I get around to telling you the story I promised. The power of song marking turning points in our lives. Teenage hitchhiking in the 80’s. Judges. Jail time. Treatment centers and Van Halen. Plus all the details I can muster. But first a tangent on, if you don’t want to sell then perhaps you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur who is trying to sell something.
I get around to telling you the story I promised. The power of song marking turning points in our lives. Teenage hitchhiking in the 80’s. Judges. Jail time. Treatment centers and Van Halen. Plus all the details I can muster. But first a tangent on, if you don’t want to sell than perhaps you shouldn’t be an entrepreneur who is trying to sell something.
Administrative: (See episode transcript below)
For social Media:
Subscribe and share to help spread the love for a better world!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Transcript:
Mischa Zvegintzov 00:00
On the last episode, I had talked about the importance of storytelling, and how important it is if you're trying to get the word out on your product offering, if you're trying to sell your product offering, and make no mistake that you're trying to create a business where people are buying your product, or your product offering, whatever that is, whether that's a physical good and expert service, or brick and mortar, or what have you, if somebody is buying, that implies you are selling. So, so I know I'm working with this guy right now who is like, "I don't want to be pushy", I in effect, don't want to have to sell.
Mischa Zvegintzov 00:50
Well, then perhaps you shouldn't be an entrepreneur, that's trying to sell something.
Mischa Zvegintzov 00:55
Because if you are trying to grow a business, that implies you have something to sell. Anyway, so there's different ways to do it. There's gentle ways to sell. aggressive ways to sell. There's ways to sell where through your storytelling at the end somebody naturally just wants to buy. and you don't even need to ask them to buy.
Mischa Zvegintzov 01:25
So I think that that's what people who are hesitant to "sell" as they don't want to feel like they are having to ask. Or force or "sell" ice to Eskimos. But ultimately, oftentimes, you do need to ask for the credit card. Or ask them to buy the clothes they are trying on. Wow, what a great tangent I just went on.
Mischa Zvegintzov 01:59
Anyway... so here's the story that I was going to tell in the last episode.. It's a story that is a slice of my life. It's about music. It's about the power and the impact of a band on my life. And also just a marker of my life and change.
Mischa Zvegintzov 02:28
II think what's interesting about the story is... perhaps this is just an egoic story for me to tell the story? Or is it a story that I'm trying to prove a point? Or show you that you need my product? Or the before and after things like that.
Mischa Zvegintzov 02:47
This is just a memory that came back that's been very strong in my head. So might as well practice telling stories because that's what we've got to do. And maybe the story by me practicing, telling it right now will come up when the time is right, intuitively. So I'll leave that to God.
Mischa Zvegintzov 03:11
Okay, here we go. So I'm growing out my hair and it's officially long. It hangs to my shoulders and it's curls. And when it's wet it goes past my shoulders. Down my shoulders and back a little bit. It reminds me strongly of the 70s and 80s. And of the 70s and 80s rock bands that I used to love so much.
Mischa Zvegintzov 03:48
And I don't know how the Google knows this. But the Google News Feed is delivering more delivering me more and more of the long haired 70s and 80s bands to me. Pictures and things like that. And so of course there's Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin. Who people comment on I remind them of that band due to my curly blond and gray locks.
Mischa Zvegintzov 04:29
And another band that's started to be front and center is Van Halen. Back before they had their refined look. Eddie Van Halen had his hair was pretty long.
Mischa Zvegintzov 04:51
And then you know, he starts getting bangs. It's fun to watch bands as they get respectable and start selling more music. And they start really looking the times and they've got stylists clearly. Anyway, it's just a funny thought.
Mischa Zvegintzov 05:15
So the story is this. The first time I heard Van Halen I thought they were horrible. I was 14 years old. I was living in Jackson Wyoming. And I had just started, just started my foray into actively drinking and drugging. And anybody who's been listening to me for a while knows that I quit drinking and drugging when I was 17. So my super active abusive period of drinking and drugging was three years. From the time I was 14, till the time I was 17 years and nine months old. Last day of high school is when I quit. Mischa Zvegintzov 06:03
This was in 1982. Jackson Hole Wyoming was a lot different than the famous Jackson Hole Wyoming that it is now. It was a hippie outpost and big tourist town at the same time. And then ranchers and cowboys. Real cowboys. Like rodeo cowboys. There's a rodeo in Jackson Wyoming. So bucking Broncos and, and all those sorts of things.
Mischa Zvegintzov 06:48
But at the time hitchhiking was still okay. At least in Jackson Wyoming. And we used to love to hitchhike as kids.
Mischa Zvegintzov 06:59
So I was 14 years old. I just started my four four foray into the active pursuit of drinking and drugging. Which is insane. When you look at what 14 year olds look like. , Especially me I was definitely a skinny tall and lanky kid... I was always young for my age trying to be older. I hit puberty later. My balance, my coordination, puberty, all these things hit me late.
Mischa Zvegintzov 07:37
Anyway, I'm hitchhiking with my buddy...
Mischa Zvegintzov 07:39
And my buddy, who I was hitchhiking with this day...
Mischa Zvegintzov 07:50
I got clean and sober. And the clean and sober never stuck with him. And he finally disappeared.
Mischa Zvegintzov 08:03
...I was trying to find him a decade or so ago on the Facebook and all that.
Mischa Zvegintzov 08:09
...What happened to my buddy? and I stumbled across his brother. His brother said, oh, yeah, he committed suicide. Could never get clean and sober. And just went down, dark, deep, and in his 30s killed himself.
Mischa Zvegintzov 08:35
So anyway, not to depress you, but interesting facts...
Mischa Zvegintzov 08:39
So him and I were hitchhiking, fourteen, skinny punk kids, ratty, early 80s hair. And two high school girls that we know. Pick us up in their car. Like an old Toyota Tercell stoner car of the day.
Mischa Zvegintzov 09:02
And we jump in, they're smoking cigarettes, and we want to be cool. My friend and I were like, "Yeah, I want to be cool too". And there's this Kinks song playing. Except it's not the Kinks. It's some dude with a horrible raspy voice shreaking the Kinks song "You really got me".
Mischa Zvegintzov 09:35
I loved the kinks in my youth. And I was like, "Who is this horrible rendition of the Kinks "You Really Got Me" in this 1982 ratty old high schooler car.
Mischa Zvegintzov 09:56
These two girls were partiers right. And I was afraid fledgeling partier. So they were my hero's. And I was like, "I dislike this band Van Halen and David Lee Roth".
Mischa Zvegintzov 10:10
So Van Halen was the best party music and I grew to like Van Halen. I loved Van Halen. So when 1984 came out I was full fledged drug addict and alcoholic at the age of 16.
Mischa Zvegintzov 10:41
So fast forward to I get sober. Clean and Sober. A nudge from the judge. The judge is like "Hey Mischa..."
Mischa Zvegintzov 10:50
I remember his name "Judge Horn". "No Judge Rank!" I graduated from Judge Horn to Judge Rank.
Mischa Zvegintzov 10:58
My father was the deputy prosecuting attorney of Teton County in Jackson Wyoming. And he knew Judge Rank. They had a good relationship. And so he worked this backdoor deal.
Mischa Zvegintzov 11:10
Dad talks to the judge... And the judge was like, "Alright, we'll let him go to treatment or he can go to six months in jail".
Mischa Zvegintzov 11:19
And I was given that offer by my father. He says, "Hey, I talked talk to the judge and here are your choices". These were common choices handed out to kids my age who were in trouble by the way. So it wasn't like I was treated special.
Mischa Zvegintzov 11:32
The way I was treated special was I didn't have to go directly through the courts. At that point I didn't have to go sit in front of the judge.
Mischa Zvegintzov 11:42
So for whatever reason I was inspired to choose treatment. And I land in treatment in June of 1986.
Mischa Zvegintzov 11:53
At this time David Lee Roth had quit Van Halen and Sammy Hagar was the new singer. I'm at a treatment center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Minnesota! The birth of the treatment center! And Van Halen's 5150 Album. Sammy Hagar singing the song "Why can't this be love was just on the radio rotation". And I just remember sitting in treatment, being like, "what has come of my life? Already? At 17 years old."
Mischa Zvegintzov 12:59
And the Van Halen song "Why can't this be love" was the soundtrack of that turning point for me. And still, whenever I happen to hear that song, it reminds me of that time.
Mischa Zvegintzov 13:13
But I can tell you this... There's the pre Sammy time and the and then Van Halen with Sammy. I was never a never able to embrace the Sammy Hagar Van Halen. It's a definitely a turning point in my life. But I was always like, "David Lee Roth Van Halen, that's the real Van Halen!."
Mischa Zvegintzov 13:47
And I think about that along the lines of AC/DC. There's the Bon Scott AC/DC and the Brian Johnson AC/DC. And I gravitate towards the Bon Scott AC/DC. Which is so interesting because Bon Scott and David Lee Roth, their voices are not the best voices. They just are so powerful in their delivery.
Mischa Zvegintzov 14:16
There's my story. Me practicing telling a story. With detail. Russell Brunson was like, get the details in there. Get more details in there to make it real.
Mischa Zvegintzov 14:32
I suppose some details would have been the depth of my despair when I was heading to treatment. I'll work on that next time. Love to all
Mischa Zvegintzov 14:42
Thank you for listening to my story!