This week on "Glass Half Full", Chris Levens talks with Allen Paul. What does the journey of a multi-talented musician, creative coach, author, and podcaster look like? Uncover the inspiring story of Allen Paul, who, with his music teacher mother as his muse, took his first steps in music in North Florida. This episode takes you through Allen's life journey - from his early inclination towards music, his dedication to a music education degree with a jazz emphasis, his intriguing transition from an elementary school teacher to a full-time musician, and his four published books.
Allen shares how he maintains a spiritual balance while wearing multiple hats. He talks about his daily routine, which includes journaling, praying, and nurturing close relationships with friends and family. Listen in as he shares his journey of faith in the music industry and the decisions he made to uphold his Christian values while playing in various settings. Allen also shares his story through four words - husband, father, creative, and forgiven, each reflecting a significant facet of his life.
www.godandgigs.com
This week on "Glass Half Full", Chris Levens talks with Allen Paul. What does the journey of a multi-talented musician, creative coach, author, and podcaster look like? Uncover the inspiring story of Allen Paul, who, with his music teacher mother as his muse, took his first steps in music in North Florida. This episode takes you through Allen's life journey - from his early inclination towards music, his dedication to a music education degree with a jazz emphasis, his intriguing transition from an elementary school teacher to a full-time musician, and his four published books.
Allen shares how he maintains a spiritual balance while wearing multiple hats. He talks about his daily routine, which includes journaling, praying, and nurturing close relationships with friends and family. Listen in as he shares his journey of faith in the music industry and the decisions he made to uphold his Christian values while playing in various settings. Allen also shares his story through four words - husband, father, creative, and forgiven, each reflecting a significant facet of his life.
www.godandgigs.com
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Wherever you are in the world. Welcome to another episode of Glass Half Full, a podcast and a safe platform where we talk with a variety of teachers, entrepreneurs, spiritualists, uplifters, givers, shakers and serenaders. Everyone has a lesson to learn and a lesson to share. Let's use our life experiences to enrich someone's heart, mind, spirit and soul. Through sharing our experiences, we can be a learning inspiration for one another. I'm your host, chris Levens. Let's welcome today's guest. Today's guest is Alan Paul. Alan Paul is a musician, creative coach, author and podcaster. He strives to help creatives in all walks of life to harness the essential tools to impact the world, while living in harmony, abundance and in line with timeless principles. He's built multiple brands and creative platforms, written four books and resources and runs a successful Faith Center creative platform, god and Giggs, while coaching others to do the same with their gifts. Let's welcome Alan Paul. Good morning. Good morning, good morning.
Allen Paul:Thank you so much. I know I needed that kind of energy in the morning, so I appreciate that. I love the introduction.
Chris Levens:I hope I could give it to you, thank you, thank you, welcome. Welcome to Glass Half Full. We're so happy to have you today. Thank you for taking some time out to be a guest here on Glass Half Full.
Allen Paul:Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here.
Chris Levens:Oh, the pleasure is ours. Can you tell everyone where you are in the world and what time it is?
Allen Paul:Okay, it is currently last. I checked, like 9 am Eastern time. I am in South Florida. Most people would say Fort Lauderdale, Miami. There's a million different little areas, but if I say Miami, people know where that is Mm-hmm. And so, yeah, that's where I've been for the last 20-ish years. I've always pretty much grew up in Florida.
Chris Levens:Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. I mean, we're gonna get to that. We just want to know where you were. It's all good, we weren't what time it was, but let's jump right on in. I like to ask all my guests this first question I believe that our lives are in spiritual design. Can you share your life layout or blueprint with everyone? This is how you grew up. Wear your family lifestyle.
Allen Paul:Oh well, that's a great question. I love the way you laid it out as spiritual design. So, as you just mentioned, as I start to jump into my life has been kind of like this transition period from growing up with music in North Florida, pensacola's, where I grew up, with my mom being my music teacher, my original teacher, I guess you could say, around music, so my father a dentist that also. We've always been around the South area of the United States, so that's kind of like my upbringing was in the South, just small town kind of feel, brother and sister, and so that was our family unit and I'm grateful for that kind of just solid foundation for my family. And seeing my dad work hard, build his first dental practice oh nice, and just being an entrepreneur, so all that really kind of instilled something in me.
Allen Paul:And then, as I mentioned, music was kind of like the core of all of that. So being a pianist, growing up, playing in my church and just really enjoying that part of life and expressing myself. So that kind of continued throughout from that point of being high school, college, getting serious about it, and then coming down here to Miami and pursuing my degree in music education jazz emphasis, learning jazz and becoming like really enamored of that genre and then kind of exploded into everything. So, yeah, that is I hope that kind of answers the question where, like that foundation of family and music kind of branched into everything else I'm doing.
Chris Levens:Nice Now lead us up to the present day. What is it that you are currently involved in or currently doing?
Allen Paul:Okay, so currently I am, as I tell a lot of people, I'm a part-time, everything.
Chris Levens:Hey, we like part-time hey.
Allen Paul:Yeah. Yeah, I've heard somebody call it parallel career, so I have parallel careers right.
Allen Paul:So I'm a musician. I work in my church as a staff musician. So that is the first pillar, the faith part, where I'm, you know, I still work in the ministry as a full-time musician, but I also work on the podcast for that particular ministry, so that's podcasting. I'm also, as you mentioned, a podcaster and author. So that's the second tier, where now teaching and coaching through God and gigs and Paul Creator Services has become a major part of my life. And then the third part is being a professional musician outside of the church. So I still gig, I still perform record with my friends out here in South Florida and you know, sometimes I travel a little bit, but I'm very much a homebody, so most of my music happens in South Florida. So yeah.
Allen Paul:Yeah, so that's the professional, All those three tiers, those you know, church ministry, and then the teaching and coaching and the performing. That's kind of like where I make my, that's where I make my bread and butter.
Chris Levens:Wow, so you're doing a lot, so you're seeing like you're always busy.
Allen Paul:That's funny. You said that like I literally got from hanging out with some friends, some musician friends, last night going to their performance, and that was their first comment was what are you doing here? Should you be working? You're always busy. And I was like that's not what. You know how some people put off on I don't know, with Instagram, whatever they put off that kind of fault, not false, but I guess they kind of brag about being busy. I've never been that kind of person. I hate that. Oh, I'm so busy by calendar so full. But then I guess if you ask and yes, my wife, yes, my calendar is full, but it's a good thing, you know, I'm very grateful that I have avenues and opportunities, right, some people have avenues for opportunities and some people have opportunities but no avenues to actually take position in it.
Chris Levens:So I'm grateful for both. No, I know that's right, definitely to have both. Nothing wrong with that. Well, with all that you do, how do you maintain good spiritual health and growth? What do you do for yourself?
Allen Paul:Is there a daily?
Chris Levens:regiment? Is there something that is? Yeah, tell us what you do.
Allen Paul:That's a great question and that's exactly where I think I've both continued to work on this and struggle with, and also have found kind of like some better balance. Clearly, the why and the what have to kind of connect right, so the why I do what I do has to be in the forefront all the time. So that means I got to wake up, I got to set some routines, I've got a journal, I've got to pray, finally started working out a little more. That's been one of the things I had not put in the routine of keeping my balance and keeping my why and my engine running well as far as being able to take on these things if I don't take care of the house, that's, you know, building.
Chris Levens:Yeah, we only get one. I want those 120 years. That's been trying to get to 120 years.
Allen Paul:However many years, I'm going to try to use them to the fullest. But yeah, that's been. The key is really learning to lean into routines that are healthy and that, actually, you know, journaling has become a huge part of my routine over the last five, 10 years or so. So being honest with where I am being connected to my faith, community, talking with them, calling them, all these things have really helped, you know, to keep me centered when life is flying at 100 miles a minute. So I think those are key things that, again, I can't say I'll do them perfectly. You know I fall off the wagon plenty of times but I have to come back to those central things a prayer of journaling, being honest and community, having my friends and my wife and time with them as much as sometimes it kind of, you know, feels like I'm forcing myself to do those things that people look at me like okay, you don't really want to be here.
Chris Levens:But guess what? I know, I need this. They're calling you out. They're calling you out.
Allen Paul:Yeah right, they know I'm not good at like sitting still, but I need it. So that's been really key to me keeping that focus and balance in terms of everything else that's going on.
Chris Levens:Well, thank you, and thank you for your honesty about that. You know, sometimes we can, you know, get so busy with things that you know things slap off or slip off, you know. So it's nice to have people around you as well to help keep you where you need to be. Who's around you? That helps keep you motivated.
Allen Paul:Oh, this is one of my favorite like parts of my life. The people around me, the circle, are really my between my church and my musical creative community.
Chris Levens:Are they all the? Are they the same people or are they separate people?
Allen Paul:I would say it's very interesting. It's hard to. It's hard to really quantify that anymore. Okay, some, sometimes they overlap, sometimes they don't. Oh, okay, but after, after 10, 20 years, it feels like the same family. You know, I don't know if that makes sense. Yeah, I get it, they may not know each other all the time, but they are all the same. I've heard somebody describe it where different tribes, same same mantra right, yes.
Allen Paul:They're different tribes but they literally like if they met each other, they would immediately like connect. So, yeah, there's slightly different people but definitely, like in my head, it's all one community because they all share the same kind of values when it comes to you know why we stay connected, why we pad 10, 20 year relationships. So, yeah, that's a great that those are the people that you know. Like I said just last night, hanging out with them, just having a birthday party with their 14 year old and just knowing that we could just be ourselves.
Allen Paul:We want musicians.
Chris Levens:And not being judged. You're free to be you know, yes, that safe space and enjoy Nice. Yeah, no, we need that, we definitely need that and we hope that everybody has that or some type of place or people that they can go to to have that. Definitely I love it. Let me ask you where did you get the idea to write the book and what?
Allen Paul:are books.
Chris Levens:Let me put the answer on that no.
Allen Paul:I figured that, and I figured which one you were talking about, because there is, like I always joke, where you know one is a book and the other is like a book light, I guess. Okay.
Chris Levens:Okay, I'm not going to write a resource.
Allen Paul:I always feel guilty Like I don't know how long a book has to be. You know, is there a page where you have?
Chris Levens:it and does it really matter? You know, does it matter.
Allen Paul:I don't think so.
Chris Levens:I think it's something people can get. Help you know they can, you can share it, so that's, that's everything.
Allen Paul:Exactly, it's what's inside, right? Yes, it was inside that counts, but the first one, the one that kind of started this all, was God and gigs succeed as a musician without sacrificing your faith, and so the idea of that is interesting, because it does come. I have to give a little bit of background. Yeah, go ahead on in, because because this is your time, alan.
Chris Levens:This is your time, thank you, chris.
Allen Paul:Yeah, don't get me started, right, the train starts running. So, so, let's go take it the part of the part about writing this book is it really does come from a place where I was at one of those transition moments, because I kind of mentioned that transition from New Florida to come down to South Florida getting my degree, then getting married to my wife. Almost 27 years now, leah Paul Well, congratulations.
Allen Paul:So, all of that. So thank you. So all of that has to kind of like come into the calculation because at this point, coming out of college and getting into both performance, but then realizing you really can't make a full-time living just jumping around playing gigs unless you know what you're doing, which is what I do now. But you know, at the time I had no idea how to do it. So I get into music teaching, teaching elementary school, and at the same time I'm also, as I just mentioned, the two concurrent careers playing at my church. So now one of these, both of them are loves, but one of these was taking over the other. So I started to realize that I had. You know, I love teaching. I don't love writing lesson plans.
Chris Levens:I don't love the testing.
Allen Paul:So I kind of got realized that God was kind of like pushing me, was like, okay, the teaching thing is not gonna last a long time. So I decided to walk away from full time elementary school teaching and for a second became a home school dad as a whole another story as a whole, another book that I have to write later but then went into ministry full time. So this is where I have to come to the book part. When I got to full time ministry I thought, okay, now this is the place I'm gonna spend all my life, because this is a calling, it's fulfilling, it's doing, where I get faith in music. But that also, after a few years, god kind of is like okay, well, you're gonna start moving in other direction.
Allen Paul:Like wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this doesn't make any sense. Like I already left one for fulfilling profession, now I'm in another fulfilling profession. This should be it. And the internal sense was no, it's not. So suffice it to say I would step away a second time from a full time position, this time from full time ministry, and this time I was kind of like waiting in no man's land.
Chris Levens:Now, when you say ministry, are you in the music ministry, are you?
Allen Paul:Yes, this was music. I was a full time. Yes, I was running the music part. Okay, yes, doing all the things, just so people know I get it.
Chris Levens:I grew up in church, but some people don't know what to do, so I just wanted to make it plain.
Allen Paul:I'm so glad you did that. Yeah, so yeah, exactly, playing in church full time in terms of running a choir Sunday mornings.
Chris Levens:Now are you guys? Were you a mega church? Were you like on TV and stuff?
Allen Paul:Was it that type of church, not much, no, not that, but we were. Basically I was, my job was to try to expand it. So it was a lot of social media was just coming out, so I was in charge of trying to become like all things, Like tech person, music person, write the music. So, yes, I was busy. Now, oh, my gosh, I'm glad you paused me there to make sure I explained that. Yeah, because that's where the book came from. Okay, and that's why I wanted to set that up, because if you don't know that world, you wouldn't understand why I thought this book was so important. Yes, so that's where I came from, like this area of church musicians.
Allen Paul:So I decided to step away, really out of a, you know again, very, very kind of traumatic kind of year of just okay, it's time to leave. And this is where I found myself, chris, where the book idea actually came. I'm sitting in a blues club because I finally get the inkling. Well, I guess I should be performing music again, because I had stopped playing any type of non-religious music for a time. Okay, I just I say I get it.
Chris Levens:I get it, though, I get it See where this comes from.
Allen Paul:I had to set the whole thing up, so I really stopped playing the music I had trained for, that I had. I just said I had no time. So everything was from this very Christian gospel, religious music thing in my head and my performing and my playing. And then I find myself outside of this world and it's like well, what do I do now? So I'm playing in this $50 quiet, not quite as loud but very small blues club and I'm like what am I supposed to do with my life? So that's where, after a couple of days of thinking about it, I sat down and said wait a minute, some of these musicians that are coming in here are also saying guys that play in church. And then I did some research. I was like, oh my gosh, most of the people playing in these environments are people like me that played in church places.
Chris Levens:And they not burning up, they not catching no fire, exactly.
Allen Paul:See, you know where I'm going with this. So that's when I said you know what? Maybe I should ask them how they do it and how they don't feel this guilt and how they continue to manage keeping their Christian values while playing all over the place and then, like you said, not walking into church and people thinking that they're like you know the backsliding and all this.
Chris Levens:Yeah, yeah.
Allen Paul:So I kept interviewing about. I got to interview some guy, one of the gentlemen from Take Six, another guitarist that plays with Hulu Iglesias, one of the musicians that worked with Bo Tai Tribute, anthony Hampton. I'm naming a lot of names because these are guys that are playing all over the spectrum, right, all genres. Yes, I interviewed them, I wrote it down. I wrote down seven principles that I gathered from them and from my own explorations, and it became God and gigs to book. That launched again seven years later, 50 years later, seven years later, it became the podcast.
Allen Paul:It became literally like the theme of how I interact with the world, telling other people, not just in music now, but it started with music. That's why I had to give you the whole story of the music side. So it started with music and now it's everywhere. How do you balance the Christian or faith-focused values that you have with a world where sometimes they don't honor those values and you have to be who you are and who you say you are and still create excellent work and make a living doing it. That's where everything landed. So, yes, the book launched all that from my trauma-filled transition. Wow, what a testimony. Yeah, that's like wow.
Chris Levens:And so can you tell us one of those principles, one or two of those principles that you have changed, that changed your thinking or your belief or understanding?
Allen Paul:Absolutely One of the first ones, I would say. So I'll give you the whole acrostic and then I'll break down just a couple of them.
Chris Levens:Okay, because I didn't want to be greedy for people to go to the book. No, no, I can give you an example. They can just go and get it.
Allen Paul:Yeah, just go get it, but it spells out the word service. So the first one is stay connected to God and your values. When it's establish your priorities for E, r, respect the business, v visualize your goals. I invest in your gift. Then C is challenge yourself to grow and then E is evangelize through your gift. So I'll have to go back to the beginning, because the first one S stay connected is not just to God, which obviously is kind of like God and gigs Obviously is my important one, but also in that one says stay connected to your family.
Allen Paul:And, chris, I can tell you, for a time my creativity almost broke up my family, my desire to be connected to oh, I'm going to be successful or I'm going to do. You know, it doesn't matter whether it's religious or not. Whatever we do, when our work becomes our only purpose, we lose something. And so I had to reconnect with my wife or with my kids, again, like I mentioned. You know, becoming a homeschooler for a time, becoming a stay at home dad for a time, making sure that our family was connected with this grand purpose I had was really super important. So that one is 100%. You know, I just had an interview with on my podcast with Alicia Keys supporting vocalists and background singers. They're now vocalists.
Chris Levens:Yes, I just saw on your Instagram, Ryan.
Allen Paul:Whitney, yeah, they are awesome, but I mentioned them I didn't get a chance to watch the show yet, but I just saw it on there.
Chris Levens:No, I appreciate you even breaking down that.
Allen Paul:That makes my heart good. This is something that you saw. It is amazing. So thank you so much for even supporting just by checking it out. But I bring them up because that's the kind of people I want to talk to now, like people who integrate this amazing life that they get to live, but the first priority is their marriage. They're helping people in that world where it's super competitive and people are like, you know, every single day, you got to be hustle, hustle, hustle, right, you got to stay on top of it, you got to be on Instagram, you got to produce the music or you got to produce the video or whatever. Like, this is a super saturated world where, if you feel like you got to be on 100% of the time and I just like to remind people that, no, like, those people are not going to be around, those followers aren't going to be at your funeral.
Chris Levens:Like, they're not, that's right.
Allen Paul:So the family is the core of what I do and those relationships that I've built is what I'm most proud of, and most proud of the fact that I have three kids that still pretty much like their dad. And my wife, as my wife is decided to hang around, for, you know, over 25.
Chris Levens:Well, when you put a two on the front, it's like okay, like yeah, you know, and no marriage is perfect, you know, and every marriage will go through its ups and downs. But you know, when you make those vows, you know, you try to feel like you're going to try to at least live up to them, so good, yeah. How will?
Allen Paul:do your children. Thank you, my kids are all like. I always tell people I started early and I finished early. So my oldest is in his 30s and my youngest is 25.
Chris Levens:Okay, I can't keep track. They know little babe, they know little kids. I thought you was like 16 or 15 or something like that.
Allen Paul:Okay, At the same stage that I was talking about, like I already was a. That's why I'm telling them, you know, very honest and transparent about my transitions and my. Why my four words? I don't know, we'll get to that later, but that's why I focus on the grace that I shouldn't be here Like I became a father at 17. I was.
Allen Paul:I was a married man with kids by 23, right, wow. That's why I'm saying, like none of this really makes sense. I can't go to anybody as a guru, like yeah, do it the way I did it. Like, don't, do it the way I did it. Like, don't, like, do not follow my example. So that's why I'm so big on that man, because, by all intents and purposes, I should not be in the place where I am, except I was able to lean back on some principles and some people that helped me keep this thing together, right? So that's why it's so important to you know that I share it now like, hey, like this when you're trying to and again, I know I'm talking mostly to creators, but this podcast is going to everybody- whatever it is whatever you're doing, I do not lose sight of that.
Allen Paul:It's worth it to stick it out. It's worth it in the long run. It doesn't feel good at the meantime when someone's arguing with you about how long you spent out or how long you're or how you're gonna pay the bills and these things are like stressing you. But if you stick with the why, hey, at the end of it I'm going to have either a relationship or a family or a business where people actually care about each other and have gone through it and stuck together. Like to me, that's really the core of what you know, god and Geeks is eventually about. It's not just about the music or the creativity. It's about those relationships and being a person that can say, yes, I stuck with it because I stayed with the things that really mattered.
Chris Levens:All right now. Yeah, you're right. You're right, which leads me into talk about the four words that you use to describe your story. Can you tell us the words and just tell us why you've chosen these words?
Allen Paul:Yes, thank you for that segue. That's because I hope I don't get too passionate, just feel like I'm like just ranting, because this is where I'm right.
Chris Levens:Well, it's about you. This is your time.
Allen Paul:We want to know who you are.
Chris Levens:Yeah, you can't. We want you to rant and rant.
Allen Paul:No, I want it to be with purpose. But yeah, but I guess I'm excited.
Chris Levens:No, it is purpose. You're fine. You're fine, take your time.
Allen Paul:Thank you. So the four words that I use and again, as you can tell from these last few paragraphs I just spoke about, is where my heart is, so it's husband, father, creative and forgiven. Yes, so again, because those four words all are certain roles that I have fulfilled, they're the roles that I realized and if I had to, like put something on your tombstone and I say, say, if I fulfill those four roles, then I can die a happy man, that I can say I've fulfilled my purpose for God putting me on this earth for how long I'm here. So the first one, as I mentioned, is husband, and I've mentioned my wife, like she right now is probably, you know, hearing me get excited on the other side of the studio and it's like here he goes again Because she's been able to, she's been, she is the best part of me that I didn't know I needed at the time.
Allen Paul:Oh that's nice. We don't know what you know. That's why I'm saying to anybody that's like struggling through a marriage relationship, whatever, like, remember that what you see in that person, it may not be what they're going to be to you later. And that's what she is. I didn't know she was going to be the amazing manager, the amazing wife, the amazing visionary when I didn't see what was happening in. You know, she was the one that kind of wrote down when I was struggling to write this book, chris. She put in a post-it note just right right above my piano, right above my computer keyboard. She's like stop thinking, stop overthinking, just right. That's the kind of woman she is. She's the one that will push you when you don't want to be pushed and will comfort you when you don't want to be comforted. So I want to give thanks to her that's a key thing in my life husband and fulfilling my role to her and father. Again, I've also mentioned my three kids, and you know I'm not the perfect dad. Thank God, they're not the perfect kids either.
Chris Levens:So we're not. I was about to say is there such thing as a perfect family Besides?
Allen Paul:what we see on the television show. No, and then yeah, and then you turn. Then they turn the cameras off and you find out what's going on, right I? Know. So yeah, that's the core of what I want to fulfill. One of my kids now was married is very exciting, so I get to see that generational thing pass on. So, yeah, now I'm realized like, okay, this is why it's important to like spend those days with your kids and let them run all over the house and do all the discipline stuff.
Chris Levens:Yeah, because they won't be kids for very long.
Allen Paul:Mm-mm, the house is quiet, man, I heard somebody say my pastor actually said this on another podcast that I helped produce. She said, like you know, her mother told her when they were loud and they were boisterous and she was on the phone and she says enjoy that noise. There'll be a lot more years without that noise than there will be with that noise. So, true, and I'm learning that now. Man, yeah, but I still love the kids, even though they're adults, and they still hang around dad. The third word creative. Again. We've kind of said it. I've put my world around.
Allen Paul:The way I interact with the world is through my creative gift, whether it be through my music, whether it be through my podcasting or my writing. This is the way that I relate to the world. It doesn't say that all I am is a creative, but it says this is how I connect with the world around me is as a creative. So this is to anybody that doesn't call themselves a performing artist, a visual artist you don't think you're an artist, you're not creative. Well, the way you interact with the world is still a creative process and that's what really makes you you is. You know, you create the world that you live in every day from the way that you set up your books, your room, to the way that you you sit up, you know the way that you create your workspace or the way that you want your car to the music. You hear like you're creating a space that you walk in and live in every day. So you create beauty, you create amazing life for yourself every day, even if you don't necessarily put it on a canvas or put it in a song or write it in a poem. So that's how I relate to the world.
Allen Paul:So creative is the key word. And then, last one forgiven. It's because of my faith, man, because I just mentioned all the things that I've done wrong in my life. Thank God, I believe that they recovered, that my belief in Jesus really does remind me that there is more out there than everything I see right now, and so it gives me fuel for everything that I'm doing in the here and now. So, yeah, that's those are the four words. I hope that kind of puts it in perspective, you know, in a good way.
Chris Levens:Yeah, no, you broke it down. You broke it down. We get it and I like that. You've chosen some words to represent. You know who you are and what you do. You know I think that's important for us to make some decisions about ourselves. Where we lie, you know. They say you have to choose a side, so, but you know just where people are, understanding who they are. You know. So, nice, nice. I want to talk a little bit about the creatives. Why do you say that creatives and musicians need to treat their art like a business?
Allen Paul:Another, another one of my. You know I like to rub my hands together like okay, let's take it to this. Why I know these are like. These are like my, my, my, my love letters to people Like I would like I would write a love letter about this. This is, this is my song to you. I love it. How you should treat your so, treating your art like a business, is because I'll give you a story from another book that I love, that I can't take credit for knowing this story, but it talks about Michelangelo.
Chris Levens:So, Michelangelo.
Allen Paul:Everybody's heard of the Sistine Chapel. Everybody's seen the statue of David right, one of the most famous artists in history, and so people mostly would think about Michelangelo. That's this incredibly gifted but also tortured and starving artist. Right, he's just pushing away, he's he's got his back on the the scaffold as he's putting the Sistine Chapel and he's just being inspired, but you know, he's in the rags or whatever, like he's not dressed to the to the nines. Right, we're not imagining him being like a great businessman, no, but according to historians, michelangelo was basically what had been considered a millionaire, and I just want people to think of that and kind of put those things together. Michelangelo billionaire Well, this means amazingly inspired artist also was good at keeping his money together, and I think artists too many times have fallen into the starving artist mentality because we assume that if you are gifted and dedicated to your art, you should not be concerned or should not be good at your finances.
Allen Paul:Right, that's what I'm trying to knock down the myth of that. Simply being a dedicated and talented person is awesome. That's really what you got to be good at your craft, right? Whatever it is, whether it be whatever that creative thing is, but if you're not stewarding and taking care of what you have. Again, I hate to do this because I know I don't know when this podcast comes out, but that this interview with Ryan Whitney like she broke it down better than I can. Like she said it, she's like if you are in this business of art, then you should be taken care of what you earn and trying your best.
Allen Paul:Now, some people are doing this as a hobby. I get that right, true, but even if all it is is just making sure that it can pay for itself and that isn't a drain on your finances. You follow me? Yes, you should do it, because any way that you can use the business of art and creativity to finance itself means what you get to make. More of it Means what you get to be less stressed. You paint better, you write better, you sing better when you don't have bills hanging on the edge of it.
Chris Levens:Right, so true.
Allen Paul:When everything is not dependent on every single thing being successful, you can say, okay, this is just a multiple income stream for me. And there's several ways we do that in our program, our guided gigs, 360 coaching program. That's the community we set up, kind of like the next level, so people can kind of really dig into that. Okay, and we talk about the business of creativity. We talk about why email? Why do you post social media? Why are we doing all this stuff? It's because we don't want just people to see our stuff and they'll clap. Nobody want them to actually, like you know, support us and it's okay to ask for support. That's the second thing. I'll go on real quick.
Chris Levens:Yeah, please go ahead.
Allen Paul:The other part of business, doing business as a artist that people get nervous about is that, well, they don't support me. No one buys it. You know and we get into this whole thing that you feel like, if people don't support it by, you know, liking it on Facebook or whatever that somehow people aren't supporting you, and what I try to do with people to help them with that, is make them realize. As you mentioned in the intro, I've built several communities. I've got different brands. I've built different like communities where we had jazz concerts or, during the pandemic, I did 30 house concerts and we charged for those house concerts.
Allen Paul:A lot of musicians during the pandemic just went to like going on live streams and asking for tips. I was like, no, and here's why, though? Here's why, chris, because guess what I realized? I literally did a survey on this with my music community. Again, it's not huge. I don't have a big fan base.
Allen Paul:I have, you know, maybe 500 people on the email list, right, but I surveyed those 500 people and they all said we would rather pay ticket prices. Why? Because we want the experience while we're locked up in our house to be as close as possible to what it used to be when we used to go out, and when we went out, we paid for tickets, so I gave them the opportunity to support me the way they were willing to. So to every artist out there, it's not as don't be ashamed to say, yes, this I should charge. You know, this is the price right, because people who really care about you. You don't need a thousand million people, you just need the people that actually care about art and they will support you if you ask them to.
Chris Levens:So true, and it's about quality as well. You know if you're putting out something good and they know that you're a good musician. People don't mind supporting for a good show or a good performance Exactly.
Allen Paul:Exactly. But we just I think artists, sometimes we do get like we get, we get gun shy we get, we get nervous about oh, what have you know? They're going to think something of me. Like I said, they just expect me to like give it away for free, Like no, once you find your people, stick with those people and they will support you. But you just got to do it like you said and do well, and then then take care of your finances and run it like a business. And it's okay that it's not comfortable for you at the beginning. But just like it's not easy to learn the instrument, it's the same thing.
Allen Paul:It's also got to learn how to run a business? Yeah, but thank you for even asking that question, because I think that's super important for us. So so we can be more, we can encourage more people to get out there, just do it and not necessarily let the finances be a detriment to them, you know.
Chris Levens:No, it's good. No, you write about that for sure. So were you going to people's houses and like playing like personal concerts in their home?
Allen Paul:Or that do you mean during the pandemic?
Chris Levens:Yes.
Allen Paul:No, this was online, oh, okay. Okay, so you but you were giving a full concert, they would have let me in there now.
Chris Levens:Yeah, okay, I was like yeah, he was in the house.
Allen Paul:No, I'll tell you real quick like it was called. We call it. Keep the music playing.
Chris Levens:Keep the music playing. I like it.
Allen Paul:And and again I went. This is literally how it started. This is I was about to play a festival one of these big jazz festivals down here with another artist, and that was the weekend they shut everything down, Right. So literally that weekend they shut the entire festival down. The world goes silent, Right. The week next I was supposed to have a gig with this one blues artist I work with, and she and I just looked at each other. We're like what are we going to do now?
Chris Levens:That ain't happening Exactly.
Allen Paul:So we just this is what I mean was you just started? Like you know, whatever you're thinking of doing, y'all just started.
Chris Levens:Yep, just do it.
Allen Paul:Yeah, we jumped on it. I didn't know anything about webcams, careers, I didn't know anything about you know, but we jumped in. I think I set up a PayPal link in like five minutes, connected to my bank account. We emailed our people, we send them, we say hey guys, we know the gigs cancel, meet us here online. And for again, that started that one kind of. We did two concerts.
Allen Paul:The way we structured it is, though this is where I want to kind of like give people like the sense of where the business part comes in. The first half of the concert, chris was free. We did 30 minutes. Just like you walk into a club and there's no cover charge, hey, just come and check it out. But then the second half was paid and it was exclusive. So we didn't share the link with anybody, just the people that wanted to come in. So we created a VIP room online, and that, from that, is where we earned, you know, over the pandemic again, not a huge amount of money, but close to 10 K of proceeds, right. So during the pandemic, I was an artist that was finding a way to make, you know, make some extra income, when no other live income was, you know, live music income was happening. That creativity boy.
Allen Paul:Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. So that's what I want, like my fellow musicians and creatives and artists, to think like.
Chris Levens:Think outside the box, you've already got outside the box, thinker yeah, so use that and say hey, you know what?
Allen Paul:let's just launch it. So what's the worst? The worst that can happen is nothing.
Chris Levens:Yeah, so what if it doesn't work? Sure, I saw the note. It's a win-win situation, so, true, I love it. Yeah, nice, nice. Can you give us some key strategies of building a brand or creative platform?
Allen Paul:Thank you, yeah. Yeah, this is kind of where, again, my wheelhouse is not necessarily because I always give this caveat. This is not about building millions of followers. I am not about that. I build micro communities. I want my people to be highly engaged in a brand. So I think the first key thing is being distinctive and knowing who you are and who you serve. Okay, I've learned again it's the easiest to keep it personal. I've learned that I serve an audience I speak to best, an audience that intimately already understands the value of art, the value of creativity, and want to be a deeper part of it. So I don't go out to the people who are just trying to go viral and they just want to see a quick TikTok or what they're like. That's not my audience.
Allen Paul:And so am I missing out on a lot of people? Maybe, but I'm also not missing out on the wrong people.
Chris Levens:I'm missing out on people that you're supposed to be dealing with.
Allen Paul:Right, my audience is not there. So if you're wanting to build a brand, the first thing you got to be clear about is who am I and what makes me different from everybody else, and not just be a copycat. Well, this happened. This worked for this person. He went viral. He got no, what makes you different? What's your voice, what's your message? That is clearly you and be authentic to that, even if nobody likes it at the time.
Allen Paul:Because in seven billion people one of my mentors that I follow, my coaches he says this all the time is seven billion people in the world. There's got to be a hundred that just like you. It's just not possible that you're the only one that has a specific like. So, leaning into your strengths, leaning into who you are, but then being willing, then the second part of this, I guess, will go. There's a great book, by the way, called Primal Branding. I would highly recommend that one, because that helped me see a lot of this with clarity. But the second half of the building the brand thing that's worked for me is asking questions Once you say, hey, I'm this kind of person, this is what I want to create, this is what I want to build, but then you got to go ask your audience, potential audience or what do you think it is, because a brand is not what you think it is. The brand is what the people think it is. So true, so true, right.
Allen Paul:Like the reason why Coca-Cola is Coca-Cola and Pepsi is Pepsi is because we've decided through the years Coca-Cola is. You know what I mean? We've decided that Pepsi has decided okay, we're going to be cool not being Coca-Cola, and we pretty much say, okay, pepsi, yeah, guess what, you're never going to be Coca-Cola, even if you want it to be yeah, that's a difference.
Allen Paul:The people decide what the brand is. So you got to ask them okay, what do you really want from this? So I, as I mentioned, with the keep music playing, I went to my people. I asked what do you really want to pay? What do you want this to look like? Do you want me to do a request for my garden gigs? I go back to them. Do you want a podcast? What do you need in the next book? What do you guys looking for? And constantly asking the question so you get the feedback.
Allen Paul:That part, I think, is also missing. I had one email, chris, that was shocking to me. I sent out my regular emails that I asked a question. I said well, what are you struggling with right now? What's going on in your life? What can I help you with? She wrote back and she said this young lady wrote back and said this is the first time I've gotten an email from a platform right Brand that actually cared. What I think I was like wow, that is. That is mind blowing to me in this area of social media.
Allen Paul:You're telling me that you know like people are looking, they're looking to be asked, they really want like and not like that kind of you know comment this if you think this.
Allen Paul:Yeah, yeah. There's this kind of like superficial way of asking, where people know you don't really care. And then there's the people that act, where I actually will pick up the phone and I will call you know one of my people that has followed me for like five years, and again, I'm talking from a micro community aspect, a micro brand, micro influencer, whatever you want to call it I hate all these terms, but that's what we call it right? So, from a small influencer like me to say, hey, I'm going to pick up the phone, I'm going to call this person, I'm going to ask them hey, what do you really think? What house is we're working? They just wonders, not just for them but for me, because now I get to hear strict of their mouth hey, I didn't like that post. Hey, hey, why are you doing this? And then they're telling me, like and like I said, it does a hundred or a thousand people that think the same way they think. Now I know what they really think. So those two parts I think would do wonders.
Allen Paul:For anyone trying to build something is first, know who you are, lean into who you are, don't try to be a copycat, but then, second, ask your audience and really do something when they tell you what to change, like I did. I changed my whole philosophy of the live streams. When they said, hey, we want to do this, this, this, we want it to feel like a live concert, I changed everything, you know, and I made it what they wanted and that's what made us successful. So, yeah, obviously, that's the key elements of building your next you know brand platform. Whatever you, you know, whatever God's putting your heart to do.
Chris Levens:Yes, those are great. Those are great and you know it's not anything crazy, it's simple, they're very. You know you've it's very plain, it's very simple. You make it simple to understand as well, so thank you for that. Sometimes people are speaking over folks head and that's how they they start to get that.
Chris Levens:You know they tune out because you know they're using all these big words and saying all these things and you know, it's just you know, and everybody's not at that place. So when people make it simple to understand, it's easy to grasp. You can get people to really connect in easily. So nice, Thank you.
Allen Paul:Yes, well, I hope it's helpful.
Chris Levens:Yeah, yeah, yeah, Look, I'm sure, I'm sure it will be Definitely. Let me ask you what kind of goals are you setting now to affect a better and more productive future?
Allen Paul:Hmm, that book, that's that. This is when I remember you saying this and I was like, oh shoot, I hope it doesn't ask me this, Because I'll be honest again. It's always easy to be transparent right, yes, please.
Chris Levens:This is how we grow, when we are able to be transparent 100%.
Allen Paul:I think one of the things again, I've mentioned transitions several times in this interview because that's where I like really see. You know, I see things in seasons and so the next thing in my season really is okay, I've done. Obviously, I think I'm still a husband, but the father role right, the father role is changing because now my kids are grown, so one role is no longer the same. So my goals for my kids is no longer raise them up, make sure that they make it to adulthood and are successful people. Now it's got to be the next generation, right? Eventually grandkids. So what do I have as a legacy to give them? And that kind of leans into the creator, right? Okay, so that means the company I'm building needs to have something that they could then say is ours. So that means I got to build the brand, not because I want. I want it to be successful for me, but I want to be successful for them.
Chris Levens:Yes, you can leave it for them. Yes.
Allen Paul:Yes, so the goals are shifting and so, as the goals are shifting, the methods are shifting. So now I got to shift the methods. Okay, now it's more important for me to be clearer about my message. It's more important that I'm living out what I really say I live. And then, as far as building other people's lives, I need to be intentional about that. Right, I have to say, okay, if my goal is now to really be more impactful in the second half of my life, what relationships do I really need to intentionally grow and be more part of it and not to say, hey, man, I'll call you. Nope, I got to call you and we got to talk some real business and we got to talk some real strategy and we got to get some real things happening. Because it's more important now, right Time is becoming more essential that we use this time wisely, because the goalpost is there but time is moving faster.
Allen Paul:And time you know what I mean. So I was like, okay, you don't have as much time as you used to. So to me, I think that's the key thing, like the goals have shifted where I do realize I need to be again, kind of like it's funny to say this, but I haven't been as motivated by finance over my life Now that I realize, okay, I do want to leave something for my kids. So now finance, where it wasn't a huge part, has become a bigger part. I want to be a better steward, I want to leave something better. So I do want the brand to grow, I do want my income to grow. But then, like I said in the second half of that is relationships. I want these relationships to be something where I can really pour into people. What I've learned over the last 25, 30 years, and whether that's through the podcast, whether that's through the books, whatever, that is yes now. And the music, by the way, which I'm still writing and composing, and my own.
Chris Levens:Oh, you're composing, as well. Okay, yeah, so my.
Allen Paul:So my friends have been pushing me in that way, that place too. Right, because I've always been a. You can tell like my goal in life has been to be a bridge for others, but not necessarily to be the face of a brand. That's not my, that doesn't motivate me. Yeah, I get it, but but if music and putting out the music that I've been thinking about for years and people are like, why haven't you written it? Why haven't you put it on the EP? Why haven't you? It was like it was cause that wasn't really my, that didn't like excite me. But now it's like okay, maybe it's not about me. I need to get out of my own way and to get my own way.
Chris Levens:Well, you know, somebody could be blessed by what it is that you're going to put out, Exactly, Exactly. So many artists are so quick to to be like, oh, this is not good, you know, and put things away. Everybody who's a singer, they've got so many books of lyrics. Or if you're a composer, writer, so many tons of pieces of work that have never seen the light, you know. Because it's just feeling like, oh, like you say, we get in our own way and say, oh, you know what, I don't think this is good enough. And then it stops there. So I tell people, just do, just try it. Let the world say they don't like it, you know. Like get a real opinion about it. Like don't, don't take it for yourself, Like it's true, we can step in our own way and just halt things out 100% Perfectionism has been something I've kind of you know finally started to realize.
Allen Paul:it still kind of creeps up on me and yeah, so I think the goal is again like make sure there's a. There's another phrase that comes from a, you know, you could tell like I was like mentioning these books. This one's, from Jordan Rainer, is called redeeming the time. So he writes that there will always be unfinished symphonies. It don't matter when you know how much life we have, there will be some things we won't finish.
Allen Paul:But I should not leave that as a reason not to keep writing the symphony. Right, I need to write as much of the symphony as I can, because I don't get to decide when it's over. So let me just finish with the pen in my hand, right, let me finish working. That's why the retirement word is weird for most creators. You can't imagine not doing this thing, right? So I don't see retirement and sitting back and getting in a beach, you know somewhere, and kicking my feet. But that's not a goal for me. My goal is to be even more creative, even more productive in my second half than I was in my first, because my first half was all about just making it happen.
Allen Paul:I got to make it happen.
Chris Levens:And the learning part, right Understanding and the learning and the foundation of the building you know. So now, that there's all of that underneath. You can go ahead on and build on top.
Allen Paul:Yeah to the side, and everything else yeah.
Allen Paul:Exactly, the foundation is strong enough that I know I can put something on top of it. You're right, that was Stan. I love that analogy. So, yeah, 100%. I think that's where and again, as you can tell, these are general goals that I'm starting to flesh out, that I'm starting to see, you know, oh, this is what this really means. Oh, this is where I need to write this down on make sure that I actually have a concrete metric right To measure it, because what gets measured matures. So if I don't measure it, it never matures. So, yeah, now it's not just like a pie in the sky, now it's like okay, by 55, 60, 75, whatever age. This is where I want to be, so I can visualize that and then I can aim for it and hopefully reach it.
Chris Levens:Yes, nice Well, the fact that it's there and you've made it known, your request known, then it will be reachable. So we have not because we ask not. So a lot of people they're not asking.
Allen Paul:Yep, that's true, that's true. We don't ask of ourselves, right, you know so.
Chris Levens:It's a learning process, though I mean, granted, everybody's not there, and I haven't always been, so it's something that we have to learn, and you know each person and their own life to. But yeah, we have to ask, we have to put it out there what we want, but a lot of people don't know what they want. So it's that whole you know twist.
Allen Paul:Exactly. You know what somebody said I just heard again. We could chat about this forever. I heard somebody say it yesterday again. One of my coaches on the podcast said he stopped saying. He stopped saying what do I want and now he says what am I curious about? Right Refrain Perfect.
Allen Paul:Right Because now it's like now you don't put that whole. Oh well, I need to know exactly what I want. I need to know this million dollars or this many, you know whatever, whatever the metric is. And now it's just like what am I curious about that's?
Chris Levens:a whole different take right.
Allen Paul:Yeah, and now you're like OK, again it becomes like you said you ask, you seek, you knock. But it's, you know, one of the another biblical phrase that I really like to remind people. You know, when we talk about people say God gives you the desires of your heart. But if you turn that around, you could say like this God gives you the desires you know. And it's like oh maybe the desires don't.
Allen Paul:maybe I don't have to be in charge of the desires. You mean that I could just like let him tell me what I want, and it's like, oh, that's a lot easier.
Chris Levens:Yeah right.
Allen Paul:Tell me what I want. Oh, I want that. I want to get it Right.
Chris Levens:Well, you know, this is it. A lot of people are doing things they're outside of what they're supposed to be doing, but this is what they've asked for and it's like well, is that really what is meant for you? Is that what you're really supposed to be doing?
Allen Paul:Exactly, you know, or is that just?
Chris Levens:something that you have decided that you're supposed to be doing.
Allen Paul:So we can yeah this is it. That's what, that's the key. And again, and you know what, and here's a humility piece, Chris, I love this. Start. Here's humility piece being OK with being wrong. Yes, being OK with being wrong. I can. I can very easily and humbly say I was wrong about a lot of those things. Now that doesn't mean that God or that you know life didn't use it, you know like. It doesn't mean that I'm regretting. No, my decisions right. There's a, there's a shame regret.
Chris Levens:Yeah, that is a difference.
Allen Paul:Yes, yeah, like I was wrong with a lot of my decisions.
Allen Paul:Now I don't regret them because I know that without those like little detours I never would have made it where I am now Exactly, but I can also admit that that was kind of a silly decision back at that time, right? So so that's what I mean. Like you know, being honest with who you are, where you are, how you got here, will help you decide where you're going, and being honest about that and being honest about hey, I don't have all the answers, I don't know where all this is going to end up, but I'm willing to take chances, take risk and be OK with the results because I'm got. You know, like I said, if you've got a faith foundation, you've got family and you've got friends around you to kind of help you course correct, yes, you're going to be all right. You sure will Go ahead. Like you said, take the chance, ask and don't be so worried about, you know, if this is a workout perfectly, because you know it won't work out perfectly, but it will help to perfect you. Hmm.
Chris Levens:You know, and it'll work out the way it's supposed to be worked out. Definitely For sure, nice. Oh, that was a great explanation. You went in on it.
Allen Paul:You brought out the best in me, sir. You're bringing out the best in me, I appreciate it.
Chris Levens:Oh, I love that, I love that. Well, I like to ask all my guests this final question Is your glass half empty or half full?
Allen Paul:Hmm, ok, so it's definitely as this podcast said. It's definitely half full. By the way, let me put this in now If you're listening to this and you have not subscribed yet to Glass Out Full, what are you doing? You should have already hit that button a long time ago, because this is filling my glass. My glass is full now because I've talked on this podcast and shared with Chris, so you should have already subscribed by now.
Allen Paul:But my glass is half full and it's really again. It's this feeling of I love the way you put it You've really helped me now that the foundation was laid, so now I can build on top of it. So so that part really fills my glass, which means here's the cool thing about it, chris my glass would never be empty. It will always be at a certain level because of what I've already lived, if I appreciate it, and I don't like just pour it out because I don't think it's good enough. I've already got a beginning. So all it can go is from half full to full. That's the only place it can go.
Allen Paul:Now, yes, there are going to be times where it's kind of like it's emptied by other stuff. I get it right, you know, the whole analogy is like you know how much water can fit in your tank. So, yeah, there are things that empty my tank, but if I believe it, like I said, in my faith, that I'm always being filled with what the Bible calls living water, it means it's never empty. It just means I got to go get refilled again. So so for me, like I said, I love that analogy of being half full, because if I, if I look at the space of half empty, the truth is I'm just looking at capacity to grow. Yes, the empty part is literally what I have in front of me. That's available. It's not empty, it's available.
Allen Paul:So so anybody is looking at your glasses half 50,. What you should be looking at in my glass is space for more. Yes, and that part is where I've again, I've seen my life man. You know, thank God, they gave that, that, that, that grace that he gave me from being in high school, college and not knowing what the heck I was doing, from being a music teacher to being a full time minister, to being a podcaster, to now God and gigs. All these past my favorite scripture verse is all the past of the Lord are full of mercy and truth and the mercy of all the paths that's the key word is the plural paths wandering, meandering, going in circles, paths All of them were full of mercy. So all the crazy turns that my wife took led me to here, and that means there's even better paths available for me. So I just want to leave that word for anybody. Yeah, glasses have full means. You also got half that's available for you to fill up. Wow.
Chris Levens:That look up. That was great. I was going to ask you did you have any final thoughts for the listeners? But you just gave us that bread. I mean, if you did, I wasn't ready for all that. I'm like whoa.
Allen Paul:I told you, man, you, you, you created the perfect scenario for people to pour.
Chris Levens:Look at that, look at that analogy.
Allen Paul:Pour yes.
Chris Levens:Yes, pouring yes, yes, Wow, that was awesome. That was awesome, very nicely put, very well spoken, very well spoken. Well, I mean, is there anything else that you feel that you need to? I don't want to not ask you. If there's no, I think you know.
Allen Paul:I thank you for this opportunity number one. This has been a great conversation. I'm so glad that we made it happen and I guess, the final word on top of that, again, everything we've said and you and I've shared has been from a place of authenticity and transparency. So I would just kind of leave that as the final word Be comfortable being you.
Allen Paul:I say this three words that that that help you, that that helped my clients and my coaching, my people, my creative community, to kind of like, remind themselves of what to do every day, and it's every day. Make somebody smile, every day. Look out how can you serve someone and every day, try to solve a problem. Right, that's it. If you're smiling, every day, you're making somebody laugh and make somebody happy, you're trying to make them, you know. Then, every day you're looking to serve, how can I serve, how can I be helpful to somebody that helped somebody?
Allen Paul:And then look around, there's a problem that you probably solve, even if the problem as a creative is just hey, there needs to be more beautiful music, it needs to be better poetry out there. There needs to be someone that needs to hear this. You know this, this tough subject that has to be tackled right. So I'm going to make a movie about it or something like that. Like, solve a problem every day. You want to do those three things and then just be comfortable being you while you do it. Do it as you, don't try to do it as somebody else. What the way somebody else makes someone smile, serve or solve. Then you're going to be all right and you're going to really make impact on the world. That's what I'm all about. So that'd be my final word to everybody. Just you know, be you, be comfortably, authentically you.
Chris Levens:I love it. I love it. Nice, nice, nice, nice. Can you tell everyone how they can reach you if they're interested to find out more about you and your podcast and what's going on with you?
Allen Paul:Yes, for sure, they can find me on any, any podcast player. Since you're using a podcast player right now, you might as well stay on it right and just go to the God and gigs show. If you're using a web browser, you go to God and gigscom slash podcast. That's the easiest way because I'll, as you can tell, I can talk a lot and all of the links are already on those episodes. So, anywhere you want to find me outside of God and gigs, when it comes to socials or my music as well, you can look up Alan C Paul or Alan Paul music on pretty much any social. But the easiest way just to go to the podcast man.
Allen Paul:To be honest with you, that's where I've found, like my heart and my life, kind of like sensors around this microphone, which is crazy. I didn't see that coming. I thought it was going to be around the piano my whole life. Yeah, that's where I say, oh, you know, everything's about the keys, the piano. I didn't know it was going to be behind a podcast mic. So that's where they can find me. And then, like I said, all the other links to the shows and anything that regards the creators that are building a better life from the inside out, by applying time, the spiritual principles, to temporary creative problems. That's what we do there to God and gigs show and that's where they can also find out. You know what else I'm doing Nice.
Chris Levens:And that's spelled G, o, d, a, n, d, g, I, g S dot com. So just to make sure that and is a real word and not like an N or anything like that and then slash podcast if you're going for that. But yes, all that, and it'll be also linked under the episode so they'll be able to find it easily. If people weren't writing anything down, they'll be able to. Yeah, I always say that it's funny.
Allen Paul:When I say that out loud, I'm like, yeah, no one writes this down. Yeah, you know, it's true, those days are done.
Chris Levens:But yeah, it's still nice to spell it out, you know, just just for it, just because, just because, well, we thank you so much for taking some time out to be a guest here on Glass half full. We have really enjoyed your nuggets of information and just the the the life story on how God has blessed you and brought you and your testimony to where you are today. We're looking, we'll be looking for your name so we can see what's going to be happening to you in the future and how God is going to continue to use you and bless you. So thank you so much for your time today. Grace has been an absolute pleasure.
Allen Paul:Thank you for having me. Yes, you're welcome.
Chris Levens:Have a great morning you too. Thank you, and thank you to all our listeners listening in to another episode of Glass half full, a podcast and a safe platform For everyone to share their life experiences. Once again, I'm your host, chris Levens. Please subscribe, follow and rate this podcast on Apple Music and Spotify for more learning experiences. Until next time. No, you are blessed, see ya.