I've been a huge fan of the Rolling Stones for most of my life… so when I got an invite for a private backstage tour (plus VIP status), I couldn't say no.
Here's what I learned being behind the curtain of one of the biggest bands in the world…
Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think!
Stressbefreiungscoach
Hi Jeff
Thank you for sharing your great experience with TRS, congratulation!
Unfortunately, the email list is still my big gap but I will do my best 😉
Trudi Afford
Hey Jeff
Great story about your Rolling Stones back stage tour. It really is six degrees of separation and as you say you never know who knows who. Can’t wait to get my list powered up 🙂
Thank you!
Ben
Love the stones and love your content!
Karen Warner
Hi, Jeff, I really love how you are always thinking about us, your fans, followers, subscribers: your PLF-sters. Thank you for having such an abundance mindset. I may not get to work on my launch every day but every day you inspire me.
Mary Lynn Ross
Thank you Jeff for sharing your thoughts. I was emotional hearing about the family dynamic behinde the famous faces.
You are a special one!
Mary Lynn
Hilary
What an amazing experience Jeff – I’m so jealous!! Saw The Stones when they were here in Perth (Australia) last October and also the previous time they were here 20 years ago (when I was 30 and they were 50 – now I am 50 and they are 70….incredible!)
Sounds like we have a similar taste in music – I have seen U2 and Springsteen many times. Both bands also have that ‘family feel’ and that’s why they have succeeded for so long.
I’m sure your success will also be long-lasting as you seem to really care about your staff and your customers like family.
Thanks for sharing your amazing backstage experience!
Cedric
That’s such an amazing story. It just show how much possibilities wecan have by starting from scratch and living amazing moment!
Al Davis
Hey, Jeff–great video, and not at all what I was expecting. What I did expect was comments about how the Stones’ backstage was nothing like their front stage, which is something you’ve repeated many times–but you took the video in a totally new (and equally interesting) direction. Thanks!
Al
Jeff Walker
@Al: you’re right… a little different take on “backstage”. 🙂
Gail Mercer-MacKay
How exciting to spend time backstage. Unique experiences give us a new lens to view the world from.
Great points about the importance of your team and keeping it real as you grow.
Thanks
Aramik
HI Jeff! Wauwwww! Amazing story! AND yes! Totally agreeing with you! ITS ALL About our Relationship with our list/tribe/Followers!
Love following you AND hearing Your amazing stories!
Ps: almost launnching my new Program! Love The PLF!!
Thanks for Sharing AND make iT a great day!
Love,
Aramik
Wayne
Thanks Jeff! Great insight about who may be on my list. You never know! It sounds like scaling your business is all about treating you list as your extended family.
Don
Hey Jeff,
Had a totally different Rolling Stones backstage experience. I was 15, and got myself assigned by my high school student magazine to cover the Stones concert at the Leeds (UK) Odeon Theater way back in November 1965. The Stones were the last act, and as soon as the MC announced them the level of screaming in the theater was so loud you couldn’t hear a thing for an hour and a half. It was impossible to discern through the volume of screams almost any song the Stones were performing. In those days Brian Jones was still alive, and Bill Wyman was on Bass.
It was an amazing concert. Never before – or since – had I seen such a display of raw angry energy. However, I’d felt bad for our school mag that I couldn’t report on the songs, so just before the concert ended I decided to try to make my way backstage, even though there was heavy security pretty much everywhere. Don’t ask me how, but I tried one of the doors inside the theater, and it led backstage. In fact as I got there, a meter in front of me, the band walked past me into their dressing room, followed by security people and about a million fans, mainly screaming girls.
In the backstage area were about 200 people, many middle-aged society people, trying to look young and trendy, some showbiz management and roadie types, some major press folks (I talked with the music correspondent of the Sunday Times), and lots of sophisticated girls in their 20’s dressed in mini-skirts and high heels. Electricity, alcohol and pot hung heavy in the air. My aim was to get an interview (even to exchange a sentence) with Mick and Keith, but the band had locked themselves away and weren’t coming out.
At some point the time became 10:30, time for the last bus, and cold reason won over blind hope. I found a door to leave the theater, and was almost mobbed momentarily by a group of girls who were waiting (it was a cold night and I had my coat collar over my ears and my face half-covered by my scarf, and for a moment they must have thought “Mick!”) – but as soon as they saw who I was, or rather, who I wasn’t, they let me by and just continued their vigil for Mick).
What did I learn from the whole experience? 1. You can’t always get what you want (!), but if you’re persistent and think out of the box, you can get pretty close; 2. How much hype and how many hangers on surround the rich and famous; 3. It was the real thing. I felt the pulsing energy waves of Rock literally explode in my blood. It’s a feeling which can be very addictive. 4 Sometimes the right combination of energy, originality, persistence and attitude (as with the Stones) can propel you into a world you never imagined.
Thank you for your emails.
Don
Jeff Walker
@Don: that’s a crazy story… thanks for sharing it!
Kasandra
Jeff what I heard was the child like wonder . the awe the magic of being back stage with the Rolling Stones Your Face says it all!
Wanting to share it with us not from a place of Ego look me I have made it but YOU can have this too just begin Thank you
.
Jeff Walker
@Kasandra: It was like I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming! And to be able to share it with my wife and daughter made it even more special!
Jarrad
Awesome video. It is always great to see who is on your email list. I was surprised to see a few of the ultra-successful business men in my industry responding to some of the emails I send out. Thanks, Jeff.
Pat Lange
You have helped so many and I’m sure will help many more. Thank you for that. At the same time it’s nice to see/hear a piece not necessarily about “how” to do something, but rather, about the joys and rewards of doing so. I hope to one day share your kind of success and happiness.
Matthew King
Great story, Jeff… love to hear stories like this, and how you can build a following with media by just “being yourself”, and helping others in your industry. Everyone has their “circle of influence”, and everyone has the ability to create a following by simply putting themselves out there on the line and committing to something long term. Before they know it, they are going to U2 concerts and Rolling Stones!
Elva
A great story and I loved hearing it. Yes, we never know who is listening and watching. When I was much younger and teaching middle and high school and focused on being respectful to each student, I told myself “you never know how, when or in what circumstances you might meet these people in the future.”
Steve
Hey Jeff, that sounds like a great experience! It was interesting to see the parallels between your business team and the Stones production team, and how big an organization can get while retaining that sense of family. And yes, you never know who is on the list or will otherwise end up seeing the message.
Staging big concerts is a huge production, and as you said, the Stones had many more concert dates coming up on the tour. That brings up a key point – the need for efficient systems. When everyone has a clearly defined job to do, by working together they can pull off these huge concerts again and again, while still maintaining that sense of family.
Tom Matzen
Thanks for sharing, and reinforcing the importance of connection.
Have an amazing Durango Mastermind, please say hi to the gang.
Tom
Jeff Jones
Hi Jeff,
So glad you got hooked up with this experience which obviously meant a LOT to you!
It does my heart so good to see your smiling face every Sunday morning completely beside the awesome insights you share!
Gratefully,
Jeff
Janice Ferguson
Jeff, I enjoyed your video! Your easy enthusiasm is contagious.I was more of a Beach Boys/Simon and Garfunkle type of girl. I guess it does show that it takes all types to make up a —-good e-mail list! I am in pre- launch and enjoying myself . I am still wondering about my mini e-mail list! Thank you, Jeff
Lisa
Forever Grateful, that’s the beauty of who you are Jeff 🙂
Jeff Walker
@Lisa: thanks! But really… I think it’s who I aspire to be, but I’m definitely not there yet!
Lisa
Oh my, well your aspirations are sure hitting the mark! You are the most genuine, authentically grateful person I’ve ever come across Jeff and it appears to be a thread that has traversed your entire life. It’s, for me, what makes YOU so inspiring! There are not a lot of geniunely genuine genuines, lol, out there. Sure everybody gets down, but you always find a way to buoy your way back up because you genuinely care about others and it shows in how you always see the grateful side of things. Thank you!
Dean SANNA
Hi Jeff, so happy you had an opportunity to visit with one of your favorite iconic bands. They are absolutely amazing. Who would have thought they would all be together much less alive after the crazy life style of a ultra famous Rock Band. One of my all time favorite groups also. I contacted your team last week about our book and card deck that we are finalizing and preparing to launch called Sacred Centering Course. You may not read these but I live 55 miles away in Pagosa and I would love to visit with your team about our next steps.
Be well friend, Amanda & Dean.
Simon Dunant
Jumping Jack Flash!!! That’s so awesome that you went backstage at the Stones concert, you must have been like a kid in a candy shop, congrats Jeff!
Thanks for sharing your excitement!
Peter Martini
Hi Jeff, my list is still small, but I agree: “You never know who is on your list”. Some people on my list responded and I met already with one personally. Amazing.
Don Olund
How cool was that! Thank you Jeff for keeping it simple, yet imaginable. I can’t wait until I have a story like that I can share with you.
By the way, my wife thinks you are a really cool guy! Loves the down-to-earth approach. Huge comfort and trust level in your coaching.
Dave
Hey Jeff… Congratulations man! And thanks for the video telling us about your experience.
Not hard to imagine why you have a ‘rockin’ family-like crew, ’cause you’re definitely the Mick Jagger of the launch world!
Your friend, Dave Munday – Vancouver/Canada
Tara McDonald
Jeff, thank you for your post. As usual, your gratitude and being open to possibilities are very encouraging. Tara –
Paula
Jeff,
Love this story and your takeaways. I especially love the point about you just never know who is on your list and following your work. It’s an important reminder because sometimes it can feel like you are crying into the wind…then someone approaches you with an anecdote about how your work helped them, or makes you an offer for a unique opportunity and you realize that you are, in fact, having an impact. Of course, money is great (and necessary), but having an impact? Making a difference?
That’s what makes us keep doing the work, isn’t it? 🙂
So thank you.
Jeff Walker
@Paula: Exactly… that’s why we keep doing the work!
Rama
Thanks Jeff! Glad you had such a great experience. Thanks for sharing your takeaways !
Aloha!
Jocelyn
Wow!!! Lucky you Jeff.
The Rolling Stones, especially the eternal Mick Jagger, have been my heroes since I first saw them on Ed Sullivan when I was 10!! I am so happy that you got the very very special opportunity to meet them, hear them and see them on stage!!
Now that is a family that I would LOVE to a part of.
Thanks for sharing.
Corey Quinn
Great video Jeff. Thanks for the inspiration!
-Corey
Dave Broenen
Jeff, the second best part about your story (I say second best, because being back stage for the Rolling Stones trumps just about anything) is the “You Just Never Know” factor. Taking action to pursue your goals…to break out of comfortable inaction into uncomfortable action…to achieve your dreams and fulfill your purpose and mission, will bring people, circumstances and resources your way to support you in ways you never imagined. You just never know what will happen, but make the decision, take action–those baby steps–one after another and great things will start happening. Thanks for a generous dose of inspiration, Jeff. See you next week!
Steve Pohlit
Jeff, I feel your excitement. While I did not have backstage access I was admitted early to a VIP box for a Stones concert in 1994. I remember arriving early before the arena opened. It was held at what now is Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Fl The gates to the public hadn’t been opened yet because the Stones wanted to do a few warm up songs and test that everything was right. Well the stage was really close and out come the Stones Since we were nearly the only ones there Mick and several other looked over smiled and waived. Just that was really something so backstage had to have been awesome. You mentioned the close knit group and family atmosphere. Well that is maintained using leverage as you know. I would have loved if you would have found out more about their organization structure and how they pull this off so successfully in a series of locations all across the country and even internationally.
Thank again Jeff
Michael Rytter
Hey Jeff….
You are so right about the “you never know” thing…..we owned a specialty hardwood biz for many years in BC Canada… by specialty, I mean we produced very high end “instrument wood” for luthiers (guitar builders, violin makers, etc)…. David Gilmore’s guitar tech had us on speed dial! (Cool, eh!) And our wood is in the guitars of some of the biggest acts on the planet!
Even when we first started out selling our wood on Ebay, back in 2000 we bumped into some pretty well known entities in the biz, most of the time without even knowing who we were talking too………For example, one day we get a call from this very nice , very low key guy, who tells us that he is a small custom builder living in New York, and that he used to buy spalted maple from someone up in our area, (Chilliwack BC Canada at the time), and that he lost their contact info, and thinks they may have gone out of business. He is looking for a certain look for a very special custom order guitar. His customer wants Curly Spalted Maple identical to what this guy had used in another guitar he made for someone else, Spalted maple that he got from these people that he lost contact with. He then sent us pics of the guitar….IT WAS MADE WITH OUR WOOD!
I remember that tree so well…it was one in a thousand! He had purchased the wood through a wood broker that used to work with us before we went online, and this wood broker had moved on, (REALLY moved on…he moved to England! That was the the reason we had to get online…our sales dept. left!), and we had never actually had direct contact with this guy. The good news was that I had been hoarding the wood from this tree and still had a bunch left!
Long story short…..this “small builder from New York” was Roger Sadowsky, one of the most well known custom 5 string bass builders ion the planet (he builds all types of guitars, but his 5 string bass is what he is best known for)…and you’d never know it to talk to this guy…”talk about humble and understated!”…yet I’d kill to have his Rolodex! In fact, one of those guitars you handled backstage may have been a Sadowsky…here is a quote from Keith Richards in Guitar Player magazine:
“I also have an electric (classical) onstage. Roger Sadowsky makes a gut-string electric … and it’s the most beautiful sound … beautiful wood, too!”
— KEITH RICHARDS
Guitar Player Magazine, December 1989
To see a list of some of the people he has built for: http://www.sadowsky.com/artists/index.html
Anyway, I digress…. It was fun and we met so many interesting people 🙂
Michael Rytter
Suzanne Reilley
Love the story and love the takeaways.
frank clemente
I enjoyed your ‘take-a-ways video. One of the things I’ve learned from listening to you is the importance of CONTENT. You can have the most efficient funnel, great list, but if a person fails to create valuable, usable, and even entertaining content very little progress is made. I’ve gotten distracted from doing that by focusing too much attention on the bells and whistles of the medium. How to and with what to send the message. It takes work to develop the content. As you could see the Rolling Stones create lots of content–music. And the stage and media serves as the delivery channel to the fans.
Thanks Jeff
Now i’m concentrating on valuable content
Frank… Sustainable outdoor environments in the desert
Debra
Thanks for the video your excitement about life and the Rolling Stones was just what I needed to hear.. So many memories of walking into my fathers office while he would play this music thank you for your inspiration for building my list of subscribers.. Lots of love your way I wish for you.
Kelley Eidem
Cool! Very cool!
You’re so right about having special people among those who are signed up to your list.
In my case there are quite a few physicians, including a couple who have helped me gratis when I was dealing with issues of my own.
.
Michael Harris
Jeff!
I was at the Stones’ concert in Minneapolis a couple weeks and it was so impressive and inspiring, so thanks for the great thoughts and observations here. I appreciate it.
Denise Duffield-Thomas
You inspired me to see who is touring my town this year – KISS is coming and you can get VIP Meet N Greet tickets!
James
Great insights Jeff… And great pic on the guitar. 🙂
Kevin Sivils
Yep. The Rolling Stones are the GREATEST Rock ‘N’ Roll Band in the World.
What a fun story!
Also, have had similar, though not to same good fortune, experiences with my e-mail list. Always work to make each e-mail valuable to every person on the list.
Lorrie Hargis
Thanks for sharing Jeff. Glad you had this experience and shared.
Saulo Segurado
Nice, Jeff! Thanks for always be caring about us. Cheers from Brazil!
Mike Ames
My dad’s claim to fame was that he threw them out of a dressing room in Manchester around 1964 because he’d just tiled the floor and the adhesive hadn’t set. Go dad!
Cyndee
Thanks for sharing the video. Very important to build a relationship with your email list. My take away from this video, you don’t have to overwhelm your list with just selling stuff to them(about to do a big unsubscribe). I like some of the music that the rolling stones put out.
Jimmy
Thanks for sharing, what a great experience for you. How about creating a video that shows how you create all these crystal clear videos you share with us? That’d be AWESOME!! 🙂 Thanks in advance!
Amanda
Hey Jeff,
Something that I’ve always appreciated about you is that you are VERY authentic in your videos. It makes me want to watch you and connect with you. You mentioned that Derrick noticed your Stones shirt in a video and that he was on your email list. What I heard was to not only think of your email list as family, but to also BE YOURSELF always. If you live in integrity, miracles will happen 🙂
Thanks for validating this for all of us 😉
Amanda
Eddie
Awesome video, thanks for sharing! I echo what Jimmy says, I’d love to know what camera you use? Could you also make a video on product/market choice and also changing directions (like you did from stock picking? Thanks!
Marc Luber
Hey Jeff – Great video. Glad you got to experience the backstage awesomeness. My first paying job after finishing school was working on a Stones tour. I never got over how cool it was to be backstage and get that behind-the-scenes look. I too was impressed by the long-term business family they were surrounded by…lots of loyalty there….many of the same people have been with them forever. They run a tight operation. You’ll appreciate this – my first day, I was in a nice van with tinted windows going from the hotel to Soldier Field. As the new guy, there really wasn’t room for me in the van….so singer Lisa Fischer sat on my lap to make room for me…meanwhile Chuck Leavell was next to me….I told him how I was a fan of his keyboard work with the Allman Brothers and on my available leg, he started teaching me the parts to “Jessica”. It was all too cool….the movie “Almost Famous” hadn’t come out yet but when it did, I felt like I was that kid! Anyway, I enjoy being on your list and share your passion for music, so I had to speak up after this one! Thanks for sharing.
Jeff Walker
@Marc: that’s an amazing story!
ken ca|houn
congrats, nice to connect up with others like that….wtg re Stones, good points re who’s on your list. similar here, I heard from one of my traders who plays bass for a top-40 80’s band (one of my favorites), we emailed a bit back and forth, it’s a really neat feeling to hear from someone you’re a fan of from a distance, in your own backyard on your list…it’s a small world.
Brian T. Edmondson
Jeff,
I’m a huge Stones fan as well; I’ve probably seen them close to 15 times through the years.
I recently had a chance to see one of only 4 shows they did (2 in London and 2 in New York) then another one of their 50th anniversary shows that followed that small 4 show tour.
It’s amazing how Mick runs around in better shape than most people in their 30’s!
Brian
Macela
Hey Jeff, I’m a 1 person team but I hope I can keep my people together, once I have them lol
I would love to hear from you about product creation, is my biggest challange… as a english teacher and coach for au pairs(a kind of a nany/exchange program) I want to deliver more but I have so much time.. so I would love to know how you do to deliver your classes and don’t loose that ono-o*one felling people have when I teach them a live class… please let me know if you have any advices about that! I’m almost done reading your book and you still my here! Have a lovely week =)
Savannah Alalia
Great story 🙂
It reminds me that the most important thing in life is connection and the people we really connect to. The beauty of the internet is we dont always know whose lives we are touching. Its a great way to really just give of yourself freely, honestly and whole heartedly and surrender cos you never know how its going to come back….in this case back stage at the Rolling Stones Concert 🙂
I feel very inspired – Thank you 🙂
Shari
Great story! It sometimes can become a small world when paths are crossed.
Peter Brodie
Another classic Jeff! Thanks.
I was two or three years behind Bill Wyman at the same grammar school in Beckenham, but I had no idea at the time.
The real takeaway for me from this, though, is the family theme, and your own unpressured generosity of spirit. We don’t have to be pushy to succeed; we just have to give real value – and let people know about it.
Phil Wiley
When I worked in Soho, London in the late 1970’s as a salesman in Keith Johnson Photographics (known at the time as the world’s best camera store) Mick used to come in every Saturday (when he was wasn’t on tour with the Stones) and drink champagne with Keith. I think they were at school together. I often got invited got invited to join them at Keith’s desk but Mick hardly spoke to me except to mutter something like “another bottle?” Anyhow, fun times. And it led to me writing for music mags which was great fun