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Hawaiian Native Teaches Virtual Ukulele Lessons
To be a successful ukulele player from Hawaii, it helps to leave Hawaii. As today's featured story discovered, in Hawaii the instrument is so common that it's hard to stand out—but on the mainland United States, and in faraway lands such as Europe, people are far more interested.
He's now building a career earning money in different ways: through touring, merch sales, and even private lessons online. If you've ever wanted to get paid to play the ukulele—or more likely, you just like hearing case studies of how people are creating financial independence through creative means—then you'll like this story.
When he was thirteen, Hawaiian native Andrew Molina fell in love with the ukulele. After his first lesson, he realised how much he loved the feel and the sound of the instrument. From then on, he started telling himself that he would practice hard so that he could travel the world and perform.
Throughout his years in high school, Andrew would work at his craft. He would play a couple of songs at malls, but found that he wasn't making as much progress as he hoped. As he had grown up admiring and then imitating some of the famous ukulele players, Andrew realised that he didn't have any particular style he could call his own. This made him so insecure that he quit playing in his last year of high school—the very same instrument that he had fallen in love with just a couple of years ago.
But Andrew knew there was something amiss from his life. He wasn't interested in the typical path where he would go to college and then get a regular job, just like everyone else. The thought of finding a different direction spurred him to go on.
The first step that he took was to record his own album. This was in 2012, and Andrew had just left high school. The CD would act as a business card, albeit an expensive one, and would be a way for him to get introduced to potential clients for gigs. Fortunately for Andrew, his father was supportive, and funded the $8,000 it cost to record the album using money he had set aside for Andrew to go to college. The next year, the album was released.
As Andrew had predicted, the album did eventually help him land his first gig. A restaurant reached out and asked him to play. This was when he knew he could say he played the ukulele professionally since he would actually be getting paid. While his task was only to play background music, Andrew used this as a springboard into bigger events, such as festivals in Hawaii and other local gigs. He soon had four gigs a week lined up.
While Andrew had made some headway, he wasn't satisfied just playing background music. He wanted to play in front of an audience and connect with them. He reached out to some friends, who helped put together a mini-tour where he got to travel to California, Oregon, and Washington. Although this first tour wasn't very profitable, his goal was to build up a following. Desire and perseverance kept him going even though it was difficult, with many people telling him his dream was unrealistic.
It didn't help that Hawaii was the birthplace of the ukulele. Few people in the islands were particularly interested in the instrument since it was so common. To get around this hurdle, Andrew continued to plan tours outside Hawaii, traveling on the mainland United States, then to Europe and Asia as well. He would play at a different place each night and hold ukulele workshops during the day.
Fast forward a few years, and Andrew has been featured on the cover of the UK's Ukulele magazine. Although income is sporadic, a three-week tour can now bring in $7,500—a rate he can live off of, as long as he tours on a consistent basis. He also teaches virtual lessons online to aspiring ukulele players wherever they are.
More musicians, makers, and craftspeople should offer virtual lessons. And notice the location arbitrage here: the ukulele doesn't work as a business in Hawaii, but works everywhere else. Whatever there's a surplus of somewhere—a skill, a product, a talent—you might be better off taking it somewhere that surplus doesn't exist.
