You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Paid
What singing taught me about business, money, and why mastery without connection still leaves you broke
This is a follow-up to the previous post about how you don’t have to perform vulnerability to be paid. (If you missed it, I highly recommend checking it out—especially if you’ve ever felt like you had to give more of yourself emotionally in order to earn more. This flips the lens.)
Now… I want to speak to the other end of the spectrum—those who’ve built a solid structure, who’ve studied the strategies, who know what they’re doing… and yet, it still feels like something’s missing.
And for fun, below is a photo of me 11 years ago playing a character that embodies some of what it means to try too hard to be perfect: Lord Farquaad in Shrek: The Musical.
I first tried auditioning for the role for a community theater in Illinois. Having earned my DMA 2 years earlier with my classical/opera singing, I was still dabbling into the musical theatre genre. Long story short though, I didn’t get cast; my audition was “too perfect!”
Two weeks later, I was at a combined regional audition in St. Louis, and I happened to have a callback audition with a professional company doing the show that summer. I channeled my dormant anger from the earlier audition into a musically imperfect and emotionally rawer experience. To my surprise, I got offered the part on the spot.
So with that in mind, below is the follow up to yesterday’s essay.
I used to think the answer was in getting it all right.
The perfect pitch.
The free vibrato.
The cathartic high notes.
The flawless cadenzas.
And in business?
The high-converting funnel.
The polished copy.
The seamless branding.
The expert positioning.
But just like in singing, technical mastery isn’t enough if your business voice doesn’t move anyone.
I’ve shared stages with singers who could sing every note with perfect precision—but I’m sorry to say I sometimes felt nothing.
I’ve also met and worked with entrepreneurs who had impressive credentials, flawless systems and awesome aesthetics, but they still struggled with earning more.
Why?
Because it all felt hollow.
You’ve probably felt it yourself—when someone’s words are technically impressive, but you walk away wondering, “But why do I care?”
Or when you know you need the product or service, but something about it feels off.
That’s what happens when the business voice becomes too transactional, too rehearsed, too focused on getting it “right” instead of letting it resonate.
There was no felt voice beneath the polish. No emotional current, no compelling presence, no deeper resonance. Just something transactional, if even.
In both music and business, you can fall into the trap of over-structuring, over-strategizing, over-producing your delivery—and forget that connection is what creates momentum.
Not just emotional theatrics.
Not just vulnerable oversharing.
But presence. Truth. Being believable.
You don’t need to perform vulnerability to earn.
But you also can’t hide behind technical excellence and expect to be paid well just because everything “looks good.”
Because money, despite what some may say, isn’t purely transactional.
People don’t pay you for your perfection—they pay for your presence.
They’re not just paying for a product or service. They’re also paying for how your presence makes them feel—calm, curious, energized, inspired. They pay for the clarity in how you explain what you do, the confidence in your voice when you talk about pricing, and the sense you truly believe in your offer and your work.
And conviction doesn’t come from mastering tactics; it comes from meaning.
It also comes from trusting yourself—before trying to convince anyone else.
I’ve seen this over and over: just as singers are sometimes told to “trust the audience” before they’ve built real confidence in their own voice, entrepreneurs are often told to just show up and be persuasive—without having fully settled into what they believe, what they’re offering, or why it matters.
That kind of disconnect shows. And it costs more than we realize—not just in sales, but in energy, momentum, and clarity.
Conviction comes from knowing what you’re really offering—and why it matters.
From speaking with confidence, not just competence.
From showing up with structure and substance.
I see this all the time with entrepreneurs who may perfectly know their numbers, their niche, and their methods. They’re highly trained, highly capable—but under-earning.
Not because they lack skill. But because they’re performing competence instead of expressing conviction.
Conviction is what brings dimension to your business voice—it’s the balance between structure and soul. Between being clear without being cold. Being expressive without being overexposed.
Just like I sometimes sang with musical precision that didn’t land—like the community theater audition—or tried too hard to be overly expressive and it was a bit forced—like the call back—either way, the perfectionist in me always seemed more focused on being technically or emotionally impressive rather than genuinely connecting.
What changes everything is when you stop trying to earn through polish, and you start letting your message actually connect, land, and resonate with the people you’re here to serve.
Without oversharing.
Without dramatizing.
But by being grounded, real, and resonant.
When you trust your structure and your significance, you stop trying to prove your worth. You start expressing it.
You price more clearly.
You sell more naturally.
You speak with more gravity.
You earn without contorting.
Because your business doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be powerful.
And your voice doesn’t need to be flawless. It needs to be felt.
When that clicks, your income starts to reflect not just your skills—but your substance.
You stop over-relying on polish.
You stop hiding behind strategy.
You stop trying to earn by being acceptable.
You start showing up with presence.
You start speaking with depth.
You start selling with conviction.
And you finally get paid—not because you performed well enough, but because your voice landed.
Your message resonated.
Your presence carried weight.
That’s when business gets easier.
Not because you become more perfect.
But because you become more powerful.
If this is landing with you—but you haven’t read the first article, You Don’t Have to Perform to Be Paid—you might find it brings another layer of insight, especially if you’ve ever felt the pressure to “feel more” or “give more” just to earn more.
Both sides of this spectrum are worth exploring.
And if you want highly personalized help finding the sweetspot that makes running your business more easy for you, send me a message.
Thanks again for being here!
– Brian
PS - If you’re ready to start applying this in a deeper way…
In addition to my Lucrative Elite 1:1 coaching offer, the next group of my Grow Your Money Voice group program starts May 15, 2025 and runs through the summer. It’s all virtual and every meeting will be recorded, so your summer vacations and staycations don’t have to be rearranged—I may even log in from a beach once or twice!
It’s designed to be a hands-on, supportive way to build the kind of grounded clarity, conviction, and business fluency this and the previous article are all about. Send me a message if you have any questions. Early enrollees will get a bonus private power hour!
