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

Kris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

ATX Music Academy is an Austin, Texas-based online music academy that will provide top-notch online musical courses for people that want to learn music from the best professionals in the industry. Our services include pre-recorded video tutorials, consultation by a highly acclaimed professional musician, and an on-ramp for beginners entering the music industry.

We understand how important it is to have up-to-date information and knowledge when working in a fast-paced industry like the music industry. Our are talented, passionate instructors are National Recording and Touring Artists, Grammy Award Winners, and the founder Kris KeyZ holds a proclamations awarded by the Mayor of Austin, Texas. Students can search through categories and instructor names to find a course that meets their needs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up in the music industry brought me tons of experience, knowledge, and opportunities. I’ve organized those resources into educational courses. Each course focuses on Music, Money, & Mindset.

ATX Music Academy core mission is to deliver an exceptional online music academy and provide every student with a gratifying experience through our quality, resourceful music course contents and easy-to-navigate website. We aim to give the opportunity to people to achieve their goal of obtaining musical training at an affordable cost.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After I retired from basketball I moved to Austin, Texas. I had $17 in the bank, my motif ES8 keyboard, and a dream to one day do music full time. I didn’t have much money, so I applied for several jobs. I was hired as a substitute teacher, but there was only a few months left of school. My first step was I had to come up with a plan.

The plan was to keep my expenses down to the very minimum. Sprint had a plan with unlimited minutes. It wasn’t the best service, but it was only $50. So i went out the first of the month and found a artist needing beats and told them I’ll make a beat for them for $50. If I needed $100 for food I would sell a beat and record them for that price.

I lived a poor man’s lifestyle for a couple years, but I was becoming rich in wisdom and experiences. I saved up some money to start traveling. After 2 years of going back and forth to LA & NY I ended up connecting with some labels and my production partner Omen. He’s produced records for Drake, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, and many more top artist. He’s been a big influence on how I compose sounds. At the time we meet I didn’t have any placements, but he gave me a shot and stuck with me until we made it happen. Because of that is why i created ATX Music Academy. Once we reach a certain plateau, I feel it’s important to be an on ramp for the next generation.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

When I first started I spamed every social media platform available. Back then it was Myspace, BlackPlanet, and maybe Craigslist. I was just starting my business and didnt have money for advertisement. Fortunately I was one of the top sales representatives at 24 hour fitness the year before. At the time, 24 hour fitness did not run ads and believed word of mouth was the best form of advertisement.

I had to take the same approach and still do. The strategy is do all the hard work early by building a solid foundation. A good foundation is something that’s scalable. You can always scale when you treat people right. I over delivered my value to each client. I decided the first couple years to take an early hit financially. I knew as long as I could make it 2 years, that would be enough to establish my brand. I do have some sales strategies now, but overall we have stayed busy the last 10 years just off word of mouth and referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: atxmusicacademy.com
• Instagram: @kriskeyz2.0
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kriskeyz
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/kriskeyz
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/kriskeyz
• Youtube: youtube.com/kriskeyz

Image Credits
Shot By: Ayuma Photography Location: Orb Studios Location: Agresivo Sound Lab