Take The Bull By The Horns: Seize The Moment

By Barry Bull

Adapt or die?

A true story of evolution and insights by music retailer Barry Bull.

Multi award winning businessman Barry Bull reveals through his fascinating two-part book, Take the Bull by the Horns, how his pursuit for independence in the fickle music industry was a journey crammed with ecstatic highs and equally disappointing lows.

In Part one, Barry shares his personal recollections of the evolution of the Australian music scene.

Part two reveals a remarkably simple, yet effective, business and life plan of action that enabled him to evolve and succeed where many failed.

Barry lived and breathed music from the 1950’s onwards and became a conduit between the dream makers (the artists) to the dream takers (his customers.)

Rejoice and cry along with Barry as he embarks on a very private rite-of-passage through his own evolution in a quest for supremacy and survival in a business littered with broken dreams.

With rock ‘n’roll being his centre of gravity, life was never dull—and for over twenty - five years Barry kept his award winning Brisbane business, Toombul Music, in the spotlight of the Australian music and retail industry.

An inspirational true story of Barry’s encounters with superstars like Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Crawford, Neil Diamond, Slim Dusty, Willie Nelson, Billy Joel, Meatloaf, Boz Scaaggs and many others, but more poignant, is how Barry embraced the inevitable transformation of the music industry—the digital revolution of music—and adapted to change, is what makes this story so insightful.

Written with the intent to preserve the balance of celebrity stories and useful business content to tell his story, Barry Takes the Bull by the Horns and seizes every moment to share his remarkable experiences.

Now an accomplished international speaker and business mentor, follow Barry Bull's journey from musician to highly acclaimed entrepreneur. This book is easily one of the best business books on how to succeed in business, incorporating real life easy success principles and strategies that work!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barry Bull
• Release date: Jun 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311732873

Barry Bull

Barry Bull is a highly respected retailer who for over twenty -five years kept his award winning Brisbane business Toombul Music, in the spotlight of the Australian music industry.A former musician, and national record company executive, his business went on to win over thirty Westfield retail awards including the prestigious National Individual Specialty Retailer Award three times. In 1997 was an inaugural inductee into the Westfield Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding retail achievement. In 2001 Barry was presented with a Westfield Legend Award, and in 2003 was honoured with a Commonwealth Centenary Medal for distinguished achievement in business.But it’s Barry’s innovative marketing techniques for which he is best known. He has influenced the careers of many artists and enticed international superstars like Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Crawford, John Denver, Olivia Newton John, The Corrs, Chris Isaac, Ronan Keating and dozens more to participate in promotions at his store.He is an accomplished international conference speaker where ‘No is Negotiable’ is his most renowned trademark, and his famous interviews with Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Crawford and Slim Dusty, wow audiences around Australasia.Barry is the author of three successfully published business books and compiler of the Music for Cruizin’ CD series of fourteen double albums released through Sony Music. In February 2014 he was presented with an ARIA accredited Gold album plaque by Sony Music in recognition of Gold sales for the Music for Cruizin’ album series.Barry’s latest book Take the Bull by the horns is to be released as a digital iBook mid 2014.Married with three children and six grandchildren, he lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and is an active early morning ocean swimmer.

Book preview

Acknowledgments

About The Author

Introduction

PART ONE: Take The Bull By The Horns

Chapter 1: It Is Evolution

Chapter 2: A Moment In Time

Chapter 3: The Tipping Point

Chapter 4: The Times They Are Evolving

Chapter 5: The Evolution Of The Record Business

Chapter 6: A Tiny Splash

Chapter 7: Rock And Roll

Chapter 8: Back To The Future

Chapter 9: A Golden Key

Chapter 10: Music for Cruzin'

Chapter 11: Getting to the Number One

Chapter 12: No Is Negotiable

Chapter 13: Out On A Limb

Chapter 14: Stretching Limits

Chapter 15: Running With The Bulls

Author’s Note

PART TWO: The Bullseye Principle – Retargeted

1. Set your sights What Do You Want? Where Do You Want To Be?

2. Plan the process How Are You Going To Get There? How Long Will It Take?

3. Implement the strategy Tactics, Techniques And Fundamentals

4. Deal with the issues Solve Problems, Seize Opportunities

5. Measure performance Success Does Not Come Overnight – It Comes Over time

6. Be disciplined and determined Be Committed; Stay Focused

7. Hit the bullseye Reap The Reward

The Products

About the author

Barry Bull is a highly respected retailer who for over twenty -five years kept his award winning Brisbane business Toombul Music, in the spotlight of the Australian music industry.

A former musician, and national record company executive, his business went on to win over thirty Westfield retail awards including the prestigious National Individual Specialty Retailer Award three times. In 1997 was an inaugural inductee into the Westfield Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding retail achievement. In 2001 Barry was presented with a Westfield Legend Award, and in 2003 was honoured with a Commonwealth Centenary Medal for distinguished achievement in business.

But it’s Barry’s innovative marketing techniques for which he is best known. He has influenced the careers of many artists and enticed international superstars like Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Crawford, John Denver, Olivia Newton John, The Corrs, Chris Isaac, Ronan Keating and dozens more to participate in promotions at his store.

He is an accomplished international conference speaker where ‘No is Negotiable’ is his most renowned trademark, and his famous interviews with Sir Cliff Richard, Michael Crawford and Slim Dusty, wow audiences around Australasia.

Barry is the author of three successfully published business books and compiler of the Music for Cruizin’ CD series of fourteen double albums released through Sony Music. In February 2014 he was presented with an ARIA accredited Gold album plaque by Sony Music in recognition of Gold sales for the Music for Cruizin’ album series.

Barry’s latest book Take the Bull by the horns is to be released as a digital iBook mid 2014.

Married with three children and six grandchildren, he lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and is an active early morning ocean swimmer.

Introduction

Take the bull by the horns is a call to action. To confront opposing forces head on, and create a wave of energy that generates intention into activity. It is the essential act of ‘doing’.

It was the summer of 1959 and the radio was my window to the world. My entire centre of gravity was the big beat of Elvis, Cliff Richard, Buddy Holly and a jukebox of random one hit wonders. I did not realise it at the time but my destiny was being shaped by a music revolution called rock ‘n’ roll.

This book is about my life and times in the Australian music industry and the rise and fall of the record business. It is a personal snapshot of what it was like to be there when rock ‘n’ roll revolutionised contemporary music and built a culture that influenced a generation in a way unlike any that had gone before. It was a great time to be young.

The book aims to demystify the role of creative retail marketing by revealing how a Brisbane music shop became a key conduit between those who made the music and those who consumed it. With intention to preserve the underlying traditions upon which it was built, it tells the stories behind the business that made it unique, stand out and win multi-national awards, only to prepare for the inevitable finale as the music industry that we knew slowly disintegrated.

There are too many good rock ‘n’ roll stories to share to call this a business book although there are plenty of insights within its pages; real life experiences that expose the evolutionary forces that govern and encapsulate our lives and the transitions that occur when change intersects with traditions. Many traditions will disappear as we take a quantum leap into a completely new way of life: a digital world where success is determined by how well we adapt in times of change.

There are countless definitions of success, but for me there is only one. It is knowing when to stick your neck out, take the bull by the horns, seize the moment and act. For better or worse, this led to new experiences and a hope for the future. It is how I evolved, and those experiences allow me to gather words around a true story that I want to share.

Barry Bull

2014

Chapter 1

It is Evolution

All things change and evolve with the passage of time

The view across the turquoise shallows to the ocean beyond was stunning. Silky clouds kept their distance from a tropic midday sun, while a salty breeze announced the arrival of a family of sea birds whose cries happily blended with the lapping of the sparkling lagoon water. It seemed that a knowing maestro was conducting nature’s orchestra just for me.

My conference speaking work often takes me to exotic locations that provide extraordinary fringe benefits; not only of the financial kind but also of much more value.

At such times I am inexplicably drawn to look inside myself for those intriguing answers to what my life is about and what lies ahead. This brief interval of freedom allows nature’s open spaces to refresh the loss of space I sometimes feel inside; the chance to appreciate what is really important and place value on what I have rather than what I do not. There is something about peace and serenity that sets the brain wandering down fruitful paths. I suspect we all have a place of worship somewhere or at some time and, as coincidence would have it, this time and place happened to be mine.

I do not believe in coincidence. Too many serendipitous occasions occur in my life to allow coincidence to go unnoticed. I react to those feelings of familiarity with past events that mysteriously occur at precisely the right time. The enigma is something you feel. It seems that each stage of my journey is intriguingly linked to invisible threads of synchronicity that stitch together unforeseen experiences that are anything but random. As if guided by some unexplained force, there is another side to my life waiting to be discovered. It seems that one’s destiny is shaped more by design than coincidence, all part of a grand evolutionary plan, influenced by intuition and the choices we make. It is confronting to realise that these moments are merely beacons to stay on track – if we choose to take notice.

Thus it was on this palm-fringed beach in Western Samoa that I began to write this book. I was recovering from a difficult period in my life and I find writing helps to make some sense of it all. That is when those invisible threads of synchronicity began to weave their magic.

Either by chance or design, I was reading about the 150th anniversary Charles Darwin’s seminal work, The Origin of Species, in which he presented compelling evidence with his theory of evolution that all species evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection – the survival of the fittest. I was struck by the paradox between Darwin’s discoveries of the natural world and the life cycles of modern commerce and, ironically, to recent life-changing circumstances of my own. Captivated by this idyllic natural environment I was held hostage by the world’s most famous naturalist and, as if trapped in my own fantasy, the next stage of my life unexpectedly began to unfold.

The natural world is humankind’s greatest teacher. To survive, humans have learnt to adapt to the harshness and beauty of nature’s extreme unpredictability. As Charles Darwin discovered, those species with the characteristics best suited to their environment were more likely to survive, grow and reproduce. If the same logic is applied to modern commerce, then adapting to ever-changing market environments is fundamental to business longevity. Nature teaches us extinction is part of the survival process; all good things eventually come to an end so that something new and better may begin. And at this moment in my life the global financial boom of the past decade was fast coming to an end.

The world held its breath as the once robust US property bubble burst, causing housing prices to tumble, stock markets to crash and banks to go bust. The global financial crisis hit in late 2008, millions of jobs were lost and countless lives destroyed as the world plummeted into a recession. Australia was also being sucked into the uncharted waters of the perfect economic storm that was battering world financial markets. We watched nervously as the economy slowed and the assets and savings of ordinary Australians tumbled. The economy was in a revolutionary period of change and we were in for a bumpy ride.

Change is however merely the beginning of a transition to the next stage of a life cycle. While change can be painful, it is also a time of adaptation and reinvention. We see problems, opportunities and the things we took for granted through fresh eyes. In the words of Charles Darwin, ‘It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives – it is the one most adaptable to change.’

It is interesting to compare this theory to present day commerce. Take the analogy of a meteor impacting with earth millions of years ago and triggering an ice age that caused the eventual extinction of the dinosaurs. In 2008, an economic impact triggered a very different global meltdown of the world financial markets, causing the extinction of many business dinosaurs. The General Motors and Lehman Brothers collapses in the US were the end of modern day dinosaurs unable to adapt to the harsh realities of a new era. It became a survival of the fittest.

Evolution is not a destination. In business and in life itself, it is a perpetual journey of adaptation and transition. Putting the right pieces in the right place at the right time, analysing what is working and what is not and then connecting the dots to send us in a new and important direction. It is how we get to where we want to be and, for better or worse, it is how we evolve.

Looking back on my life, I recognise the many changes I made to get to where I am now. When I started out, I never imagined the work that I would be doing today. I suspect this is true for all of us when we consider how we have evolved over our lifetime. Each new venture is leveraged off past performance. The mistakes, disappointments, opportunities and rewards are a consequence of the choices we make and are lessons of hindsight.

For all that, there are no guarantees in life. Most things of beauty are fragile and can disappear in a flash. There are always unforeseen forces that expose the fine line between evolution and extinction, and nature in all its cruelty and beauty inevitably defines this.

Weeks after my Polynesian sojourn, the pristine beach that provided this inspiration was wiped out by a tsunami. Much of Western Samoa’s beautiful coastline was devastated. You never know what lies beyond the next wave.

Or when to expect the unexpected.

Chapter 2

A Moment in Time

Evolution can take a lifetime in transition, yet happen a moment in time. The most memorable events in our life happen when we are in that moment yet can change the direction of our life, for better or for worse. Like a scene from a movie, a lyric from a song, a concert performance, a sporting event, the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, or simply falling in love. My life has been a vast sequence of emotional events, catalogued into an exclusive biography scripted from experience and punctuated by unforgettable moments. This was one of those moments…

6 DECEMBER 2007 … OH MY GOD … WHY US?

It happened so fast. One moment I was in control, the next the unthinkable happened. It was as if a powerful unseen force had lifted the rear of our vehicle and tossed it across the highway like a feather to the wind. My brain went into slow motion, waiting for the inevitable.

Spinning out of control, we crashed through the metal guardrails of a small bridge as we started to roll. Down and down and down an embankment, spinning around like laundry in a dryer as the Land Cruiser flipped. A loud bang was followed by a sickening stillness.

As we sat in our battered vehicle on the edge of a swampy creek, dizzy to the point of vomiting, our minds were anything but still as we struggled to grasp our predicament. While we appeared to be unhurt, a series of reactions fired through us. Bewilderment and disorientation turned to shock that finally settled on fear. I was hoping that this was just a dream; but it was as real as it gets. A terrifying moment – a place I hope I never visit again.

Sometimes an unexpected event happens that forever changes your sense of security and self-confidence. In its place is a newfound appreciation for the value of life. Within the blink of an eye you confront your own mortality.

At that moment I heard the music and lyrics of my own soul, that inner centre each of us rarely visits if at all in the jumble of our daily existence – until you get a wake-up call. It is a sobering experience to be exposed to a life-threatening situation. Priorities instantly jump to the head of the queue. And so do the insecurities.

I have long held the belief that we make our own luck. That does not mean the blind chance of winning the lottery or being involved in a freak