In this candid episode, Jared shares how his electric violin act was banned from GigSalad—and why that may have been a blessing in disguise. He explores the danger of relying on a single lead source (hello, Dan Kennedy’s “most dangerous number is one” rule), and walks through the power of diversification, especially through preferred vendor lists. If you've ever felt too dependent on one gig platform, this episode is your wake-up call—and your roadmap to building a more stable, sustainable gigging career.

"Getting on a preferred vendor list is like opening up a brand new income stream—one that no algorithm can take away from you."

- BookLive: Everything you need to start marketing and booking your act online (without having to hire or rely on a tech team!)​
- Your First Gig: Everything you need to book your first high-paying gig.
- Fulltime Music Masterclass: The Secret To an Unlimited Stream of High-Paying Private Event Gigs …Without Spending a Fortune on Online Advertising or Having Any Connections!
- Fulltime Music Academy (Gig Vault): 24,665 High-End Venues + Event Planners: Use this directory to book your highest-paid gig to-date.
- Breaking Into High-end Gigs Masterclass: How I Went From Broke Musician to Thriving By Breaking Into These Largely Unknown High-Paying Gigs

What's up, renegade musicians? It's Jared Judge. Welcome back to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. I am on a walk right now, and I wanted to share something that I haven't talked about much other than to one of my private coaching students.

And then today I shared it in my group coaching, which is the fact that I've been banned from My electric violin act was banned from gigs out.

This happened a couple months ago. And the reason why I was banned is because in order to, you know, get the word out there about our coaching program and everything, I run ads on Facebook and Instagram.

And in one of the ads, I mentioned the fact that, you know, I've gotten fake leads from, Platforms like Gig Salad, which we've talked about fake leads. What are those? You know, everybody gets some, whether it's on Gig Salad or other platforms or even on your own website sometimes.

It's just somebody who submits a contact form on your website and they're not legitimately who they represent themselves to be. For example, you might get a lead from what appears to be a bride looking for music for her wedding, and then they'll make them seem legitimate.

They'll say, oh, we booked this venue and it's a real venue, not too far from you. And then they'll start to talk about things that you wouldn't really expect a bride to be talking about this early on in them checking you out. For example, I've gotten a lot of fake leads who say, oh, can we pay you by credit card? before we've even talked about budget and pricing, things like that.

So yeah, that's a fake lead. And if you were actually to pursue that lead and sell them, yes, we could take credit card or a check or whatever, they will somehow fraudulently pay you.

Like if they do send you a check, it'll bounce, but like the way that they make their money, and I've talked about this in the other episode about this, is they'll send you a check for more than the amount that you require.

And then they'll ask you to send the difference to the quote unquote photographer or caterer or just send the difference back to them. And so you send money out of your own account to somebody else, and then the bank, after you've deposited the check, it will bounce and then they will claw back the money from your account.

But the money that you've sent to somebody else, it's already it's gotten. And so you're out that money. So that's how that scam works. And so I've run an ad that basically says, you know, if you are tired of fake leads from platforms like gigs out and others, well, there's another way to generate leads and watch my masterclass to do that.

And as a result, gig salad banned me, which kind of is, it's not great. I did kind of explain, you know, the premise behind it, but they did not budge. But this brings us to the discussion part of this, which is one of my marketing mentors, his name is Dan Kennedy, and he says the most dangerous number in any business is the number one.

And how that applies here is that if you only have one lead source, for example, if I was relying on gig salad alone, for my gigs. And I truly was like desperate for the money that came from these leads.

And all of a sudden they banned me, which is a real possibility as I've discovered. Then boom, my entire income stream as a musician is gone. Which that's not a great position for anybody to be in to rely on one thing.

Which is why it's a huge huge argument for diversification. And so if I'm looking to get these higher end gigs, sure, I can get some of them on these directory websites, but I'm not going to rely completely on them.

That's why getting banned was actually probably a good thing because it forced me to evaluate and really just focus on the other lead sources. But what are those other lead sources? you know, there's obviously the other directories, which I'm still on those, unless I get banned.

Then there are, you could run your own ads, Facebook, Instagram, Google, things like that. That has a pretty high barrier to entry. I do run some of those ads there. But as you all know, my favorite one is the preferred vendor lists.

Because in your own backyard, there are hundreds of event venues that host corporate events, weddings, nonprofit gigs, things like that. There are also dozens of event planners who do this independently of the venues, and they're the ones that are like inquiring for the different venues and musicians and things like that.

And the thing is like each of these are individual entities. And so I actually kind of consider getting on a preferred vendor list as opening up a new income stream.

And so if I get on the preferred vendor list for Lions Gate Event Center, which I'm on, that was the one that I played, the Married at First Sight episode, Lifetime Channel, reality TV show, check that out, it was the Denver season.

If I get on their preferred vendor list, that is a completely new independent income stream for my music. And then say again on the preferred vendor list for the Slate Hotel in downtown Denver, which I am, and I actually am negotiating. a corporate gig down there, which is going to pay me a pretty hefty rate, plus a couple free nights of hotel stay, which I always enjoy.

That is a completely independent income stream from the Lions Gate Event Center, and it's completely independent from any of my directories or the ads. And so, like, if you get on dozens or hundreds of these preferred vendor lists, then you've basically solved that problem of relying on one income stream.

And yeah, it's a lot of work for sure, but it's work that pays off in the long term. Like it's not just a flash in the pan thing. Like for a lot of these directory websites, if you stop paying them, they stop giving you leads.

But if you get on a preferred vendor list, you don't have to pay them. Sure, you got to put in some time, cost of gas to get there, but they will continue to generate leads until I die, which is pretty cool, which I don't plan on dying anytime soon, knock on wood.

And so, yeah, the most dangerous number of business is one. And it just goes to show you that any single one of your income sources can literally be snapped up underneath you at a dime or whatever the phrase is.

And it doesn't feel good as musicians and you know, not one person or one entity should not have complete control over what you do. I heck, even, even, even I rely on multiple income streams. Like, why not diversification is where it's at, baby. So just some thoughts to consider.

And if you're not pursuing these preferred vendor lists yet, I highly encourage you to start. because like you saw, your accounts can get banned very quickly. And even if you appeal, they don't let you back on.

So why not become independent and forge your own path forward? All right, so if you are curious how to do this, I'd be happy to help you with this diversification strategy. We can chat. It's totally free.

and then if it makes sense, we can talk about what it looks like to get some coaching on this, but there's no obligation on that. Just go to my website, fulltimemusicacademy.com/call and book a time to chat. I'd love to chat with you, meet you, and hear how I could help you.

So that's all I got for you.

Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Gigging Musician Podcast. Remember, your music will not market itself, and don't rely on only one source of your high-end gigs.

All right, we'll see you soon. Bye.