It was apparently a Monday, and it was the day after one of the worst days of my life.
I made my first terrible mistake of the day right off the bat – I went to school.
The second mistake came just a little while later when at school, our Principal asked me if it was okay for him to share what had happened to my family the night before. I told him yes, because I didn’t know what else I was supposed to say. I’d put him in a very difficult position.
Quite frankly, he shouldn’t have asked me – I shouldn’t have been there and he should’ve pulled me aside and sent me home for the day. Maybe for a few days.
Less than 10 minutes later – among all of my classmates – he shared the horrible news. My father had passed away the night before after a year long battle with prostate cancer. I would turn 14 one month later.
I burst into tears, despite my best efforts to hold them back.
Asking for Help
I share that incredibly difficult story with you to illustrate a point. Because I made a mistake that it’s taken me nearly 20 years to the day to finally learn.
The night before the story I shared – the actual day my dad passed away – I called my best friend from the hospital. I asked for a ride to school the next day and they kindly obliged me. I have no idea if they knew anything – I suspect they must have assumed something was up – but I said nothing.
In my head, I refused to let this affect me. I would continue life as usual.
Friends, I was 13 years old. I was an idiot, hurting out of my mind.
What I should’ve done that day – and for the next 20 years of my life – was ask for help.
I had no idea how to grieve or who to confide in. I had no idea how to process the ensuing emotions. I’m almost certain that if you did a psychological study of me, you would find that plenty of my daily habits were bred from this short period of my life.
And yet, had I been comfortable receiving aid, love, and assistance – who knows what would’ve been. Certainly everything would’ve been different.
So for me, today, I’m changing my habits.
For the second year in a row, I’m asking for your help.
Help Me, Help Others, Help Yourself
This week, all week long, I’m running a fundraiser with ZERO: The End of Prostate Cancer in honor of my late father – Ken Croft. He passed away from prostate cancer at age 49, on November 28th, 1999.
Thanksgiving Day here in the US will be the 20 year anniversary of his passing. With your generous help, I’ll be able to once again turn that very sad day into a reason to celebrate.
Last year, with ZERO’s generous matching, we raised $2,000 together for prostate cancer research and awareness. To give you an idea of how crazy that is, my initial stretch goal was $150. We eclipsed that by nearly 20x.
But here’s the deal – I’m not just giving you a sob story and asking for your generous, altruistic, emotionally manipulated donations. I’m asking you to help change this story for the rest of my life by helping men and their families worldwide.
In exchange, I’m going to help you.
I don’t want to suffer this story in such a negative way ever again for the rest of my life. I don’t want any more men or families to suffer the heartbreak and tragedy me, my father, and my family endured.
And, I want you to accomplish your dreams, learn new things, get better, and become invaluable.
Therefore, I’m putting my book on how to break into game audio – Quit Aspiring – on sale this week.
Rule #1 – DO NOT BUY IT FROM MY STORE.
Instead, go to https://justgiving.com/fundraising/adamtcroft and donate a minimum of $15.
When you do, I’ll get a notification and email you a copy of the Premium Edition of Quit Aspiring. That version includes both the eBook and two bonus video interviews – one with Akash Thakkar (Hyper Light Drifter) and one with Chase Combs (Audio Director, Forza Motorsport). For your donation, you’ll get your copy at $13 off the regular price.
Keep in mind, this is the only time of year and the only reason I run a sale. And, I’ll see zero dollars of this money – 100% of the proceeds are going to ZERO. That’s exactly the way I want it.
As I said – if you donate a minimum of $15 – you’ll get a copy of Quit Aspiring, Premium Edition. That also means that you’re free to donate more than that as well. If you donate more than $25, I’ll throw in an additional special bonus thank you gift as well.
And, if you already have a copy of Quit Aspiring, give donating a thought regardless. I’m more than happy for you to donate and send your copy to someone who could not afford it on their own.
What Others Say
If you’re on the fence, here’s what others have had to say about Quit Aspiring:
“Usually I feel down when I try to work and the outcome doesn’t meet my expectations, and then I feel less motivated to try again. Your section on procrastination helped me refocus my efforts less on having a great product fast, and more on making gradual progress. I find I’m less anxious about getting to work now and enjoy the process more
Your advice on networking and interviews where a big help too, as before networking and interviewing always felt gross and stressful for me, like I was trying to trick people into giving me a job or impress them by finding all the right words. From how you described networking and interviewing, it seems like it’s more about approaching people with compassion and curiosity about their work, which is a lot easier for me. I genuinely do care about what people do and establishing/maintaining good relationships, so I find this approach far less difficult.”
Zachary, Sound Designer
“I’m trying to be super organised and productive and so had purchasing Quit Aspiring as a reward for achieving a goal. I was initially sceptical as I didn’t want myself to be reading and analysing when I could be Sound Designing. I also have seen many services online and you’re never sure if they’re legit or not. But once I saw you had experience in Bungie, that really sold it for me and reassured me that you know what you’re talking about.
I really like the fact that you too have come from a different background into Game Audio. One of the things I’m struggling with at the moment is that for my profession, I work as a QA Tester. And every time I look at peers who have gotten into Game Audio, they have studied that in school and then go on to get a job almost straight after. I think your story shows that it is possible to go a different route, it just takes work, which I’m hoping happens in my case.”
Dwayne, Aspiring Sound Designer
“The biggest take away after my first reading is that I should stop worrying and just do the work, no matter how much time it takes. I really enjoyed the direct nature of the book, it felt “to-the-point” yet dense with info I’ll want to go back to.
I found beneficial that you included your experience and path, it being so varied and not a straight line to where you’re at now. You also offered questions for me to think about, regarding financial stability and plans for the future. While these are scary to consider, they help define goals for me. The method you gave to make it less intimidating to learn a list of things will certainly come in handy as well.
I’ll definitely recommend your book to others, since I feel it narrows down what people wanting to get into the field should focus on. It also simply felt good to read, and being a slow reader I was surprised to reach the end so quickly.”
Thomas, Sound Designer
I know I’m hiding last names here – but these are all real people. They’re all real emails I’ve gotten. I haven’t edited or re-worded anything. These words came right out of their own mouths.
And, quite frankly, if you think I’m trying to pull one over on you here – you’re crazy.
What I want you to do instead is to think about the difference that you can make.
Because of your interest in game audio – your desire to better yourself and your career – you can help everyone else too.
You can help me reframe, rebuild, and remake an awful story into an inspiring one.
You can help men and their families in the fight against an awful disease.
Here’s What to Do
Again, here are the steps to follow:
- Go to https://justgiving.com/fundraising/adamtcroft
- Make a donation of at least $15
- Make a donation of $25 or more to get a special bonus gift
- Wait patiently – I’m fulfilling all of your orders personally, by hand, and it will take me a bit to get to each one
Cool? I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow – you’re going to get one message from me every day this week.
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