It was hard having to quit playing all of my live music gigs during the COVID pandemic.
Even though I worked in programming as a career, I relied on playing music live to maintain my sanity and overall mental health.
There’s something truly majestic about being able to crank a guitar through an amp at that volume, and it inevitably brings a smile to my face. But once live music was put on hold during the pandemic, I could no longer play gigs on the weekends. Instead of playing guitar in front of a few dozen people in a bar or club, I started playing in front of thousands on the computer through Youtube videos. I used my cell phone’s camera and simply purchased a tripod stand. Since one of the best video editing programs available right now is completely free, I didn’t need to invest much money into making internet videos. I even got a chance to incorporate synthesizers into my music, which wasn’t something I had done in front of live audiences yet. It wasn’t a roaring success, but I was impressed when I managed to reach 1,000 subscribers on Youtube before the end of 2020. My best friend had lost his job at a local gym working as a fitness coach. When he saw what I did with my music on Youtube, he took the idea and started doing virtual fitness coaching to stay afloat. At first he was just recording and editing videos about various fitness and health topics, but soon he was receiving requests left and right for private fitness coaching over the phone and computer. Now my friend is making four times the amount of money he was making as a personal trainer at a local gym. He’s also happier doing virtual fitness coaching since he can shape and mold his schedule on a day to day basis.