CHECK OUT THE MEANING BEHIND THE SONG “FLY”.

“FLY” is the first song from Jarrell’s new album “RISE”. RISE is a concept album that tells the story about a person who decides to defy the odds in life and reach for more. Watch Jarrell explain the story below.

Today, I am sharing 3 easy tips that you can implement that would empower you as a creative in business today.

1. Fail often!– Successful creatives that we admire always have an abundance of stories about when things went wrong. Have you ever thought, “How is it that this insanely successful person has had so many things go wrong? Most of the things I decide to do works out pretty well for me.” I believe that they have these kinds of stories because they are constantly taking risks. Brave people who step out and try new things will have more opportunities to fail.  If you aren’t failing, then you’re not trying anything. If you aren’t trying anything, then you have no opportunity to succeed. No Bueno. I’ve learned that taking risks and trying things that could either succeed or fail in front of my peers is a normal occurrence on a successful person’s journey.
2. Always pre-determine the ROI (Return On Investment)– Creative friends, this is so important to think about before considering ANY opportunity. Before accepting a gig from a new promoter. Before signing a contract with an agency. Before collaborating on a project with a new artist friend. Before doing anything new or anything you have done before, determine if there is any return on your investment of time and talent. If there is no return that you can verbalize, then ask yourself why you are drawn to participate. Sometimes, it’s because we don’t think highly about OUR time and talents so we treat them like something of no value. We aren’t treating them like our gift from our Creator. Sometimes, it’s because we sincerely feel like God wants us to do this specific thing. Unfortunately, we may also believe that He doesn’t care about reaping a return or multiplying our efforts. (That could be its own blog in itself. lol)  ROI = multiplication and the parable of the talents from the Bible tells us that is very important to GOD.
3. Under promise and over deliver– If you are a performing creative, this is how you keep your performance calendar filling up for your current project. A lot of places that book you will bring you back over and over for their future events! But they will not be inclined to do so if you or your representative talked you up and inflated you and your skill set just to get in the door. When a promoter or event planner requests a particular service and you show up to exceed their expectations, they WILL want to invite you back. What can you do to exceed expectations? This can be done in MANY different ways. One thing I see that Jarrell does often is that he makes personal connections with the people who brought him in AND with the concert attendees. He doesn’t hide out in the green room after the concert. He is often found talking, encouraging, or praying with staff, volunteers, and concert attendees until he is starving and exhausted. In this example, he may have promised to rap a few songs, but he delivered more than expected.

I hope this helped! I have 4 more tips coming in my next blog. Two weeks from now it can be delivered right to your inbox by simply leaving your email here: Click to Subscribe to Jeneil’s Angle

I would love to hear some of your tips for creatives who are on the journey too. Tell us in the comments below.

In the dream, I was in a pretty clean grocery store. It was a pretty well lit facility, and  I found myself stacking boxes with some of the workers. Have you ever had a dream where you knew certain things even though they were never directly communicated to you? In this dream, I knew that the job was super easy for me. I also knew that I was going to be getting a financial raise by choosing to work at this job. My family wasn’t in this part of the dream. It was just me and the workers. I also felt that my life calling wasn’t being fulfilled in the grocery store. I was just going through the motions. Then the scene switched…

My family and I were in the lobby of a business complex. It looked like a real shady place. The room lighting was really dim (like that dim yellowish kind of lighting). Between the lobby and the business area, there was a row of rooms with mattresses in them. I got the sense that, in order for people to get to business area, they had to spend some time in those rooms. My wife was dressed in business clothes and was headed towards the business area. I was sitting in the lobby with my daughters and a few other people. There was a lot of profanity being used in the lobby. I was concerned about the safety and innocence of my girls. Then the dream ended.

I woke up and knew what the dream meant. I would be presented with two options:

1. I could continue doing what I was used to doing (church leadership). It would be a nice and neat job that would come natural to me, but my family wouldn’t be active participants with me. I would get a financial raise.
2. I could go into the business sector. This would be a place that would not come natural for me (represented by the dim lights), and my wife would play a major role in leading this journey. It would be a place where we would encounter a lot of opportunities to compromise. I would have to become more intentional about the discipleship of my wife and kids in order to survive there.

Well, the dream is real. I was soon presented with the choice in real life. I can choose comfort or cultivation.

(click here to read part 2)

Well, the dream is real. A few weeks later, I received a random message from a church leader in Kansas. They wanted me to come and be their youth pastor. That one was easy to decline because…yeah…I didn’t feel like Kansas was for us! Shortly after that, I received another offer from another church here in San Antonio. A good friend told me that he heard about the position and the Holy Spirit brought my named to mind. This opportunity was a different story. I had old friends who attended the church. The staff is full of amazing people that I knew I could work with. I really liked the vision of the church. I even mentioned some stuff that I was reading in my personal time and they were already aware of the materials and seemed to be on the same page. After going back home and doing some calculations with my wife, I found out that I would also be getting an amazing financial raise with some great benefits. There would finally be some good margin in my family’s financial situation. We went to check out the church. The people were friendly, the facilities were nice, and there were great upcoming plans for expansion. We reconnected with old friends. The service was nice and neat…and it ended on time. It seemed like it would be something we could fit into. But then I remembered the dream. This was the well lit room where everything would come natural to me…and my family would just be tagging along for the ride.

During this time, my wife Jeneil was becoming more and more interested in…you guessed it…BUSINESS. I haven’t seen her this passionate about something (besides me) in a while! LOL! Seriously though. She’s been listening to podcasts, reading articles, and watching videos about entrepreneurship nonstop. The dream is real now. Do I commit to something that I know will help a particular part of the body of Christ and ease some financial strain for my family? Or do we blaze an unfamiliar trail together and see what happens?

Fulfilling my wife’s dreams has become very important to me. When we were married, she uprooted from the comfort zone of her family and friends in Florence, Alabama and came to join me in an unfamiliar city. I respect her so much for that. After almost 12 years, we are still trying to find out where and how she fits. She is a person who will serve anywhere behind the scenes. However, we both know that she has so much more passion and potential inside of her. I want her to find that place where service meets purpose. That’s where passion is ignited. It’s also important for another reason…

Growing up, I’ve seen many women follow their husbands around in ministry. They do stuff that they would never want to do in the name of submitting to their husbands. Years and years go by without them ever feeling like they have a unique calling from God. But I don’t see that in scripture. In the bible, I see the bride of Christ living in full submission to Jesus while discovering who the Father has uniquely created her to be. The bride of Christ isn’t tagging along on God’s global mission in a semi-depressed state. Unfortunately, this is what I see in a lot of ministry marriages. I vowed that this would never be us. I want to be like Jesus – intentionally leading my bride on a journey of discovery and adventure.

In the spirit of the dream and my convictions surrounding it, I declined the second youth pastor offer. I did it knowing that something would necessarily need to change with my current situation. We’re at a crossroads and it’s time to pull the trigger on some decisions. “Burn” and “GO!” have been on heavy rotation for me lately. I feel like it’s time for that leap of faith. It’s time to RISE.

Prayers please.