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Welcome to another episode of the DrumGAB podcast. Today’s guest is Mike Johnston. Widely regarded as one of the leaders in online drum education with his business Mikeslessons.com, Mike has incredible positive influence and affinity in the drum industry with his friendly and relatable demeanor. He has been creating instructional content for years now and is very careful in his approach to ensure that his audience and students can be as engaged as possible and fill their minds and hearts with positivity to trudge through with learning this incredibly challenging, and often times, frustrating instrument. I don't think anyone does it better either. He was an absolute treat to interview and has affected how I think as well about my DrumGAB podcast and how I engage my audience.

Key moments in this episode

- Mike talks about how his new musical project, Man on the Moon, came about and how Mike hasn’t been involved in a band for ten years since he decided to start his own online teaching business, Mikeslessons.com. We also learn about how the album was originally tracked elsewhere but the drum sounds and vision from other producers weren’t matching what Mike had in mind….so Mike recorded it himself at the Mikeslessons.com facility.

- The next segment of the interview is perhaps the most valuable to listeners. We talk about the differences between company culture and client culture. The concept of client culture has personally spawned a more focused effort for how I build DrumGAB and my listening community. Anyone who has a product or media that they are trying to get off the ground needs to really listen to what Mike has to say here. It contains the special ingredient for long-term success and maximum engagement.

- Next up in the interview is Mike’s drum camps and that whole experience. If you are a softy, you may want to have Kleenex nearby. This also, in an indirect way applies to the client culture discussion as I believe Mike’s drum camps are a perfect solution to client culture. It is great to hear how the camps started and what people are getting out of them. I’d be surprised if you don’t love Mike after this part….but let’s be honest you probably do already anyway.

- The final chapter of this interview deals with the 500-pound elephant in the room…..what Mike thinks about online drum education. Mike lends some major knowledge about this side of the industry and for anyone trying to become online educators, he explains what you need to do and what to expect for this long and arduous journey that lies ahead. In many ways, Mike and a few others got on board at the right time and while it hasn’t been easy for any of them, the level of saturation was next to nothing compared to today. Mike started doing this before the term “streaming” was a thing, it was simply called “broadcasting” and the technical limitations were extreme and the frustrations must have been high back then. In any case, Mike reassures the listeners with some great advice on this subject.

Concluding Thoughts

This episode marks a huge milestone for the DrumGAB podcast. It sits perfectly at Episode 49 and everything that has led up to this moment has been a whirlwind of learning, experience, and fond memories. Mike provided such a positive experience to me personally and I feel listeners will gather that from our chat. Overall, this episode provides some of the best knowledge shared on DrumGAB and I feel it is a precursor to other great opportunities on the show. Thank you to all the listeners that have supported the show so immensely and for Mike giving me a chance to produce a top quality episode with him. This one, on a personal level, was an incredible session that I won't soon forget.

Music by: Man on the Moon

Join me next Monday for another episode of the DrumGAB Podcast!

Mike's Social Media

Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Website

DrumGAB Social Media

Instagram | Facebook | Website

DrumGAB theme music: Ian Maciak @ianhitsdrums

VO artist: Tom Knight @tomknightvoice

Background music: Etienne Mason @maysun.music