We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brian Cox. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brian below.
Brian, appreciate you joining us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?
About four years ago, I was working mainly as a beat maker and music producer for hire outside my normal gig at work. I was always a creative person starting with writing stories and poetry in high school, then making beats and working in radio in college and just out of undergrad. Podcasting, as a medium, was starting to gain some momentun. I originally floated the idea of doing a podcast when I first got involved with radio around 2006, but balked at the time. So I decided to revisit the idea again. I knew I had to do my research before I took the deep dive, so I got to work. I researched the industry, the top shows, trends and most importantly, equipment and hosting providers. Because I worked in radio, I had an idea of how a format of show would look like. Additionally, I knew from my time radio and working on music, what kind of equipment I would need to pull off recording a quality podcast. In fact, I would say that I was better prepared than most because of that background.
I settled on an equipment list and set a goal to save up money to buy my equipment to start a podcast. It took me about 5 months to save up all of the money to buy my equipment. In between time, I spent my time doing more research, planning and outlining my show. I knew that I could talk two subjects all day long: sports and music. Doing my research, I found that the sports podcast space was way too saturated. So I settled on an idea: a podcast about old school hip-hop from the days of youth, adolesence, and young adulthood mainly the 90s and early 2000s. Retro culture was in and I wanted to capitalize on the nostalgia. I settled on my title “The Vault: Classic Music Reviews’ and formed my company IV Creative to be the umbrella which my podcast stood under. For the show, I talked to some friends from high school that had expressed interest starting a podcast as well. The idea of The Vault: Classic Music Reviews, believe it or not, stemmed from my experiences with those same group of friends and our discussions at the lunch table talking about hip-hop music. I laid the vision before them, showed them my outline and laid out the possibilities. They bought into it-hook, line and sinker.
I had all of the pieces in place. I knew that I wanted the podcast to lead to a greater wealth of opportunities, so I knew the presentation had to be in point. Leading up to launch, I worked on an intro and outro script, produced theme music for the podcast and made a recording schedule of shows and topics well into the next year. I contacted design professionals on Fiverr to make my podcast cover art and banner designs and I signed up for my first podcast hosting site. In August 2019, I launched with publishing The Vault: Classic Music Reviews Podcast with our first episode: A review of hip-hop group Mobb Deep’s album “Murda Muzik” as it hit its 20th anniversary. It was all downhill from there.
Brian, 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?
In undergrad, I majored in English with a emphasis in print journalism, but I also workded on the student-run radio and TV stations. In between classes, extracirricular activities and doing normal college student “things,” I also worked on music on the side. Aside from recording hip-hop music, I became a self-taught beatmaker and producer. After I graduated from college, I found that the prospects of finding a job in my field of study that could pay me a living wage were slim. So I worked as a temp employee for a few years while I worked on my creative passions outside of work; a few freelance writing gigs here and there, recording and making music and working with some small publications for hire. A year after college, I got a part-time job as a board operatior and tech producer for Radio One in the Washington DC area. In addition to those duties, I was also an news update anchor on the sports show that I worked on Monday-Friday evenings. I didn’t make much money, but I loved the environment of radio and the professionals I worked around. It was fun working in audio and being around creative people with a voice again.
Working in music making beats and producing put me around a lot of really dope and creative people. I also kept in touch with some of my radio and journalist colleagues over the years. As time went on, I had a passion for creating and helping those around me create and elevate their creativity. In starting my company, IV Creative, I wanted it to be much more than just a vehicle for a podcast. I wanted to provide an outlet where my talents could help those just like me. I often struggled as an aspiring creative to find the right kind of functional help without the guru nonsense to help me on my way. I became aware that my skills in producing and editing could make me an asset to those who needed my services. Furthermore, my journey as a creative was not just my story. It mirrored so many others like me whose story I hadn’t heard yet. Thus, IV Creative became a production house and multimedia consulting company; where podcasting sparked the idea, but my past experiences and knowledge bloomed the garden of possibilities.
With IV Creative, we are the hands-on producer and creative director of two podcasts: my own, ‘The Vault: Classic Music Reviews” and ‘Raw Sex Podcast’ with Dominique Marks, a relationship show that explores the dynamics of love, dating, sex, intimacy and more. We also offer full podcast editing and production for individual creators and businesses who wish to outsource production and editing due to time and/or capability constraints. We are currently building a growing portfolio of clients and are always seeking more. Utilizing my music background, we also lease and sell instrumental music to independent artists and creators who do not have the capability to self-produce music or the budget to license music from major production houses. Our music has placed on independent music albums, podcasts and web series over the last three years.
Lastly, I understood that the knowledge and process that I used to start my podcast from scratch could help a lot who were in my position that didn’t have my knowledge or experience. We are currently developing the “Podcast GPS’, a podcast DIY course that teaches the “how-to” to start podcast starting from ground zero with no experience, knowledge or equipment, right up until launch and just beyond. We will be offering a pre-recorded self-paced option, a recurring six-week live class with cohorts of 12 students and a one-on-one coaching option for those that need in depth consulting and planning. By 2023, we also plan to offer full podcasting and content creation marketing consulting to small and medium sized businesses and non-profits.
What I think sets me apart as a creative, podcaster, producer and coach is my level of knowledge and care. I treat every endeavor with extreme care and put my full effort into every project. My level of dedication matches my passion, which exists at a fever-level temperature. I treat my work and those I work for as a prized possession. I know first hand what it takes to do what we do as creatives, because I have lived it most of my life. Before the money, I did it for the love. As Simon Sinek said in his famous lecture: It’s not what I do. It’s why I do it.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Before I began to fund my business, I needed to research how much it would cost to buy the equipment I needed to start my podcast. So I researched many different sound and audio equipment providers and looked up all the equipment I needed: Mixer, studio headphones, microphones, mic stands, etc. At the time, before COVID, I had aspirations of doing an in-person podcast with three other co-hosts. During my research, I looked for the best reviewed equipment and the equipment that could accomplish my goal without me breaking the bank. I made an equipment list and set my budget and goal. I initially had a couple of hundred dollars to start, but I had to set up a plan to save consistenly and be discplined to reach that goal without dipping back into that pot for bills, gas or food.
I took advantage of technology, downloaded a few automated money savings apps (not going to name names, because they don’t pay me to, LOL!) and decided to set up a savings plan. Utilizing these apps, I set up rules and triggers to save me money without me even thinking about it. I would set up a rule to transfer money into my goals by rounding up the change on my purchases to the next dollar, a small set amount every 1st and 15th of the month and taking a small, but comfortable percentage on my direct deposit pay from my day job every two weeks. Little by little, I got there. I treated the automated savings as if I was paying another bill every month and managed the amount so I wouldn’t miss the money or need to pull from it if I met myself in a bind. When I met my goal, I transferred the funds from those apps into my account and purchased my equipment. Luckily, I caught a few sales and package deals with the vendors I purchased from, so I utilized the little bit of money that I had leftover to get my business logo and my podcast cover art designed. It all worked out. But I had to be disciplined and motivated.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative? Well, I’ll give you two.
One: The feeling that you accomplished something and are pleased with that your expectation and vision met up with the end result. Nothing makes you feel better than having it all come together not just as you expected, but even better.
Two: The feeling when you receive the recognition that you get from the public/fans and also your contemporaries and peers of how they admire your work and your vision. That may be even better than the first one. Because, let’s be honest. A true creative creates because that’s what he or she loves to do. But if we only cared about what we thought, we wouldn’t share it with the world. Yes, we are sensitive about our work, but the recognition and adoration that comes from it for a job well done is amazing. It’s a feeling you can’t really describe. But it can motivate it you to achieve more and greater as you continue on your journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vaultclasssicpod.com
- Instagram: @itslesson
- Facebook: IV Creative: facebook.com/ivecre8
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-cox-mba-a0958a4/
- Twitter: @ItsLesson
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfm3BktiQSz27sDUFSqfdCg
- Other: Podcast Twitter: @VaultClassic Instagram-Podcast: @vaultclassicpod Business Page: @ivecre8 Facebook: www.facebook.com/vaultclassicpod