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

Drew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 feel very grateful to be making a full-time living that supports my little family of three! In retrospect it feels like it came easy but I went through half a decade of having no savings and barely getting by. It took 6 years for me to find my niche, and then one day I figured out how to live loop like Ed Sheeran and BOOM I was booking 300+ solo gigs a year my first year doing it. From there I upgraded my guitar, sound system, and electric keyboard and started building my reputation. Things would have progressed way faster for me if I had gone solo out of high school I suppose – I was singing in a band formed with high school friends those first 5 years. But I wouldn’t trade my time with them for a billion dollars and they’re some of my closest buddies to this day. Oh, I should’ve been doing YouTube videos though from day one haha. That would’ve been very smart. Whoops! Never too late though!

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.

I’m primarily a singer, but I accompany myself with piano and guitar. The niche I’ve developed also includes a loop pedal, so I can layer rhythms and instruments to make a one-man-band sound without using prerecorded tracks. The effect it creates comes off as a little more organic than musicians who use tracks (Sorry track using musicians!) it’s a bit less karaoke, and closer to what Ed Sheeran does in his one man show.

I got into live looping after watching a comedic musical artist named Reggie Watts at 4am on Comedy Central back in 2008.

Oddly enough there is a bit of comic relief during my performances, but really just from choosing songs that border on ridiculous – take “You sexy thing” by Hot Chocolate for example. I love this song. It’s also totally silly in its nature. Or maybe you’d like to hear me sing O-Town? Some boy bands? More than anything I love surprising people with my song selection and ability to sing even most female vocals.

Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, and Alabama Shakes are staples in my set lists. They’re hard to sing, but I just think it’s so fun to keep things in their original keys or close to them. Something I think sets me apart is that on every single song I give 100 percent. I do not sit back and go on auto pilot. Every second I perform I’m trying to make people think, “wow how is this guy not famous?” And the result is that people stick around for more drinks, more food, and to hear more songs. This ultimately helps the places I play at, and it has prime the security of 7 weekly recurring gigs all within metro Detroit. It’s a dream come true for me – I feel like I made it! That IS making it to me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Although my audience on social media would be considered “small” – it’s highly concentrated in Michigan. So I’ve had videos with 100 views be the factor that booked me a gig. And then word of mouth becomes your friend over and over again.

These days I only grow by a few followers a week, but they’re real people who saw me in person at a gig, so they’re truly interested in what I do.

Whatever you do, bring a BIG sign!! I kick myself for spending 90% of my career with no visible signs for people to see my name. Signs, out in the wild, work. They just do, humans are very visual creatures.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The entire idea behind law of attraction has had a massive impact on the way I do everything. Listening to how I feel, paying attention to how my negative (and positive) reactions affect my world. Choosing to do things for the fun of it, and most of all, worrying less about how things will happen. Knowing there are infinite ways the goals I have can be achieved. It’s so easy to get in our own way, but luckily, it’s truly just as easy to change gears, and feel better now at all costs. Adopting that mindset has increased my income, happiness, and productivity. I’m a big Abraham Hicks guy!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewberries.mi?igsh=c2YwOWFlaXpvMHF3&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@DrewBerriesmusic?si=5A_bNFsQOTIlg3xV

Image Credits
Detroit Design House Drew Camden Yorg Kerasiotis