Episode Title: The Rockstar Advocate Feat. Suz Paulinski

Episode Info: In this episode Durell is joined by Entrepreneur, Coach & Consultant Suz Paulinski. Durell talks to Suz about her early introduction to music, going to college for music business, graduating early and getting her first job in the music industry as the Midwest Sales Manager For EMI Records. Suz talks about being a young executive at the label and the fact that the record stores were closing as she was trying to get them to purchase their inventory. She talks about the fact that nobody was buying CDs and she was trying to navigate the early days of Facebook and social media. She talks about how she quit her job at the label 5 times but kept coming back but then decided to leave and venture out to start her own label with her old college roommate.

After a couple years of running the label, she decided to shut the label down and start a consulting firm for artists. What Suz really began to realize is that she knew a lot about music but nothing really about entrepreneurship and what that all entailed. She went back to school and earned her Master’s Degree in Psychology but unfortunately her dad had fallen sick and she needed to come home to help the family. She took a part time job managing at Crate & Barrel where she would ultimately learn marketing, branding, and other skills that make a business successful. She still knew she needed to fastrack her learning curve so she hired a business coach. Suz hired her for three months and then within 6 months she was able to launch her company The Rockstar Advocate.

Suz knew that wanted to be a counselor for those who suffered with substance abuse and mental health in the music industry. She ultimately saw there was a need for artists who were suffering from burnout after they got back from touring as an independent artist. Artists would talk with her about the things that ultimately led to the lack of productivity and time management. She saw an approach where she could help her clients continue to be them without fitting into the societal norm in terms of what time management and success looks like by leveraging their own unique strengths.

Durell and Suz end the episode talking about how she launched the first version of the “Rock Star Life Planner” in 2016. She talks about the fact that musicians really want to be successful in their business but didn’t have the tools to be successful. She now is in the 5th edition of her book and it contains even more tools to help them be successful. Suz also is the creator of “The Music Pre-neur Podcast”. She focuses on musicians and their stories and struggles of learning how to become entrepreneurs. She has been able to also create a solid brand voice by creating brand equity by writing for other media platforms focusing on time management and productivity for musicians.

For more information on Suz you can visit her website:
https://therockstaradvocate.com/