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

Hi Suzanne, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

It has definitely not been a smooth road, but a rewarding one. One of the biggest struggles was that, in the beginning, I thought knowing my industry in great detail meant that I was prepared to start my own business. I had graduated college early, with straight A’s and a job waiting for me at a respected label in NYC. I had experience in every major area of the business and was confident I could help musicians grow their careers. My biggest hurdle was that, for years, I didn’t know what I didn’t know and that was that I didn’t realize entrepreneurship was an entirely separate skill set and knowledge bank outside of knowing my industry well. It wasn’t until I hired a coach that I learned how to think and act like an entrepreneur and it completely changed my trajectory.

Hiring a coach was something I put off for years. There weren’t any coaches in my industry, so how could any coach help me if they didn’t know my industry? I also couldn’t trust that their methods would work in the “wild west” of the music scene. It wasn’t until I was told by an older male in my industry that I’d never amount to anything without his help that I felt I had nothing to lose and agreed to hire a coach. I felt defeated and foolish, but also inspired and hopeful. I was done letting setbacks hold me back. It was the best decision I ever made.

Another big struggle was that my audience (music industry professionals) had a pain point (extreme burnout and overwhelm) that they didn’t know how to properly acknowledge and didn’t even believe a solution existed. I wasn’t able to easily market career coaching to an audience that couldn’t see the value in solving a problem they didn’t realize was a problem. I had to educate my audience before I sold to them. I had to point out that what they were feeling and struggling with wasn’t normal and it was avoidable. They needed to be educated on how it was possible to build a sustainable business without costing them their physical health, personal relationships, and mental health.

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 have been in the music industry for just over 20 years. For the last 8 years, I have been known as The Rock/Star Advocate, specializing as a growth mindset + productivity coach for music industry professionals. I am most proud of not giving up. When I first started my company, not only were coaches uncommon in my industry, many artists and creatives were not concerned with investing in mindset work as they weren’t aware that their current scarcity mindset was playing a big role in keeping them from their goals. They were not problem aware, which made my job twice as hard at times. However, I have always been passionate about helping creatives understand what is causing them undue overwhelm in order to help them reach their full potential without burning out. I believe productivity is personal. While I could have scaled my business and sold a 1-size-fits-all course about what I know, it’s important to me to work 1:1 with my clients. Even in my group coaching program focused on accountability, Rock/Star Slackers, each member has an opportunity to receive 1:1 guidance to help them uncover the best possible solutions for their needs.

I want my audience to know that when you are clear on what you want/who you want to become, with a belief in your worthiness to receive it, you have the ability to see all of the opportunities that cross your path to help you get there. The right mindset makes luck obsolete. If you can bet on yourself, you will succeed no matter when good or bad circumstances present themselves. The life of an entrepreneur means living with a “figure-it-out” attitude. I had to learn to trust in that and once I did nothing was able to stop me form ultimately reaching my goals.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

It has definitely not been a smooth road, but a rewarding one. One of the biggest struggles was that, in the beginning, I thought knowing my industry in great detail meant that I was prepared to start my own business. I didn’t realize entrepreneurship was an entirely separate skill set and knowledge bank outside of knowing my industry well. It wasn’t until I hired a coach that I learned how to think and act like an entrepreneur and it completely changed my trajectory.

I had to unlearn perfectionism and what it means to “do great work.” My whole life I was trained to believe that it was about getting it right – getting the 100% or A+ on the first try. However, life isn’t like a test you prepare for with flashcards. Entrepreneurship and life in general are about experimentation. I had to learn to “live in the mess,” as I call it, and become comfortable with getting things wrong so that I could discover the right steps down the road. Once I was able to push myself to take action before I felt ready or before I had all of the answers, THAT is when my business really began to get its sea legs.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In January 2016, I moved to Nashville in order to take a break from living in NYC and live in a quieter space while still being close to the music community. I had recently been diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease and had become very sensitive to light and sound; living in a more rural area outside of a smaller city did wonders for my health and focus.

I was working on publishing the first edition of The Rock/Star Life Planner – a weekly planner for creatives that Alyssa B. Jackson and I have been printing every year since – and decided to host my very first virtual conference, The Rock/Star Summit. I had secured 6 incredible speakers for my event and hired a coach to help me launch and promote it to my audience. By April 13, 2016, I was prepared to present Day 1 of the Summit. It started off without a hitch. On the night of August 14, I headed to sleep early as we would be wrapping up the event the next morning with a live Q&A with the audience and all of our speakers from the past two days.

At 4:00 am that next morning I was awoken by the fire alarm. When I looked up, there were flames engulfing the ceiling above me (there had been an electrical shortage within the roof of my apartment). Everyone in my unit was able to evacuate and while I had my laptop, cell phone, and dog with me, I had nothing else. I lost all of my belongings and was in no shape to host the last day of my event.

Rather than panic, I took a moment to breathe and think of the best course of action. I called one of my colleagues, Cheryl B. Englehardt, who would be speaking later that day at the event to explain what had happened and asked if she could alert the attendees and other speakers that the day would need to be postponed. Unsurprisingly, Cheryl asked for the login info to my event pages and offered to host the final day in my absence.

While I was not used to giving up control, I knew this wasn’t about me, it was about giving the best event to the attendees and allowing my speakers to shine. I realized that day that resilience isn’t about pushing forward no matter what on your own; it’s about leaning on others and asking for help. No one does this alone, successfully and sustainably. I am still here, still hosting events and supporting music industry professionals on how to develop a growth mindset because I have learned to lean on my network of colleagues, friends, and family along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://therockstaradvocate.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/rockstaradvo
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/suzannepaulinski
• Youtube: http://youtube.com/@rockstaradvo
• Other: http://therockstaradvocate.com/the-shop/

Image Credits
Headshots: Kon Boogie