It's been some time since my last post. In fact, I haven't posted anything since returning from my tour this past April. I've been absent for a combination of reasons.
The first thing that kept me occupied was all of the preparation I was trying to do in gearing up for my recording project. Besides trying to take care of any last minute logistical challenges, I was also working frantically to finish a couple of songs I had left to complete for the recording session.
But then, something happened...
I stated months ago that my wife had been laid off of her job back in January of 2009. Unfortunately, our mounting bills forced me to utilize the money I had put aside for my share of the recording costs (Tierra Records would have been flipping for part of the bill too), so that we could try and catch up with at least some of our bills. Needless to say that my follow up album has been put on hold.
After realizing that my album was not going to get recorded within the time frame I had originally planned, and seeing my wife struggling with trying to start her fledgling accounting firm, I decided to sacrifice the time I normally dedicate during the day towards finding and contacting new venues to book myself in, to helping my wife build her business and find clients.
To me, the logic for this move was simple. I have nearly 15 years of experience being self employed and marketing myself, were as my wife has no experience in this realm what so ever. She has always worked a "9 to 5" job. However, she has experienced multiple lay-offs and has grown quite weary of working for any other companies where she doesn't have direct control over her position and situation (those of you who know me well probably think that sounds familiar!).
In short, I came to the conclusion that I could be more helpful to her with what she is trying to do with her career than she can be towards me and my career. Almost all of the skills I have acquired up until this point can be utilized in more "conventional" businesses than the music and entertainment industry. Meanwhile, none of the skills that she has acquired over the years working in a cubicle can help me get more gigs or achieve more notoriety for what I do.
So, for the moment I'm putting a freeze on actively pursuing any more performances for the time being, until Renee's accounting firm takes off more. However, that doesn't mean that I will be disappearing from the scene completely. I will still accept performances that I am offered from people contacting me. Also, at this point I have appearances already booked that go into January of 2011.
And there you have it...life has thrown me one if it's curve balls and I had to respond.
With all of that said, if you would like to see some of my handy work for my wife's company, I invite you to visit her website at
http://www.rdlaccounting.com/. I designed the website for her, and am also acting as a marketing agent and technical advisor. Feel free to drop me a line or leave me a comment to let me know what you think of her website.
Shenole Latimer
