We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nikki Cohn-Byrd. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nikki below.
Hi Nikki, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Purpose, to me, is one of those fickle mistresses that if you chase it, it will run. Some people are lucky to almost be born with an idea of what they want to do and who they want to be. That unfortunately wasn’t the case for me. I struggled for years to find what I wanted out of life and who I wanted to be. I went through many stages of chasing a feeling, an idea, or an endeavor. And though I did find minimal success in some of those pursuits, most ended in failure, which was extremely discouraging every time. Looking around me at the people my age and in my industry seeing financial success, personal happiness and contentment in their journeys made me feel lost and almost jealous that I just couldn’t seem to find what was right for me. I have a ton of interests, a lot of loves…and ADHD which many times just pushes me to want to be ‘good at everything not great at one thing’…so I try many things. I’d constantly keep asking myself and prompting myself to find a purpose…something I could tie myself to. I’d research ways to find your purpose or ways to ‘search your soul’ for what is right for you. And though I did those exercises, most of the time it just felt like I was forcing myself into an answer just so I could tell myself that I was FINALLY on the right track…only to realize I was wrong each time. The funny thing about what I”m doing now, is that it wasn’t anything that I purposefully tried to do or pursue. I wasn’t specifically looking for it when I fell upon it – I wasn’t chasing purpose or money. I was simply doing what made me happy and what was interesting to me, and things fell into place. That’s what I’d tell everyone. Don’t chase or force finding what’s right for you. What’s right for you…your purpose, will find you many times in the most unexpected of places, when you just continuously fill your life with things that advance you, stimulate you, and keep you smiling.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Sure! So I was born in Southern Indiana. On a small farm – lived there until I was three. Grew up like most kids in a small-medium size town with not much to do and when I graduated college I wanted something completely new. Nashville always struck my fancy and I visited once, decided it felt like ‘me’…packed up and moved for grad school. Sparing the details.. ha Ive been here since 2013 (minus about 2 years where I moved around just to explore)…have been involved in many different jobs/careers..worked for myself for the last 6 years. Not always a pretty life but it’s taught me strength. And not always in music…not til recently.
I will say this to the day I die – that someone reaching out to me, even a stranger – tells and thanks me when they’ve found music or an artist that they love or that helped them get over or get through a situation in their life, it’s better than being cut a big check. Hands down. Music brings people together. It’s a creative medium that has and has for history, been its own language that people speak, that brings us together. My personal brand on socials has a goal of continuously sharing great country music and shedding light on more of the independent artists that either aren’t represented by a major label, or that don’t fit the mold of ‘radio country’. I noticed not long ago that country music, my favorite genre, doesn’t really sound like what I remember country sounding like any more. And even though I understand music genres evolve, I wanted to start helping people find the artists that are keeping the classic sound alive, and reminding people that country music is more than what you hear on the radio. After sharing a few videos for fun, the feedback was astounding. Since then (which was around March) my socials have grown around this concept more than 10x, and keep growing. It wasn’t anything I expected to do, but I love every second. Now, having worked for myself for 6+ years, I’m adapting and evolving my brand and business endeavors to support this vision. My main business is a marketing agency, Nikki Byrd Marketing, that helps high-earning creators and entrepreneurs create and market online courses to share their expertise. With 8+ clients and 3 employees, we do well and it also helps support the content and the vision on the music media side. The music media company is a client of my marketing company and both are held under a main entity. This allows me to spread resources and cut costs in a way that makes it possible to do both, and expand. With presence on all the short form social platforms, I’m beginning to find amazing partners to help bring other long form media assets to life including a weekly Whiskey Wednesday Tiktok live show that interviews artists. The youtube and podcast ideas are working (and coming)…along with a few other various new assets that I’ll be releasing very soon. On the marketing side, we’re gearing up to be able to also offer services to artists that help supplement their independent marketing efforts, sharing their music and finding other ‘curators’ to share their works. As that part of the business builds up, the goal is to have a fully working flywheel for artists to enter into my world, get marketing help, even content production help…and distribution on my and my network’s channels to even further garner them awareness. Next step is catalogue acquisition…and I work hard every day to bring that vision to life. I appreciate the community I’ve built around this kind of country music and it really is what this whole thing is for.
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?
Resilience – I’ll argue at length that this isn’t born. It’s built. Over and over. Life is a constant test of you and your resilience. Either you let it knock you down or you come back stronger each time. I’m not saying you have to be bulletproof at your first failure, but the more you have, the easier it will be to overcome it. It’s not kind out there. But once you learn to pick up the pieces and move on through anything that happens, the easier and quicker things will happen for you. It’s my #1 skill or trait that any one should possess. Negotiation – Everything in life and business is about deals. You’re constantly making deals. Obviously especially in business where you’re negotiating employee contracts, contracts of your own, sponsorships or partnerships, new business acquisitions, new client acquisitions. Everything. The better you get at negotiation, the more you’ll find yourself coming out with terms that are always in your favor. Talk to great business leaders. Read negotiation books. Learn how to be a deal-maker. It will take you many places.
Leadership – you’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll need to be in a position of leadership. Either you’re high up in a company with direct reports or you’ll be needing to hire people of your own. Even those of us with larger audiences need to position ourselves as a leader in some capacity because people do look up to you even if they don’t say so. The best way I’ve developed this is to speak to good leaders. Ask them how they go about being respected and authoritative at the same time. Then, simply talk to your people. Get to know them. Don’t be the leader you think you should, but the one that they need you to be.
The best advice I have is to just jump in and do it. I received an MBA at 23 years old, and today with what I’m doing, I promise you that the best education I ever received was just actually doing the work. Finding my own way, failing, figuring it out, finding those who can help you…and building skills continuously. I really don’t even use that degree. So don’t be afraid of lack of education – the internet has all the education you need. Just jump in and get your feet wet. There’s no quicker way of learning than trial by fire.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
This is an interesting question because I have found multiple avenues to help solve issues or challenges. But the number one thing that helps me overcome is simply telling myself – you’re choosing to remain stuck. Why? Because as soon as we realize that our problems are not new or unique, and that no matter what you’re going through, someone somewhere has our answer – you become completely liberated. Whether it’s a quick search on the internet (which you’d be surprised how easily it is to find any/all answers from Youtube even) or a call to someone in your network to ask for help or to ask them if they know anyone who can help, you can always find solutions to your issues once you choose to admit you’re stuck, and admit you need help.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.talknashtytome.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkiinnashville/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@talkNashtytome
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nikkiinnashville https://nikkicohnbyrd.com/
Image Credits
Images are taken by myself or Logan Alexander at https://www.instagram.com/loganeppich/
