Meet Mark Oblinger

We were lucky to catch up with Mark Oblinger recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I got my work ethic directly from my parents. A work ethic that I’m sure they learned from their parents and their parents before them. It’s like it’s passed down genetically without ever really being spoken of. You watch, you learn, you imitate and hopefully pass it down to your children. Sure, there were “teachable moments,” like when your Dad puts a rake in your hand and says let’s go next door and help our elderly neighbors with their yard. Or when your Mom volunteers to deliver food to folks less fortunate than you and brings you along so you can begin to understand how lucky you are to have the things you do. You learn gratitude, empathy, honesty – core values, and it’s all by watching your parents, your teachers “walk their talk.” The power of those “values in action” is much more profound than any speech or lecture they could ever give and I try to incorporate that lesson in everything I do.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to spend my entire career in the business I love – music. Starting out decades ago playing my first gigs in college, to being a member of several national recording/touring acts, to becoming a producer and now, a full-time performer again, it’s been quite the rewarding, yet still challenging journey. Like the music business itself, I’ve had to change and adapt (and take other work at times because of the “gig” nature of the business) but the journey continues to reveal new vistas, personal challenges and possibilities for growth around each corner.
To that end, after years of producing some incredibly talented songwriters, I decided to spend more time on my own songwriting and the result was the very successful release of my “High Water Line” album in 2019. And I’m excited to announce that I’ll follow it up January 5th, 2024 with the release of a new EP titled “The River.”
2024 and beyond promises to hold many live performances and much more songwriting and recording now that I’ve finally taken more ownership of my craft not just as a performer, but as an “artist.” It’s taken a lifetime to get here – but it’s been well worth the wait!

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?
As far as skills/areas of knowledge or qualities that impacted my journey, I would start with having an optimistic point of view. Growing up an Army brat, I learned that life was going to be constantly changing at a very rapid pace – new homes, new schools, new people you had to interact with every year, so to thrive you had to be mentally flexible and open to all things “new.” Thankfully, most of my peers were going through the same thing so that bond helped us all learn that skill and carry it into our adult lives. Being open to the “new” was invaluable because it also let me see things from more than one vantage point and come up with solutions that you might not otherwise think are available.

Building on that positive outlook, I developed persistence. Finding a passion for music early on, I quickly realized that I was in a creative field where the level of talent you witnessed from other musicians was sometimes breathtaking in it’s virtuosity and often far exceeding what I was able to do naturally. It would be easy to compare myself to that person and say “I’ll never be that good.” And that’s a possibility – but you’ll never know unless you practice and learn your craft. By putting in the time to learn your craft, you begin to build a body of technical knowledge that allows you to converse and learn from others within your field at a professional level. And with that technical expertise, you’ll begin to “peel back the onion” so to speak and reveal the things that make you special in that field, to find your “voice,” just like that person you originally compared yourself to. You don’t have to be the ‘best” in the world. Who’s the judge of that anyway? Just focus on being the best version of you and then see where that path leads. Good news – you’ve got the inside track on that job already!

Lastly, being somewhat shy and an introvert as a young person, it was hard to find the courage to step forward in musical and personal situations and take risks. But I learned that all situations can become comfortable and safe places to express yourself if you’re willing to take a chance – and possibly fail – when you have those opportunities in front of you. I think I’ve learned just as much from the failures (some whoppers!) as from the successes. And those opportunities don’t usually start on the main stage at a festival as the headliner! It starts with small steps – those garage band “jams,” to the backyard parties, to the small clubs and then to bigger opportunities if that’s where your passion leads you. Small steps, in whatever job/career you’re in. It’s getting your “reps.” That builds expertise. And that expertise builds confidence. And that confidence creates that “safe space” where you can truly stretch out creatively and realize your full potential.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

The times I’ve felt overwhelmed, I usually realize that I’ve been the responsible party for creating a lot the internal stress in the first place. Trying to do too much, too soon with too many variables in the equation that I have no control over. And the biggest piece of the puzzle usually is control – what can I control in this situation and what I can’t. Using those criteria as my template, I view the variables in the situation and then make a plan of action. I start with acknowledging the things that are considered “givens” that I can’t control – a specific date for example when a task has to be completed. Next, I look at the pieces of the puzzle I can control and prioritize those jobs – what absolutely needs to be done and in what order – and then, what can wait. Very important! Multitasking can be exciting and very satisfying but like the movie quote, “ . . . man’s got to know his limitations!” Once you start accomplishing the tasks you can control, you’ll often find that some of the obstacles that seemed immovable will reveal some flexibility and from there you can usually come up with several solid paths to go down to get out from under what seems to be an overwhelming situation. It’s never easy but with practice and taking small steps to get you moving forward, it becomes a reliable method for problem solving in your career and life.

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Scott Rowland

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