Tobias Raucher shares his story of being unable to sing or read music and yet teaching himself by ear to be a modern percussive finger-style guitarist. He explains why he became so passionate about this form of music and how he started creating and performing his own songs on his YouTube channel which now has over 300,000 subscribers and has gotten over 14 million views on a single video. He then shares the story of his entrepreneurial trajectory, including lessons learned from his first failed business venture in his home country of Germany. He goes on to explain how he then built his Guitar Academy into an online business that generates him 6 figures/year in net passive income. The membership site teaches students not only how to play his songs but teaches the actual creative process for creating their own original songs as well. He also talks about strategies for building audience on YouTube, and outlines the biggest mistake that most musicians make when trying to build a fan base. He then discusses his “Tube Accelerator” business where he teaches musicians how to most effectively build audience on YouTube. He also explains his latest project of creating an online “Digital Lifestyle Conference” that interviews successful location independent entrepreneurs. He concludes by sharing how he structures his personal work/travel lifestyle, his top book and app recommendations, and his number one tip for early-stage entrepreneurs.
Episode #18: Building a Guitar Academy into a Passive 6-Figure Online Business and Getting Over 30 Million Views on YouTube with Tobias Rauscher
Episode Summary
Get The Maverick Show's
Monday Minute Newsletter
Kick off each week with 3 personal recommendations from me that you can read in 60 seconds.
About the Guest
Tobias Rauscher
Tobias Rauscher is a percussive guitarist, and a location-independent serial entrepreneur. After failing at his first business endeavor in his home country of Germany, he changed course, focused his business savvy on his core passion for guitar, and bootstrapped his current company, Guitar Academy, into a completely passive online business while traveling the world that now nets him over 6-figures/year in passive residual income. Once he honed in on his true passion, he found it much easier to succeed, and has since developed over 450,000 followers on social media and he has gotten over 14 million views for a single YouTube video. He is also the founder of “Tube Accelerator” that helps musicians blow up on You Tube, and his latest project is founding “The Digital Lifestyle Conference”.
What You'll Learn
- How to develop an automated business that separates your time from your income
- How to get over 35 million views on YouTube
- How and why to be “Customer-Focused” instead of “Investor Focused”
Links From the Episode
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you click through any links and make a purchase, you should assume that Maverick will receive financial compensation (at no additional cost to you). We greatly appreciate you using our affiliate links because it helps to support the show and cover production costs of the podcast.
LOCATION WHERE THE EPISODE WAS RECORDED:
BOOK TOBIAS RECOMMENDS:
PEOPLE MENTIONED:
- Andy McKee– Fingerstyle Guitarist
- Tim Ferriss – Author of The 4 Hour Work Week
APP TOBIAS RECOMMENDS:
TOBIAS TOP 3 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS:
TOBIAS TOP 3 BUCKET LIST TRAVEL DESTINATIONS:
OTHER PLACES MENTIONED:
CHECK FLIGHT PRICES TO ANY OF THESE DESTINATIONS
FOLLOW AND CONNECT WITH TOBIAS:
Time Stamped Show Notes
[02:15] LEARNING TO PLAY “MODERN PERCUSSIVE FINGER-STYLE GUITAR” WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO READ MUSIC
- Tobias explains the “modern percussive finger-style” technique
- How Tobias expresses himself musically without being able to sing or read music
[05:12] TOBIAS PERFORMS HIS SONG “MEMORIES” LIVE ON THE MAVERICK SHOW
[09:26] HOW TOBIAS CREATES HIS MUSIC AND WRITES HIS SONGS BY EAR
- How he initially taught himself to play electric guitar and practiced 6 hours a day
- How he discovered the modern percussive fingerstyle technique
- His process of practicing and learning increasingly advanced techniques
- Creating his own original compositions and posting them to YouTube
- How he decided to start teaching people his techniques and monetizing his skills
- Why you don’t need musical theory to write awesome songs
- Using “The Columbus Effect” to create original music from the heart
- His creative process for composing original songs and memorizing them
- Using “tabs” to transcribe his original songs and teach others how to play them
[17:16] WHAT TOBIAS TEACHES IN HIS ONLINE GUITAR ACADEMY
- How to play Tobias’s modern percussive fingerstyle songs
- The process for students to create their own original compositions by ear
- The approach, mindset and specific techniques required to succeed
[18:36] TOBIAS’S ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
- Being inspired by “The 4 Hour Work Week”
- His first start-up attempt in Germany
- Getting venture capital funding but then not hitting revenue goals
- Shutting down the business but viewing it as a “lesson” not a “failure”
[22:05] THE BIGGEST LESSONS FROM HIS FIRST BUSINESS “FAILURE”
- Being self-aware that he does not enjoy being a CEO or a “Manager”
- The importance of being “Customer Focused”, not “Investor Focused”
[25:39] BUILDING GUITAR ADADEMY FROM 0 to 6-FIGURES NET REVNEUE IN UNDER 3 YEARS
- Developing a business plan that separates his time from his income
- Targeting a narrow niche (advanced finger-style guitar techniques)
- Leveraging YouTube by first creating an audience of “fans”
- Sending out surveys to understand what his fans want to learn (and will pay for)
- Testing his paid educational content with in-person workshops and focus groups
- Refining his educational content and building video training modules
[29:16] HOW TO BUILD A 300K+ YOUTUBE AUDIENCE AND GET 30 MILLION+ VIEWS
- Tobias’s “Tube Accelerator” Academy teaches musicians to blow up on YouTube
- The importance of having great content
- Optimizing video with tags, titles, descriptions and keywords
- Getting YouTube to recommend your videos
- Off-site promotion strategies to get as many views as possible in the first 48 hours
[31:20] THE BIGGEST MISTAKE MOST MUSICIANS MAKE WHEN TRYING TO BUILD A FAN BASE
- The importance of seeing yourself and your music as a “product”
- Why playing gigs is the worst way to grow an audience
- Automating your content and growing your fan base while you sleep
[33:22] TOBIAS PERFORMS HIS SONG “STILL AWAKE” LIVE ON THE MAVERICK SHOW
[40:19] TIME MANAGEMENT, PRODUCTIVITY, STRESS-REDUCTION AND LIFESTYLE DESIGN
- Working in “focus period” sprints to build automated systems
- Travel and Lifestyle-Design Choices
- Avoiding stressful situations by having automated business systems
[44:37] TOBIAS’S DIGITAL LIFESTYLE CONFERENCE
- Overview of the Digital Lifestyle Conference
- Goals and Benefits of the Digital Lifestyle Conference
- Matt’s participation in the Digital Lifestyle Conference
[48:37] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- #1 Book recommendation
- #1 App recommendation
- #1 Piece of advice he would give to his 18 year-old self
- Top 3 travel destinations
- Top 3 bucket list destinations
- #1 Tip for early stage entrepreneurs
[55:15] CONNECT AND FOLLOW TOBIAS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
