A successful career is shaped as much by what happens offstage as by what happens in the spotlight. Preparation, resilience and a willingness to confront fear have all played a role in Rich Redmond’s path.
In this episode, Derrick Kinney speaks with Rich Redmond, acclaimed drummer for Jason Aldean, recording artist, author and longtime music industry professional, about the habits and decisions that support sustained success.
Drawing on decades of experience performing, recording and building a career in the creative arts, Redmond discusses why confronting fear is often a necessary part of growth, how disciplined practice strengthens performance and why soft skills can be just as important as technical ability. He also shares his CRASH framework for success, built around commitment, relationships, attitude, skill and hunger.
The conversation explores the importance of staying ready for opportunity, investing in relationships and approaching a creative career with the mindset of a business owner. Redmond also reflects on resilience, personal responsibility, goal-setting and the value of consistently moving forward, even when progress feels incremental.
For advisors, entrepreneurs and business leaders, the episode offers practical perspective on mastering a craft, building trust and creating opportunities through preparation, persistence and meaningful connection.
Key Insights
- Move through fear. Meaningful growth often requires taking action before uncertainty disappears.
- Master the fundamentals. Technical skill remains essential, but it must be developed consistently.
- Strengthen soft skills. Reliability, follow-through, communication and relationship-building can be powerful differentiators.
- Stay ready for opportunity. Preparation makes it easier to respond when the right opportunity appears.
- Build trust first. People often buy into the person before they buy into the product or service.
- Make progress daily. Breaking large goals into smaller actions helps create sustained momentum.
- Invest in relationships. Strong connections can become one of the most valuable forms of long-term equity.
“No one will buy from you until they buy into you as a human being.”
Rich Redmond
Listen to the Full Conversation
Transcript
Derrick Kinney
Welcome to the Derrick Kinney Podcast on Modern American Advisor. Each week, we revisit one of my most valuable conversations to bring advisors practical ideas to grow their businesses, serve their clients, and make more money to do more good. One of the biggest challenges business owners face is the fear of stepping into the unknown. It’s that scary question, what if I take this risk and it doesn’t pay off. Fear can be paralyzing, holding you back from reaching your full potential.
My guest today, Rich Redmond, knows that fear all too well, but he’s also figured out how to fight it. Rich is the drummer for country music star Jason Aldean and a seasoned pro in the music industry. Rich knows all about taking risks and making them work. Today, he reveals that to really win in business and life, you have to believe in yourself and keep doing better at what you do. Rich also shares the importance of making friends and building strong relationships, because knowing the right people can really open doors for you.
He’s also big on sharing your wins, so don’t be shy about what you’re good at. Plus, Rich has some really good advice on setting goals that you can actually reach and making sure you do something every day to get closer to them. So if you’re ready to kick fear to the curb and make some moves toward your goals this year, this episode is your front row ticket. See what I did there? Rich has got some great stories and tips you’ll definitely want to hear. Rich, welcome to the Good Money Podcast.
Rich Redmond
Derrick, thanks for having me, man. This is my second trip around the sun with you. We’ve— this is our second podcast together. Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
You know, and speaking of that, Rich, the first one was for Simple Teen Success, a program we’ve launched to really impact the lives of high school students. And while you mention that, I want to bring up something that you said that day that I think about a lot, and a lot of our teens talk about it. You said, everything you want in life is on the other side of fear. And it was so profound and so powerful. Tell us why you said that, because it’s such a meaningful statement that I think can really impact a lot of people’s lives.
Rich Redmond
Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, you know, anything in life worth doing is going to come at the sweat of your brow. And just think of what you want to do as, like I said, the other side of fear. And what is fear? Fear is a pool. It’s filled with man-eating sharks. They’ve been around since before the dinosaurs for a reason. Blood is in the water. You jump in headfirst. You’re taking a chance. You’re hoping to make it to the other side, but you’re already 99% ahead of the rest of the world where people play it safe.
They don’t wanna take risks, and you have to take risks in life, and you have to face your fears head-on. And that’s what success is, is getting through that fear. You know, just take that first step. Jump in headfirst.
Derrick Kinney
I love that. I love that. That’s not something reserved just for teens. That’s for some of our consultative salespeople listening, the financial advisors, the realtors, the attorneys, the CPAs, people who may be fearful of, I don’t want to call that prospect, or I don’t want to make this bold move. But basically, when you’re on the path to success, expect to feel fear. But it’s the successful people who fight through it. Would you agree with that?
Rich Redmond
Absolutely. Absolutely. You have to fight through it. You have to face your fears. You have to take massive chances. It’s like when you go to your financial advisor and they’re like, hey, do you wanna be at low risk, medium risk, or high risk? And it’s like, you know, I would always wanna be the high-risk guy, but at my age, I’m at the medium risk. So, but that’s another story.
Derrick Kinney
I love it. Well, people may or may not be able to see right now, but you look like you’re about 27, Rich. I mean, you have aged very, very well, my friend.
Rich Redmond
Oh, thank you. I’ll take it. There’s olive oil running through my blood, so that helps.
Derrick Kinney
Well, for those that know you, of course, you are the touring drummer for Jason Aldean, and you’ve played on 30 number 1 hits for top artists like Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, Ludacris, and others. What led you to become the drummer for such great artists?
Rich Redmond
Oh, man. Well, I appreciate it. It was—you know, it’s a calling in life. There’s a similar story with musicians and creatives where they’re just at some point in their young years, they are drawn to something. And it’s just a calling. I think it’s a gift from my higher power. You know, I just had this interest. I was a high-energy kid, and my parents— I gotta give them tons of respect and tons of gratitude— what parents say, “Yeah, why don’t you play the drums?” You know, usually they’d be like, why don’t you play something like the flute or the clarinet?
Or another instrument. Better yet, a lot of people are like, you know, this is a passing fad, kid. You probably need to go learn a trade or be a doctor or a lawyer. And my parents were like, hey, no, we’ll send you to college. Get straight A’s. Go do what you want to do. Because they realized that life is very long when you do something you don’t want to do. You know, for those of a certain age, you remember the commercial, time to make the donuts.
You know, I didn’t— I don’t want to get up at 4 in the morning to go make donuts. I want to—you know, I want to be a musician and get up at noon. No, everybody thinks that musicians sleep till noon, but we’re actually like incredible entrepreneurs. You know, we have to get up and handle our business and handle our administration and keep our craft fresh, and we have to be our own publicist and personal trainer. And so it’s a real job for people that are successful in the creative arts.
It’s a real job and I treat it like a business. And I just knew that my goal in life was— I wrote it down as a young man— I want to hear myself on the radio, I want to see myself on television, and I want to travel the world on someone else’s dime. And if I got good at the drums, that would be my ticket to achieving those goals.
Derrick Kinney
Yes, I love that. What led you to write that down as such a young person?
Rich Redmond
Well, it was a purpose statement. And when I say young, I’m probably thinking, you know, I’m thinking more like, you know, 25, something like that.
Derrick Kinney
Right.
Rich Redmond
But I had been playing the drums since 1976. I was 6 years old, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I fell in love with this thing. I invested in myself and got my higher education. I’m an overeducated rock drummer. I have my master’s degree in music education, so I have a teacher’s heart.
Derrick Kinney
Awesome.
Rich Redmond
I just kept pushing. I just kept pushing and investing in myself. Here we are all these years later. I’m a student of positivity. I’ve read The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill a million times, Tony Robbins, Leo Buscaglia, Zig Ziglar. I’m a student of all that stuff. And I think we need to encourage, you know, young people to, to be students of how the mind works and controlling our mind. Because if we can control our mind, it’s going to manifest in our life, and we’re going to be able to achieve what we want to achieve.
Derrick Kinney
Whoo! Preach it, Brother Rich. We are on fire today. You know, and again, I got to tell our listeners right now, many successful people, you’re making it, you’re making good money. But what he’s talking about is Rich is not just a drummer. You look at these musicians and you think all they do is think about music. Rich has talked about he’s a business person. He approaches music through the eyes of business. And it’s so, so powerful about helping you become a business rock star. And I love how you said control your mind. And I would add, if you don’t do that, it will control you and it’s going to take you to an often bad place.
Rich Redmond
Sure. I mean, as human beings, I think that we’re— since we’re, you know, we’re sentient, but we’re, you know, we ran the plains with the woolly mammoths and we are basically programmed for fight or flight and negative thought. So it actually requires massive follow-through and focus to think positively or have the ability to change our mental pathways to a positive place because we were always running from saber-toothed tigers and we were always thinking negatively like, oh, we don’t have enough I better go get some meat for the winter.
I better go, you know what I mean? It’s just, that’s as human beings, we’re more on the wah, wah, wah side. And so you really have to go out of your way to be a positive human being.
Derrick Kinney
Well, Rich, your success to me is such a great example of the hours and hours of practice you put in, as you said, to master your craft as a drummer. I love that terminology. For our business owner listeners, what should they spend more time on in terms of the roles they need to be practicing?
Rich Redmond
Yeah, you know, I have a system for success called CRASH, and it stands for Commitment, Relationships, Attitude, Skill, and Hunger. And the skill portion of being successful is so paramount. You know, we’re always trying to keep up with the Joneses. So the first thing you need to do is identify the skills you need to be successful in your chosen field, whatever that is. You need to identify those things, write those things down, and then hyperfocus on those things, work towards mastering those things.
And then throughout different seasons of our life, we’ll have to kind of constantly be growing, changing, and evolving, developing those skill sets. And our skill sets are never sharp enough. So if you get up every morning, you know that you— with a smile on your face and you’re in the right business, you know that you’re going to have to focus on those skills. They have to be undeniable skills. Like in the music business, it’s an expectation for you to be great at your craft, to be able to play your instrument at the highest levels.
But it’s also these other things, these unspoken soft skills that don’t get enough airtime in life. And that is showing up early, being the first one there, the last one to leave, having the firmest handshake, looking people in the eyes, trying to find common ground, having interesting conversations, doing your best to remember names, following up. Most people won’t follow up. Follow up. Take that step. Make that phone call. Send that email.
So the soft skills combined with the expectation of being incredible at what you do. You know, because there’s too many people out there that— there’s a lot of drummers out there, right? So I have to be better at my craft than they do. And then I have to have these other undeniable soft skills. And there’s always going to be someone better than you, you know? But if you just wake up every day with a smile on your face and you roll up your sleeves and you’re trying to move that ball down the field, then you will find success.
Derrick Kinney
Let me kind of parse that a bit, Rich, because you said something intriguing to me. I read an article recently and it was called The 10,000-Hour Rule. And it was basically that to achieve expert status, most people on average looking back in the rearview have spent 10,000 hours doing something. But then one part of the article which was intriguing to me was it wasn’t just the activity of spending 10,000 hours. They were very intentional about how they spent the 10,000 hours.
And the example was Tiger Woods. If Tiger Woods goes to the driving range and says, I’m going to hit 100 balls, he simply has hit 100 balls. But if he says, with every ball I hit, I want to get within 5 feet of the pin, now he’s intentionally practicing that. So if you can make that personal for you, Rich, as you’re sitting at the drum stand, what are things that you do that demand not just, I’m just going to play for a number of hours, but I’m going to be precise in my playing to make myself even better at my craft?
Rich Redmond
Yeah. You know, I was talking the other day on my podcast, The Rich Redmond Show, I was talking to my buddy Chris Fryer. He’s the tenured drummer with Zac Brown Band. And so we were talking shop and he goes, “Yeah, 10,000 hours, it’s a good start, right?” I mean, it’s like, I think a lot—
Derrick Kinney
Right, right.
Rich Redmond
You know, a lot of highly successful people have tens of thousands of hours. I don’t know what the math is on that, but I know that if I was— I’ve been practicing as hard as I have since 1976, then there’s gotta be tens of thousands of hours just with me working on my craft by myself in a dark room. And then also drums and music making is a communal activity. It’s one of our highest forms of expression from the heavens, and it takes It takes more than one person to make music.
So imagine all the hours that I’ve spent traveling and being in airports, on tour buses, and backstage, and rehearsals, and in recording studios, and interacting with the people that I love and play music with and that I’m on stage with. We’re talking so many tens of thousands of hours. But yes, when I’m sitting behind the drums, there’s so much going on in my mind. I’m thinking about my posture, my physicality, my technique, the sound I’m getting on the instrument.
Am I playing in time? Are people reacting in a positive way to my drumming? Are they moving? Are they smiling? Are they dancing? Are they connecting? Is my band smiling? Is my singer comfortable? There’s a million things going on in my head. And also through my formative years, so I’m thinking about, okay, what are all the things I need to work on? Well, I probably need to work on my technique, the technique to express a musical thought, the sound I get on my instrument, the basic fundamentals of my craft, which we call the rudiments, which are basically like the scales of drumming. And then—
Derrick Kinney
Rudiments, okay.
Rich Redmond
Trying to play really good time because the drummer has to have the best time feel and has to make everything groove and dance and has to create that healing feeling. And then you get into understanding the history of music, even just the last 100 years of music. Like, jazz is our American art form, was born in 1917. So we’re looking at just over 100 years is the reason why we have the drum set. It’s a very young instrument. But I got to be able to play classical music and rock and jazz and country and Latin styles and funk and folk, and there’s serious expectations. So there’s never enough time in the day to focus on my craft and to keep those skills sharp. You know?
Derrick Kinney
Rich, it’s just you and I talking right now, so I have a hypothetical question.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
Are there ever days where you’re just having a bad day and you’ve got a concert in a couple hours? What do you do with that? What do you say to yourself and what goes into your mental space to get you through that concert?
Rich Redmond
Yeah, well, um, it’s the greatest job in the world. And so I always tell myself there would be a million drummers that would literally murder you to have your seat, to sit where you sit, to sit in the best seat in the house, not only to interact with a world-class band but be out there with the best fans in the world. There’s 80,000 people in a stadium. They paid for their ticket, $20 an hour for a babysitter, $35 to park, $20 a beer.
The tickets, forget it. It’s expensive. And so I have an obligation to knock it out of the ballpark for them. So even though I have a fear of heights, I walk up to the highest point in any venue and I look and I see this is where I need to send my energy. My energy needs to make it all the way out here. So I got the sticks in my hands, I’m sweating, I’m warming up, I’m stretching. And then when I get out on stage, it’s just like, it’s that healing feeling.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re jet-lagged or you have the flu or you have COVID. And you’re seeing little green men on stage. It’s like the show must go on. And it has. And I’ve been on stage puking and things coming out of all sorts of areas of my body. And you just got to do it. You just got to do it. It’s a big responsibility.
Derrick Kinney
Well, I think that’s encouraging because so many entrepreneurs, I find when they face hard things, you know what, I’m just going to go binge watch Netflix today. I’m just going to take the day off.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
But professionals, entertainers don’t have that choice. You know, when I watch basketball or I go to a concert and it’s on a holiday, these are people giving something up so I can gain.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
But I know that they’re not always having the best day, but they make a choice to say, today, as you said, I’m going to bring that healing feeling to these people. And the more I do that, I experience that as well.
Rich Redmond
Yeah, I mean, I always freak out about those football players that are playing games on Christmas Day and it’s like snowing, it’s like a blizzard, and I’m like, you guys didn’t get to open presents, where’s the eggnog? You know what I mean? So that’s like, I can’t even relate to that, you know? That’s, that’s nuts. But, but yeah, no, there is no day off for a musician. If you get a flu, if you get the flu, you go to your bunk on the bus, you try not to infect the rest of your band, and then you just have to find the energy and strength to play those 24 songs no matter what.
And every time I hit a cymbal, it’s like, feels like certain death. But, you know, you just have to do it. And I accept that responsibility. You know, with great power comes great responsibility. I should have had my Spider-Man mug. Sorry.
Derrick Kinney
Well, before we came on the air together, I was talking about how I believe that consultative salespeople are truly entertainers. If you’re a financial advisor, a CPA, an accountant, an attorney, you’ve got to do something to be memorable, because if not, you’re simply a commodity. People can choose from anybody, but if you’re special, if you bring something entertaining and meaningful and you make sense to people, you will stand out.
So truly, we want our business listeners to become rock stars. And the reality, Rich, you are a rock star. So who better to ask this question? You know, when you think about business owners, they can often get sucked up into the minutia, the filing, the paperclip pushing, the office supply ordering, all the stuff that generates zero revenue. What would you tell them? And based on your experience, how do you stay out of the weeds? How do you keep this big helicopter view so that you focus on what matters the most?
Rich Redmond
Yeah, if you can get help, get help. But most people get help— an assistant, a— especially in the music business, a manager. Everyone’s like, I need a manager, I need a manager. Man, you’re playing strip mall nightclubs on Fridays and Saturdays. You don’t need a manager. You need a manager when—and you will know when—you need a manager. But, you know, someone like me, when I wake up in the morning, I am a drummer. I play the drums for rock stars, you know?
And that is an amazing job. But to do that, yeah, like I said, I’m my own personal trainer, I’m my own dietitian, I have to run my own schedule. Everything’s color-coded on the iCal. And it’s, so drumming is first. What are my responsibilities with my tour and my recording with Jason Aldean? Then after that, I’m a freelance musician. I record in Los Angeles, I record on music records. I’m in my home studio right now. There’s a set of drums with microphones all over it, and I might be able to play for a Japanese composer or some recording artist in Newfoundland, and we never even have to meet each other.
And then I’m writing books, and then I have to go do speeches, and there’s travel days for all that kind of stuff. And then I have to book my podcast. I do it all myself. I do it all myself because usually other people will screw it up. You know, no one cares about your craft or your business as much as you do. You know, we are all in sales. No one is going to hire me to be their salesperson—be a drummer until they buy into me first as a human being. And again, the soft skills.
Derrick Kinney
Well said.
Rich Redmond
You know, the soft skills, riding a tour bus. I’m riding a 45-foot, million-dollar bus with a bunch of stinky guys for the last 25 years. And you have to be flexible. You have to play well with others. Schedules change. You might break down on the side of the highway at 3 in the morning and you have to be out in the frigid cold until some other bus picks you up. It is not for the faint of heart, but I do it because I love it, and I, I hate all the admin stuff, but it’s just the stuff that I need to do to get me behind a set of drums again, or to get me speaking in front of an audience, or to crank out another book.
So you just do those things. And some people, like, will carve out a portion of each day for admin. Other people will create specific days of the week to do that. For me, it’s just this delightful, chaotic balance of all things creative and, and business. all at the same time every day. And—
Derrick Kinney
I love that phrasing, chaotic balance.
Rich Redmond
That’s good. Yeah. You know, at the early parts of your career, there’s no balance because you are working so intensely to become the best at something. And then later it gets— there’s no— there’s less— hopefully there’s more balance. Like in my 50s now, I’m like, I gotta get the sun, I gotta ground my feet, I gotta go to the gym, I gotta do my cardio, I gotta put heavy weights over my head to stay young because I’m losing a pound of muscle every year.
So it’s like you just gotta do these things, and it’s just to stay in the game. Like at this point, my health, my flexibility, my mobility, my mental health are all way more important than me getting on the drums and practicing six hours a day because I have muscle memory now from tens of thousands of hours of working on my craft. So I can take a month off, and then we’re like, “Hey, we got a Jason Aldean gig. This gig popped up. Are you good?” You never have to get ready if you stay ready. So I’m always ready.
Derrick Kinney
There you go. Come on.
Rich Redmond
You know, I just— here we go. Just during COVID I was like working out, reading, and keeping the sticks in my hands every day. So I was sharp. So when the world came back and I got the phone call, it’s cool, we’re
going back out on tour, I was ready. I wasn’t 50 pounds overweight and hadn’t picked up the sticks in a year and a half, you know.
Derrick Kinney
So two takeaways there, Rich, and I’m taking some notes in the background here. You might hear the keyboard clicking because you’re spewing some nuggets of gold. One was that you kept drumming as the priority. There’s all kinds of demands, but at the heart, you’re a drummer and you’ve got to stay focused on the highest top of that pyramid, which is drumming. That was lesson number one. And two, I wrote this down, no one will buy from me until they buy into me as a human.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
No one will buy from me until they buy into me as a human. That is so, so true. And what that does, Rich, is you just debunked a lot of common sales literature that says sell on product and features and price and how your product is separated. No, no, no, no. People are buying you. And I don’t want to read too much into this, but I suspect that when Jason Aldean calls Rich Redmond, there’s a lot of other drummers he probably could have called, but there’s something that you did that said, I want Rich, and it made you stand out because he bought into you as a human.
Rich Redmond
Yeah. When you can mix business and pleasure and you have a balance in life, of your personal life, and you get along with somebody personally and professionally, that’s the epitome of everything. And that is the golden key, man. It is a hard thing to find, to have a group of people that can mix business and pleasure at the highest levels and get along personally and professionally. And when you find it, you have to nurture it.
You have to maintain it. You have to cultivate that thing and don’t take it for granted. It’s a heavy thing. We’re all in sales. I think everybody at one point in their life needs to be a waiter, and everybody needs to be in sales.
Derrick Kinney
Yeah.
Rich Redmond
Be a used car salesman and see how your interpersonal relationships and how you deal with people will improve. I gotta tell you, we just had right before the podcast, uh, a salesperson, door-to-door salesperson from 3 Day Blinds came to my crib. I mean, I knew I already wanted the product. I really— it’s a high-level product. We wanted to probably go with them, but the guy sold me. He was a cool guy. I wanted to be able to— I said, like, I want to keep in touch with you, man. Let’s go break bread, you know, you and your wife.
Derrick Kinney
Well, you know, we’ll do—
Rich Redmond
you know what I mean? So he sold me. I was like, this— yeah, we know about the product, but I bought into him. I was like, yeah, let’s do this. Boom. How much do you need? You know? So, um, so he walked away. With my money today because he was a great salesperson. He was a great person. He had a great spirit. He was affable. He had this incredible essence, personality, and I bought into it. You know?
Derrick Kinney
See, that’s what gets missed. I want our listeners to catch that, that it’s not always the smartest person, not the one that has all the product knowledge, but the person who is known, liked, and trusted. And as you just said, has that essence. It’s like you could have bought blinds from anybody, probably similar quality, Rich, we probably agree, but he just made it better. He enhanced the experience. And part of this is you’re selling as an entertainer, you’re selling the experience of working with me. Here’s how you’re going to feel. And I think that’s so powerful.
Rich Redmond
Yeah, I love working with great people. You know, when I work with a great person in the recording studio and then the 12-hour day ends and everybody’s ready to go home and I forget to get paid because I, you know, I love my job so much and I had such a great time and experience. It was an experience with those people for 12 hours that I’ll probably remember the rest of my life. So, yes, yeah, sometimes I forget to get paid, which is not good on a money podcast.
Derrick Kinney
Well, I’m a big believer in having a cause that motivates a person. What’s a cause or a couple of causes that you care about, Rich?
Rich Redmond
Yeah, well, I’m a big proponent and I am a product of music education and musical arts have been disappearing from the schools for 30 years. They’re like, no, we don’t need that. We don’t need to put our dollars there. Now, let’s look at something like the state of Texas. If I’m gonna be a— you’re in Texas. If I’m gonna be a music educator, I’m gonna probably live in your city or Dallas or Houston or San Antonio. The music education culture of Texas is like unparalleled because why?
It’s— there’s a trickle-down. It starts with football. And when you got football and this love Friday Night Lights, you’re gonna have to have a big old 400-piece marching band.
Derrick Kinney
And then the kids are like, Well, I need private lessons.
Rich Redmond
And then, oh, we got a basketball band, we got a symphony orchestra, we got a jazz band. So I just think that music education, I mean, it helps kids with their reading, their writing, their arithmetic, and it increases their emotional intelligence, their spatial reasoning. They do better on tests, they do better in life, they work on team skills so they can interact with people. There’s so many benefits to the creative arts. And like I said, it’s disappearing from schools. So I’m trying to keep that torch lit. I’m a big proponent of music education. So don’t let it disappear from the schools.
Derrick Kinney
I love it. I love that. Well, Rich, we’ve talked about how our listeners can take your principles and build their businesses. And believe me, I think music, entertainment, there’s so many lessons we can take from superstars like yourself to help these business owners become superstars in their field. At the end of our show, I ask each of our guests a couple questions about how our listeners can build their businesses. And so, number one, what is something you’re doing right now that your 18-year-old self would be proud of?
Rich Redmond
You know, I think I would probably be proud of the fact that I have figured out how to mix business and pleasure and the fact that I am a creative artist, but I am also a craftsman. I realize what I bring to the world and how my skill set can change lives. And that comes with a price point. So I’ve figured out how to create products, how to create events, how to create education. Educational offerings and experiences and be able to put a, a value on those things.
Like, for example, right now, my— one of my biggest selling offerings is when a drummer wants to take their game to the next level, they’re flying in from all over the country and they have a seven-hour day with me. So we work three hours in the morning, we go and we break bread for an hour at a nice place, and then we do three hours in the afternoon. They send their wife shopping, you know, in Green Hills, and we get to really get down and dive into my deep curriculum.
And it’s changing lives. People are getting accepted to their favorite music schools. They’re getting professional jobs in the music business. They’re getting, they’re getting from point A to point B, and I’m helping them do that. And then I get to put a little price on that. And you have to work on your pricing when you’re in the early part of your career. It’s a little cheaper. And then as it grows popular, you get to give yourself little raises.
And then you might have to experiment. Is it $1,500? Is it $1,800? Is it $1,999? What, what’s the market gonna bear? And, uh, it’s just cool. My young self would’ve been proud of the fact that I am running a business and bought a home for myself doing what I love.
Derrick Kinney
Yeah, not many people can say that. Congratulations.
Rich Redmond
But you have to have a business mind. You know, there’s a lot of creatives that are just like, no, my money guy handles that. But look at Billy Joel. He lost millions because he completely trusted someone. You know, it’s good for you to have a business mind if you can.
Derrick Kinney
Rich, what is the biggest financial mistake you’ve ever made?
Rich Redmond
Uh, well, you know, there’s been some bad little investment choices here. I think a lot of people suffer those things and you just move on. You pick up your bootstraps and you move down the field. But I think, you know, the advice that, that people get as younger people, which is start that IRA young and, you know, save 30% of everything and buy a house as soon as possible. And there’s a lot of people in the creative arts, they just don’t have that luxury because in the first sometimes 10, 15, 20 years of their career, they’re scraping by, pushing through.
They’re swimming through the fear and the blood and the sharks, and they’re trying to do the thing, and they’re keeping the focus on the create, the create. But sometimes there’s no money in that. Sometimes you’re playing in a wedding band and it’s like, well, how many weddings you got this month? Four. What do they pay? $200. Okay, there’s $800. How am I gonna pay for the rest of my life? And this happens to people, and sometimes they don’t get out of that particular season of their life.
So for me to get out of that season of my life, I had to go to the watering hole. And the watering hole was either gonna be New York, Los Angeles, or Nashville. So here I am in Nashville, I’m on the Serengeti, and all
the animals are at that watering hole. And the giraffe is looking at the zebra, and the lion’s looking at the zebra, and they all wanna eat each other, but they really need the water. So they just, they’re there.
There’s something really magical about being in these energy points in the country or in the world where like-minded individuals can help bring their dreams to fruition. So I may have never escaped that season of my life had I not taken the chance, the risk in moving to Nashville and swimming with the sharks.
Derrick Kinney
I love that. And what I love about Nashville is there’s so many places around the country where it’s all about competition. But Nashville, I just think it’s all about collaboration.
Rich Redmond
Yes.
Derrick Kinney
As you talked about, it’s similar like-minded people who on the outside appear to be competitors, but they have this mindset of, oh, no, no, no, the pie is not just this big. We can expand the pie where all of us win. And it’s a mentality I think more business owners can learn from.
Rich Redmond
Yeah, you know, having a mastermind or having a business networking group is always a great thing to do. But, and don’t get me wrong, there is competition and everybody, there’s only so many jobs and everyone’s going after these things. So there’s this polite competition, but at the same time, more than any of the other music-making energy points in the United States. Nashville has a really amazing community feel where people lift each other up and go support each other and go see each other’s jobs.
And right now, a song is being written by two to six people in a room, and that song is gonna get to Jason and Keith Urban and Luke Bryan. And it’s happening right now. And that’s incredibly exciting. Yes.
Derrick Kinney
I love that.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
What is your favorite investment right now?
Rich Redmond
Well, I love the fact that I have a house. You know, that’s like the American dream.
Derrick Kinney
I tell every young musician, With a cool studio, by the way.
Rich Redmond
Get a house. Yes, that’s a requirement for a guy in my field. You have to have at least a 500-square-foot man cave so you can make noise and drive the neighbors crazy. Uh, but, uh, but no, I tell all my students, buy a house. You will never go wrong with a house. But this is my investment. My investment in life is in individuals, in people. I invest in people. I invest in relationships. One time I had to go do a backup, a data backup or something with— this must have been my BlackBerry in the BlackBerry days.
And I was at Best Buy or something and the employee was like, hey man, this might take a while. I’ve never seen 6,000 phone numbers in a BlackBerry. And I was like, well, hey man, I need someone to cut my hair and I need someone to do my oil and I need someone to— you know, it’s just people. I love people. I never met a stranger. And really, that’s your equity in life is people, because everything you also want to do in life has to go through gatekeepers.
So these people have to know you, like you, trust you. You can’t have enough friends. You can’t have enough friends you mix business and pleasure with. And it’s not who you know, it’s they have to know you, right?
Derrick Kinney
Yes.
Rich Redmond
So you gotta be out there. You gotta do the thing. Are you on the socials? Do you have a website? Are you out and about on the town crashing parties, shaking hands? Do you have nice business cards? Don’t get them from Vistaprint. You know, treat yourself. Get a nice thick piece of dead tree.
Derrick Kinney
Yes, you know, nice thick cards do stand out. You’re exactly right.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
Well, Rich, last question. If our listeners could only do one thing to achieve bigger results, what’s the one thing you would tell them to do right now?
Rich Redmond
Oh man, get out of bed. Get out of bed. Make your bed. That’s a great place to start. I don’t know if you ever saw that, that there’s a great speech online and it’s like, it’s a grandiose It’s a graduation speech.
Derrick Kinney
Yeah.
Rich Redmond
And it’s really great. It’s like, dude, the first thing you should do every day is make your bed because it sets the wheels in motion of you to accomplish things in life throughout your day. But yeah, that’s the main thing is to write your goals down into manageable, digestible nuggets, and then figure out how you’re gonna attack those goals each day and get something done every day and just move that ball down the field. It doesn’t have to be a touchdown every day, but you got to move the ball down the field. and shout from a mountaintop, I exist!
I exist! Yes. Yes. And be proud of that. You know, some people are very uncomfortable letting the world know they exist. They’re called introverts, and I just can’t relate. I really want to understand that better, but I have such a hard time. I’m just like, doesn’t everybody just want to jump out of bed and do the thing and go crash parties and mix and mingle? And no, there’s some people that are like, get more done behind closed doors, you know, doing their thing. So yeah, I have a lifelong quest to understand the introvert. Hmm.
Derrick Kinney
Well, I love, I love what you said. And I kind of call myself, you know, an introvert in an extroverted world because I’m a guy that can bring the energy when I need to. But then I like to be at home by myself or relaxed behind closed doors to recharge. Some people recharge their batteries, they got to go, go, go all the time. And what I find is people can be successful either way as long as they learn their own rhythms and can manage based on their rhythms. But to your point, at some point you have to shout it from the mountaintop. You can’t say, nope, I’m an introvert, I can’t do that. Nope. Then you will suck at business.
Rich Redmond
Yeah.
Derrick Kinney
But you’ve got to take on some moments of extrovertedness even as an introvert to be successful.
Rich Redmond
Yeah. Don’t be afraid to shout from a mountaintop that you exist. And when someone cracks the door and gives you an opportunity, you have to knock that sucker out of the ballpark. That’s your way of saying, thank you for this opportunity. I’m constantly thanking people for championing me. And when they recommend me to do something, I have to make them look good.
Derrick Kinney
Yes. Rich, I hate to say this, but our time has come to an end. I gotta tell you, I love your energy. I love your zeal for life. I love your passion. You just are worth listening to. And you talk about things in such great stories that you’re just a captivating speaker. I love the fact that we’ve connected together and you’ve helped a lot of people on this podcast. So, Rich Redmond, thank you for being on the Good Money Podcast.
Rich Redmond
Derrick, thanks so much. Anytime. And I hope to see you in the Texas area. We’ll get some Tex-Mex.
Derrick Kinney
That sounds great. Love it, man. All right. Thanks again, Rich. Appreciate it.
Rich Redmond
Thanks.
Derrick Kinney
At the end of each podcast, I give you a roadmap to help you get to the top 1% of your field. There were two things among the many things that Rich said that I loved. Number one, you never have to get ready if you stay ready. And number two, no one will buy from you until they buy into you as a human. I could park the podcast right there. I love what he talked about as always being ready for opportunities. When the phone call comes in, are you ready to talk to the person about the problems you solve?
And remembering that while you may be tempted to send the text or the email to make the pitch, ultimately, people buy from people. And one thing I would add to what Rich said is, if it makes you feel uncomfortable and you know it’s probably the right way to go, do it that way. Don’t take the easy way out. When you face fear and you spend part of your day doing uncomfortable things, you’re going to be proud of yourself later on, and you’ll be doing the things that grow you and your business.
Thanks for listening to the Derrick Kinney Podcast on Modern American Advisor. Do you want to attract more $3 million to $10 million clients and grow your business? Then check out successforadvisors.com.
That’s successforadvisors.com. And remember, if you want a business that’s booming, focus on the human. We’ll see you next time.
About Rich Redmond
Rich Redmond is a drummer, recording artist, author, educator and motivational speaker whose career reflects a commitment to preparation, perseverance and continuous growth. Best known for his longtime work as the touring and recording drummer for country music artist Jason Aldean, Redmond has also performed and recorded with artists across country, rock and popular music, including Garth Brooks, Bryan Adams, Ludacris, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
Throughout his career, Redmond has approached music not only as a creative pursuit, but also as a business. He emphasizes the importance of mastering a craft, developing strong interpersonal skills and remaining prepared for opportunity. In his conversation with Derrick Kinney, Redmond describes fear as an inevitable part of meaningful progress and argues that success belongs to those willing to take calculated risks, endure discomfort and continue moving forward. He also highlights the value of relationships, personal responsibility and consistent action, noting that technical ability alone is rarely enough to sustain a career.
Redmond’s philosophy is captured in his CRASH framework: Commitment, Relationships, Attitude, Skill and Hunger. Through his books, educational programs and keynote presentations, he applies lessons drawn from decades in the music industry to leadership, professional development and business performance.
At the center of Redmond’s work is the belief that opportunity favors those who stay ready. His career offers a practical example of how discipline, resilience, meaningful relationships and the courage to confront fear can help professionals build lasting success.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Rich Redmond?
Rich Redmond is a drummer, recording artist, author, educator and motivational speaker. He is best known for his longtime work as the touring and recording drummer for country music artist Jason Aldean. Redmond also brings a strong business mindset to his creative career, emphasizing preparation, discipline, relationship-building and continuous professional growth.
What is Rich Redmond’s CRASH framework?
CRASH is Redmond’s framework for personal and professional success. The acronym stands for Commitment, Relationships, Attitude, Skill and Hunger. The framework emphasizes developing technical expertise while also cultivating the mindset, relationships and determination needed to build a sustainable career.
What does “stay ready” mean in business?
“Stay ready” means consistently maintaining the skills, habits and preparation required to act when an opportunity appears. Redmond explains that professionals should not wait until an important call, project or opportunity arrives to begin preparing. By remaining disciplined and engaged with their craft, they are better positioned to respond with confidence.
Why are soft skills important for business success?
Soft skills help professionals build trust, strengthen relationships and distinguish themselves from others with similar technical abilities. Redmond highlights qualities such as reliability, communication, follow-through, remembering names and finding common ground. These behaviors shape how people experience working with someone and can influence whether they choose to build a lasting professional relationship.
Continue Listening
This conversation is part of Modern American Advisor’s ongoing Derrick Kinney Podcast series, featuring discussions with industry leaders, entrepreneurs and business strategists on the ideas shaping leadership, growth and the future of wealth management.
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