We recently connected with Mark Himley and have shared our conversation below.
Mark, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
The worst investment I’ve ever made, without question, is my college degree. Like many kids in America I grew up with little to no financial literacy whatsoever. We were really never taught anything about money in the public school system. College degrees, at least when I was growing up, were treated like holy grails. It was almost an unspoken rule that if you don’t go to college, you’re somehow less-than and going nowhere in life.
So I figured if going to college was the responsible thing to do, I was going to go for music. I made the very unwise decision to take out student loans for a 4 year degree at a private music school. Once they’re all paid off, it will have cost me multiple six figures to get a fancy piece of paper that I’ve never used. Not once has anyone ever asked to see my degree and not once have I needed it. Most of what I do now is based on knowledge I acquired post-graduation from actually working in the real world and in the industry. Did I learn a lot? Yes. Did I make great connections? Of course. Was it worth the price? Absolutely not. Not even close.
While it was the worst investment I’ve ever made, I also wouldn’t go back and change it. Although I have tried to steer many others from following in my footsteps. It was an expensive mistake, but it led me to where I am now and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Learning about finances the hard way taught me to really dig deep and learn as much as I could about business, entrepreneurship, and finances in general. Financial literacy and business related topics have become a huge passion of mine, especially as they relate to creatives. This is one of the biggest things that led me to starting my new podcast, “Creativity, Life, & Business”.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My journey has been one with many pivots along the way. When I first graduated college I had one goal: I needed to figure out how to make money and support myself with my music, ideally from my home studio. That goal led me to the world of music licensing, also known as sync licensing. I put my head down with extreme tunnel vision and went all in. On top of working full-time for my uncle as a garbage truck driver, I would spend my evenings and weekends writing music for music libraries (companies that sign music from independent composers and artists and then license that music to their clients). Within months of signing my first deal, my music started showing up on a bunch of different reality tv shows.
Fast forward a few years and I hit major burnout. While I was finding a good amount of success with music licensing, had a long list of credits, and over 1,000 placements (my music was licensed more than 1,000 times), I was no longer happy with the path I was on. I didn’t want to quit the world of music licensing altogether, but I needed to change things up. I felt like I was just cranking out formulaic, soulless music for tv shows and had lost touch with why I fell in love with music in the first place.
That led me to focusing more on working with vocalists and collaborating with artists outside of the sync/music licensing world. I also started taking on client work at this time as a freelance music producer. This change helped reignite my passion for creating music.
As time went on I still felt there was something lacking and still felt a bit burnt out from just making music for the sake of trying to make money and get it licensed. I eventually had the great opportunity to help start an online community. My good friend, Andrew Jordan, had the idea to create a Discord server with the goal of creating a free online community where people could learn more about the world of music licensing, network with others, and have access to great opportunities. Terrell Burt, another good friend of mine, and I joined Andrew to create “The Sync Hole”. We have a growing community of over 200 members and host monthly events that help educate our members and bring them great opportunities in the world of music licensing.
Growing the Sync Hole has been incredibly rewarding. Honestly the feeling of helping and serving others has been far more rewarding than anything else. That has really become my bigger mission, to help and serve others through whatever I do. That also was the big reason behind starting to make educational YouTube videos.
Another recent passion project of mine that follows this bigger goal has been my weekly email newsletter, Free Samples Friday. This newsletter, as the name suggests, gives away free samples (sounds that musicians can use in their music) every single Friday. I also give tips and tricks related to music production and sound design and share additional resources that I think will bring value to my subscribers.
Lastly, after many friendly nudges from friends and peers, I have a new podcast that is in the works called “Creativity, Life, & Business.” As I mentioned earlier, the world of business and entrepreneurship has become a huge passion and interest of mine. Over the last several years this has been a frequent topic on many zoom calls and in many different conversations. Fairly regularly it will end with someone suggesting that I start a podcast to discuss these topics, and honestly it’s always something that’s been in the back of my mind, so I’m finally pulling the trigger. This also aligns with my greater mission to help and serve others through whatever I do.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I really wish I had known more about online courses before I went to college. Although it’s now super saturated and there’s lots of scammers out there making horrible courses, I still think nine out of ten times you’re better off just taking a few really great online courses that are very niche-specific to what you want to do. I learned far more practical knowledge from a few online courses that cost less than a single semester of my college education than I did from the entire four year degree I paid multiple six figures for.
Also I just wish my eyes had been opened to the world of business, finances, and entrepreneurship much earlier in my creative journey. I’ve made a long list of financial mistakes in my life, and as many others will know, it’s really hard to do creative and fulfilling work when you’re deeply in debt and have a lot of expenses. When you’re broke, your options are incredibly limited and you’re constantly in survival mode. To do creative work and to do the work you feel called to do, you need some financial wiggle room starting out.
I don’t know if there’s a single, specific, resource I wish I had known about. It’s hard to give general recommendations because everyone’s situation is so different. There are so many different areas and rabbit holes when it comes to this stuff. If someone was brand new to this I’d simply say spend less than you make, get on a budget and track your money diligently, and start learning how to run a profitable business. There are endless amounts of courses, books, and podcasts out there that can teach you everything you need to know.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The big goal and mission behind everything I do now is to serve and give value first and foremost. The “Go-Giver” is sort of my manifesto when it comes to approaching business and my journey moving forward. Also this largely comes from my faith as a Christian. I believe we are called to serve and help others through the gifts and passions that God has given us.
All of this works into my big picture goal though. I’m a big believer in finding your “why” and working backwards from that. So everything I do is working backwards from my end goal. That being – I want to be totally free in terms of time and finances. I want to be able to spend my time with my wife and our future children living the life we want, when we want, where we want, etc. I want to be totally self employed running my own business/brand and not have to answer to anyone or ever feel like I “have” to do anything as it relates to money or time. I know that’s a big goal – but plenty of people do it.. so why not me? (or anyone else for that matter).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.markhimley.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markhimley/ https://www.instagram.com/clb_podcast/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/markhimley https://youtube.com/@clb_podcast?si=iAItGyQr9mj0piJE
- Other: Email: [email protected] Free Samples Friday (my weekly newsletter for music makers): freesamplesfriday.markhimley.com The Sync Hole Discord Server: https://discord.gg/pjHQg4rsg8
Image Credits
Ally Wurts Photography