We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shawn O’Donnell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shawn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I always knew I wanted to do this music thing for a living ever since I was a little boy reciting the moves to various NSYNC Music Videos. I still remember working those 40+ hours a week at Guitar Center too. I’d ponder daily on how I was gonna make this all a reality as I sat there restocking guitar strings. I think a lot of us (including myself) had a lot of time to think about what we were doing with our lives during those months stuck at home during COVID19 back in 2020 too. During that time, I picked up a book called “The 4 Hour Workweek” that got me to question how I was living my life and I ultimately made the decision to never go back to my 9-5 job. It was a huge leap of faith but looking back it was the best decision I ever could have made. I started manifesting what I had always wanted and a few weeks later I was offered the full-time spot as lead guitar player in a rising local cover band. As they say, the rest was history. This was the start of finally being able to do what I loved by performing for hundreds of screaming fans every night. This was only the beginning but from that point onward I knew that nothing was ever going to make me feel as happy or fullfilled so there was truly no turning back!

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?

Making music was never truly a “decision” that I ever made. I feel like I have always been an Artist and Songwriter. It’s something that has always been deeply engraved within the confines of my soul. Growing up I struggled to ever really “fit in” and was bullied everyday so writing songs was my escape. Being an artist and expressing myself through my music was a way for me to tell my story without anyone being able to stop me. Fast forward to today, I’ve been able to turn my singing and songwriting into a full-time career. So I guess all those hours in my room alone writing songs really paid off! However, all of this didn’t happen overnight. I had to spend many years making a lot of mistakes and studying the hits to learn what it really took to make a great song. This led me to creating my songwriting coaching program, “Lyric and Melody Unlocked”. I saw a lot of singers with incredible voices (some even signed to major record deals) but lacking the songwriting skillset. True Artists with so much to say but not able to put those words and passion into their own song. Watching my clients make that transformation from struggling to accomplished songwriter is truly one of the most fullfilling things I get to do. If there was one piece of advice I could give to anyone out there running into writer’s block or some other type of songwriting roadblock it would be this: Stop overthinking it! Start with brainstorming some melodies and leave the imposter syndome at the door. If you can let yourself love what you create, then your listeners will follow suit. :)

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

Well there’s quite a few but one in particular that really stands out is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, Anyone that knows me pretty well knows how much I value this book. I always wanted to be good with money and be an entrepreneur of some sort since being a child running a fruit stand inspired by my single mom’s various business ventures. I was raised by two resilient women (my mother and grandmother) for the first few years of my life. They taught me how to look after my money and the importance of financial stability. However, It wasn’t until I read Robert Kiyosaki’s book that I finally realized that I’d been kind of doing things a little bit backwards. I was so worried about saving my money and retiring at an old age that I didn’t realize I was slowing becoming a victim of “the rat race”. This book taught me the difference between an asset and a liability; a concept that many people seem to be miseducated on amongst many other important lessons. For people looking to gain financial literacy and not looking to work themself to the bone with mile high debts their whole lives, I highly reccomend a read!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The power of mentorship. This is a huge one for me. I can literally pinpoint moments in my life where certain concepts within production, songwriting, singing etc. finally clicked. A lot of these awakenings were unexpected but it’s crazy to me that concepts I was struggling my entire music career to unlock were revealed after just one short studio session with people in my industry I looked up to. Key take away here? Always push yourself by being immersed with the people you aspire to be and you can slowly but surely manifest those goals into your reality. A sort of monkey see monkey do if you will.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shawnodonnellmusic.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shawnomusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/shawnodonnellmusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/shawnodonnellmusic

Image Credits
Karine @embellished_portraits Carli @doublewide00