More Money Podcast - 015 Taking Control & Starting Your Own Business - Angela Mastrogiacomo from Muddy Paw PR

Episode Date: August 26, 2015

Music blogger turned entrepreneur Angela Mastrogiacomo discusses why she chose to follow her passion by starting her own business (Muddy Paw PR) and travelling city to city organizing music industry meetups. Long episode description: I was so excited to talk with Angela Mastrogiacomo for this episode because her story instantly clicked with me. It’s actually kind of cool how I connected with Angela. As you know from listening to my podcast episode with my husband Josh, he’s a freelance audio engineer and a big part of his job is to network in hopes of finding his next gig. Well, he started going to this one industry meet-up called Balanced Breakfast and guess who created the whole darn thing — Angela. He came home after his first meet-up and told me that Angela would make the perfect guest for my podcast. Considering she’s a music blogger and started her own PR company at a very young age, he was bang on the money and I contacted her soon after. In this episode, we talk about a lot of different things but mainly how Angela got the courage to follow her big passion — working in the music industry. Coming from an arts background myself, I know that is no easy task, but Angela is just one of those amazing people who takes those risks because the alternative is not an option. Not only did she start her own company, she’s also trying to change the music industry itself. She’s going city to city to create these industry meet-ups so artists, producers and engineers can network and hopefully create some fruitful relationships. Angela is so freaking cool, you just really need to listen to this episode. We mentioned a few important links in this episode, so here they are below. And of course I gave out a few more shout outs to some very nice iTunes reviewers. Thanks guys! Important Links Angela Mentioned Balanced Breakfast Music Industry Meet-up Infectious Magazine Muddy Paw PR Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/15 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome to Episode 15 of Mo Money Mo Houses, the personal finance podcast with the dash of sass. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse. And today I am interviewing a very special lady. She was actually introduced to me through my husband, because they both know each other through the music industry. So her name is Angela Mastro Giacomo. And she started as a blogger, not a personal finance blogger, but a music blogger. But then she ended up starting up her own PR company. She just wanted to work for herself and also do what she loved, which is work in the music industry. So welcome to the show, Angela. What I think is awesome about your story, and it's because I'm a big

blogging nerd, is that you were also a blogger, how you started out. So let's kind of start from the beginning, how you, I guess, kind of started in the music industry and it started with becoming a blogger, right? Yeah. Well, I think like most things, my journey into the music industry and blogging was very serendipitous. I was going to my favorite band show and I just happened to get there early, which at that point I never did. And I absolutely fell in love with the band that was on stage. And I was like, who are these guys? Like, I've just, I couldn't get them out of my head. And it was a band called The Coming Week out of Providence, Rhode Island. And when I went home,

I looked them up and I saw that they weren't signed. You know, they're just a small band. And I was totally stunned because I thought they were so great. And I was like, I've got to interview these guys. I've got to help them out. And I've always loved writing. So I thought, well, why stop there? You know, why not interview and showcase talented up and coming bands all across the world? Not even just the country, the whole world. And so I started my music blog, which is called Infectious Magazine.

And we've been going about six years now. Yeah, I have a team of about 15 interns at any given time. Wow. Yeah. That's a huge blog. Yeah, we are. Well, I couldn't do without them. You know, I mean, that was even just one of the things is I was pretty stubborn for a long time about doing everything myself. And it took me a while to learn that I could not possibly succeed or have the growth I wanted without having a team. So that was a pretty big deal. And I mean, it's allowed Infectious to grow and it, you know, allowed me to focus on growing it rather than just doing all the grind work, you know. Exactly. So you kind of started this blog.

Was this a moneymaker for you or was it kind of just a passion project at first? Definitely was and still is a passion project. I think that it's wonderful when blogs can make money. I think with Infectious, we have ads on the site, just Google AdWords, and that just barely covers the cost of hosting the site and things like that. But no, it's definitely not a money maker. It's definitely a passion project for everybody involved, though. So you've had this blog for a while. You kind of made this big leap. So you were working full time while having the blog at the same time, I'm assuming, right? Yes. I think we kind of have similar stories where we graduated university and had all these ideas of

kind of what life after university was going to be like, and we're kind of sorely disappointed by the work environment out there. So let's kind of discuss some of that. How was your experience? I mean, it was terrible. I mean, people always tell you when you're in college, oh, you know, you don't know how easy you have it. And you're drowning in essays and deadlines and you're thinking, this is terrible. But, I mean, it's no surprise that they're right. You know, it is. I look back very fondly now at my college years. But, yeah, when I graduated, I mean, it took me a long time, you know, eight months to find work.

And when I found work that I liked, it was at a startup. And startups are wonderful for challenging yourself and feeling heard, but they go under a lot of the time and that's what happened. And I found another full-time job and I just wasn't really, I wasn't happy. It wasn't what I envisioned for myself and it certainly wasn't what I envisioned myself doing for the rest of my life. So I kind of started to put together an exit plan, I guess. I just wanted out, you know, I wanted to be happy and it wasn't going to happen working for somebody else. And so you decided to kind of go on your own and start your own company, which is now Muddy Paw PR. Yeah, exactly. I spent, like I said, six years doing the music blog and it was growing. But like I said, it's not a moneymaker, but I was so surprised. I would never have pictured myself as someone in the music industry. And the music industry is not what I thought it was when I

was 15 years old. I think it's changed a lot. Yeah, it has. And it's different, especially, oh, it's just, that's like a whole other podcast. Yeah, that's a whole other, yeah, I agree. But yeah, I decided to venture out because I had been on the receiving end of press releases for so long doing the music blog, I thought, you know, I kind of am getting an idea now what works and what doesn't work when approaching bloggers. And I can take that and apply it to my own company. And also I've built up over the last

six years, this great network of, you know, other bloggers and music industry professionals. And I mean, PR is just the music industry is all who, you know. And PR is just, it's connections. You're just paying for connections when you hire a publicist. So I had all that on my side, along with, I had a, you know, the plan for what I was going to do to set myself apart because I had the advantage of being on the other side of it. And, uh, and I thought, well, I'm not, you know, I'm not happy here. I got laid off from my job. I'm just going to dive into it. And I did. And it was terrifying. So what were kind of the first steps? I always kind of wonder when people start their own businesses, it's like, okay, you make the decision to leave your full-time job or just,

all right, I'm going to start this. What does that actually mean? How do you start a business? What are the first steps? It's, for me, it was a lot of organization. I'm very much like a list maker and, you know, that kind of personality. So for me, it was kind of jotting down, you know, just simple stuff like, you know, what do you need to do? And so for me, it was, okay, well, I've got to, you know, think of a name. That's the first thing. So I've got to think of a name. And then, you know, you have to start to figure out your client base. Like, you have to figure out who you're going to reach out to. And so for me, once I got everything kind of situated, I had a website and stuff, which of course, I see a lot of businesses make the mistake actually of not creating a website or social media and trying to kind of launch themselves prematurely.

Right. I don't understand. I get it from a behind the scenes perspective, you know, sharing it with people, but publicly announcing it before you're set to go. I feel like you're really putting yourself at a disadvantage. Exactly. And that's one of the services you do. You do PR, but you also do digital marketing,

which makes sense to me because I work in digital marketing, so I'm like, they go hand in hand, right? Yeah. It's like you can't launch a band if they don't have a Twitter account. Or if someone has their Twitter name already, you need to figure that out. Well, yeah. And people don't utilize social media. I mean, especially bands. I mean, I tell them all the time, you guys have got to be using your

social media more. And we're all in the same generation for the most part. So I know that we all grew up with it. But for some reason, it's not an automatic for them and and businesses especially that aren't geared towards millennials have a really hard time with the social media aspect I think but I think that puts millennials at a huge advantage if they're looking for that kind of work because they don't I mean those people don't know what they're doing and we do so exactly no I totally agree but yeah I totally agree that it's it's incredibly important to have like a social media presence because I can't tell you how many like shows I've been to where I'm like, I'm loving this. I take a photo. I want to like tag the band into like on Twitter or Instagram and I cannot find them. And I'm like, okay, well, this was a missed opportunity. Come on, guys. Or it's a ridiculously complicated handle. It's not the days of like AIM Instant Messenger where that stuff was okay. It has to be pretty band name.

That's it. It doesn't have to be complicated. It's not overcomplicated. I totally agree. So what other kind of things do you do for PR? Because I was looking on your website and so you have a bunch of current clients and past clients. What kind of things do you do for these bands? I always tell clients that we have short and long-term goals. And most clients are interested in, of course, the short-term goals, which are things like getting them album reviews, interviews, guest

blogs, just various placements on different blogs. And then there are the long-term goals, which I think are equally, if not more important, and that's getting your name out there. I mean, that's all of PR. And so I always tell them, you know, even if a blog decides they're not going to feature you today, like that's okay, because they know your name now and if you if somebody approaches them about it or you approach them about it and they hear that name again that familiarity is really really important just recognizing it is going to mean a lot absolutely from the director of the greatest Showman comes the most original musical ever. I want to prove I can make it.

Prove to who? Everyone. So, the story starts. Better Man, now playing in select theaters. So, another really cool thing that you do, and I kind of mentioned this at the beginning of the episode, was doing these Balanced Breakfast meetups. How did, when did that start and how did it come to be? I absolutely love Balanced Breakfast. It's brought me so many, I mean, not even just connections, just friends, like real friendships. So Balanced Breakfast was started in San Francisco

by my friend, Stefan Aronson., I lived in San Francisco for seven months and that's how I came across it. And, uh, I had emailed Stephan about like a feature on his blog and he said, Hey, come out to this, this meetup. And so at the, you know, it's since then the Bay area meetup has grown to over 40 people showing up a week. And that, and that one's every Thursday at 8 AM. Right. So it's an even tougher time. But I mean, that's just West Coast. San Francisco, it's very different than East Coast. They kind of live like they'll take the crappy jobs so that they can do their art full time versus East Coast, which tends to be the complete opposite.

But yeah, so when I left San Francisco, I was really heartbroken about leaving Balanced Breakfast. And so I talked to Stefan and I said, Hey, do you think it would be cool if I started one up in Boston when I go home? He's like, Yeah, I would love that. And then when I went to Toronto, I said, Hey, what about Toronto? And he's like, Yeah, definitely. And so since then, it's grown to a bunch of chapters. So now there is, uh, I believe seven chapters total. Wow. Just, yeah, it's like Toronto, Boston. Yeah. There's a couple in California. And so it's just including Los Angeles now is just about to open. That should be a good one. So it's just been really cool. It's a really, really great way for you to network, number one, which again, I can't even stress enough how important networking is. It's another one of those things people always told me and I thought, ah, you know. Yeah.

But it's true. It really is like everything. you know, you know, talk to Josh about like how his business is going. And we kind of take a look at like some of the projects he's worked on in the past. We'll look through these names. We're like, Hey, how did you meet that person? How'd you meet that person? And most of the time it's through either a connection of a friend, a friend of a friend, or the meetups he goes to. And it's like, isn't that insane that his business is literally just based on being, you know, meeting people and taking their card and following up. It's kind of, It boggles my mind. It's amazing. It is. And I still, I mean, the San Francisco, I've been out of San Francisco for about eight months now and I still get clients from that chapter. Yeah, because I've worked with so many balanced breakfast bands and they can vouch for me in that word of mouth and having

the connection. We have a Facebook group. So once you've officially been to at least one breakfast, you're part of the group. And that also keeps the community, you know, by not just letting everyone join it. It adds to that sense of community. Absolutely. Exclusivity and, you know, kind of, I think makes people take it a little bit more seriously, too. Absolutely. And I just, I mean, I think Stephan and I, you know, and also Andy, who was the other founder in San Francisco, their vision and mine for it is just to keep growing it because it's been such a great way to grow the music community and kind of take charge of it and and and not just kind of sit by idly and be like well whatever happens happens you know it's it's been really wonderful and this is you started it also just to kind of do your part in kind of changing the music industry as it is because kind of how it was i feel you know a while ago was the only and this is probably like

before social media before youtube and everything in order to be a successful band you had to you know get signed by a major label and all that kind of stuff but nowadays you know anyone can kind of record their band and put it on youtube or soundcloud or whatever and kind of do it you know there's a lot more independent artists and this is kind of a way to kind of change the industry and connect, you know, musicians with engineers or just people that might be able to help each other. Exactly. And there's so many different views of success now. And I think before it was kind of either you're going to be on a major label and you're going to be on the radio or you're not going to be anything. Whereas now there is an in-between, you know, you can have a family and to be a career musician.

And, you know, there's just there's a middle ground now. And so building those connections is super important to everything. I mean, I just can't stress enough, like all the connections I've made through Balanced Breakfast. I've made some great friends. I've worked with people through there. Like I said, I think I've, I think something like eight clients or something from Balanced Breakfast. It's just, or from meetups in general. And, you know, repeat clients as well because, you know, you do, you build that relationship with them.

And it is genuine. And, and that's the thing is everybody's there because they want to be, because they genuinely, like, it's not just like, I'm going to come in and I'm just going to schmooze for an hour or two and just take everything I can take. It's like, these people are interested in genuinely making lifelong connections. It's not just, what can you do for me? Absolutely. And especially if it's in, you know, the morning, you have to want to get up early to be at the breakfast. It's so funny. When I first started the Toronto one, I wanted it to be, I mean, I'm up ridiculously early anyway, but I wanted it to be at 10 because I was trying to keep, you know, to the San Francisco model of eight.

And even at 10, people were like, oh, that's way too early. If you don't make it at 12 or later, nobody... And even at 12, people will complain. I'm like, come on, guys. Yeah, come on. Really? I know it's Saturday, but it's noon. So you've been doing all these awesome balanced breakfasts kind of throughout these states and Canada, but you're also kind of doing this new thing where you're moving to different cities for a short amount of amounts of time.

Let's kind of talk about that because I think that's really interesting. And just like, I think that's like a dream of a lot of millennials of just like, you know, trying to live in a different city and experience what that city has to offer. I think that's super cool and also terrifying to me. Well, it's funny you say that. That's actually part of why I'm doing it is I really like challenging myself. And so if I ever get too comfortable, I know it's kind of time for a change. So I quite like the idea of being terrified as well as excited because I feel like it's lending itself to personal growth, you know? But yeah, I'm going to be taking off late in June. And I'm just basically going to, it sounds so insane to say, I'm just going to be traveling the country and dipping into parts of Canada. My plan is to, I start in Nashville and I'll stay in most cities for a month or two.

And while I'm there, I'll build up Balanced Breakfast and get those meetups going. And just, yeah, just kind of implement them everywhere and kind of grow these different music communities. And I plan to write about it as well and publish a book when I get home. Not sure if it'll be self-published or not. It doesn't matter. I really just want to have it written down that this really happened and I didn't imagine it. And you're able to do this because you work for yourself. And that's kind of like, you know, like I've done a few episodes already talking to people, including my husband, about being a freelancer compared to working for a company. And there, there are a lot of freedoms. You're able to travel, but maintain your business at the same time, which, you know, most people that work for a company doing nine to five just aren't able to do. They only have like a certain amount of like vacation time. Well, yeah. And I, I look, it makes me, I get really excited when, you know, I'll say, Oh, do you want to do something? And oh, well, I can't take the time off. And I think, how cool is it that I don't have to ask anybody for time

off? You know, I can just go or if I want to work somewhere else for the day, I can do it. And I don't have to worry about that. And, and PR, especially, I mean, it's a bit tougher, I think, depending on the industry you're in. But PR especially, I literally just need my computer. I don't need any other technology. So as long as I have the phone and computer, I mean, there's really no limit. And there was this quote, I think it was from like Lori Greiner of Shark Tank that I saw the other day. And I really like, I love Shark Tank. Love Shark Tank.

It's really good. But it was something like entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours in a week just to avoid working 40. But I think it's so, I mean, it's so, so true. It's so true. You'll work so hard, but you love it. So it's, you know. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being on the program. I think your story is super

inspirational for people our age, millennials who are wondering what to do after graduation. I think there's a big shift going on. And I see that, especially with my younger sister. She's about, I think, a year to graduate. And she's starting, she's starting to think about like, what am I going to do after graduation? And I think, you know, when I graduated, I graduated in 2009, I was really set on working for a company because I thought kind of that was the only option. No one ever talked about being self-employed as a good thing. They always kind of talked about, oh, self-employed, you can't get a job. Like, it's terrible. It's awful. It's true. But that's kind of the mindset it was. But I feel like there's definitely a big shift in people changing

their outlook on like how they want to make their money. There's not just one way. You don't just have to have like one, you know, job at a company. You can freelance or, you know, something I've kind of been doing for the past couple of years is I work for a company, but then I also have my kind of side hustles on the side so I can kind of grow my, you know, salary and net worth and money and whatever, as much as I really want, which I think is really cool to be able to share to people that may not really think about it. Oh yeah. Well, like you said, I mean, college just teaches you, I think they're still very much teaching the traditional thing of like, this is what you do. You get a job and blah, blah, blah.

And it's like you said, nobody even ever mentioned self-employed as a good thing or an option. And I would really, really like to see millennials understand that it's not only a viable option. It could possibly be the better option for you personally. Absolutely. Totally. Don't be afraid. That's my big fight. I let fear stop me from a lot of things for a long time and it's very wasteful. So just do it while you're young before you have all the scary responsibilities. Yeah. Well, that's definitely the reason me and Josh decided to pack up our lives and,

you know, move to Toronto without any like jobs lined up or connections. We're like, you know what, we're young enough to do this. So if we utterly fail, it won't really, it won't impact the grand schemes of our lives, you know? Yeah. It's okay. We can move back home. Exactly. And it'll be a good story. Absolutely. It'll be good. Yeah, sort of. Thankfully, it's not, you know, it's working out. But it's definitely, I'd say one of the scariest, but one of the best decisions

we've ever made. So yeah. All right. So thank you again. I just want to ask, so if someone is listening and they are a musician or an artist and they want to be involved in this balanced breakfast, how would they find information about that? So right now we have a website that it's, speaking of complicated names, it's actually slightly complicated. It's balancedbreakfast.com, but it's B-L-N-C-D-B-R-K-F-S-T. Okay. I'll put that in the show notes for this episode. It'll be easy for you guys to find. But it's a good way to see if there's one happening in your city. There's a drop down I'll put that in the show notes for this episode. It'll be easy for you guys to find. But it's a good way to see if there's one happening in your city. There's a dropdown of all the cities it's happening and then a link to their personal Facebook event page so you can see what time they're going on and things like that.

And if you're really confused, you can just reach out to me and I'll tell you. Absolutely. And your website for your PR company is muddypawpr.com, right? Yes. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for listening. And make sure to check out the show notes for this episode, momoneymohouses.com slash 15.

And for all the episodes up until now, momoneymohouses.com slash podcast. Now, before I go, I just want to give some shout outs to some iTunes reviews. Thank you so much for giving me reviews. First, Casey in TO. Yay, TO. I'm really enjoying this podcast and learning about finance from real young people like myself. I like all the personal stories and non-preachy atmosphere. Thanks so much, Casey. And oh, look, there's one from Blonde on a Budget. Hey, Kate. I'm loving Jess's new podcast. She's starting great conversations and sharing important information with her listeners.

If you think personal finance is boring, I think she'll change your mind. Well, thank you so much. That is super nice. And one more before I go. This one's from Kayan Grunding. And they say, looking forward to more from this podcast. All right. Well, I'm excited to share more with you, Kayan.

Thank you so much for listening. And I will see you next Wednesday. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.