How To Quit Your Job To Follow Your Passion & Find Freedom In The Process - w/ Arjun (TheAJSound)

quitting jobs quitting a life in shackles when you decided to finally take the plunge into exploring your passion was earning 81 lakhs in it I'm still earning nowhere near that in music I'm Naman Pand and in this episode featured not expert is the AJ sound also known as Arjun B Arjun is an IT professional turned full-time singer/ songwriter producer whose life journey in many ways makes me reminiscent of Fan's journey in the movie Three Idiots what exactly was motivating you to do all of these really uncomfortable things was two 2 weeks away from getting married and she left it's the equivalent of going into the gym and getting shredded after a breakup right but in art form something inside of me was like a ticking Time Bomb how do you go about talking to your brain telling it that

talking to your brain telling it that hey you may be a little bit miserable but you will also be happy because you're following your passion a couple of our video blew up overnight we got millions of views how do you take that success that is online and digital and transform that people think that Comforts give them happiness we go exactly what it feels like to quit your job and follow your path Midway through your life and also go over what it might take to not have to do that in the first place there's nothing wrong with AdWords right that's the other misconception were you always in a plan to quit your job eventually or was it I'll get to that someday the thing that works really well with the Hy is I brought the

well with the Hy is I brought the Western Vibe and Western composition I ended up marrying a fan of mine and brought her to New Zealand I don't know what my life's purpose is what my passion is so what should I do in keeping with the theme of learning from somebody that's just two steps ahead of us instead of an expert my goal with this episode is to Showcase arjun's Incredible Journey and what we can probably learn from it this is The Ready Set do podcast and to support it subscribe to me on YouTube and leave me up to a f star rating on Spotify or your favorite podcast apps there are also links in the description for more direct ways to support me and now without any further Ado my friends here's the AJ sound Welcome to The Ready Set do podcast where we learn from journeys of

podcast where we learn from journeys of not experts who are just two steps ahead of us Arjun welcome hey man good to be here really excited to dig into um all about quitting uh quitting jobs quitting a life in shackles and exploring what what lies Beyond so can you kick us off here by talking about a little bit um about the circumstances around you know with your life around when you decided to finally take the plunge into exploring your passion which was separate in your case from what from the work that you were doing professionally and maybe we'll start there and we'll you know continue to explore how you went about actually doing those things perfect so basically my name is Arjun I am Indian uh born in Bombay and brought

am Indian uh born in Bombay and brought up in New Zealand and you know as I grew up like most people I observed people around me I took advice of my parents who were you know great they have a great work ethic but they've been in service basically their whole life uh and so I got a degree like most people in it uh and then I worked in an IT job for 13 years I was doing quite well as well in that you know uh but something inside of me throughout that Journey was kind of ticking you know it was like a ticking time bomb or like a little itch that I had to kind of uh explore eventually so during my 13 years in it I

eventually so during my 13 years in it I did get the opportunity to learn the guitar uh and then play with a few people in New Zealand here who were doing Bollywood cover at the time and they were taking off on YouTube you know so a few of my friends then were able to take that a couple of our videos actually blew up overnight you know we got millions of views and a few of them were able to actually go to India and pursue their Bollywood career dream you know of singing Bollywood songs life performing and stuff like that um and I would say at the time growing up here I was not very very attuned to my Indian Roots I was more kind of growing up on

Roots I was more kind of growing up on English music like Edge shiran Ali Gaddy Taylor Swift that kind of stuff and um but I was still interested in music you know so I kicked off this AJ sound thing uh probably in around 2014 2015 wow but I only seriously started writing my own original music in 2020 so in 2020 I actually released my first song and for two years I did English music you know and it wasn't really working I only had like 2,000 followers YouTube was not Gru because obviously by 2020 uh every Tom Dick and Harry was doing covers you know especially English covers so it was very hard to kind of stick out and plus I would say I wasn't like amazing at the time you know um so it was very hard to

time you know um so it was very hard to stick out but then eventually with a few friends and stuff they they were encouraging me you know why don't you do Hindi music and I was like okay why don't I just give it a try so I did a couple of Hindi songs and the second song I did T hassi which you can see I've got tattooed over here I've got it tattooed over here um that took off it actually just took off and that's what kind of kickstarted my career in Hindi music I would say roughly in 2022 so I'm quite new to the game when it comes to Hindi music uh it's only been about two years now but it's taken me to India I

years now but it's taken me to India I spent eight months in India last year I ended up marrying a fan of mine and brought her to New Zealand and now here I am so I hope that kind of summarizes my circumstances that's perfect no that is the most succinct uh summary that you could have you know possibly given so and you've also given me so much to already bounce off there so we we'll just you know take it one one question at a time so the first one being um what are some what were some of your learnings about you know just putting music out on YouTube I know everybody like you want to make sure you have the most polished audio you want to have kind of a good music video and such but

kind of a good music video and such but when you were first starting out what was that process like where you were figuring things out on your own and it sounded like at first you were doing English covers and it sounds like writing and composing an original song is is a just a completely different ball game from just doing covers so can you talk us through that experience where you were having to write new music that to in Hindi which sounds like wasn't your you know goto Forte at the time of course so with anything you do in life you know and there are lots of different Frameworks for this in Japanese and Buddhism and Hinduism and everything but essentially it's this process of when you first start doing something it's actually quite good to mimic people you know when you first start doing it and

know when you first start doing it and then over time you sort of make that process your own and then once you've made it your own eventually you get to a point where you are the innovator you're making you know strides in that industry so I kind of followed the the same format you know in 2014 I was looking at my favorite artist Ed Sheeran lot of people say even now when I sing English songs that oh it sounds so much like Ed Sheran because all those years I just mimicked Ed Sheran you know and uh it started that way and honestly speaking I would say that when you first start it's very easy to fall into this trap of constantly looking at all this knowledge and getting overwhelmed you know but I

and getting overwhelmed you know but I would say the way I started and the way I would suggest everybody get started in this thing is to just do it put it out there and automatically learn from video by video or song by song you know okay make sure that every song you do you're learning something new and you're making it a bit better than the last one rather than worrying too much about oh it has to be perfect because I've seen artists even till today they're in this cycle of kind of um what should I say they'll make only one or two releases in a year because at the end of the day they worried and they keep tweaking

day they worried and they keep tweaking this and tweaking that but reality is is you can't swim even if you're learning to swim I'll take that example right you swimming a thousand laps in a day is not going to make you better it's only when you swim in different pools in different circumstances with Different Strokes that you actually start improving so at the end of the day doing more music is better than trying to fix one song endlessly for the rest of your life you know what I mean so yeah absolutely so start that way start by mimicking somebody start by doing covers and as you get better you'll develop your own style style and your own flare and then over time you'll create a Vibe of your own you know um how did I jump to original music

know um how did I jump to original music I think the tough thing is there's no formula for original music you know some people start with Melody first some people start with lyrics first some people start with production first or instrumentation first so when it comes to original music and art in general and creativity in general there's no set pattern and that's what scare is is a scary thing to jump into but like I said you know with original music you have to just give it a try you have to make some songs and then they'll get better that there's no simple way to say that you know it is what it is start somewhere and then you tailor your process as you do more and more music so

process as you do more and more music so with the hassi um was your process then like had you written a few songs before that that you maybe didn't published that was just for you know your years and maybe your and your friends's and then eventually when you stumbled upon on the hassi you realized that maybe I have something here and you decided to put that out or were you still continuously publishing new music on YouTube before that also yeah so I mean by the time Terry hassi was written which was probably late 20122 I'm thinking because it released in Feb 23 on Valentine's Day but I probably wrote it in November or something and then I was a bit insecure about my Hindi and all sorts of stuff um so I did write another Hindi song called heranum with a friend of mine and we actually released that and that

we actually released that and that actually did pretty well you know compared to my English song that it had done better than any of my English songs so already there was a bit of spark and a bit of um you know and and I don't like to measure success based on the views and all that stuff but when you're first starting out you kind of need some sort of reference point right because you know if the audience is not engaging and stuff but then they suddenly start engaging that's good feedback to take on um so after I did my first Hindi song the engagement was better than my English songs cuz my English songs was my reference point and then I was like okay now it's worth I think releasing Ted H the thing with how many

Ted H the thing with how many subscribers did you have at this point wallpark honestly I can't remember but I would say probably around followers on Instagram probably 2K YouTube probably 2 or 3K you know okay so start it so early on still yeah very Beginnings yes so like I said you know the English music hadn't worked for many years there was nothing special in it according to people which is good feedback to get actually as an artist and and I think the thing that worked really well with T hassi is I brought the Western Vibe and Western composition uh I managed to find a really good Lyricist in India because obviously I'm not going to try and write Hindi when I can barely speak it at the time you know so so it came together

time you know so so it came together well and then the other thing that stuck out to people was my accent they were like man your accent is very catchy because even if I sing P hassy live now people say it doesn't have that Zing as it used to but what they actually tell me is you know the way I sung some of those words were like so weird and so different for them that um you know see it it became very catchy it it drew them towards the You music because it was unique in that way you weren't pronoun you know you weren't pronounce anouncing words the way they were used to and that made you stand out almost exactly exactly so yeah I guess that's the no I mean that that makes total

the no I mean that that makes total sense I'm just you know kind of trying to um put myself in your shoes and you know like I get that I'm at a stage where I've decided to finally write in the music I have you know I'm working with The Lyricist yeah it's all it all sounds so nerve-wracking to me to put oneself through all this I mean so what would you say was the primary motivation behind you doing all of this was it just to you know eventually become what like was it Fame which is a perfectly valid goal to have or or was it more of just like a like this is my art I'm really passionate about this and I want to put

passionate about this and I want to put this out in front of the world because the world deserves to see this and I'm doing myself a disservice by not putting it out there so what exactly was motivating you to do all of these really uncomfortable things so you've covered both sides of the coin which is great because I've been on both sides of the coin so I would say when I first started doing music now this is before the Hindi when I I first started doing original music in 2020 it had just been at the back of a very bad breakup for me I had uh my I was two weeks away from getting married actually and she left you know so we were engaged my my my family was flying back

engaged my my my family was flying back to India from us and all sorts of stuff you know because my family spread all over the world and I spent that I remember I spent from 1st to the 8th of January on the phones telling people it's not happening when it was scheduled for like the second week of Jan or something like that you know so after that what happen I'm so sorry to no all good now you know it's all good now you know it's all part of the journey and um see the thing is at that time A friend of mine was saying you know why now that you've got your second life basically why don't you take the opportunity to do music because

take the opportunity to do music because now you no longer have a responsibility to anybody that you have to get a job and this and that so why don't you actually give it a go so that's how it all began you know um now when it all be what was the question again sorry I just don't want to go too far no no you're good and you were still on track the question was what was motivating you to you put so much time and effort into doing all of this in the first that's right so the reason I gave you that context is because initially honestly speaking it was like screw this x I want to show her that I can be somebody that's that's how it started okay but

that's that's how it started okay but yeah it's the equivalent of going into the gym and getting shredded after a breakup right correct correct and it's okay it's okay there's nothing wrong because it motivated me in a positive way to do something positive at the time you know but then like I said you covered both sides of the coin because as I went through the Journey I realized that this motivation is not going to sustain the journey because the journey gets harder than the motivation and so I needed to find something deeper within me as to why I should keep doing it and that over time transformed into a love for music itself so now whether you tell me you know whether I get a million views whether I get a billion views whether I get 10,000 views for me it's more about did I enjoy the process of

more about did I enjoy the process of making the song do I enjoy making songs did I enjoy collaborating with that person so these things have become more the reason why I do it now and it's just purely for the of Music yes of course as a human being you know sometimes it creeps in that okay I I hope for external success of course of course yeah but you know it's not the primary driver anymore no that that makes total sense and I mean I'm just kind of it's just remarkable to me how you are just able to talk about clearly such a traumatic event in your past just so normally it it really shows that at least to me it feels like you know not only have you completely healed from

only have you completely healed from that but you're just in so many ways better off and it almost sounds like you know you don't even think it was necessarily a bad thing it was just a useful important step in your journey and I mean I just want to commend you for that attitude because that type of stuff is it's enough to break most people I feel I don't even know what I would do if that happened to me so yeah I mean that I think it's really really commendable um you know The Bravery you've shown through this entire audio thank you man and honestly speaking it did break me for a period of time and at the time I remember I used to tell myself like oh it's just a blip in the

myself like oh it's just a blip in the Journey of life but at the time it was not just a blip it was like what was happening you know so and I remember that first year of music for me it was like it was more about the Glam and the life of an artist rather than actually the actual life of an artist so if you look at actual artists like arajit Singh Sono Nigam Ed shiran more time is spent on the music on the ri on all these aspects aspects whereas you see glimpses of them partying and you see glimpses of this and you think that's the life so that first year of mine I remember

first year of mine I remember 2022 I would say close to when covid hit and everything shut down my friends and I used to go out and party three times a week we used to get drunk we used to do all sorts of rubbish and it was it started like that it has to start like that you know before you learn you have to make the mistakes yeah no that's true it's it's true I mean you don't know what can hurt you unless you're already hurt you know in a lot of ways so um that all makes sense and then continuing kind of your Ark and then obviously now we're at the you know Redemption Part of your Arc although maybe that's not a word that you would use but um how did

word that you would use but um how did you go from there to I guess I'm just trying to understand so um you know again putting myself in your shoes you put out thei it it did really well on YouTube but you're still in New Zealand how do you go how do you take that success that is online and digital and kind of transform that into a tangible uh you know thing that you can Envision by playing to you know a live audience and just really the logistical part of that seems I'm just trying to wrap my head around that so can you walk us through how you you know brought all of that into existence where you went from just being this guy on YouTube to actually playing for your fans sure so

actually playing for your fans sure so this is a very good question because because I think this is the critical part about the age we're living in now and the opportunity that is ahead of us it's like how you're doing your podcast you know it's not just limited to people in your neighborhood that are going to watch there'll be people in India watching there'll be people in New Zealand watching New Zealand yep correct so so it's exactly like that it's to be able to see the technology has given us the opportunity to be accessible globally worldwide you know so so and also by the time the had come out I had done two years in this game so I had some knowledge of social media and adverts and all this and that so one day

adverts and all this and that so one day I just said you know what I've been trying to advertise to New Zealand all the time and I've had English music and stuff so fair so why don't I today try and advertise to India okay okay so I started running ads from um Google AdWords and from meta ads and stuff I started running that those campaigns into Bombay Delhi Pune Bang lore uh all the all the main centers of India and it just took off after that and the thing was after that I didn't need to do add so much because the organic growth grew as well but I I use this it's like you said how do you then take it from something that's growing and make it sustainable in long term you have to

sustainable in long term you have to pour keep pouring fuel on the fire I see and any entrepreneur will tell you this right like if there's a fire that is working it's already burning you spent all this time rubbing and rubbing and rubbing and now there is a small flame don't let go of that flame MH poor fuel right so I spent over the last two years I would say I've spent at least 10 15,000 on AdWords right but the ROI is only starting to show now this is my first profitable year doing music congrats so thank you man thank you so much so that's what it is you know it's one number one to answer your question you have social media you have internet

you have social media you have internet that something that people in the '90s and early 2000s didn't have so already we're at a massive Advantage but these platforms are now saturated so you have to learn to use the platforms to your advantage you can't just be doing the same thing that 20,000 other people are doing you have to find your mix once you find your mix even if it takes AdWords start pouring fuel on it and see where it goes and everyone there's mhm so there's nothing wrong with AdWords right that's the other misconception if you if you look at even badsha Honey Singh all these guys there's a lot of money going behind that promotion that people don't see nothing is purely organic right and exactly yeah I think I agree that I have

exactly yeah I think I agree that I have heard heard of that notion also where people are like oh he only became popular cuz he did add words but okay sure that's not a bad thing it's not a crime you know it's like if you have a calculator why would you do math on pen and paper right you would just use the calculator you just getting to the output is the goal here not the actual grinding of you know multiplying and carrying over numbers and whatnot so um I am curious about though um what was the I guess call to action or what was the content of these ads was it more of a just to get awareness out there or was

a just to get awareness out there or was it a this person is playing at this venue and like selling tickets and such No so at the time see I only went to India for the first time in last August sept August September your whole life no no no uh for music okay okay yeah right and it wasn't just purely for music it was also to meet this person and then we ended up getting married and all that separate story we will get I do I am very curious to explore that also but I will seek for now no no we'll go for it um but I would say so October is when I went to India for the first time for music but even that said I've never performed live in

that said I've never performed live in India as yet for a proper my own show you know y so that's still a still a to-do yeah but um you'll have to remind me of the question again yeah so I guess so when you went to India was like what so I guess what was your goal in terms of growing your you know music career were you talking to other artists there or as you said you had Lyricist out of India I'm just trying to understand how you kind of leveraged the geography of India to you know um grow your career as it it so basically the first step and I I

so basically the first step and I I think you talked about was it awareness or was it direct marketing to sell tickets and stuff right y so yeah so so to go back to that it wasn't for anything direct it was purely for brand awareness because what I understand now is that brand brand brand brand brand is the key because I'm not interested see you can look at it two ways you can say that do you want to sell a product right now like one particular song or something or you can look at it as do you want all your products to do well in the next 10 15 20 years that's the decision you have to make so even with your podcast right your podcast is not

your podcast right your podcast is not just you're done today and then only the 15 20 episodes that you've recorded it's actually for the next 30 40 years you want people and even after you're gone you want people to check out your podcast it's true yeah so it's all about the brand in the long term so for me even till today even if I have a show yes yes I might do you know one ad for the for the tickets just to get those extra ticket sales but I'm banking on the fact that my brand growth is actually going to add to that so that next show comes along the tickets are already 75% sold because of the brand work that I've put in PRI yeah so that's the that's kind of my um even with

the that's kind of my um even with YouTube you know my goal is to get followers that are long-term and real and when I say that even with marketing you pay for reach so all you're paying for is to get your product in front of people ultimately the product has to be good the music has to be good the podcast content has to be good because people are the ones that decide whether they're going to click on it and whether they're going to follow your profile and even your profile needs to be good because if they come to your profile and you have just two pieces of content again they're going to be like ah what's the point you know absolutely it's it's a very hard one to answer but I would say to keep it short brand but there's a

say to keep it short brand but there's a lot that goes into that that that big total sense and I'm just reminded of um one of the guests that has been on this podcast um par viia he's a YouTuber of he's a content creator around you know in study abroad content creator and what you're saying he he said something very similar along the lines of um like say somebody comes to my podcast YouTube and they find that I have released you know like 10 episodes obviously I'm on like 35 now but we just assume that I've done 10 and then the last upload was you know like 3 years ago this person has no motivation or there is no reason for him to subscribe to me because why would he you know I'm my channel is clearly not

you know I'm my channel is clearly not even active so why would he even subscribe to that so that makes sense and it's so interesting to me that you know different completely different trajectories of content creators or just people that have online personalities and digital brands really you know all roads lead to Rome in in so many ways and that the fundamentals don't change which is that you need to be consistent you need to have a high degree of um Quality for your product you need to make sure you're not putting out stuff that's just there for the sake of putting out I just think it's more interesting with music because again I would just struggle so much to put out art like that and it it's just a nerve-wracking honestly to me to even

nerve-wracking honestly to me to even think about uh you know like doing such a thing but um I'm curious to explore though while you wereing doing all this you at the time you had a job and you were kind of doing this on the side um I want to explore your you know thought process around the job aspect of this so were you always in a you know plan to quit your job eventually or was it just like a maybe I'll get to that someday and you know how did you work that whole thing aside with you know doing both these things at the same time see I have always wanted to do music fullly time since about 2021 since I realized that

since about 2021 since I realized that 2020 was an exploratory year 2021 onwards I always wanted to quit I always wanted to make music full-time because it got that switch like I told you you know it went from oh I'm doing this for Revenge I'm doing this for fame to I'm doing this for myself and the minute I'm doing this for myself I realized that that was the happiness that I was missing all along that was that inner irritation that I had you know and ever since that happened I said I'm going to do this full-time but it's not easy so see when you're young and this is why I say get into this career as early as you can because when you're young you don't

can because when you're young you don't have much responsibility you can just leave everything aside live with your parents eat their food under their roof all your Basics are covered for you while you explore this as you get older or maybe you have a wife maybe you have kids the more responsibilities you have the harder it is to just say drop this thing all together because you still have to make money but to those people and to people that a lot of us are held back by fear also you know that okay I was earning so much I was earning 81 lakhs in it for example I'm still earning nowhere near that in music as yet but I know that if I keep doing it

yet but I know that if I keep doing it it's going to get to that point so like I said you know a lot of people have that comparison mindset also because that's what they you know everybody's kind of society is kind of putting on you like oh you know if you're not making the same amount then it's not quite working yet you know so that's okay it you don't have to get out of that mindset initially but what you have to realize is you will have a point where you doing it on the side and when it when that side hustle slowly starts building there will be some at some point you'll be able to say in your heart that I no longer have fear that this is going to let me down and you can

this is going to let me down and you can drop this one so that's the advice I give to most people you know because most people don't have the luxury of a house money this that most people are earning it at the same time so to most people I say do it as a side hustle build the confidence in your side hustle build the skill set once you start getting and seeing that money come in once you're at a threshold that your risk can tolerate then you can drop your your full time and focus on it as your main thing absolutely abolutely so I I think I really like your idea about um just don't let it become an emergency like that should be you know your um Happy pth right you have should

your um Happy pth right you have should be just don't get into this situation where at 30 you you need to finally be like oops I guess I can't do this I actually want to do this other thing now how do I do that so completely on board with that although obviously you know it's easier said than done right because as you said as we grow up there's just so much pressure from society from our parents from just real you just everybody around us and most people I would say you know crave a life that has um I don't want to say luxury but you know just a comfortable life so I guess

know just a comfortable life so I guess my question to you at this juncture is how do you rationalize this this fact that your life might not be as comfortable as it is currently if you were to follow your passion which is really unfortunate that you have to make that trade-off in the first place but it is a very real trade-off so how do you go about you know talking to your brain and telling it that hey you may be a little bit miserable for the next few years but you will also kind of be happy because you're following your passion does does the question make sense person I feel like I didn't say that very well no no you said it very well and it's a good question because see a lot of people

question because see a lot of people think that Comforts give them happiness it's like you said you know miserable and happy you can't be miserable and happy you're either one or the other right they're like Polar Opposites so people think that Comforts give them happiness you know I might be living in a beautiful Villa this and that with a big mortgage but I'm going to work every day and I think I'm happy because I'm coming home to this luxury but where are you having even the time to enjoy the luxury you know what I mean so people are actually not as happy as they think if they actually sit down to question themselves right it's a very easy decision because your brain will tell you otherwise your brain is very logical and rational and takes all this input from society and parents and this and that but your heart doesn't right your

that but your heart doesn't right your heart and your body will tell you when you're unhappy so at the end of the day listen to your happiness don't listen to your rational mind listen to the happiness and the emotion if you feel at some point and your heart is calling you towards okay I'm going to lose maybe I'm going to not make 81 lakhs this year maybe I'm only going to make five lakhs this year but with that five lakhs I can still put a shelter over over my head but it means I can you know I have my own freedom of time timings and stuff and I get to spend 10 hours a day on my passion if your heart is calling towards that then give it a go because most

that then give it a go because most likely you're going to find yourself with more happiness also the the opposite can be true maybe you tried it for 6 months you weren't as happy as with your luxurious life that's also fine right because there's nothing wrong with wanting those luxuries but you have to be honest with yourself is those luxuries and that Comfort giving you the happiness or is pursuing your passion going to give you the happiness because at the end of the day your passion will get you those Comforts eventually right it's not like it won't it it's not like it won't even with it I worked in it for 13 years can I say that I've tried it in music for 13 years not yet right but because I'm so passionate

yet right but because I'm so passionate about music in 13 years I know that I can go a lot further than what I did in it because of the passion to drive it but the the reality is that that success that you've got in your full-time job it's not so linear in a creative field it's up and down and in a business it's not so linear you might have one year where you do really well you might have one year where you do not so well but at the end of the day is that life going to give you the happiness or is it the comfort that you're that is that you're surrounded with that's the question you need to ask you know and most from I

need to ask you know and most from I would say for 98 99% of people it'll be the lifestyle and the pursuing the passion not the Comfort yeah I mean I it's just I guess guess trying to word this in a way that is isn't me going around in circles for two hours but yeah I guess I'm getting at you know what I'm picking up from what you're laying down is um it you have to have a lot like a scary amount of self-confidence to me at least it feels like to be able to take that step because all of what you're saying is well and fine but how many people do you think are able to actually commit to themselves and tell themselves

commit to themselves and tell themselves that sure no matter what happens I'm going to give this a real shot I'm going to leave this really this life of luxury that I have and I'm going to go all in on you know just completely bet on my abilities there's a quote on this that I really like I just looked it up um it says You Only Live Twice once when you are born and once well that's not the quote actually never mind no but I know I know the one yeah do you know the one it's the other one yeah I I would have to look it up it's it's so good um I will link that I completely butchered

will link that I completely butchered that this one just is and once then you look death in the face which is not nearly what we are talking about so either way but I guess yeah would you agree though about the self-confidence thing do you think that's the most important trait that would get you there or is that something else most important I'm not sure but it is a very important one I'll tell you why I mean maybe most important I'll tell you why because the reason people the reason at least I can say that I wasn't confident and I think I see this in a lot of people now is because I've actually done nothing that I can be confident about okay you know

I can be confident about okay you know what I mean so if you actually spend time if even if it's a hobby okay if you spend four years doing it as a hobby forget about a side hustle even if you just do something religiously every day for four years five years right they have these 10,000 hour rules and stuff rough guidelines but you do something for five years you're going to get better at it yeah once you observe that you're better at it and you're better than the average person at it you will have the confidence why would you not have the confidence the reason people I feel is not confident and are fearful in the first place is because they've never actually tried anything or stuck to it enough you know see now if someone now if anyone whether it's AR ran or anyone

if anyone whether it's AR ran or anyone comes to me in a studio I'm confident that I can produce well maybe not as well as them but I can produce well enough that someone will take a notice you know that confidence is there there I'm not no longer like or if someone tells me to perform a live show I don't have nerves you know of course you're nervous because you want to do well to some degree initially but the minute you're in that zone you're good because you've done it so many times before so it's just one of those things that I think a lot of people are fearful and haven't developed self-confidence and you know we all look to these memes and this and that and Instagram and all this for advice but the reality is spend the

for advice but the reality is spend the time time to build your self-confidence build a skill set become good at something then there's nothing to not be confident about you know yeah and adding to that uh confidence also comes from preparation so if you are really well prepared as you said to your point if you have spent a lot of time doing something and have gotten really good at it you will automatically get the confidence I guess then the only thing that's left is just the luck side of things like you know how you could do everything right just you know buy the book put in those hours and hours but because is so subjective and there's just really factors outside of our control sometimes things may not blow up but obviously I understand that that's just life you know nothing's guaranteed you just need to take the plunge into

you just need to take the plunge into the deep end and just see what happens from there so yeah I really enjoyed that you know particular aspect and everything you laid down there it's given me a lot to think about as I'm sure it has for anybody listening really um I kind of want to shift gears now a little bit to uh you know your story about how you met your now wife sounds like she used to be a fan was there any siding into the DMS of this artist that I really like and then the artist comes and meets me and so or how did how did that all go down so I don't think either of us had intentions like this right but

of us had intentions like this right but what happened is she did message me and said you're going to blow up one day and this was before my P Hy and stuff she actually liked some of my English songs and then and she's got a very good ear she's a Bengali girl and as you know Bengali people actually so then you know very well right that whole uh Bengali and stuff is like just full of culture and full of music and full of history and into yeah classical Bengali music is a you know completely different ball game I won't pretend to know about it but yeah I I do know that it's very complex and yeah as you said they have to have the ear and it's it's real

to have the ear and it's it's real talent I guess exactly so she has a very good ear she has very good knowledge of Music even till today I call her sarasti ma because she has been given me so much guidance on my Hindi music and my production that it's grown tremendously since I've met her but the thing is how to answer your question again I keep diverting it's all good but to answer your question she dm' me on the 29 December or something 2022 okay uh and again I had two engagement breakups in my life to add one more spanner in the work so you're oh honestly I've gone through some hell but also some of my doing as well but anyway we'll get to that if you want to

anyway we'll get to that if you want to but anyway right so 2022 uh she messaged me and then just a few messages maybe five six messages here and there one night I wanted to watch a horror movie so I put it on my story and she gave me ideas and we started exchanging messages that was early 2023 MH then about I would say August or just before August May uh she I said I'm going to come to India to do music there and then she said oh well I'm a lawyer here and I have a lot of friends who can this so do need any help so we started talking and then one day she really liked the song of mine I

day she really liked the song of mine I said I'm going to release this song next it was called milade and she she really liked it when I sent it to her and she said oh my God this is insane this is going to blow uh I have a lot of ideas she called me up we had a video call and she had the whole video planned out in her head just like this within 5 minutes you know every shot every angle everything as in a music video right without mus video yeah so she had planned out the whole thing in her head so I was like oh my God like I was very impressed you know that how does someone have so much Visual and creative

have so much Visual and creative knowledge and she seems to be capturing the vibe that even I didn't think of when I was writing the song so we started talking then she introduced me to people we started talking more and more and then one fine day I told her uh look I don't know how you're going to respond to this and quite frankly I don't care but I need to tell you this that I'm falling for you wow that's so um I mean that's spoken like a true poet SL song wrer you know and she just hung up oh boy but then anyway she came back to me and she was like oh you know that was a

and she was like oh you know that was a bit scary for me and stuff like that but then we moved things forward so by by then I bought my tickets to India and I told her look uh on this day you're going to have to come to the airport because I'm coming and she was the Catalyst I've always wanted to come for my music you know but the thing is she was the Catalyst to make me just hit that button and get the tickets and go MH and initially I only took a one month trip because I didn't expect it to last so long but then when I got there within a week I was meeting her family then I

a week I was meeting her family then I spent the whole of Durga Puja with her and her family got to know her really well then suddenly end of October we decided you know what let's just get married in December wow so within 3 months of knowing each other and the connection was so good like I have no I've never experienced such a connection with anybody till today we still say that um now it's been what a year almost a year since we married you know till today I say that we we both say that we've met before in other lifetimes you know I recognize the soul past life Soul connection yeah I recognize the soul you know it's just just seems like a piece of me so it's been really great but that

of me so it's been really great but that was the experience and that's I guess the lesson here is a lot of people are scared of relationships and love and nowadays they do all this open relationships and all sorts of arrangements and stuff it's it's it's a sacred thing man like I I would say that for me even though I've not been brought up in India and I thought India was more traditional and stuff honestly India has become more e than Western really you know culture interesting because it's just crazy and I'm like love and all these things are actually sacred especially for artists if you destroy that side of You by you know taking advantage of this and doing all these things I feel that it just taints your

things I feel that it just taints your emotional connection to love you know which affects your art ultimately so wow that's just one perspective but no I I mean it makes total sense and you know there's also these ideas um about I don't know if you've heard of this but a lot of religious famous musicians throughout history have maintained that um you need in your like life's tra trajectory um some amount of heart AE or heartbreak or just real pain to be able to um channel that into art I think it was Rick Rubin that has said that um for he's like just the kind of a legendary uh music producer who's worked with a bunch of really big rock artists especially when Rock was coming up in

especially when Rock was coming up in America and such and he has maintained that the one common trait that he has observed in all the musicians that you know he helped blow up was that they were almost overtly sensitive to just human emotions and obviously it's a double edit sword because if you are overly insens uh overly sensitive you you will feel things really deeply when ideally sometimes you wouldn't want that that's not necessarily always the good thing but it's a blessing and occurs because once you're able to um embibe all of that sensitivity you're then able to channel that into your lyrics your music and that is what actually resonates with people that is what moves them that's what the whole art is all about so it really sounds like from the little that you've shared about yourself and about the half an hour that I've

and about the half an hour that I've known you I think this Rings through more than ever I don't personally know a lot of artists or musicians but I'm just blown away by you know so much so many wheels are turning right now in my head and so much is making sense so yeah I mean again random tangential tour there as has been true for our case for this entire episode but just wanted to share that with you and kind of also want to collect your thoughts on that like do you think your trajectory would have been the same minus the set packs with will just say that you faced in your life not at all right because um see you

life not at all right because um see you can look at it like a setback or you can look at it like an opportunity to learn something new right because all the experiences that we have ultimately shape us and even whether it's a heartbreak or not I've never been shy of love because if you shut yourself away from these emotions they're still there it's just that you're not choosing to experience them anymore but as human being being God has G or Creator whatever you know whatever people believe in we have been given the beauty of Consciousness and emotions if we cannot experience the emotions because we choose to just shut it away and because we choose to act a certain way that's it's going to kill something in US ultimately right because

something in US ultimately right because it's still there it's just that you're not acknowledging it anymore so so for me even so even with my current wife right she had been through her own set of experience that had told her don't get married even till today you know it's like I didn't want to get married same as me at the time I was like I don't really want to get married but we still took that leap of faith in that okay we're feeling something here it's genuine it's not fake why don't we at least give it a go because if you stop doing things out of fear it's going to be a problem absolutely but also on the other total sense yeah and on the other side of it it's the overindulgence also that's a problem so yeah everything in moderation right yeah correct so if

moderation right yeah correct so if you're in so much pain and you let the pain take over and you think that you know the pain is your life that's also a problem yep so you need to kind of have that balance to understand where the emotion starts and ends and where your actions and you know where your choices come into play that's very important yeah you can't just let the emotion take over and everything or just press them away vice versa absolutely I mean obviously there's only so much dust you can sleep under the rug before it you know just becomes a mountain so on that note um I I do uh you know want to acknowledge um really how how much brevity you speak with about these

brevity you speak with about these things and I know that you've been doing some work with younger people um and in terms of guiding them towards you know their life Journeys trying to get them to start following their passion at at an age as you were referencing earlier where it's possible for them to do that so I am curious to explore a little bit around that and really just get or understand um what what type of messages you share with these younger people with you know their brains are so much more malleable than you know old people like me so just just kind kind of trying to you know get get that get a sense of that if you don't mind sharing it's the same thing right so it's like my wife

same thing right so it's like my wife says sometimes when I'm speaking to her I'll speak like this as if I'm on a podcast C and she would say why is why are you speaking like this and I'm like actually I'm trying to speak in a way that is very universally understood so the things I'm saying on this podcast are also the things I say to these youngsters right I'm not going to suddenly change my tact for them the reality is is like you I think you said it on this podcast it's the fundamentals and the basics that you have to get right everything else follows from that so if you so it's the same thing I tell these I tell the youngsters you know they they come and ask me how do I

they they come and ask me how do I become a good artist and I tell them are you a good human being because artist is nothing artist is like just because you're making music or you're painting or something it doesn't make you an artist the artist is all in the mind and in the spirit right do you have the Mind do you have the um you know the confidence have you developed yourself to a point where you can you're not no longer worried one thing I'll give you one example of this right most people are afraid of what other people think 100e yep no that's so an artist an artist can never be afraid what other people think you have to learn to take it on the chin and it's

learn to take it on the chin and it's not that you cannot accept the criticism you have to accept it because they are perceiving your art right they will have an opinion it's not to say that their opinion is not valid their opinion is absolutely valid but it should not affect you and your art that's what I means uh that's what I mean when I say that so that is where an these kinds of things is where an artist is made this is where this is what confidence is to put your opinion and be vulnerable and be okay to be judged but not be affected by it so these are the things the these are the subtle things that I teach them but yes I teach them the music side of

but yes I teach them the music side of things because of course the skill set has to be developed but more than that it's these things that I'm saying on this podcast and the reason I go and do 10 other podcasts it's not for fame it's to get this message out there that you know people have to develop themselves artist is in here it's not out there so happy to you know play a small part hopefully in you know spreading this really important message out in the in the little way that I can honestly um yeah I do I do agree with a lot of what you're saying in that with especially with students or with you know younger people um again it cuts both ways like sure they are more you know easy to take

sure they are more you know easy to take the plunge or to try new things but it's also in a lot of ways you know it's just such a risk cuz they they could have just your normal career and just be perfectly fine but then yeah there's just other yeah I feel like it's just such a balancing act that you have to do at all times where you're like do I want to be happy or do I want to be you know just self-sufficient and what not yeah it's it's all it's all very um fascinating to me do you ever get asked by students that that um haven't yet figured out that they want to do music but are just more open they're like I

but are just more open they're like I don't know what my life's purpose is I don't know what my passion is so what should I I do is that something that happens at all all the time right and it's not just young people it's people in their 30s even me like had I not found music I would not have known so what I tell people is if you don't quite know what to do yet you don't know what your purpose is you have to try everything only once you try everything will you know what's working for you and what's not maybe you're made to play cricket who knows maybe you're made to be an artist maybe everybody comes to this world with some internal you know some how to say it like some extra special knowledge and everybody's got

special knowledge and everybody's got their own Journeys you know before they've come come here and basically some people have music in them some people have sports in them some people have something else in them but until you try everything you don't know what you have it's only once you start trying things and something sticks then you know okay I enjoy this but without trying it you don't even know what you enjoy and I'll tell you the big difference between kids and adults right the big difference is you remember when you were 5 years old 6 years old or or little memories of when you were young you remember how there was Zero fear it was never about fear it was about just doing it yeah whatever it was one could say I it too much you know

was one could say I it too much you know yeah but that's what I'm saying right there was if if your parents said oh look there's a horse get on the get on its back no fear you'll just go sit even though you're some small boy you'll go sit on it without any fear of falling and stuff so as an artist I always tell kids you have to get back to that way of living you can't you even adults you have to become a child again in the sense that nothing stops you from doing and trying new things and testing new things and it gets harder the more established are as an artist it gets harder to do that because everybody's looking there's expectations there's

looking there's expectations there's responsibility again all these things but to be the best artist you have to get rid of all that stuff and when you're doing your art or when you're playing your sport that all has to disappear you know it's like even verat kohi right he's a brilliant uh now he's doing brand this and that and you know all sorts of stuff and is probably earning more from that than Cricket at this point you know but when he go go on the field he's not thinking about his next brand placement everything's out of his mind he's thinking about the next ball you know what I mean so art is the same you have to be in same art is the same you have to be in that kind of space amazing um yeah are

that kind of space amazing um yeah are you at all familiar with this book it's called Mastery it's by Robert Green have you honest honestly the only two or three books I've read is like autobiography of a yogi and I don't read much at all so actually that's even you know extra fascinating because um a lot of what what you just shared about the type of you know things one can do to figure out their life's Mission or life purpose um is is actually referenced in that book and I'm just kind of Blown Away by um just how spot-on you've been with what's laid out in that book which personally for me this is something I've thought about a lot for no particular reason it's just something that I was obsessed with for like a really long time so I just read a bunch of books

time so I just read a bunch of books that you know covered this type of thing and personally for me Mastery was the one book that just really stood out stood out shoulders over you know the any other book on this subject and I'm just you you know just kind of Blown Away by um however or whatever path you took to get to these things that you're saying because that's exactly or it's very much in line with what's written there so yeah I'm just you know kind of really beused beused by that but I think you spot on and just to add on to what you said one of the things that um at least left an impression on me was this notion that um we are molded by our parents by Society by just really you know any any older person around us to

know any any older person around us to drown out our inner voice is how the book talks about it so all of us have this inner voice as a child that we're born with that is good at I don't even want to say good but it's it's just a voice it does stuff it has its you know innate abilities that are unique to us and then as we grow up because of our surroundings in society and parents and whatnot we are basically forced into a cookie cutter and then what comes out of the end is literally just factory production of millions of people just like us but in a lot of ways finding your purpose is going back to that time

your purpose is going back to that time you could ask your parents you could ask people that were around when you were growing up and quiz them that what was that what were those things that I did at the time that I would just spend hours doing without even realizing that I was doing those and chances are your you know life's purpose has in some way or form something to do with what that particular thing was so I'm actually curious to put this to test with you as a child were you musically inclined was there any connection there 100% 100% so my parents have always told me so they tried to put me for Indian classical lessons hindustani classical when I was six and I remember these lessons Okay I used to hide under the bed and my teacher used to come home take my feet

teacher used to come home take my feet pull me out and make me sit oh that's traumatic and it was just yeah like it's the funniest stuff right and my dad has been trying to make me play and play and play guitar since and my dad is quite musically inclined you know he's always listened to like English rock and stuff but still and he's played the guitar and sung for many times um at parties and stuff family events and stuff but I think eventually I took the plunge to learn the guitar again because of an ex of mine uh because they all used to sit and play and everybody seemed to know how to play an instrument and everybody seemed to know how to learn but anyway going back to your question uh it could

going back to your question uh it could have been Cricket when I left India everybody said that this guy's going to become a cricketer why because when I was younger I used to play so much Cricket I used to be obsessed with suchin dendel suchin dend everywhere and uh to the point that I've made my grandma in India when I was young sit down with a phone book with me and try and get his number when I was like six seven years old okay so anyway I was obsessed with suchin and I played then when I came to New Zealand I played Cricket for a few years even got to the under 19 uh Western districts and ockland team and stuff really I was doing well but then they told me Fitness

doing well but then they told me Fitness is something again I've grappled with my whole life now again I've put on a bit of weight you know but um the thing is when I was 19 they said oh you know you can't do uh you can't go on because you're just not fit enough so you have two choices either become fit or you'll have to quit at the time I just quit I was like eh forget it because you know it didn't draw me anymore like it used to when I was a child but then when I picked up music after that it drew me so much to the point that I was doing it

much to the point that I was doing it for 14 hours a day I couldn't even get off the computer you know M so so yeah looking back cricket and music were the two potential things and it looks like music stuck amazing yep well yeah I mean that's especially insightful at least for me because I'm still kind of in the process of working out what that thing is for me but I'm sure one of these days it will you know just a light will go on in my head and I will just be like that's it that's it this is what I was waiting for this whole time so just want

waiting for this whole time so just want to thank you so so much here for taking the time to today I will say and This I Promise Arjun did not ask me to say this but I have checked out Shada on you know your page it is such a bopper like I have heard it a few times it's almost a brain warm at this point it's stuck sorry ear War not brain warm but it's stuck in my head it's really catchy so anyone listening please do check that out I I'm sure you will enjoy it and yeah really happy to stay connected and continue to watch your journey as you

continue to watch your journey as you grow and as you make more way more progress as as you have and you know really watch you blow up as a musician and as a singer thank you so much man it's been wonderful talking to you excited to keep in touch too thanks that brings us to the end of that incredible episode of the ready said do podcast thank you all for sharing these conversations with those that continue to benefit from them if you would like to support me the easiest way to do that is by subscribing on YouTube and leing me up to a five star rating on Spotify or your favorite podcast app it also goes a long way for me if you can share with all of your friends just how just

with all of your friends just how just how much you enjoy this podcast and what a great podcast it is for any guest suggestions or feedback my YouTube comments are always open so please feel free to drop a comment below catch you all in the next one new episodes every Wednesday