Every day I become more convinced of two things. The first: although it seems impossible, what you love can be your source of income; and the second: the creativity of entrepreneurs is infinite.
That’s why I asked our editor for this column every two months. I want to make you participants in the ventures that attract my attention, and I know you can help them to change their lives. The case I bring you today, very consistent with the month of February, is that of Canciona.
Before offering my opinion, let me explain what Canciona is. The enterprise is dedicated to selling personalized songs, to surprise someone you love. The final product ranges from an improvised song by one of its singer-songwriters, to a record quality track, in which the client can participate and even record a video clip.
I came across this venture by chance. The idea surprised me and I automatically thought of the thousands of singers who have abandoned their dreams. Aldo Narejos, founder of the enterprise, studied psychology, but soon became frustrated with the career. What he knows about music he taught himself, because his true passion was always to compose songs. Today it can be said that he has managed to make his living from his passion, creating songs made to move people.
But his story was not so easy. Before creating Canciona, Aldo asked a bank for a loan of 34,000 euros to develop an application that allowed users to compose their own songs, even if they had no idea about making music. The problem was that he had no way to monetize it, so he found himself lumbered with a debt of 800 euros per month, plus the costs that come with living in Madrid.
One day it occurred to him to offer a course teaching how to swiftly compose songs. He went to a park to find potential students, and came across a young couple. He proposed to the boyfriend that he tell him their love story for him to come up with a song in fifteen minutes. The reaction of the girlfriend was spectacular. Aldo began teaching his course, but what surprised him was that people began to ask him to compose songs for friends, partners, parents…and that’s how Aldo, by coming up with custom-made songs, began to make a living.
His idea was to keep searching for a way to make the application pay off. Call it luck, but one day the spokesman of an investment group arrived looking for interesting projects. Aldo introduced himself, told him about his application and explained that he spent his time composing personalized songs. The spokesman recognized his name, as Aldo had written a song for his wife some time ago which, according to him, was one of the best gifts he had ever given. He proposed he come up with a business plan, both for the application and for the personalized songs, and present it to twenty-five investors.
At the meeting, the investors dismissed the application because where they really saw the potential was with the personalized songs. Aldo had been so obsessed with his application that he hadn’t realized until then that his talent was best linked to the needs of others. Today the project has billed hundreds of thousands of euros and includes more than seventy musicians.
Several questions come to mind: What prevents musicians facing the daily struggle of playing in the streets and subway stations from organizing themselves, and creating a fully salable product? How many other Aldo Naralejos have not yet decided to take that step that will change their lives? Why do we adorn our lack of creativity with excuses? What stops us?