Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jay Arrington. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jay, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
Sleep is an area of self-care that has drastically improved my effectiveness. I used to see sleep as an inconvenience, and I literally tried to see how little sleep I could get and still feel OK each morning. Thankfully, I have since realized that when I have adequate sleep, everything in life is more manageable and less stressful. Having my own business is a blessing and curse in that, most of the time, I have the flexibility to take breaks when I want; but I also feel the crushing burden of, “if you’re not working, you’re not earning.” It is a fairly common occurrence for me to have an awful night of sleep, whether that’s due to our young kids or dogs needing attention at 2am, or anxiety keeping me awake. In the past, if I had a bad night like this, I would white-knuckle the morning routine and do whatever it took to get working on time. I would ignore the deep aches in my body, the jumbled thoughts that clouded my mind, and justify my short temper. These days, if I have a bad night, I am more likely to shift into low-power mode. I will stay in my PJs while I help get my wife and kids to work/school, postpone the things on my morning schedule, take my time making a pour-over, drink the coffee outside with our dog sitting beside me, listen to the birds sing as they flutter from fence to tree to roof and back to tree. Eventually, I will probably take an epsom salt bath. I might fall asleep in the bath (which I enjoy). I’ll then put on one of my favorite outfits, slowly make my way to the car, and get to work several hours late. What I find almost every time is that, even if my day was cut from 8 hours to 4 hours, I still finish what I need to (if not more) because I slowed down and showed kindness to myself.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I started recording my own music when I was about 16 years old. At the time, I did not care about recording quality or having a good mix; I just wanted people to hear the songs I was writing. Over the next few years, I had chances to record songs that my friends wrote, too. If they ever needed help with arrangement (e.g., what harmony to sing, what instrument to add, how many times to sing a chorus, etc.) I would help, and I quickly realized how rewarding that process was for me. I officially caught the “recording bug” in college and started to care more and more about microphone choice, methods for engineering and mixing, and how to achieve pro-sounding recordings.
Eventually, at the end of 2015, I went full-time as the producer/engineer/owner of Greenbriar Studio, LLC. My role in projects can vary greatly from artist to artist. Sometimes I only engineer, ensuring a quality capture of a song and passing the files along to someone else for mixing/mastering. Other times, I am given a rough voice memo recording from a songwriter, and my task is to facilitate the whole journey, from lyric completion, to arrangement, to playing instruments/hiring session musicians, engineering, coaching performance during recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. I also produce and pitch music for tv/film sync placements, sell drum samples for others to use in their productions, and produce/engineer audiobooks.
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?
1) Self-Care/Mental Health – Taking care of yourself is not selfish. Read books like Try Softer by Aundi Kolber. Be compassionate toward yourself. I started going to therapy regularly in 2017, and it has changed my life drastically.
2) Communication/Interaction – (There is crossover here with mental health) Learn about your personality through tests like the Enneagram. Become aware of your default behaviors and how that impacts your personal and working relationships with others. Learn how to best meet the needs of others and yourself in healthy ways.
3) Business Administration – I graduated college with a business minor, and it still wasn’t enough for me to know how to run my own business. Things I am doing in year nine and ten that I wish I’d done in years one and two: small business coaching, learning how to more effectively market my business, get serious about budgeting and forecasting, etc. I was too prideful to see my need for help because business happened to be good enough early on.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
I’m currently facing the challenge of simply needing more income, and there is conflicting advice I am sifting through trying to make that happen. I have financial advisors saying, “raise your rates,” and many, many clients saying, “I can’t pay that.” I’m making high quality ads with recommended formats, spending more than I ever have to push the ads, and not seeing a return. I’m reading books that say, “hire people to do the small stuff, so you can do the big stuff.” Then I spend too much money on contract labor and have to slam on the brakes financially and have no help for a while. All of this while needing to move my studio (in a few months) to a new, unknown space, where I will need to pay rent (I pay no rent in my current space, which is being torn down in 2026).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.greenbriar.studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jay.at.greenbriar.studio/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jay.at.Greenbriar.Studio
Image Credits
Justin Nix, Alli K Photography, Taylor Cash Photography
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
