Dan Emery
Buick to the 7th Floor
July 12, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Like a lot of children growing up, Dan had to share a room with a sibling. The only differnce is that their room was actually the trunk of a Buick. Using that as a starting point, Dan has been motivated and determined to succeed in everything that he does. From his humble beginnings in Idaho, through hard work and dedication, he now owns and operates the largest guitar school in New York City.
In the eighth grade, Dan’s family experienced some rather large financial problems. As a result he decided to put on his best outfit at the time, his boy scout uniform, and get a job landscaping. Needless to say, he hated it. He disliked it so much that he literally counted the seconds until his time was over. He learned from this experience “to never trade your time for money.” he would later incorporate this lesson into the beginning stages of his guitar teaching career.
In high school, Dan longed for social status, which he soon found through sports. The only problem was that he wasn’t particularly athletic. He tried track and field and a couple of other sports, but found his place playing football. After high school, he decided to walk onto the University of Idaho football team,
He was cut his first year. Being as he was small, slow and uncoordinated, the coaches thought that he wouldn’t be able to contribute to the team. Dan did not let this criticism stop him however, He worked in the off season with a guy named Eric Yarber, the smallest guy on the football team. Yarber would later go on to be a kick returner for the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Recognizing Dan’s determination and willingness to work hard, the two became workout partners.
He made the football team the next year and centered his life around the game. Every decision he would make was based on its effect on his football career. After a couple of years on the team, he saw himself sliding down the depth chart with his position going to younger, more athletically talented guys. He soon realized that he was not going to become the star football player that he wanted to be. So he quit football and took up the guitar. He was convinced that if he applied the same regimented work schedule to guitar that he had to football, that he could be successful. So he vowed to play the guitar for two hours a day to learn how to play. Just as he had done with football, he now based his decisions in life on what the effect would be on his guitar playing. The guitar became a new path to achieving that recognition from his peers.
The guitar led him to dream of becoming a rock star. He formed a band in New York City, called the Dan Emery Mystery Band. One day, he received a call from a promoter in the Netherlands wanting to book his band for a tour through Europe. This dilemma proved to be the end one dream and the start of another. He was forced to decide to either go on tour, or stay in New York City to see the birth of his first child, Dan chose family over stardom and moved onto a new dream of providing a comfortable living situation for his family.
With a Masters of Education degree from Columbia and experience as a guitarist for his band, Dan decided that could teach the “thrill and pride of guitar playing to all those who desire it.” His original goal was to get five students. Then ten, then twenty. Once he reached forty students he realized that he had to find help to handle the demand. It was then that he decided to form a guitar school. Two failed attempts to start the school didn’t stop him, and the third time was the charm. His guitar school now has the 7th floor in a building directly across the street from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dan sees his school as a symbol that all dreams are possible.
Dan attributes his success to two things and feels that they can be beneficial to anyone trying to pursue a passion. The first is culture, focused on building character. Like Benjamin Franklin, every week the NYC Guitar School employees and students work on virtues such as sincerity. He hopes thathis students will carry these teachings with them wherever they go and in wahtever they do.
The other key taught is leverage, meaning the questioning nature of how rules can be changed. “Instead of going to client’s houses to teach guitar, why don’t they come to an office?” In less than three years, practicing these two ideas, our office now has 358 students, 5 classrooms, and is apprcahing Dan’s personal goal of 1,000 students
His advice to students:
“If anything is worth doing, do it well. The way that you do anything you want to do is ultimately the way you will do everything that you want to do. If you feel that you should clean your bathroom, and if you can clean that bathroom well, you can do anything well. If you can’t clean the bathroom well, then you won’t be able to be successful with any responsibilities attached. So clean the bathroom well.”
A question that I had for Dan, given his story, related to confidence. I asked him how do you achieve that confidence to do the things you’ve done? Here was his response:
“The most important type of confidence is doing what you say you are going to do. The most important thing is will. You either do it or you don’t do it. I study martial arts. And I still have fear when I step into the class. The same has been true in my business. Twice now, I’ve been close to bankruptcy. I was afraid, but I did it anyway. Going back and seeing what you’ve done makes you achieve that confidence. Having that track record allows you to know that you’re a good person to be with in the situations that you put yourself in.”
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