July 1983. I had just graduated from college--State University of New York at Oswego--with a business degree and a theatre minor.My first job out of college was at Westbury Music Fair on Long Island, a 2,800-seat, in-the-round venue for plays and intimate concerts. I was a backstage runner, basically a gopher. Acts would come into town and I would pick them up at the airport or pick them up at their hotel and bring them to the gig. I always made sure they had whatever they needed backstage whether it was coffee, tea or drinks.
The Australian pop band, Air Supply, came to Westbury Music Fair to do two shows on a Friday and Saturday night. Unbeknownst to me, Air Supply had just fired their "band assistant" because of his "addictions."
I worked the show on a Friday night and met the two lead members of the band, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, as well as their security guard, Bob Street. Nothing special, just hi and a few casual words. And because I was taught at a young age you work hard no matter what the job, I would find out the next day that my life was about to change.
The next afternoon I arrived at work to help get things ready for Saturday night's show. Air Supply arrived to do a sound check and Bob pulled me aside to talk to me about my interests and asked how I liked working at Westbury. About a half hour later Bob left with the band went back to the hotel to rest before the show.
Air Supply came back to the venue a few hours later. As the band members went to their dressing rooms, Bob pulled me aside and asked how much I made working at Westbury. I told him about $150 a week. (Hey, back in 1983 $150 a week wasn't bad). Bob said, "Do you want to quadruple that?"
I was told they needed a person to take care of their backstage area while they were on the road and that, since they liked the way I worked the day before, they were offering me a job with them on their World Tour.
The next day I was in Connecticut on tour with Air Supply as their band assistant. I toured with Air Supply for six years and they remain great friends of mine to this day.
My "luck" as all my friends say, was due to the fact that I work hard in everything I do, no matter how menial the job. I am where I am today because I do the best I can all the time.
Craig Duswalt is a professional speaker and the creator and author of Craig Duswalt's RockStar System For Success - How to Achieve RockStar Status in Your Industry. Craig is also a very popular and entertaining keynote speaker and a marketing coach who uses "outside-the-box thinking" tools to change the way entrepreneurs do business.Craig's background includes touring with Guns N' Roses, as Axl Rose's personal manager, and Air Supply, as the band's personal assistant. Craig was also an award-winning copywriter, working as a senior copywriter for a Los Angeles-based ad agency until opening up his own ad agency, Green Room Design & Advertising, which was named the 2002 Santa Clarita Valley Small Business of the Year.
Craig combines his backgrounds in both music and marketing, and he teaches numerous ways to save a ton of money on marketing and advertising; and how to become perceived as a celebrity and an expert in your business where potential clients will come to you instead of you having to go after them.
Craig holds 2 large RockStar Marketing BootCamps every year, in March and September, in Los Angeles. For more information about these huge events please visit www.RockStarMarketingBootCamp.com or www.CraigDuswalt.com.
About Craig Duswalt
