We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Malone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I think the biggest habit that really helped me succeed throughout any part of my career as a freelance musician is consistency. It takes a lot of discipline to consistently work at your craft through whatever else might be put on your plate In any given day. With my content creation, I’ve been able to maintain my schedule of releasing a new video on YouTube every week for nearly 4 years at this point. It’s been a ton of work, and at times that’s put me in really tense deadlines, but it’s forced me to be adaptable and creative when things don’t go as planned.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m fortunate to have a great mix and variety in my career as a freelance musician, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve seen plenty of people suffer from burnout after too much of one thing and I think the fact that I can teach 20-30 private lessons a week to students of all ages, go out and perform 4-5 gigs during any given week in all sort of genres, and then spend time creating video content for social media platforms rebuilding, modifying or playing drums keeps every week fresh for me.

It can be a challenge to create time for all of this and still maintain a meaningful relationship with my family, spouse, and friends, but I’m lucky to have a super supportive and patient group around me to make this all work.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in a small town in Northeast Wisconsin, so it’s not any sort of “destination” for people outside the area, but there’s a lot of people like me who left this area and came back to bring their skills and experiences to make our community better. There’s plenty of amazing restaurants, shops and bars in Downtown Oshkosh, many of which that feature live music regularly from my peers and fellow musicians in this area.

Other than that, we’re an hour south of historic Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, and we’re all just a bunch of Cheeseheads out here.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’ve been blessed to have countless of great mentors and peers who have challenged me, which has led to tons of growth. My earliest drum teacher, Mark Powers, taught me to love drums and music at an early age, and watching him carve his own path has been super inspiring to me. My college professors, specifically Prof. Robert Baca & Dr. Jeff Crowell at University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire were great at helping me develop my musicianship, but also did a great job of putting me in situations where I just had to figure it out myself. I think that was extremely important for me going into life as a freelancer because you don’t have a boss to keep you on track with deadlines, schedule, or guided instruction.

Website: www.malonedrum.com

Instagram: @malonedrum

Facebook: www.facebook.com/malonedrum

Youtube: youtube.com/@malonedrum

Image Credits
Brandon Bjorkman, Motion Media Works

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