Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to John Chisum. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi John, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
After living what seems like three lifetimes and becoming successful in multiple careers, it seems like confidence and self-esteem are two different things. I became a songwriter in Nashville in my mid-twenties, stumbling into some opportunities I wasn’t smart enough to pray for or think myself into. I was smart enough, however, to seize the moment and work super hard to get good at it. That was over 400 published songs ago. I’m fairly confident in my songwriting skills, obviously, especially in the styles and genres I feel naturally drawn to. Get me out of my specialized musical area and I can lose confidence quickly. Once you’ve had significant success in an area, it’s easy to feel confident you can do it again.
I’ve developed my confidence through hard work while drawing on whatever natural talent I had. I wanted to be a commercial songwriter as a child, practically the first time I heard a song that moved me emotionally. I decided I wanted to do that too, even though I had no idea how it could ever happen. Once the door opened, I just ran through it and wrote hundreds of songs each year. I had great mentors in the music field and I listened seriously to their feedback. I didn’t assume people should like my songs just because I wrote them. I learned to write with my audience in mind and that broke me into the commercial music stream. Confidence is the result of a slow, steady effort in one direction. Get some wins under your belt and confidence grows naturally when you know you can repeat good performances.
But self-esteem can be a fleeting thing. I’ve found that people can be highly successful, but think of themselves as dirtbags because of failures, perceived or real, in other areas of their lives. A lot of very successful artists, for instance, live in a self-imposed hell inside. They look great, make a lot of money, and even make a lot of people happy with their art. But because they feel empty or lonely or like impostors inside, they have zero self-esteem.
I also think that self-esteem isn’t nearly as important as self-love. If you don’t love yourself internally first, warts and all, no outward accomplishment can make it happen for you. When you rely on the esteem of others or their recognition of you for any reason, you’re handing your power over to someone else. That will always turn out badly. I prefer to think in terms of loving myself as a human first. I’m here. I’m breathing. I don’t have to do anything extraordinary to earn my air. I deserve breath like everyone else and I remind myself that I have value on this planet simply by being here. As I keep that value in mind, I don’t have to look anywhere outside of myself for esteem. My self-esteem means I have value just for being here, not by doing anything or earning anyone else’s approval.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’ve been in the faith-based music space for forty years as a songwriter, publisher, producer, recording artist, and artist development executive for two major recording companies. Eight years ago I launched Nashville Christian Songwriters on a shoestring budget to share my decades of expertise and success with aspiring songwriters all over the world. Today, I have a popular songwriting podcast called “Song Revolution with John Chisum” featuring inspirational and informative interviews with artists like NEEDTOBREATHE’s Bear Rinehart and worship leader, Kari Jobe, for just two examples. I’ve produced 180 episodes and we’re now passing 175,000 downloads.
My passion for encouraging songwriters and artists shows up in all of my coaching programs. Coaching was kind of a new thing when I was starting NCS in 2015, but now we have an eight-week online coaching experience called NCS Pro Song Mastery that downloads my years of success into songwriters and artists just beginning to get their feet wet in pro-level songwriting.
We also offer NCS Artist Development, a 90-day coaching experience designed to help independent artists establish themselves in the digital space – – it’s basically “a record label in a box” that brings the song development, marketing, management, and production functions under one coaching process that sets the artist up to win. Young artists don’t know what to expect in the music world, so we’re here as a resource team whom they can trust to guide them into the best expressions of their music and learn what it takes to have a career.
Personally speaking, I’m in a bit of renaissance in my songwriting and recording. I’ve recorded a new album after a decade away and three music videos, so far. I’m planning a return to public concerts in the spring of 2024 and releasing singles to independent radio outlets. I co-write with some of my coaching clients and it’s a blast to see their music coming to life in ways they have only dreamed of.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and learning. I listen to no less than two – three Audible books every week and absorb them like water. Being a lifelong learner is the #1 key to my success. Readers are leaders and leaders are readers. Being open to learning from people you might not agree with politically, religiously, or socially is also key. When we are narrow in our information streams we are impoverished. I’m not a book reader, I’m a voracious listener.
Another thing that’s helped me in my journey is to know what I want, but to be open to how it manifests. I had strong desires to be a songwriter and artist early in life, but it took decades for it to come to pass. And it happened in unexpected ways even after I’d given up on it. Funny how things happen. In a very real way, I’m living out all of my deepest desires for impact now in a later season in my life. I guess what I’m saying is hold your desires loosely, especially in how they might happen in your life. Be open.
A third thing would be to live in the present moment. This seems to be in every book and on every show right now. Maybe it’s the zeitgeist of our day, that people are realizing that its time to let go of the past and not miss today for fearing the future. I’ve had to learn patience through the discipline of practicing the radical now. If I don’t, I get lost in shame from past mistakes or paralyzed by fear of the future. We humans cannot control much. We prop ourselves up with a lot of the things that give us the illusion of control, but they aren’t real. We didn’t choose to be here and we can’t predict when we’ll leave short of suicide, which is nothing but a permanent solution to a temporary problem and not recommended.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The number one challenge I face as an entrepreneur/business owner is telling our story in a compelling way through social media and on our site. We are helping hundreds of aspiring songwriters level up to an understanding of pro-level songwriting, as well as helping aspiring artists find their voice and get closer to building a following. Our track record is strong and customer satisfaction is off the charts, but telling that story is challenging.
I’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into Facebook, Instagram, etc, but it’s so difficult to track the results and target the desired audience. I’ve paid Facebook marketers tens of thousands, as well, only to feel I’ve thrown away some nice money. I know there are people out there who figure this out, but no matter how good our programs are, if they don’t reach the people who could benefit from them it’s frustrating and wasteful, at best.
I spend most of my time doing things that I’m not good at as a small business owner, but we continue to reach enough aspiring songwriters and artists to survive and grow best we can. I continue my quest to find the contractors who really understand our market and can overcome the shifting policies and algorithms to make marketing dollars count.
Contact Info:
- Website: nashvillechristiansongwriters.com
- Instagram: Nashville Christian Songwriters
- Facebook: Nashville Christian Songwriters
- Youtube: @nashvillechristiansongwriters
- Other: johnchisum.com
Image Credits
All photos courtesy of Nashville Christian Songwriters
