Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessie & Chris Apple. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jessie & Chris, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Happy is an understatement. In a way, happy doesn’t even cover it. It’s more like being an artist and making a living at it is like being hungry and then getting fed with the most delicious, healthy food. It fills your belly and nourishes your soul. The last time we both had a “regular” job was 2008 and neither of us would ever go back. It was actually a great job. I was music director and Jessie was general manager of a music school in New Jersey. But once we made the decision to start our own business and rely solely on our talents and passion to support ourselves, the world really opened up for us. It was extremely scary for us both to leave a good salary and benefits and there have been times when we’ve struggled and worried about making ends meet. But the joy and satisfaction we both get from doing work we feel is important and fulfilling is the greatest feeling ever. We have a mission that is bigger than us and even on days when we are feeling tired or a little burnt out, we can still rally and find the strength to keep going and growing. We are probably harder on ourselves than any boss could be and there is no limit to what we can accomplish when we set our minds to it. We are able to be creative in many different ways every day and we both love the challenges of running our own business and working together in a creative setting.

Jessie & Chris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello Hey! We’re The Apples, Chris & Jessie Apple and we created Little Rockers – cool kid’s music classes in 2009. We are a service oriented business who offers music classes, lessons, parties and shows to kids 0 to 8 years. When we launched our company in 2009, we had written 9 songs to use in our classes and rented a small room in a local music school to have a space to do our parent/child music classes. We slowly built our program by writing more songs, developing our curriculum and recruiting local moms to bring their kids to our classes. We eventually produced 9 albums of original material with over 100 songs that we use in our classes year after year. We eventually opened our first school in 2016 and worked on expanding into other locations. Prior to the pandemic, we opened our second school and had over a dozen teachers doing our classes. We produced a short web series as well as several music videos and other video music activities for kids. Then Covid forced us to close both schools and we lost our second location. We had to pivot to doing all our classes online, via Zoom, YouTube and ultimately our Little Rockers Clubhouse video APP. We are still slowly getting back to where we were in 2019 and we’re looking forward to some new growth plans for ’23 and beyond. Our music is available on all major streaming platforms and we are always coming up with new ways to reach kids and inspire them with music.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think we’ve been through a few pivots, as working artists and as business owners. I would say the first time was when we started Little Rockers. Chris and I were both pursuing goals and dreams we had since we were children. Mine (Jessie ) was Broadway and his was successfully touring with a rock band. While living those dreams, we met and fell in love and through that we wanted to use our talents to work together. This is how Little Rockers was born. So as we began to put all of our love and passion into Little Rockers we pivoted from being a part of someone else’s business to owning our own. Instead of just being performers who gave our control to others to hire us, we started writing our own songs and creating our own content to take control of our lives.

The second time we pivoted was when a lot of businesses pivoted, during Covid. Since our business had grown and taken on many different facets, we were able to focus on what we could do (rather than what we couldn’t) and we began offering online classes, which really took off and grew our following substantially.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson we had to unlearn is really something that we are learning daily, rather than unlearning, and it’s also something we want to help other creative people learn. You need to think of your art, or your creative pursuits, as a BUSINESS. First and foremost. If you want to make money doing your craft then you need to take it seriously and think of it as a business.

This isn’t something we are permitted to do as artists. We are supposed to “poor” and “struggling” like it’s bad to get money for being creative. We aren’t taught this College or on the road with your band. You go to an arts conservatory for college or you go on tour with your band and they no one ever says to focus on yourself as a business. They tell you to practice your songs, learn your lines and get your headshots but no one says to take yourself seriously as a business and make a goal to make money as an artist. It’s like it isn’t even an option.

We know that there are so many different ways to make money using your creative talents and passions and you are not destined to be a poor. struggling artist anymore. Let’s just get rid of that phrase.

Let’s unlearn the lesson that artists are broke and we shouldn’t focus on money. That it’s greedy or wrong. Obviously, we do Little Rockers because we LOVE it – it is absolutely a labor of love, but we should also want to make money doing it. And it’s ok to get excited about the money making potential of yourself as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://littlerockersmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2littlerockers/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlerockersmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/2LittleRockers