We were lucky to catch up with Debi Jean Osgood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Debi Jean, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I didn’t discover my true mission, though I had been seeking my purpose in life for a long time, until I was 63 1/2 years old. I started teaching myself to play guitar. That was 5 years ago and I have probably forgotten how hard it was to get started. I want to say I worked my fingers to the bone. It hurt like crap! But it was a labor of love. And now I can’t live without Mr. Martin & Ms. Gibson. They propel me into my creativity every day like faithful puppies that are devoted to me. I noodle and do scales and write songs and give my love to music. I used to write short stories for fun. Now I write stories in song and it blows my mind how I can finally express my feelings. In songs I can say things I wouldn’t say out loud otherwise. In songs, I open my heart. I fantasize. The stories are the thing, the secret sauce and I share a new half hour set of originals & covers every week in my Facebook & YouTube channels at Debi Jean Music. I’m real folky, bluesy, Americana-y. And it’s a joyful enterprise and I’m going to keep doing this forever.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The Debi Jean Show is my vehicle for sharing my creative work, which happens to be music. I also make quilts, which is a kind of cross-training for my music. My originals are very visual & full of images. I live by the sea so the ocean is often featured in my work. Creativity is my highest value and I believe it informs every other value in my life-Peace, Love, Joy, Hope are some of the top ones. Gee, if you can get a little bit of these into your life everyday, you can string your days together like pearls, and flow with life, glow with life. I was so surprised to find massive amounts of joy in creating music. I was so surprised that I could CREATE music at all. I immediately started acting like the pied piper. I want everyone to enjoy music in some capacity. And yes you can teach old dogs new tricks and I’m a prime example. I didn’t say it was easy. It was hard as hell but something blew up in my heart and soul and I’m hooked on trying to inspire others with my YouTube & FaceBook weekly posts. And I’m in love with my guitars. If I’m sad I can go pluck out some notes and lift my own spirits. Yup. Music is the coolest thing ever.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I didn’t know I was an artist for the longest time. I’ve had a very busy career as a CPA specializing in small business. I started my CPA practice January 1983 when I was 28 years old. I’m paring down my CPA biz now and morphing into a Singer/Songwriter Artist Creative Type. It would be really cool to appear on the Grande Ole Opry some day–that’s one of my dreams. I love expressing myself in lyrics & stories and I’m thrilled to be able to play guitar to accompany myself. I feel like a true artist now. I claim it. I love it. I am ART. The release I feel when I write a song is so cool. The songs come flitting over and all you have to do is accept. Yes ACCEPT the songs. Write everything down. Journal like a maniac. Color in your journal. Paste images of lovely things. Accept the gifts from the universe. And share your joy. The internet loves positive happy content. I do sad songs, too but it’s about the emotion of the story and connecting with listeners. We humans love our stories. I’m planning on rocking on a long time in this life now that I’ve found it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I need advice about building my social media. But what I do know is that Being Consistent in posting is very important. I have a weekly show on YouTube & Facebook. This week I will do Episode #113 and I sing and play for about half an hour. I average about 700 views a week on Facebook, not so much on YouTube. And folks comment & like what I’m doing. Every once in a while I get some joker trying to be sexy but I just laugh and go forth, doing what I do. Over 112 episodes I’ve found about 100 ways not to do my show. I’ve got a lot to learn.

I read the book:

The Practice-shipping creative work, by Seth Godin. This was helpful in getting started-very inspirational. Now I’m ready for the next step.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Debi Jean Music
• Facebook: Debi Jean Music
• Youtube: Debi Jean Music