Meet Matthew Shell. He is a remarkable audio engineer who works with talented artists. He also produces and releases his own music. In addition, he has a day job at a large financial institution and develops e-learning content. He manages his multi-careerism with professionalism and grace.
Matthew’s careers:
- Audio production engineer
- E-learning professional
- Oversees technical training at a financial institution
- Previously, he was a financial systems analyst for ten years
On his motivation for having many careers
“I knew from an early age that only focusing only on music would not make it possible to comfortably and consistently have the finances needed to take care of a family. Business and education have always been passions of mine, so overseeing aspects of technical training operations and making eLearning videos fits me nicely for my day job activities.”
How long he’s had these careers
“I’ve been at my current day job for 12 years. I’ve been professionally making music for 15+ years, but I’ve been working on songwriting and my musicianship since age three years old. For the past seven years I have also taught as adjunct faculty at Omega Studios School in Rockville, MD.”
Advice to aspiring multi-careerists
“I recommend anyone learn how to be professional and work through any issues that clients have. Be willing to do whatever it takes to make a customer happy, and clients will let you know your value to them when they consistently hire you again and again.”
Benefits of having many careers
“Having a day job has given me discipline that I may not have had as just an artist. My parents instilled an amazing work ethic in me. By waking up every weekday for 12+ years at 5:00 a.m., and building up 400+ hours of leave by being dependable and almost never skipping out on work, it builds a consistency that comes with repetition.”
On balancing personal time
“I schedule meaningful energy (not just time) with my family. Full days of quality energy and time are what I aim for so that my family gets my best, and not simply the end of day slump.”
Something he wish he knew earlier
“Working virtually has been very freeing for the last 10 years. Once I realized that I could work with excellent musicians from around the world from the comfort of my home, that was a game changer. For a while, it was only half of my business, with the other half being in the studio. But in the last couple years since the baby was born, it became 99% of my business, working virtually on projects all over the world.”
What he tells his day job colleagues
“Sometimes people will Google me and ask out of curiosity about my music. But otherwise, I keep the two worlds as separate as possible.”
A Day In the Life
5:00 a.m. – Wake up, walk the corgis, work out, eat.
7:30 am – 4 pm – Day job
When I have to commute, that takes a huge chunk out of my day. Then my family has me for the rest of my day. I save music work for the weekends, usually. I get a lot done in four hours on a Saturday.
Where to find Matthew Shell
- LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Website
- Spotify – Check out his forthcoming album Towards New Beginnings
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Kabir Sehgal is a Multi Grammy & Latin Grammy Award winner, as well as New York Times bestselling author of fifteen books. His latest work is Close the Loop: The Life of an American Dream CEO and His Five Lessons for Success (Hachette, 2020) with his father Raghbir Sehgal which is a Los Angeles Times & San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Follow him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube.
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