Case study
From frustrated freelancer to his best quarter ever, and a plan to beat it.
Dan Markus had spent years freelancing as a producer and mixer without the work adding up to a full-time living. In 12 weeks he rebuilt how he runs the business and decided to give his studio more of his time.
The numbers
- 12 weeks
- of 1:1 coaching, December 2024 to March 2025
- 5+
- projects people had proposed that he never followed up on, found once everything lived in one CRM
- 7.5 / 10
- clarity on his business purpose by the end, in his own rating
- Best quarter
- Q1 2025, his best ever. Most of it was booked before coaching began
Good at the work, stuck at the jump
Dan is a mixer and producer in New York with a classical and experimental music background. After a few years of freelancing, the work still wasn’t adding up to a full-time living, and the business side mostly felt like weight: low pay, admin, keeping up with messages, and too many projects at once.
In his first week of homework he wrote: “I definitely don’t have a lot of positive thoughts about the business on a day-to-day basis.”
“I decided to work with Michael after a few years as a freelance producer and mixer where that work wasn’t quite providing enough to be my full-time job. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t seem to make the jump.”
Everything in one place
The first job was getting every project, booking and conversation out of his head and into one system. Once it was all in a CRM, Dan found at least five projects people had proposed to him that he had never followed up on.
He added a booking link and a payment and onboarding form, and let his calendar run his week instead of his memory.
“It took me a while to start using the CRM to its full potential (or even half its potential), but now that I’m tracking all the projects and bookings that I’m working on, I feel so much more at ease about my schedule and business.”
Prices, boundaries and going out again
Dan built a financial model and set new base prices for mixing and production from it. He started setting boundaries with clients, which he had always worried would cost him the relationship. The first client he held a boundary with was thrilled with the record, and the project grew into extra production work at his suggestion.
He also stopped treating outreach as selling. He started going to shows because he wanted to, and found he had the energy for it.
“I’m going out a lot more. I have energy to go out and socialize, which I didn’t have before. I have that energy in part because I’m excited to make connections and grow my relationships.”
The best quarter, and why it wasn’t the point
In the first quarter of 2025 Dan had his best quarter ever. He is the first to say almost all of that work was booked before coaching started. What changed was what he saw when he closed the books: a business he now knew how to run better.
By the end he had new prices, a clear roadmap for the next six months, and had decided to leave his front-of-house job to free up more time in the studio.
“…any projects in the future are going to probably be worth more than this because I know how to articulate my value. I know how to sell myself better. I’m going to like have an improved process. I’m going to follow up more.”
In Dan’s words
For someone considering the program, I would ask two (sets of) questions. The first would be “how good are you at managing yourself? Do you have a structure? Can you manage your finances? Do you juggle multiple projects really well?”
If they say they’re bad at all those things, I’d strongly encourage them to take the program. I think much of the work I did was around process, and it was hugely transformational, even though I was close in some of those areas.
Be prepared to spend your weekends grinding on this for the duration of the program.
Dan Markus Mixing Engineer & Producer, New YorkMore client stories
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David Maria Trapp From busy and reactive to clear rates and a business other people can help him run. Read the story These are real clients’ results, in their own words. Figures are self-reported by each client. Results vary with each engineer’s work, market and follow-through; nothing here is a promise of income.