We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ricky Frable. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ricky below.

Hi Ricky , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I read a Bill Burr quote a while back that was something along the lines of:

“There’s no risk when you go after a dream. There’s a tremendous amount to risk to playing it safe.”

On April Fools Day of this past year, I quit my job in tech sales. Not only did I quit, but I turned down a six-figure promotion to pursue a path where the thought of making that kind of money is basically a pipe dream.

Few would call that decision risky. Most would call it plain stupid.

To me, it makes sense. What risk is there in going after what you want?

Worse case scenario, I lose all my money, I have to start over working that same job I hate and saving that money all over again and it sucks but c’est la vie. I can live with that.

What’s much scarier to me is not having the balls to leave that job. Staying on that path doing something you don’t like because the change is too hair-raising and the stability is too comforting.

And then 20 years go by and it’s too late. You’re in too deep. You have kids, a mortgage, credit card debt. You’ve taken the golden handcuffs and they’ve tightened so much around your wrists that they’ve become a part of your body. And that can be a fine life for a lot of people, its just not for me.

It’s too early to tell whether or not this particular risk will pay off, but honestly, if in a year from now I have to get a job and do this whole song and dance all over again, well then, brother, so be it. I’m in it for the long haul.

Ricky , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I run a youtube channel/music group called MacBook Orchestra.

Mainly we do animated music videos.

Think of it like Adult Swim meets the Gorillaz.

It’s a good blend of humor, music, storytelling, and art. The whole thing is definitely really niche and weird but that’s whats so cool about it.

We’re definitely unabashed in the fact that it is so different and (hopefully) that’s what sets apart from everybody moving forward.

Go check out “Books for Sale” on youtube. That should give you a good feel for what we do.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As much as this is going to make me sound like a psycho, “48 Laws of Power” has helped me immensely in my day-to-day.

The last chapter in the book about “assuming formlessness” has been a guiding pillar for me. Often times we run into contradicting advice so it is important to remain fluid.

Like someone will say “patience is a virtue” and then another will say “you need have a sense of urgency”.

Well which one is it, dude? Should I be patient or urgent?

And the answer is, of course, it depends on your situation. You gotta make that call yourself.

“Laws of circumstance are abolished by new circumstances” – Napoleon

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think for a lot of creatives out there, there’s this narrative of “just focus on the art, and the money will come”.

I’ve definitely fallen victim to that but it’s like, alright dude I can’t eat likes on TikTok, I need to make some money here.

Obviously, in a creative field, the money will not come as quickly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look at your craft from a business perspective.

It’s like, yeah, I actually do want to make money doing this, and I do have a plan for doing that. No, I do not want to go back to working in corporate America.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://macbookorchestra.com
• Instagram: @macbookorchestra
• Youtube: @macbookorchestra

Image Credits

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