had been two.

I was reading Fast Company, Wired, Entrepreneur, Inc. I was learning everything I could. And I was coming to a conclusion I didn’t want to reach: the studio was closing. The label, as it was, couldn’t survive.

That was scary. But I learned something in that season that I carry with me every day:

There is a difference between something being scary and something being dangerous.

Fear and danger are not the same thing. A lot of people start panicking and showing fear in situations that are scary but not actually dangerous. When I finally got still and assessed the real situation, I realized I still had the most important thing — my brand, and the people I was providing therapy to.

I also had something else: a framework. My father always told me to write things down. So I sat down and got honest about what I was dreaming, what I was committed to, what my environment needed to look like, and what my plan was. That habit — writing it down, reflecting on it, iterating — is what I now call the DEEPER™ model.

The music industry disruption of 2006 is happening in your industry right now. Maybe it’s AI. Maybe it’s consolidation. Maybe it’s a business model you didn’t see coming.

Here’s what I know: necessity is the mother of improvisation. Of intention. Of creativity.

Don’t let scary become dangerous by waiting too long to identify your Dream. Be Engaged in it. Create the Environment around you that supports it and its growth. Create the written Plan, Execute upon it, and then Reflect on it so that you gain the wisdom in the entire process.

That’s going DEEPER™.

I love you! I love you! I love you! Always do your FLO,

MJ