“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they were given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration, it’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
– Muhammad Ali
With Muhammad Ali’s passing, that quote keeps coming up in my world. In my newsfeed, on my radio, on SportsCenter, I keep hearing it and reading it. It’s a quote that I first saw in 2011 when I started Music Makes You Happy. I had gone 29 years without ever hearing that quote but for some reason, worlds aligned and the universe put that quote in front of me when I needed it most. Maybe I had heard or read it before but because I wasn’t doing anything at that time that I viewed “impossible” it didn’t stick with me as much.
Starting Music Makes You Happy never seemed impossible to me but building it into something that mattered, something that was bigger than “just another DJ company,” seemed impossible at times and honestly, still does every now and then.
I’ve never built a business before Music Makes You Happy but I have built a house and that’s why I draw so many comparisons to the two processes.
Chris and Erin after signing the contract for their new home.
When my wife and I built our home, it seemed like the foundation took the longest time and had the smallest visual effect. We would drive out to our lot with excitement almost every day expecting to see the house we saw on paper and in blueprints come to life. When we got there, all we would see is concrete, bricks and blocks outlining what would soon be our home. While this wasn’t the most exciting part of building a house, it was the most important. A strong foundation is needed for just about everything. Buildings, relationships, businesses, everything needs a strong foundation if you want it to last. I have spent the last 5 years building a strong foundation for Music Makes You Happy and now it’s time to start framing.
The framing process is exciting. This is where you see the 2 dimensional plan take shape and become something real. At first it seems like everything comes together quickly and in a lot of ways it does. Walls go up, rooms develope, it starts to look like a house! That’s where I view Music Makes You Happy right now. We’ve laid the solid foundation, the walls are starting to go up and things are taking shape according to the plan that I wrote back in 2011. Sure, I’ve made mistakes and missteps along the way but I’ve stuck to the plan and continued to build the business that I envisioned.
Framing – The dream taking shape
I’m excited about Music Makes You Happy Entertainment and I’m looking forward to watching this dream continue to take shape. When we walked through our newly framed home, it became easier to picture what the dining room was going to look like, where the TV was going to go on the wall in the living room, which bedroom would be the future childhood room of a kid we knew we wanted one day. I see the same thing happening at Music Makes You Happy. Where it was once impossible to envision, I see it coming together. The increase in our corporate events and a growing relationship with more and more companies, the addition of an A/V rental department and the expansion into Richmond and beyond.
It’s frustrating at times. It seems impossible at times. There are times (mostly after working 40 hours of the 48 hour weekend) that I think it would be so much easier to have a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday desk job. Yes, it would be easier, but easier is rarely better. My friend Malice always posts daily quotes and one stuck with me the other day.
“If I quit now I would be right back to where I started from and back then I was dying to be where I am today.”
This is what we started with – two laptops and a sheet I used as a table cloth.
A recent example of what we can offer now
Impossible is nothing.
MusicMakesYouHappy 