Build for Tomorrow

Chapter 1

You Come from the Future

Jesse Kirshbaum s clients have been in a panic.

This is understandable. They re musicians, and popular musicians once had relatively straightforward careers: They scored recording contracts, sold their music to fans, maybe also sold it to advertising and television producers, and they toured and hawked swag. As a longtime music agent, Kirshbaum has been in the business of making this business happen. The company he founded, Nue Agency, works with some of the biggest names in entertainment. But the industry s old tricks are stumbling. Streaming services have decimated CD sales. Record labels aren t what they once were. As a result, many musicians are furious at the likes of Spotify. And now it s Kirshbaum s job to figure out how to fix this mess and make his clients money.

If you think that change is opportunity, Kirshbaum said to me, then what would you say to my clients?

Do you know who John Philip Sousa is? I replied.

Kirshbaum did not. But he should. Sousa was once among the most famous musicians in America, and he, too, felt left behind by a massive shift in the music industry, and he, too, responded with panic. But now that we look back upon his story, we can see just how much energy he wasted.

When we feel panic, I suspect it s in part because we feel alone. We think we re experiencing something that nobody else has, and we imagine that there is no playbook for what s next. We feel like guinea pigs and nobody wants to be the guinea pig! We want to be the Tesla driving through a beautiful, mountainous pass, long after somebody else dynamited their way through the rock and smoothly paved the road.

But here s the surprising truth that s hard to recognize at the beginning of change: Even when we feel lost, we are almost driving that smoothed-out mountainous pass. Someone before us already dealt with what we re dealing with now. There actually is evidence of the path forward. All we need to do is

Jason Feifer

In a time of anxiety and uncertainty, Build for Tomorrow gives you the tools and confidence to be more resilient. It will change the way you think so you can overcome any obstacle and reach your full potential. Jim Kwik, New York Times bestselling author of Limitless

Jason has access to the smartest minds in business. In this book he extracts their best wisdom so you can act on it now whether that s quitting your job, leaping ahead, or saying screw it and starting something yourself. Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia, New York Times bestselling author of Crushing It

I wish I d had this book years ago! Jason s advice is honest and real and can help you invent your own future with confidence. Kandi Burruss, Grammy-winning artist, TV personality, and entrepreneur

The most important thing we do is build the future, but that can be scary. This book shares how to attack the future, without fear and with optimism and hope. Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz