We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Hollacheck a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Chris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I’m still struggling to make a living doing it full time. I’ve had to work a lot of day jobs and side jobs to make ends meet. However I’ve run across an opportunity recently to where I’m gonna be playing the downtown Lower Broadway strip and eventually make enough doing what I love full time. It took me 9 years to get to this point, but better late than never!
Chris, 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 started writing songs in my college dorm room and taught myself guitar there. However I didn’t start performing until I graduated college. It started as an outlet to speak (or sing) my truth in a way that I couldn’t in a normal conversation and eventually progressed to more. My main goal in singing/songwriting is to relate to the listener and be that voice that understands them when it seems like no one else does.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
It really started during Covid lockdown. I studied a lot of YouTube videos and courses that taught me how to grow my following. I started doing live streams, released singles, and promoted them using Facebook business advertisement. Also having a good paying day job during that time really helped with the learning curve needed to make the most effective ad strategy.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
If you have an artist you enjoy a lot, subscribe or follow all of their social media platforms and whatever streaming platform you use and share them with all your friends. Also try to attend any show that they have that’s within 30-60 min of you. Also be sure to tip them and/or buy their merch if you’re at a live show or watching a live stream. Every extra dollar goes a long way to help us add value to the world with music
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/chrishollacheck
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_hollacheck
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisHollacheckMusic
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/ChrisHollacheck
- Other: Shopify (Merch) https://chris-hollacheck.myshopify.com/
Image Credits
Cover Art (Two Homes One Heart, Follow The Light, Remind Me Of You, I’ll Ever Need): Blooming Seed Media Cover Art (Open Road): Rob Blair