Juice and Self, a dynamic husband and wife team, are renowned life and career coaches and co-owners of CEO Self Coaching, a firm dedicated to empowering music entrepreneurs to navigate and succeed independently in the music business. Their coaching approach is holistic, and focuses on the personal and professional aspects of their client’s lives. They insist that nurturing the artist’s well-being as well as their business acumen is essential for long-term success.
What do you want music artists to learn through this firm?
Self: Most music entrepreneurs don’t have an opportunity to become who they really want to be because they lack the resources and the proper guidance. A lot of times they get manhandled by a bunch of these corporate industry guys, and we try to do our best to let them know that the term “paying your dues” is necessary, but it has to be put in the right context. No independent music entrepreneurs should have to deal with being misled or forced to be in a mind of depression because they feel like they can’t achieve it through a certain gatekeeper. We’re not in that place anymore. That’s [what] CEO Self Coaching is founded on and we start with the mental. We teach them the foundations of being in business as a music entrepreneur and then we take them to the next level by encouraging mental health and at the same time, giving them the tools necessary to actually be in business as an independent music entrepreneur.
What are you looking for in artists who need guidance?
Juice: Everything starts with a call. One of our main things is I ask them a series of questions just to see where their head is and if they’re serious, because a lot of artists are emotionally driven, versus being ready to be savvy in their craft and ready to take it on as a business, and look at the music as a product versus “I created this, this is my life.”
I try to see if they’re coming from it from an emotional point, or from “Hey, I really want to take myself seriously.” It definitely has to be more than a hobby, and sometimes, we have clients that don’t even know they can go past it being a hobby. I reel them in that way and say “Hey, you can actually do this for real, but you have to want it.”
Self: We ask the hard questions, and we feel like every artist is an artist. They have their stories, and they’re going to translate it the way they need to translate it, but when it comes down to asking the questions that are going to separate them from just being an artist or an actual, sane business entrepreneur, that’s what we pride ourself on. We want to ask those questions and get people to start thinking.
