Episode 7 - IMPORTANT MESSAGE From The Top Of A Mountain…

Summary:

Have you ever felt like you just wanted to QUIT? Like the road your on is all up-hill, and you’re not quite sure if you have the strength to keep going?

Sometimes that “uphill battle” is your job. Sometimes it’s a challenging relationship with a family member. Sometimes it’s an internal struggle that gets you to constantly question “am I good enough?” on a daily basis. 

Have you ever felt this way before?

Me too. Especially when it comes to getting Gold By Fire moving in the right direction, and turning my dreams & passions in music into a tangible reality (a stupidly big “uphill battle” in today’s day and age).

However… after climbing a mountain with my family in Maine…

I discovered the #1 reason why you should NEVER quit when times gets tough (& why feeling fear is actually a GOOD sign).

All that and more in this week’s short episode of the #GoldByFireShow.

Rock on,

Kyle

P.S. Enjoy all the jokes from my brother and sister in the background.

Episode 6 - BREAKING: How To Get ATTENTION In An Attention-Deficit Society

Summary:

WARNING: SHORTEST EPISODE YET

Have you ever felt like NOBODY is listening to you?

Maybe you had something really important you wanted to say, but you felt like nobody would give you the time of day (rhyme intended)? Or worse yet – have you ever found yourself in a situation when you feel like other people are just flat out ignoring you?

If so, it’s really not your fault.

In today’s technology-driven, notification-inspired, Kardashian-focused society …there are more things competing for people’s attention now than ever before.

As a result – it’s important for you to get your ‘potentially life-changing advice' out to other people QUICKLY & CONCISELY in an attention-deficit society.

This super-short episode shows you how ;)

RELATED QUOTES TO CONSIDER:

Episode 5 - The Secret To Making People Like You (And Give You Free Food)

summary:

Today you’re going to discover the #1 secret to making people like you.

And here’s what’s weird about this:

Once when you finally “get” this secret, people start to show up out of nowhere to give you FREE food (sounds crazy but you’ll see how this keeps happening to me and Ariel). You also transform into a positive role mode overnight - without even realizing it.

With that said, if you’ve ever wanted to…

·      Feel amazing as you go about your day-to-day activities

·      Instantly build strong and supportive relationships, AND…

·      Be extremely entertained by some over-hyped yet very real stories…

This episode is definitely for you.

RELATED QUOTES TO CONSIDER:

Episode 4 - Stuck In A Girls' Bathroom (It's Not What You Think)

Summary:

WARNING! This week’s episode is about a rare moment in my life where I hit rock bottom and got stuck in a women’s restroom. Oddly enough, it contains a very important lesson that you just might need to hear right now…

Blog:

For today’s post, I wanted to do something DIFFERENT…

I want to share a VERY personal story with you, and I think you might be able to relate to it. Especially if you’ve ever felt STUCK, trapped, or embarrassed in life.

(Heads up - this story involves me getting stuck in a girls’ bathroom. Reader discretion is advised if you are somehow offended by a funny story with an important life lesson.)

So there I was … 19 years old, going to college fulltime.

And why was I going to college?

Well …like a lot of people, I thought that going to college was my only option.

I graduated high school and bought into the MYTH (yes, I said it) that going to college was the smartest thing I could do.

So my plan was…

Go to college => get a degree => get a nice-paying job => MAYBE go after my dreams later.

Sound familiar? ;)

So even though I’ve been playing drums since I was 13 …and even though my real passion and dream was to become a professional musician…

That “pipe-dream” just seemed too unrealistic at the time. SO, like a lot of people, I kinda pushed my dreams to the wayside and started going to college full-time.

Here’s what that looked like:

I would wake up, commute to school, take all the classes, go to work, come home and go to sleep. The next day? Same thing. The next day after that? Same thing.

(BTW - let me know if you’ve been there before. I can’t be the only one.)

And after a couples months of this, I felt MISERABLE. I was spinning my wheels every single day, and wasn’t getting any closer to what I truly wanted to do. What I truly felt called to do, ever since I was like 14 years old, was to tour the world in a rock band. And as you can imagine, college was not getting me even a little bit closer to what I wanted to do.

Then one day, I hit rock bottom.  

I was driving home from school (depressed) and wasn’t quite sure how much longer I was going to be able to keep doing this. I felt stuck. I felt “caged-in” from the life I wanted to live. And worse yet, I felt like there was no way out.

So what did I do next?

I went to the mall.

(Sounds lame, I know. But this is where it gets good).

My grandparents used to take my siblings and me to the mall all the time when we were younger. So I guess I thought those anchored memories and emotions would make me feel better and lift my spirits.

WRONG.

As it turns out, watching a bunch of zombie-like people buy clothes and ice cream just doesn’t have the same effect on a depressed adult that it does on a child. Weird. So after 87 attempts at trying to put a smile on my face, I decided to leave.

And that’s when it happened…

I went to use the restroom before aborting my “walking-around-the-mall-should-make-me-happy” mission - and I’ll never forget what happened next:

I was in the stall for about a minute. Then, out of nowhere, I started hearing women’s voices coming from all over the place.

And as that’s happening, I’m stupidly thinking…

“Why are there women’s voices in the men’s restroom? Are they having a meeting in the bathroom or something? Don’t they have their own restroom for these types of meetings?”

And after another five seconds of pondering these questions (which was five seconds longer than it should’ve taken) everything finally just “clicked” for me.

They weren’t in the wrong bathroom. I was.

So to top off an already horrible day, I ended up going into the wrong bathroom for who-knows-why. Must’ve had my head down so much that I couldn’t see the signs on the door.

“Maybe that was the lesson here,” I thought. “Keep your head up.”

However, that was far from the real lesson I was about to discover.  

SIDE NOTE: Once you realize you’re in the wrong bathroom, there’s really nothing you can say on your way out to recover from that. I didn’t feel like waiting 30 minutes for their meeting to be adjourned, so I just got up and left. These girls glared at me, and I glared back. I desperately tried to think of something funny or clever to say, but couldn’t. Just made eye-contact and walked on by. Not sure who these girls were …but I’m pretty sure the sight of a random guy coming out a stall and saying nothing was an image that still haunts them to this day.  

Anyways… back to the story…

After that little incident, I decided to just go home and crawl into bed.

Now, how pathetic is this?

It was 4:30 PM and I’m crawling into bed. Who does that? Me. I do that. And even though I’m normally an extremely upbeat and happy-go-lucky guy, I felt stuck in a rut on this day. And as I’m laying there in bed like a deflated balloon, I couldn’t help but think…

“There is no way out. There is nothing I can do about my life right now. I feel stuck. I feel miserable. I’m not doing what I really want to do, but I don’t have a choice.”

You know …THOSE thoughts. The really fun and pleasant ones.

So, with nowhere else to turn, I started praying:

“God, if you’re out there, give me a sign here. I really want to be a musician, but it doesn’t look like that is happening right now. Please get me out of this. Oh, and please help those women sleep tonight after seeing a disheveled 19-year-old boy walk out of the stall and staring them directly in the eyes while saying nothing. Amen.”

And what happened next blows my mind. Even till this day.

After lying in bed for about 30 minutes, I got back up and checked Facebook. And in my inbox was a message from this random guy (who I’d never met before) recruiting me to join a new band. This guy had some connections in the industry, and had plans to tour the country with reputable artists that I grew up listening to. All he needed was a drummer.

BOOM!

Six months later, I dropped out of college (sorry Grandma J) and found myself waking up in a tour bus everyday. I was playing drums in just about every major city across the country, and living the dream. I was touring in a rock band and traveling everywhere from Nashville, to Texas, Hollywood, Seattle and various other places of the country I didn’t even know exists.

And while I was on tour, I met ANOTHER random stranger who just happened to come up to us after a show in Portland. He also just so happens to be the singer for Gold By Fire right now.

See how this works?

I went from being hopelessly stuck in a women’s restroom…

To touring the country in a rock band => meeting a stranger in Portland => starting a NEW band with that stranger => learning how to write songs with my friends who are all better musicians than me => playing with Trapt and Puddle of Mudd in our first 5 shows as a band => reading messages (almost daily) from people about how our music is impacting their lives.

And without the lessons learned at each step, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

Here’s why this story is important to YOU:

The reason why I share this story is because I know there are a lot of people out there who feel stuck. Many people feel like they’re on this “hamster-wheel” of life and that you can’t get off.

Maybe you feel stuck in a job that isn’t bringing you any fulfillment.

Maybe you feel stuck in school that is sucking out thousands of hours of your life for a degree that doesn’t get you any closer to what you REALLY want to do.

Maybe you feel stuck in a relationship that doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Whatever your situation is today, I want to you to try looking at your life from a brand new perspective today. Instead of focusing on all of the terrible things that are going on right now, or the major gap between where you are today and the life you want to live…

Try THIS Instead:

Start looking at your life as a series of stepping-stones.

(I hereby deem this the “Stepping Stone Philosophy” that cures stress and anxiety faster than any combination of prescription drugs being peddled by people who care more about your money than your actual health).

Here’s how this works:

Realize that where you are right now is NOT where you’re going to be in the future. AND – the situation you are in right now is going to prepare you for the next season in your life.

You have to realize that there is a reason for where you are right now. There’s a reason for your current job. There’s a reason for your current level of education. There’s a reason for where you are in your relationships. There’s a reason why you decided to sit down and read the best blog written ever written by your favorite songwriting, stick-waiving, spikey-haired drummer.

It’s to make you better. It’s to teach you. It’s to make you stronger.

And I know I harp on this concept a lot (especially because it’s kinda the overall theme of Gold By Fire) but I think more people could honestly benefit from looking at life like a series of stepping stones. And with each step you take, more and more opportunities will start to open up in some of the most miraculous ways possible.

Sounds cheesy, but you really just have to believe. And as it’s been said from one of THE wisest beings to have ever walked the Earth…

“Everything is possible for one who believes” – Jesus.

Want another entertaining analogy to drive this point home?

Ok, since you asked…

Imagine your life is like a Super Mario Bros video game.

If you’ve ever played a Super Mario Bros video game before, then you know that the first level is pretty easy to beat. All you have to do is jump on a couple mushrooms, avoid maybe three or four evil turtles, jump over the dragon’s head, and then move onto the next level.

But as you keep advancing to the next level …what happens?

Each level gets harder and harder. There are more distractions; more evil turtles trying to mess up your day. And as you progress, the challenges you face get more difficult and complex.

And as ridiculous as it may sound, that is EXACTLY how life is. 

As you continue to advance to the proverbial “next level” in your life, you’ll notice that each level gets harder. There are more demands on your time. There are more responsibilities. There are more evil turtle dudes who show up in your life and try to ruin your day. They may even throw some boomerangs at you for fun. Kinda sadistic if you ask me.

How do you prepare for this?

Well, there’s not much you can do about boomerang-throwing turtles. If you actually see those guys in your life than I would highly recommend finding some new friends.

But aside from that…

You can prepare yourself for that next level by understanding YOU ARE HERE FOR A REASON. And regardless of how bleak it gets, or how stuck you feel, or depressed you are, or how many bathrooms of the wrong gender you decide to aimlessly wander into…

Where you are NOW will prepare you for that next level.

The situation you are in right now is meant to teach you. It’s meant to strengthen you and make you a better person. It’s meant to weave your experiences into the storylines of other people who can truly benefit from your presence in their life.

In fact – I’m sure you could think of a time in your life when you’ve experienced this yourself.

If so…

Leave me a comment below (or on ANY of our social media platforms) and let us know what that circumstance was. I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this concept.

Let me know what you think in a comment below, and I’ll talk to you soon!

Rock on,

Kyle

P.S. One more thing…

For all of those who haven’t downloaded our single ‘My Anger’ yet (I know it’s not you, but to the person sitting next to you) PLEASE go ahead and download it now. And if you already downloaded it, feel free to send it to your friends so they can enjoy the same secret gold-mine of music that you just so happened to discover:

CLICK HERE to download our song for free.

Episode 3 - How Your Voice Can Impact MILLIONS (Inspired By Chris Cornell)

summary:

Whenever you hear about something bad that's going on in the world - do you ever feel like you need to do something about it? I understand how you feel and in fact today’s episode comes inspired from one of the most unlikely of places possible. It’s actually inspired by the recent passing of Chris Cornell and how impacted I was by his sudden death. Seeing thousands and thousands of people talk about his music and how his voice inspired them really hit home. I believe that your voice, even though you are not Chris Cornell, can impact millions of people as well. The question is how? Well here it is. Step one (4:24) is acknowledge that this person is having a difficult time. In this section of the video you’ll discover how this rare act can totally change someone’s mood. Step two (4:55) is to listen to them when they start to open up to you. In this section, I elaborate on why listening can be one of the greatest gifts that you could ever give someone. And step three (5:35) is share your story with them. Here’s my challenge to you today: Go out and do it. Find one person that you know is hurting in your circle of influence. This could be a family member. This could be someone that you come across on social media. This could be somebody who you don't even know.. Who ever it is, use these three steps and you will be amazed at the impact that you will have on that person’s day. Remember that your voice really can make a difference in the world, and you most likely have the opportunity to do so today.

Blog:

I want to ask you a question real quick…

Whenever you hear about something bad that's going on in the world - do you ever feel like you need to do something about it?

You want to say something, but you don't know what to say. You want to do something, but you don't really know what to do. Or worse yet - you might even feel “unqualified” to do anything about all the craziness in the world …so you end up doing nothing.

Have you ever felt like that before? Me too. All the time. In fact, I’ve met tons of people who feel like this too any time something crazy happens (which is pretty much every day at this point).

So if YOU have ever felt like that before - like you want to do something about all the horrible things that are going on in the world, but you don’t know what to do…

Today’s post is definitely for you. Why?

Because I'm going to show you a simple strategy you can use to impact the people around you in a positive way. And when you’re able do that, changing the world becomes easy.

Sound like something worth reading? Good. That’s what I thought J By the way…

Here’s what inspired this topic today:

For those of you that don't know (if you're living under a rock or something) Chris Cornell, one of the most influential singers of our time, recently passed away. And as expected with someone as incredible and talented as Chris Cornell was, his death naturally had a huge “ripple effect” across the entire world.

And on the day that he died - I couldn’t help but notice THOUSANDS of stories and comments that people shared about him. There were SO MANY people talking about Soundgarden's music, and how it helped them overcome some difficult and tragic circumstances in their life. It was amazing.

Seeing how one person's voice can impact thousands of people was inspiring to me. So inspiring, in fact, that I felt like I needed to get this message out to as many people as possible.

Especially because nowadays, it’s easy to feel helpless. It’s easy to see all the tragic and terrible things that are going on in the world, and feel like we are too small to do anything about it.

But the truth is – YOUR VOICE can impact thousands of people as well.

And I get it…

You're not Chris Cornell. You may or may not have a lovely singing voice. You may or may not be in one of the most influential and top-record-selling bands of all time.

HOWEVER… you do have a circle of influence that you can reach out to. You do have people around you that you can uplift and inspire. You do have a voice that you can use to make the world a better place.

The problem is – too many people tened to overcomplicate this.

They think that making the world a better place is very difficult. And for that reason, I came up with three simple steps that you could use to uplift the people within your reach (and make the world a better place as a result).

Here’s how it works…

Whenever you see somebody who is going through a very difficult time in their life (whether it's someone that you see at a grocery store, a waitress that is serving you at a restaurant, or maybe even somebody on social media) here's what you gotta do…

STEP #1:

Acknowledge that this person is having a difficult time.  You would not believe how powerful it is to just literally acknowledge somebody's presence. Especially in a society that is so egocentric and “me-focused” these days. Just taking the time to acknowledge somebody else's struggles, and just expressing that you care about them, that is extremely rare. So rare, in fact, that people will literally be floored over the fact that that you took the time to reach out to them.

STEP #2:

When they start to open up to you and tell you about what they're going through, LISTEN to them. Believe it or not, listening to somebody else is one of the greatest gifts that you could ever give. In an egocentric culture (like the one that we live in here in America) it's very easy to just glaze over everybody else's issues and just focus on ourselves. But when people start to open up to you, and tell you about the things that are going on in their lives, LISTEN TO THEM. You never know what they're going to tell you, and what you might be able to help them with. Which leads us to…

STEP #3: SHARE YOUR STORY.

Believe it or not - the way that humans are wired, we relate best to other people through the pain that we experience in life. There are deep psychological reasons behind this (which I don’t have time to go into on this blog). But for now, just bear with me here. Check the facts if you think I’m lying.

Anyways - when you meet someone who's going through something difficult, and you recognize a similar situation that you went through, the best thing you can do for that person is to share your experience with them.

Because when you share your story - you're giving others a brand new perspective on what they are going through. You're giving them hope that what they're going through doesn't have to last forever. You’re showing them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

And just like that, you’re changing the world. You’re making somebody else’s day much better as a result of your involvement. And if everybody just took 5 minutes out of their day to do these three simple things, just imagine how different this world would be as a result.  

Now, I know the concept of “changing the world” is infinitely more complicated than I’m making it sound right now. BUT! These three simple steps are a fantastic start.

With that said…

Here’s my challenge to you today:

Go out and do it. Find one person that you know is hurting in your circle of influence. This could be a family member. This could be someone that you come across on social media. This could be somebody who you don't even know..

And when you find that person, here’s what you do…

1) Reach out to them and acknowledge their presence (crazy difficult, right?)

 2) Listen to them (also very difficult) and…

 3) Share your story with them.

Why am I harping on this story thing so much?

Because I guarantee that you've learned some harsh lessons throughout your life that could be beneficial for others to hear. There’s a chance that somebody else is going through a painful experience that possibly YOU have already overcome, and your perspective can genuinely add value in their lives.

You've been through the “FIRE” and you came out “GOLD.”
And NOW…

It’s time to share that gold with the rest of the world.

And if you'd like our help to get your story out there, just send me a message on Facebook or any of our social media. Let me know of a recent circumstance that you went through and the positive lesson that you learned as a result, and we'll share it with a lot of other people.

Until then, remember that your voice really can make a difference in the world, and you most likely have the opportunity to do so today.

Talk to you soon,

Kyle

Episode 2 - How To Deal With HATERS (Even If It’s Your Grandma)

SUMMARY:

If you have a dream or something big that you want to accomplish in your life, you are going to have haters. You’re going to have people who will tell you that you’re not good enough, smart enough, thin enough, good looking enough, talented enough or qualified enough to actually achieve the things that you want to achieve. And because I know a lot of people deal with this, I came up with these three simple steps you can follow any time somebody starts to hate on you (even if it’s your grandma): Step #1 (2:15) is to think of your goal, and remind yourself WHY you wanted to achieve that goal in the first place. In this section of the video you’ll also discover our “hidden motives” behind starting Gold By Fire. Step #2 (3:50) is to literally start ignoring the people that are not supporting you. In this section, I give you my psychological theory as to why these people are criticizing you in the first place.  And Step #3 (5:00) is to keep going anyways. REGARDLESS of what anybody else says. These three steps have been very helpful to me in the past, and they've led to some pretty cool results in my personal and professional life. So if you ever have any haters in your life – test out these three steps and let us know how well they work out for you.

RELATED QUOTES TO CONSIDER:

TRANSCRIPT:

So let me know if you've been here before…

You have a really big goal, or really big dream that you want to accomplish in your life, And yet, when you tell people about it, they give you this look that makes it obvious that they don't really believe in you. Or maybe (if you’re like me) you're at a family dinner … you talk about your goal to be a rock star … and you get these looks from your grandma like “yeah you should have went back to college.”

I’m not meaning to throw my grandma under the bus here. She’s fantastic. I just want to use that story to quickly illustrate a phenomenon that I know a lot of people deal with:

If you have a dream, if you have a passion, if you have a goal that you want to accomplish in your life -something that really means a lot to you – you are ALWAYS going to have haters.

I have haters. Maisen has haters. We ALL have haters.

Take Gold By Fire for example…

Sure, there are many people who might say they believe in us. But when it gets right down to it - they don't truly believe that we can take this concept of Gold By Fire and turn it into this big national brand, tour the world, and inspire millions of people.

Those are some huge goals, I know. And to some people, they probably sound pretty crazy.

But regardless of how big your goals are …regardless of how “unrealistic” it may seem to accomplish the things that you want in life …you should never ever let what somebody else says stop you.

And look, not everybody is like this.

You are going to have some really awesome people in your life that do support you and do honestly want to see you succeed. Those are the people you want to stick around with.

However …a lot of people WON’T support you.

So anytime I'm in this very awkward situation where I'm talking with somebody and they don't really truly believe in me (or if I feel this negative pressure from other people basically telling me that my dream of becoming a rock star is impossible)…

I kind of developed this 3-step system that anybody can use any time you’re dealing with some haters:

STEP #1:

Whenever you're getting some de-constructive criticism from people …the first thing that I do is to remind myself WHY I got into this in the first place.

If you had the chance to watch our previous video…  

You know that the reason why we're so passionate about Gold By Fire is because we want to use music as a way to uplift and inspire people. We have been impacted by music throughout our entire lives, and we want the opportunity to do that as well.

YES, those are huge outlandish goals. But you know what?

It’s what I'm passionate about. It’s what gets me excited. It's what drives me.

And if you're in a similar situation - where you know people are starting to hate on you - just this one step alone might help you out a lot.

The next time someone starts telling you that you can't do it, just remember WHY you wanted to achieve that goal in the first place. And usually, that “why” is the greatest motivating factor that keeps you going anyways.  

STEP #2:

Literally start ignoring all the people that are not supporting you. Not everybody's going to support you. It's just a matter of life. In fact, I remember one of my mentors told me that one-third of people will love you, one-third of people will hate you and one-third of people couldn’t care less. So, it’s up to YOU to hang around the people that do support you, and distance yourself a little bit from the haters.

You might also find this perspective to be helpful:

A lot of people who are telling you that you can't achieve something are usually the same people who a.) tried and failed at their own dreams in the past or b.) are just jealous of you. It's very hard for most people to sit back and watch somebody else go after their dreams.

STEP #3:

Keep going regardless of the negative pressure. Regardless of how many people tell you that you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, you're not talented enough, or you're not good-looking enough …keep going anyways.

One of the documented commonalities amongst all the successful people in the world is that they JUST DON’T QUIT. They're willing to go through failure after failure, trial after trial, and painful experience after painful experience until they eventually reach their goal.

What about you?

Listen - if there’s something you really want to accomplish in your life (a dream, a goal, a passion, a career, etc) you're absolutely going to achieve it if you keep going. If you don’t quit, the outcome is inevitable.

If you just decide, right here and now, that you're going to accomplish something…

·       Regardless of how difficult it is…

·       Regardless of how many obstacles you're going to encounter, and…

·       Regardless of how many negative people are going to come into your life and tell you that         you can't do something…

YOU WILL ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS.  

Just like we hope that we will achieve our goals of using Gold By Fire as our vehicle to help people, and live out the childhood dream of being a professional musician. Those are our goals, and that's what we want to accomplish.

So whatever your goals are, I highly encourage you to test out these three steps. Just try them out and let me know how well this works for you. These three steps have been very helpful to me in the past, and they've actually led to some really cool results::

When we first started Gold By Fire everyone thought it was literally like a “pipe dream” (which it still kind of is to an extent). NOBODY believed in us. And you know what?

Fast forward a couple years later…

We have people messaging us on all of our social media platforms, telling us how impactful our music has been in their lives.

THAT is what it’s all about, and THAT is the proof that these three steps really do work. So if you have any haters in your life – test out these three steps and let us know how well they work out for you.

ALSO - let us know what YOUR GOALS are in the comments section below, and we’ll be the people in your life who offer love and support.
 

Rock on,
Kyle

Episode 1 - What's Our Mission

Summary:

Gold By Fire is an up-and-coming rock band that wants to use social media in a revolutionary way that you’ve never seen before. With so many tragic stories being shared all over social media (scandal, murder, suicide, child abuse, animal abuse, etc.) the band wants to use their platform to share POSITIVE material. The vision here is to share so many positive stories that we literally drown out the negative news media. Could you imagine that? Could you imagine what would happen if we could drown out all of the negativity on social media? Could you imagine what difference that would make in the lives of so many people? If you can, and you want to be a part of this vision to make the world a better place, you can join us by sharing YOUR story. Leave a comment below, or message us on social media, and tell us about a hardship you’ve overcome in your own life. Tell us how your experience helped you become the person you are today. Gold By Fire will then share your story on our social media accounts and on our website (with your permission) so that more people might be impacted by your positive experience. So by taking a couple seconds to share your experience, you have the unique opportunity to be a light in the lives of people you have never met. And if you feel like sharing your personal story is a little out of your comfort zone, you can still help spread more positivity on social media by sharing this podcast or leaving a comment below.

Related Quotes to Consider:

Transcript:

Really quick…

I just want to talk to you a little bit about the message and the mission of Gold By Fire. And it might be a little bit different than what you’re thinking, so bear with me here.

By the way (for those of you that don’t know) Gold By Fire is a brand new band that I started with pretty much a random stranger out in Portland, Oregon. And the way we came together was probably one of the most unorthodox and bizarre ways that any band could come together.*

*I don’t have time to tell you about that right now, but you can check out our weird origin story under the “Who’s Gold By Fire?” section of goldbyfire.com

Anyways - this random stranger and I started a band together for two reasons:

Reason #1: We wanted to write songs about our personal experiences, the things that we go through, and all of struggles that we experience in our lives.

So whether it’s feeling unfulfilled at a job, or going through some relationship struggles (although I don’t really have those anymore thanks to Ariel), we use our songs as a way to express our unique perspectives on those life experiences. And I think that’s one of the reasons why most songwriters start a band in the first place.  

Reason #2 goes a little bit beyond that.

We knew that if we wrote songs about the problems that we go through in life, other people who are going through the same problems might be uplifted and inspired by our music. And since music has made such a huge difference in our personal lives, we wanted to approach this band with the idea that our music can make a difference in the lives of others as well.

That’s kind of our mission with Gold By Fire. And I think this mission is probably something that we’re fired up about NOW more than ever.

And the reason why for that is simple:

If you turn on the news right now, then you know how crazy the world is becoming. You don’t have to go very far to see this.

All you have to do is just go on social media, or turn on a TV screen literally anywhere, and you’ll see the latest scandal … or the latest murder … or the latest suicide. You see child abuse, animal abuse, drug overdoses, and so many other horrible stories that seem impossible to escape nowadays.

So in light of what we’re trying to do with Gold By Fire, we want to start using our social media platform (and basically any platform that we have) to start sharing positive material.

So whether it’s a positive experience that we’ve had … or an experience that our friends have had … or a new song we write that reflects our take on what’s happening in the world…

We want to use social media as a way to spread more positive stuff. And if you can imagine the possibility of drowning out all of the negative news media by sharing positive material, then you already understand my vision behind this.

And by the way…

If anything that I say here resonates with you … if you’re like “yeah Kyle, you’re kind of right, there’s a lot of negative things going on” and you want to be a part of our vision to fight against all of this crazy stuff…

I would LOVE for you to be a part of it.

Here’s how you can do that:

Let’s say you’ve gone through a negative experience in your life, and you came out on the other side as a stronger person. Maybe it’s a hard time that ended up teaching you a valuable lesson, and when you look back, you realize you wouldn’t trade that experience for anything in the world.

Have you ever been through something like that?

If so, we would love to hear your story.

Send us a message, or leave us a comment, or shoot a video (like the one I attempted above) and let us know about YOUR STORY.

And look, it doesn’t have to super complicated or in-depth. If you just want to tell us about something extremely awesome that happened recently, or share a news article you came across that was actually positive for a change, that works too!

Basically, we’re just looking for any positive stories that we can share to start drowning out the negative news media. So if there’s any way that you want to contribute to our grandiose vision here, all you have to do is share your story.

And if you’re open to it…

We can post your story on our social media accounts, on our website, and share it with the hundreds of people on our email list (with your permission of course). Because whether you know it or not, I believe your story can make a positive difference in somebody’s life. 

(By the way - if you feel like sharing your story might be going a little bit beyond your comfort zone right now, you can always help us reach more people by leaving a comment beneath the video, and sharing this video on your social media accounts.)

Literally everything counts at this point with social media, and you never know who might need to hear something positive today.

Anyway – now that you have a better idea of what we want to do with Gold By Fire, and what we want to use social media for in the next coming months, I’d love to get your ideas and your feedback on this.

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think!

Rock on,

Kyle

P.S. ALSO - for all you people who are downloading our songs and listening to our music…

I LOVE YOU. You are awesome.

I read all your tweets …I read all your texts… and I read every email you send us.

All that stuff is hugely encouraged because it keeps us going and keeps us motivated to keep writing songs for you guys. It reminds us that even though this whole Gold By Fire thing started as just a crazy pipe dream, your support is helping us turn that dream into a reality.

So thanks again, and I’ll talk to you soon!