One of the inspirations for the name Sixthman originated from the basketball term, The Sixth Man, which refers to the non-starting member of the team who consistently impacts the outcome of the game.

In 1988, I played this role on my High School Basketball team even after getting off to an auspicious start.  It was the first game of the year and within a few minutes of me getting into the game, I had already taken 3 shots and missed them all.  During a timeout, my coach pulled me aside and said “Andy, your role on this team is not to shoot, it’s to play great defense, grab rebounds, get the ball in our good shooter’s hands and out hustle everyone on the floor.”  *see image below

Up until that moment, I was operating under the assumption that everyone was playing the game to get open, shoot & score.  From that day on, I focused on those things and was able to help my team win without scoring many points.  It was the first time I had heard the concept of playing my role and it has appeared in my life many times since then.

A couple years ago, a good friend’s dad handed be a book called the E-Myth.  The author makes a great point about the 3 roles that must be played in every venture for it to work.  The Technician, The Manager & The Entrepreneur.  The book features story after story about businesses started by people who are only strong at one of these critical roles and either give up or fail before realizing they need the presence of all 3.  It doesn’t suggest that all businesses must have at least 3 people in each to play each role.  It simply proposes that their must be a presence and balance of all 3 disciplines for a business to thrive.

It is so true in my experience and we all know someone who launched a business based on their strength in one area only to fall down because they were not developed or focused on the other two.  Maybe it was the “Idea” guy who did not follow thru on promises or the “Bookkeeper” who was unable to create demand for their services.

When I walked into my son’s room this weekend, I noticed a toy airplane without wings on it and it reminded me of this theory in action.  The propeller is the Technician spinning thousands of times per minute creating thrust for the plane to move forward.  The cockpit is the Manager monitoring performance and directing action.  The wings are the Entrepreneur taking wind and making it travel a longer distance to go over the wing than below the wing resulting in the plane lifting into the air.

For those of you who know me, I am clearly of the Entrepreneur mindset and once I realized that it was ok not be a great technician or manager, I was able to recruit talented people to compliment my strengths.

Are you mainly an entrepreneur, manager or a technician?

-Andy

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Did you ever notice that the grass nearest the sprinkler, with the exception of an occasional leak or drip,  gets the least attention and becomes a “Bare Spot”?

How ironic is it that something meant to nurture everything within its reach is unable to attend to the life closest to it.

If we are sprinklers and the grass is the people in our lives, who are the ones closest to us in the “Bare Spot”?

Our immediate family?  Our best friends?  Our most loyal employees? Our best customers? Our biggest fans?

If you were shopping for a sprinkler, wouldn’t you look to see if it left a “Bare Spot” before purchasing?

If you were exploring a friendship or considering joining a company or following a band, wouldn’t you be curious how they nurtured the people closest to them?

I am so guilty of this.  Even as I am writing this, I am making a list of family, friends, employees and customers that are in my “Bare Spot”.

Let’s get out there and tend to the “Bare Spots” today.

- Andy

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Sometimes people ask me for advice about different things like buying a bar, opening a restaurant, joining a band, founding a record label, becoming an artist manager or starting a clothing company.  I haven’t done all those things but for some reason my response is always the same.

“Have you been able to spend time with anyone who is successful and happy doing what you are setting out to do?”

I remember opening a bar in 1995 with so much confidence and just one year later wishing I had talked to someone who ran a bar before investing my time and money into the venture.

In 1996, I was deciding if managing Sister Hazel was going to be the right move for me and I had the foresight to engage three other managers with successful bands. I asked them for a day to shadow them so I could experience what my days would be like.  It not only gave me perspective, it allowed me to visualize the goal.

Since then, it has been second nature for me to get as close as possible to someone near the finish line to determine if that is a race I want to run.

If you do one thing before embarking on a new path, spend time with someone who is on their way or already crossed the finish line.  And once you get them to go to lunch with you, ask them “What would you do differently if you could start from the beginning?”. For some reason, when you phrase it like that, people admit making mistakes.  I am willing to bet you that the cost of the lunch will be the best money you can spend.

Good luck,

Andy

Quote of the week: “Your irresponsibility becomes someone else’s responsibility.”

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I don’t remember the exact date the Sixthman Blog was born, but it was right around today two years ago. Since starting this whole blog thing way back in early 2008, Sixthman has:

• Published 643 posts.
• Had 2,118 comments approved.
• Launched over half a dozen new events.
• Grown as a company in size by 50%.
• Had 11,011 downloads of the Sixthman Podcast (currently in the offseason).
  
• Launched Sixthman.TV.

Phew!  Well, as most of you know, Sixthman has never been a company to play it safe or take it easy.  I like to think that we’re the best at what we do because we’re constantly trying to innovate, reevaluate, and attempt new things and methods to take our cruises, our service, and our community to the next level.

After sitting down with Andy this past week, we decided it’s time for the blog to grow up a little.  Initially it started as a place for you all to get to know the team members at Sixthman, to see the people who make the company tick…and then Sixthman.TV came along and pretty much took “character development” to a whole new level.

We then looked to the blog as a way to keep people updated on our events and cruises and such, except that we started using our Facebook Fan pages and Twitter pages for those quick news flashes, question & answers, and instant polls.

So we’ve made the decision to make a change on the Sixthman Blog format. Rather than five posts per week (which is tough to keep up with when you have a full time job!), we want to produce two KICK-ASS posts per week along with a Sixthman.TV video every Friday.  Rather than scrambling to put together a post because we know we need to, we want to produce articles and content that is worth of the Sixthman name.

We pride ourselves on producing an experience that you can’t get anywhere else – that’s the approach we plan on taking with the Sixthman Blog.

Starting tomorrow, our new schedule will be as follows: a new article every Monday and Wednesday and then a new Sixthman.TV film every Friday.

It’s definitely a big change from our old ways, but it’s a change I’m incredibly excited about and can’t wait to try.  Bear with us over the next few months as we get our wheels turning, but make sure you stick around because I’m confident you’ll like what you see.

Live loud.

-Steve

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photo: qwrrty

We have been working on a cross-training approach where we all manage different responsibilities allowing us to take any 15 people from the office on board to execute a cruise.  That makes it possible for us to keep a 12 person team in the office to service our guests while the rest of the team is out at sea.

In a culture built on an “All for One & One for All” attitude where we all used to load up and head to Tampa, Miami, Los Angeles, Galveston or Ft. Lauderdale and hang a “Gone Fishing” sign on the office doors, this was a tough proposition for some of us.  However, we all knew it was just a matter of time before we would have to “Divide & Conquer”.

So at the beginning of this season, we sat around and discussed who would stay home and who would go on each cruise.  Just one problem….everyone wanted to be there to see it all come together and witness the fruits of the company’s labor.  I let them know that we would all be sitting out on a few but I never thought about myself actually having to do it.

We decided Cayamo would be my practice run and that I would attend but have very few responsibilities.  For anyone who has been on our cruises, you could imagine how difficult that would be for me.  But I had to try so I invited my family and some friends to join me last week on Cayamo and I turned in my 2 way radio that I normally have glued to my hip and traded it for my swim trunks.

It was amazing.  I swam in every pool, ate dinner in the restaurants each night, took a couple shore excursions and saw a ton of music.  The Sixthman team did an amazing job of leading and executing Cayamo and I felt like they had given me the best gift they could give me.  Being able to enjoy one of our events like a guest and have a vacation with my family has made me so grateful and appreciative of the character and caliber of the people on our team.

So thank you Sixthman and know that I am very proud of you all for having the courage to play different roles as we move into the future even when it means leading us back in Atlanta.

Sure, I feel a little vulnerable and expendable like we all do at times but mostly I feel liberated and excited about the potential we know have to grow into the future while improving our ability to execute.

I realize that being able to be there was a gift and that there will come a time very soon where I stay at the office to support you all while you take our guests out to sea and I am ready.

Andy

This is it folks. The last blog on the last day of Cayamo. I think they chose me to do this blog because Cayamo goes beyond being my favorite event. All my idols, friends I have done shows with…all of them in one place, at one time…it’s the most inspiring 5 days I could hope to spend anywhere. I honestly hope this cruise becomes a staple. An event that becomes a household name, so one day when I am packing my little girl’s bag to bring her on her first Cayamo, I can tell her to expect nothing less than magic.

Maybe I’ll tell her about Lyle Lovett and Shawn Colvin (our stowaway) singing “North Dakota” and how the whole theatre sat there still and mesmerized. Not a cough, not a whisper, not a camera click came from that audience until the minute that the lights faded perfectly to black and gave us all permission to breathe again.

Of course I could also tell her about how John Hiatt rocked people’s faces off so hard that he got a standing ovation right in the middle of his show after laying his soul right out there on the floor during “Cry Love.” Or how I watched a woman with tears streaming down her face during the encore of “Have A Little Faith.”

Or I could tell her about how many people thanked me repeatedly (some almost in tears) for giving them the only tickets I had left in the theatre – seats so bad I that I felt bad and tried to convince them to leave instead – just because it gave them a chance to hear Brandi Carlile sing “The Story” and “Folsom Prison Blues” just one more time before they went home. Some of them even hugged me on their way out.

But mostly I think I will tell her about how I worked with a group of people who endured 17 hour work days, very little sleep and more khaki than anyone should ever have to wear to create an experience that people will not only talk about when they get home. They’ll tell the stories from it for years to come and take back friends that hopefully they will keep for a lifetime.

Cayamo….I just love it.

Jill Mac

• The guests and musicians are equally as happy to be in the same place.

• You get to sing 3-part harmony with Brandi Carlile and the twins.
• Edwin McCain sings in the casino until 3:00am.
• Collaborations between amazing artists happen almost every set.
• Singer songwriters get together months before the cruise just to write songs that will be heard for the first time on board Cayamo.
• You can win an open mic contest and seal a slot to play on stage.
• There is a chance to get on stage with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers to sing Petty, Stones, and The Band songs with their band.
• Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Emmylou Harris, and Shawn Colvin can all share the same stage and join in on song.
• You can say hey to your favorite artist in the buffet line while grabbing a slice.
• Relaxing by the pool also means you must be listening to Shawn Mullins jam out on the deck.
• Where Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Brandi Carlile share some of their life stories during a Q&A session.
• The only thing you have to worry about is which show you want to see and will there be enough time to catch ALL your favorite ones?
• You can become friends with someone from across the world that you just met and then expect to see them again next year at the family reunion we call Cayamo.

The journey is coming to an end, but there is still so much music left.  What will the artist have is store for us tonight ?

-Mike

Each night on board, Sixthman has a 20-30 min meeting to collect us from a day full of events and shows and to connect on what our goals and “moments of truth” for the following day will be. We take turns sharing stories and things that happened to us through out the day that stood out or made an impact on us; the good, the funny, the make you want to cry moments. I just finished ushering the main lounge show, which was Brandi Carlile’s second set and found my moment.

On Cayamo, our headliners rotate, playing a different time slot to a different audience each night, allowing every guest to see each artist. I was standing in the center of the room about three quarters of the way up. Not to say there is a bad seat in this room, but I wasn’t standing in the front row. Over the course of a few minutes I caught pieces of the conversation two women sitting next to me were having. I could hear the words – Brandi, awesome, ohmygosh I can’t wait, Brandi, incredible – and while not eavesdropping it was pretty clear they were about to see the show they’ve been waiting for. I smiled and continued to help some other guests to their seats. About 5 minutes to show time, I saw a couple approach the two women and at first the thought of double seating came to mind, then I thought they were buddies and THEN I saw the two women get up and walk themselves down to dead center of about the fourth or fifth row with these ginourmous grins on their faces. Curious, I asked the couple who were now up in my section if anything was out of order or if I could help. With out an ounce of bragging they simply told me that in line for the show, they too had heard the women talking about how much they loved Brandi and when they saw that their seats were “better positioned” then the Brandi fans they asked if they’d like to switch. “No biggie” they said – “we were just returning the favor”. Apparently a new Cayamo friend had given them second row tickets to their favorite, Lyle Lovett, the night before.

I’m not sure I have to go into much more detail about how that made an impact on my day and why it was my moment. The community and kindness on this ship is out of control and if the world lived like we do on Cayamo, it would just be a better place.

Here’s a big surprise: we’re having the time of our lives out here!  Let’s run through my favorite moments from the first few days on the cruise:

• Listening to Edie Carey and then Katie Herzig while working the Info Desk on the first day. When you hear live songs from these musicians over your shoulder as you’re explaining where the nearest bathroom is, life just seems a little bit better
• Finding my parents up on the Pool Deck as they were rocking out to Scythian as we sailed away from Miami. One of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen in quite some time – dueling fiddles and an awesomely-energetic stage presence.  These relatively unknown artists (to the Cayamo crowd) quickly became favorites.  Can’t wait for their next set tonight!
• Running in to catch a few songs from Ben Taylor. Good lord what a voice.
• I missed Lyle’s first set, but my folks said he was amazing (as always). He joked when first coming out that all the headliners drew straws and he got stuck with the first set of the ship, commenting “Yup, I guess we’re ship outta luck.”  Coming from anybody else it would have been corny, but Lyle is so genuine and has such great delivery that it came across as freaking hilarious.
• Getting instantly teary-eyed thanks to Brandi Carlile. I managed to walk by the main venue as Brandi was coordinating the three-part harmony for her song “Turpentine.”  Thanks to the organization of the venue, this was done to absolute perfection.  Hearing 700 people singing backup in perfect unison was just awesome.  Brandi and the twins (Phil and Tim) never disappoint, but I’m just continually blown away how they continue to improve upon perfection year after year.
• Catching the last 30 minutes of the Lovell Sister’s performance (they’re now called Larkin Poe). Just beautiful.  Rebecca Lovell sang one song written by her sister and co-performer Megan that absolutely blew me away.  I can’t wait to listen to their new EP and I look forward to catching a full set of theirs later on this week.
• I was unfortunately scheduled elsewhere, but I heard John Hiatt and Lyle’s acoustic yesterday morning set the bar even higher for “wow, that just happened” moments on a Cayamo cruise. I’m sorry I missed it, but I’m guessing there are guests who could do this show far more justice with their writing when back on land.

And that’s just the first day and a half.  Until we talk again…

-Steve

Riding on an elevator with a musical icon is not your average Monday evening… Unless you are on Cayamo, in which case it is perfectly normal.

To turn musical fantasy into an everyday reality is the epitome of Cayamo. Weather you are a music neophyte like me, or the most seasoned aficionado, every second of this cruise holds the promise of some magical moment where you will rub elbows with your hero’s, witness a collaboration that defies your wildest imagination or get turned on to someone who will transform your universe with a single song.

You would think that after three years of Sixthmaning this event some of the sparkle would wear off and the extraordinary would become mundane, but for me this could not be less true. Each year there is an experience that tops the one before and leaves a lasting impression. While it is only day two, I could happily walk away and say that I have been touched with the Magic of Cayamo.

For the first time on any event I was lucky enough to make a suggestion for an artist that I thought would be a perfect fit for this cruise.  Last year, still reeling and fresh from the boat, I went to a show in Atlanta to see a musician that was dear to a very good friend of mine. We got there just in time to see the opening artist, which can often mean little more than buying you enough time to sidle up to the bar for your next beer. In this case however the artist that took to the stage had me hooked from the first note. All I could think about was “how can I get her on Cayamo next year? The artist that took me by such force was an adorable little thing named Samantha Crain. Looking hardly old enough to be in the bar, it was mesmerizing to watch her sing with such a seasoned and awe inspiring voice.

After the show I went into the office on a mission. She would be on Cayamo, and I was just not taking no for an answer. As it turns out, my job was easy and her music spoke for itself. Within the month, she was booked and I could not have been more excited.

Now I am here, sailing on Cayamo with more amazing artists than can even be real and for the first time, I feel like I have contributed just a little piece of something magical myself.

Cayamo will always be a place of discovery but the beauty is, it doesn’t end when we pull back into port. Once you are infected with the spirit, it’s with you forever. I am excited for these next few days and all of the things I will encounter, but I am also looking forward to all of the moments after when I discover something new- about myself, about the music.

I can’t wait to get Cayamo’d again!

-May