Founder of Now Entertainment, Tony M Fountain is an individual who’s helped various creatives and business owners strengthen their digital footprint. He has mentored countless artists on how they can reach their goals in the most cost efficient way possible. Artists have consulted with him before entering into deals.
In an interview with Tony a few days ago, he shared some of the obstacles he faced on his journey, how he overcame them, and some words of advice to anyone striving for success.
Avoiding stress and burnouts
It’s no secret you must work tirelessly to reach your goals but all work and no play can leave you stressed and depressed. Don’t allow yourself to become overly anxious, trust the process. What might take one man a year may very well take you five or ten.
Avoid working with lazy people no matter how much they pay you, you can’t do your job and theirs too. I once had an artist, a grown man, ask me to do his taxes, Tony said. At first I thought it was a joke but as time went on it was clear they just had no motivation to do really anything for themselves.
Learn how to say no, sometimes just saying no will save you from a headache down the road. People’s true colors tend to show when you tell them no. Some can get a bit too comfortable with you being such a giving person that they expect it every time and when you don’t give them what they want the, “hey bro” quickly turns into them cursing you out and talking bad about you to others. Keep your distance from these people, it will cost you a lot more in the long run to wash the bad taste out of a potential future clients mouth put there by the lies they might tell.
Apart from all mentioned above, he always makes sure to take time off during the evenings to spend quality time with his wife and their children. This greatly assists him with relaxation and prevents him from working round the clock without breaks.
Advice for people seeking growth
His best advice for people who fall into this category is that they allow freedom for failures. All of the failures, according to Tony, will in due time, teach valuable lessons that are needed for growth. Learn to accept failure and embrace failing forward. There’s been many times it felt like my world was flipped upside down, and even though I might not of seen it at the time while going through it, it has always brought me to an even better situation, Tony says.
Tips for achieving success
Everyone wants to be successful. But how do we go about doing it?
To achieve success, Tony recommends that you first do some soul searching and determine what success really looks like for you and not what it is to your neighbor. For some it’s to be filthy rich while for others it’s being able to do what they love for a living and maintaining a good work/home life balance.
In order to really achieve success, especially for introverts, Tony suggests that you flea your comfort zone and run towards new, untapped territory. Moving far away from home, for example can really force you to become a stronger and more outgoing person. When you’re all alone in a strange place with no one to depend on but yourself, a side of you that you never knew existed begins to shine.
Another tip Tony brings to the table would be to surround yourself with people that you can learn from, stay away from those who aren’t in a constant state of growth. People can only teach you what they know so you also need to be able to recognize when it’s time for a new mentor. Don’t be foolish and believe that a person owes you anything, you’re the one seeking the mentor, offer value to that person whether it be teaching them something new or even sweeping their studio floor and taking out the trash. He has never been a person that had many friends, but surrounding oneself with people who uplift you is vital. He lost many of his friends when he decided not to go the path that everyone else did as he seen what they were doing like hamsters stuck on a wheel and he was determined to move forward. This loss helped him focus even more because it removed those who weren’t all for his dream. Don’t allow the fear of losing people stop you from seeking out your true calling.
View On Artists Managing Themselves
In his early twenties, Tony was a musician himself. He recalls how easy it was to create the content. The main obstacle was getting results. There are numerous artists and entrepreneurs who go through the pain of seeing no results, day after day. Tony advises that these artists first learn what they can for their own safety so that they aren’t over charged or hire someone inexperienced, but ultimately hiring someone who specializes in this field day to day can help speed up the process a lot of the time simply by having networked and built up strong relationships.
A Quote To Live By
When he was younger, Tony picked up a quote his grandmother would always say. This quote was said by the American philosopher and poet who led the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson, it goes this way; ““To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
This quote formed the foundation of Tony’s work and made him the individual he is today.
