We recently connected with Max Foster and have shared our conversation below.
Max, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
One day you’ll wake up and realize that you’re a part of the conversation for a reason. It’s easy to feel like the only one in the room, but you have to understand that the room wouldn’t be complete without you. For most of my life, I’ve been the youngest, the least experienced, and never the smartest, and that used to terrify me until I realized what a blessing it was to be constantly surrounded by those that are wiser and more experienced than myself. That realization of that blessing laid the foundation for the confidence I needed to overcome imposter syndrome and feel like I deserve a place in the room.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Like most businesses, mine started with humble beginnings. I moved to Nashville in 2019 from Austin Texas. I started playing guitar around 5 years old, and I had been in love with music ever since. That love for music brought me to Belmont University in 2019. In August of 2021, a few friends of mine and I moved into a new house, and we hosted a few parties for our friends. I had always loved hosting events for my friends, and those parties had pretty high attendance numbers, so I wanted to take it further and host a concert. My first show ever was January 21st, 2022 at The End. At that time, a lot of my friends were joining and creating bands, and all of them were itching to play since we had been feeling the effects of the Covid pandemic for the past two years. I organized three bands and a DJ, and that night, we sold out The End. It was a great experience, but it was my first show ever, so I just thought it was all beginners luck. I wanted to see if I could make it happen again, so I organized another show at The End a few months later, and luckily, that show also sold out. I spent the next two years experimenting with concerts. I wanted experience hosting shows with different venues, genres, and entertainment structures. All these individual shows led me to my first monthly show series – Who’s Next at Love & Exile in East Nashville. Thanks to my partners at Four Count Ent. I was able to keep the show booked and managed while attending grad school at Belmont. A friend of mine in my graduate program saw all the work I was doing at L&E, so she offered me the chance to create and add a new series to my programming at the L27 rooftop of The Westin Nashville. The vision for Foster Entertainment became clear through my work with The Westin and Love & Exile. Businesses all over Nashville want to host live music, and artists are always looking for new places to play and share their work, so it’s my job to connect the two and foster a culture of consistent and quality entertainment experiences for the artists, businesses, and their audiences.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Sales, communication, persistence. At the end of the day, these three skills have been and always will be my recipe for success in business, and all three are improved by practice and failure. I believe that of all three, persistence is the most important. Persistence will make your dreams come true, You can fail over and over again but through persistence and a little learning along the way, you can make anything happen. This is much easier said than done. Failure comes with loss, and its not always easy to constantly loose resources, especially the resources tied to your direct mental and physical health. Entrepreneurs tend to be individuals with a high tolerance for risk & failure for the sole reason that they have to endure both constantly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to love the process. I work in music, it’s been my dream since I was a kid, so for me, every day I get to spend doing this work is a blessing, whether I succeed or not. I also firmly believe this principal has been active throughout my entire life. I had to try coffee a bunch of times before I started to enjoy the taste, I had to practice driving in a parking lot dozens of times before I could drive on the highway, and I had to learn hundreds of songs I hated on guitar before I ever got to step foot inside a studio, Deep down, if you love what you do, you’ll love doing it, and you will persist.
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?
Hard work isn’t everything. The 2024 year was the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. I was averaging 80-90 hours a week building my startup, attending graduate night-school for a 1-year MBA program, and working full time at a suit shop to support myself financially. At the end of that year, I was everyone else’s version of successful. I had my MBA, a glowing resume, and a startup that was finally starting to get off the ground, but I wasn’t happy. To this day, I do not regret my 2024 year because even though I was left unhappy and burnt out, it provided me the foundation to become the version of myself that I needed to finally take agency for my own happiness. As I sit here at the end of 2025, I’m happy to say that I’m happy. I get to have fun with work that I care about, and for the first time in my life I can confidently say that my work brings me fulfillment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fosterentertainmentllc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fosterentertainmentllc/
Image Credits
Reid C.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
