Headliner Mindset

SIPPY - How Hiring A Coach Changed The Game

• Nik Cherwink

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Sippy is a powerhouse in the dubstep and bass music scene, known for her high-energy performances and fearless authenticity. From playing the main stage at Lost Lands to headlining her own tour, she’s built a career that’s both inspiring and impactful. But her journey hasn’t been without challenges. As one of my coaching clients, Sippy has worked to overcome anxiety, embrace balance, and transform her mindset into one that fuels creativity and growth.

In this episode, we reflect on how far she’s come since our very first podcast together. Sippy shares her experience of coaching with me, the daily practices that keep her grounded, and how she shifted from a fear-driven mentality to a love-fueled approach to her career and life. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to create lasting change and thrive under pressure.

Follow Sippy here:
https://www.instagram.com/sippyau
https://www.tiktok.com/@sippyau

Follow Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink

And visit my site to join the mailing list or book a free coaching call:
https://www.nikcherwink.com

SIPPY:

like a lot of people around me, a lot of my artist friends, a lot of my close friends, like music or not music, whatever. I started telling them that I was, starting to work with you and I was like, Oh yeah. Like. You know, I have this coach, Nick, and I'm really excited to work with him and blah, blah, blah. And anytime they asked how it's going or how it went, like, I almost couldn't articulate how much it changed everything for me,

Nik:

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Headliner Mindset Podcast. This is actually a very special episode because today's guest is the very first guest I ever had on the podcast. She might be tiny, but she is an absolute monster in the dubstep and bass music scene. She's currently on her own headlining tour, coming off playing mainstage at Lost Lands and selling out venues all over the country. She also just did one on one coaching with me and completely leveled up in so many ways. This is zippy.

SIPPY:

Yay,

Nik:

You know,

SIPPY:

We are so back.

Nik:

we are so back. Let's go. Episode number one. if you haven't listened to it, if you haven't started from the beginning,

SIPPY:

Yeah. go right back let's go full circle.

Nik:

Yeah, it started with you, baby. I am pumped to have you back. And it's funny because I was just remembering doing my very first episode ever. And stumbling over the intro. I remember doing the intro and being like, Oh, I

SIPPY:

did it like five times. I was like take your time. It's all good. No rush Now you're just like Yeah. whatever. I'm like, all right

Nik:

but you know, this is, this is not only so cool to have you back to have like my very first guest back. but also we just got to get really deep together over the last, few months we just did coaching together and that

SIPPY:

big time

Nik:

That was so fun. I truly feel honored to, have been, welcomed into your world and have been able to, support you on your journey, as an artist. And I'm really excited to share a bit about what that experience was like.

SIPPY:

as am I, I'm I'm honestly I'm excited to Open up and talk about it a bit more, you know, like I've had one off conversations with people, but I don't think I've actually sat down and had a full on like, I know it's almost like a debrief for me as well.

Nik:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do a debrief for sure. Now. I'd like to start this off the way that I would always start off my coaching sessions, you know, usually is starting off with some wins and celebrating. So I would just love to know what are you celebrating right now? What can we

SIPPY:

honestly, there's like too many. I've gotten to the point where I'm like, what am I not celebrating

Nik:

But are you celebrating it though? Right? Are we actually taking the time to actually really get in and get

SIPPY:

every morning, every I've got my fifth. I mean, we're going to get into it all, but I got my 15 minutes every morning and I'm, I'm in there just like celebrating it and get excited. But, at the moment specifically, there's like a couple of things. I'm in this like new phase that I'm really enjoying, and I'm excited by, but long story short at the moment, I'm kind of celebrating this headline tour, it's been really successful, which is awesome. it's so scary to go off and do those sorts of things and seeing it all be successful is. Super awesome. I'm really enjoying being out there with everyone, seeing my fans, like connecting with them. And, we're doing a lot of these 360 shows, which means I get a lot more time with everyone and actually get to experience them a little bit more, which has been super fun. so very much celebrating that, I moved into a new place. Which means I'm in a new studio and very much celebrating my new space because it's not quite finished, but I'm loving it. And yeah, I'm celebrating this space I've built for myself.

Nik:

I wanna get a, tour, of the new studio when we're done. You gotta

SIPPY:

I can definitely give You a little tour. I cleaned up especially for you.

Nik:

Aw. you.

SIPPY:

Yeah. it was a little bit of a mess, but it's okay. It's clean now. incentive. and I'm also just celebrating this like new headspace and mindset I'm in.. Like where I'm at, wait, maybe I'll take one step back. One thing I'm also celebrating is I'm in a period right now where I'm very much making the time for writing music and. And all of that. And that is so much fun. Like that's where I'm most at home. I love writing music. And I'm going to be honest. I was out of practice for a while. Cause I wasn't being consistent with it. It was kind of like deadline come. So I push, push, push, and then I'm burnt out. So I take all this time off. Whereas at the moment I'm in like a really good routine with it. And I'm just like. Loving it. and then, yeah, the most important thing that I'm celebrating is just like the mindset that I'm in at the moment. and the things I did to prioritize that and to get myself here, It feels fucking awesome. I honestly am at a point where I'm like, how was I even surviving with my old headspace? Like it was just exhausting. And now, yeah, here I am.

Nik:

let's, let's take it back to your old headspace, where were you at and what were you struggling with? When you came to me for coaching?

SIPPY:

There's sort of two points that I think of the point where we were, we did the first podcast and then the point where I came To you with coaching. I think when I was on the podcast, I sort of opened up a little bit more. That was a bit more phase of acceptance. I had come to terms with things, with certain things in my mentality and my headspace that weren't quite right. And I remember opening up to you about a lot of those things. But I kind of, you know, I was at acceptance, but I wasn't at, let's do something about it, I think. and then probably six months after that was, I have to do something about this, just knowing that. That's where my headspace is. Is it making it go away? and then, I kind of had one phase of that before I started coaching with you where I was like, I need to do some stuff for myself, to get myself, into a certain headspace and in a certain spot. And then once I get there, I'm heading into you and I feel like, yeah, the first few months of doing that, I got myself to a place where I'm like, okay. You know, we're sitting here, we're at the point where I don't feel like I'm, I feel like I'm surviving. it sounds so dramatic, but before that I was really like, I'm working hard just for day to day shit.

Nik:

Tell me, more about what you were really going through at that moment and where your headspace was when you were just in that kind of survival mode.

SIPPY:

You know, I definitely had, like a big bout of depression that I was kind of struggling to, to shake, and I got out of the kind of heaviness of that. I wasn't really sitting in the doom and gloom, but I had a lot of anxiety and I'm someone who I have a history of it. Like, when I was a kid, I had it really bad. And then I kind of don't have no idea how, but the. A long period, I just kind of didn't exist for me. And then, as I got older, it kind of resurfaced and, trying to, deal with it as an adult is completely different to when you're a kid, and so that anxiety was really. exacerbated by the kind of lifestyle I have with music and also just the industry itself. You know, there's so many things that kind of happen that are definitely not built to make you less anxious. Let's just say that, you

Nik:

Yeah. What, what are some of those things that are anxiety inducing, you know, as a touring artist playing this game, living this lifestyle. What were some of those things that were creating that anxiety for you?

SIPPY:

One of them is like the sense of routine. Your life starts to have Barely any routine because it changes day by day. You know, I'm never at my house for long periods of time, or I'm flying out every weekend, different airport, different cities, different people, everything is always changing and there's no sense of congruency, besides yourself, which is okay. If you're in a good, Headspace and you're doing the things you need to do for yourself, but, if you're not, you feel more trapped inside yourself because you're literally only with yourself. You've got no one else to kind of pull you out of that, you know, no matter how many calls you make or, text you send it's still not quite the same. That's definitely one thing that's, Quite anxiety inducing. another one is also just so much of this industry is. And I know this is a big one and I'm sure we're going to go into depth with this, but like this industry is a lot about comparison. and really as an artist, that is super unhelpful. it's really unhelpful, for your headspace, for your art, for just your overall wellbeing. But a lot of it is emails with urgency about. What line you deserve to be on, on a poster, like you're better than this person or you're worse than this person, or you're worth this much money or you're worth that much money. And, having those conversations every day, yeah, it can be pretty tough and anxiety inducing and, um,, the, and then the other element of it too, that's, Super unhelpful for anxiety is the social media component, Having this pressure that you need to be on socials all the time. And you need to be blowing up and you need to be, so present on there, especially, as people who. That's not really our specialty. We're in it because we like writing music and we some of us might like performing music. Some of us don't even like performing. It's more about like the writing and the artistry of that sort of thing. Being on social media all the time and then getting all sorts of comments and things, negative, positive, whatever it is, like It's a whirlwind for anxiety,

Nik:

Yeah. So you were getting pulled off course a bit with your headspace and feeling a lot of anxiety, at that time. Yeah.

SIPPY:

And definitely like the way that the long term routine was, which is like months and months of playing shows every weekend, and then I would then have these moments where I'm like, okay, I have four weeks. Of no shows at all, which is great. That's the time where it's okay, now I get to rest and recharge, but you're so wound up and you're so burnt out that honestly, it takes a whole month to unwind or you don't even get to unwind and then you're back on the road again. and I think that was the biggest thing. At the point where, things started to change for me, I went into my doctor and my psychologist and I was like, I'm having all these like physical anxiety symptoms and I'm going, yeah, yeah, but it's all anxiety. I know it is. I'm in my burnout period. Like I would literally come to my doctor and my psychologist being like, okay, like burnout's coming up. Like, I know, I know it's about that time. And they were like, look, we get that, you know, that it's coming, but That doesn't stop it from happening and the problem is the more that you kind of allow, you're just like waiting until it happens and then you just sit through it and a fucking horrible and they're like, the more that happens, like the worst, each of these bouts will become and they were very right. And now I'm getting to a point where it's like, okay it's more about how am I going to optimize myself to not reach those burnouts if this is my lifestyle, obviously there's always a choice to be like, okay, I'm not doing it anymore and just getting out of it completely. But I'm like, if this is something I really love and want to do, how can I make it work without turning into this complete. mess when I get a break.

Nik:

Yeah. So this was more around the time when we had, done the first podcast and you were just trying to get back to baseline

SIPPY:

that was probably from about six months after that is where I was like, I need to get to baseline, like I need to create a, it does not go below this, no matter how busy I've been and you know, all the rest.

Nik:

what were some of the things that you did then just to help yourself get back to baseline? Yeah,

SIPPY:

like it was kind of like a new year's resolution where I was like, 2024 is the year that I prioritize my mental health you know, I always say, yeah, I'm prioritizing my mental health, but I'm like, this is a year I prioritize that over everything else, over everything else. And before that it was career over everything else, always career. This is over everything. With that, I went to my doctor, went to my psychologist and spoke to them about options. about, like, some things that would help me. And then we made a plan together. I, Stayed on top of my psychologist appointments, you know, like I used to be like, Oh, I'll talk to my psychologist and then I do it like twice and then be like, I'm good. And then go off and just unravel and then come back to him being like, Oh, my God, I stayed on top of that. I

Nik:

Isn't that normally what we do though, as well as it's like, we're in a bad place, we're struggling, we're falling off and it's like, okay, let me do the things I need to do to get back into a good place. And maybe, you know, we start exercising And eating better and journaling, meditating, whatever, seeing the therapist. And then we're good. And then we're like, okay, I'm good. aNd we stopped doing the things. And then next thing we know, we're just going back into this, the cycle. I've done that so many times. Right. I think

SIPPY:

Yeah. Honestly, I was doing that for ages. I think it was only until, it wasn't until we started working with each other that I started to have a completely different cycle with all of that sort of stuff. The other thing I was doing was just like, I was also doing my own research and my own bits and pieces for my mental health. I started turning my mental health almost into a hobby. I was like, okay, like instead of playing video games or instead of Playing guitar or whatever. I'm gonna do stuff. That's good and helpful for my mental health so I got like a workbook for example, that's like It's a cognitive behavioral therapy and I was like, okay, I'm gonna sit down It's like a workbook so I'd go through and you know I just was doing all these little things and I was like, I don't know what's gonna help But all I know is I'm gonna try and do it

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

And I'm not going to put a timeline on it. I don't care. I'm not going to think, oh, well, I have to get better by the time I get back to shows. I was like, I may not. And that's okay.

Nik:

here's the, here's the secret. Here's the secret is, well, one, just big shout out. What you did was you decided I'm going to start doing the work, right? I'm going to start doing the work, whatever, you know, I'm doing the workbooks. I'm doing whatever I can. And the truth is the work never ends. It never ends. There's no, there's never going to be a point where it's like,, I'm just done, you know, cause there's always going to be a next level what's going to happen is, okay, well now I'm good and I'm succeeding and I'm growing and now I'm just in a different phase of life. And guess what? There's going to be new challenges someday, you know, you'll be married and you'll have kids and then there's going to be a whole other level of like leveling up and work and it's just, you know, we're going to keep entering these new phases,

SIPPY:

yeah. Yeah. It's definitely like the work never stops. And there was actually a really good book that I read that was talking about that. and it doesn't stop, but I also have noticed that I'm in a headspace at the moment where the work. Feels easier and becomes more fun. that's a cool headspace to be in because it does make it more fun because I remember them being like, Oh God, like I was so like, but yeah, I am working hard and I am doing it, but I wasn't,

Nik:

it's harder, to get yourself into the good place. It's like when you're in a place where you're struggling, it's like, that's where it's a heavier lift of work of I really, you know, I, I've read a book recently that called I declare war and it's about like declaring war on your inner demons, basically like

SIPPY:

Wow. I want to read that book.

Nik:

you know, and, And to me, something shifted where it was like, I would go through my funks, I would have my little depressive episodes, I'd have my bad days, I'd have my whatever, it was almost more of a casual approach to being like, Oh, okay, this thing is happening. I'm going to write it out or I'm going to just maybe, yeah, I'm going to go just fucking wait for it to be over. And I had my kind of first real bout with anxiety. I had like a, an anxiety attack relatively recently, a few weeks ago. And it was like the minute that it happened. I mean, I'd, I'd add, I'd say two

SIPPY:

I'm like, must

Nik:

kind of back to back.

SIPPY:

What does that

Nik:

Yeah, you know, I've also been doing this work. I've been doing the work for fucking 15 years, you know, Relatively regularly, but the minute that that happened and it was like, I slipped, I like, it felt like the train slipped off the tracks and I felt totally out of control. And I was like, Oh, I was like, Oh, Oh, you want to fuck with me like anxiety. Like you want to come start some shit. I was like, let's go. And it was this, like, I got like aggressive about it. I was like, Oh, I'm going to declare war on this. And I was like, all right, I'm going to get, I got coaching. I got the therapist. Reached out to like eight people for support. I was like, everybody, let's go. We're going to fucking battle this thing, you know? And, and it was a totally different approach to then I think in the past. And, what I'm getting at is there is a level of how much do you want to really put into it? I keep using these very aggressive words, like attack it, you know, is what I want to say, but it's like, it's just like a throttle. It's like, I can do a little bit of the work on a, I can approach it casually. Or like you said, you're like, I made my mental health the priority. This became the thing. And I started putting in some serious focus and some serious effort rather than it being like the afterthought or the thing that gets the leftover breadcrumbs of our time and energy. Yeah,

SIPPY:

you are hesitant about saying these aggressive words is because there's always this thing in mental health. That's be kind to yourself and blah, blah, blah. And it's not that you can't be like those two things can happen at the same time. You know what I mean? Like you can still be, kind and gracious to yourself while still getting after it, It's not to be confused with that grind mentality. It's literally like, no, I'm just getting serious about. Not feeling like this anymore because you always think like when you're in the moment, you're like, I never want this to happen again. If you don't want it to happen again, why are you not doing the work? and there is definitely a switch that flicks and you can't always predict how or when it will happen because. for me, I was like, why was that the point? Or what made my headspace get into that? Like you said, I've had many like leveling up periods, but this one was a big one that I was like, holy shit. I wish I fucking opened up like this, two years ago or whatever, but I don't know. It happens when it happens because of a combination of where you're at, what you've learned, and all of

Nik:

yeah.

SIPPY:

of things.

Nik:

And this is A very big generalization that a lot of people talk about as being the difference between therapy and coaching is a lot of times when we're in a really bad place, it's not necessarily the time for coaching. You might not really respond well to it. I'm at like a negative five and I just need to get back to zero that probably is time For therapy There's probably like a bit of a deeper level of work. Whereas with coaching is more like, okay maybe i'm at a zero i'm like i'm okay, but I want to be doing fucking great I want to go from good to great. I want to go from great to absolutely spectacular, you

SIPPY:

That's really it. Cause after we did the podcast, I remember being like, wow, like that was awesome. I love talking to Nick. Like that was great. And I remember you saying look, here's my details if you want to book in a session. And I remember at the time being like, I want this, but I know I'm not ready. and then, I had that 6 months later where I had the, okay, like, here I am. I'm going to prioritize all this. And I distinctly remember getting to a point where I was like, Oh, okay. Now I feel ready, now I feel like that's really going to help me. And honestly, looking back on the whole experience, I'm so glad I did it with you at that point, because that's exactly what I needed to do. I needed to get myself to that baseline. And then once I was there, I was like, I think I could have kept going, with what I was going, but I think it would have taken me a lot longer. whereas once I started with you, it kind of helped me compound on what I'd already done while it was still fresh. Which was great, honestly.

Nik:

Yeah. Yeah. So I remember it wasn't that long into coaching. It was like after our probably first or second session that like you started having some big breakthroughs,, do you remember, what was the big shift for you when we started and what were some of the changes that you started making?

SIPPY:

I mean there were definitely a lot of changes. My completely changed. I remember I had this big thing in my head where I was like, I miss my old headspace. Like, you know, I kept being kind of fixated on this and it was because I had this mentality before I moved to the States that I just really enjoyed. I felt like it really served me positively. And I think I talked about it on the podcast, but once I moved, it wasn't sitting in that positive. direction anymore, which meant I was feeling way down, about a lot of things. So early on working with you, I feel like that headspace, like we tackled a few things pretty quickly that sort of allowed me to start moving that headspace. and there were a few daily practices that I started doing that really I mean, I still do them every day. if anything, I do them more now than I was even doing them when we were coaching, that I notice how much they help keep me in that, Kind of headspace, and now it almost feels like I almost can't default back into that kind of like headspace I was in before, you know, like,

Nik:

Yeah. So what are, what are some of the daily practices that you're doing now to keep that headspace and a in a positive state?

SIPPY:

so now, one of the biggest things that's physical thing I do every day is I do this 15 minutes. Journaling and manifesting. also, just for the record, I don't know if I ever told you this at the time, but for whatever reason, the word manifest just irks me. I just don't, I just, I don't know why I have such a negative connotation with the word manifest. I mean, we said early on, we're in woo woo, but we're also like, like, woo woo but like,

Nik:

I always gotta, I always do like the Tests with the clients. I'm like, yeah, like where are you at on the woo woo scale? Like how How woo woo and weird and spiritual can I get with you but you know I gotta thank you actually because when we were working together You reminded me about Joe Dispenza's work. And a lot of times, yeah, talking about manifesting and the law of attraction and you, when you put your thoughts out into the universe and then they come back to you through the you know, the divine source is going to bring you whatever you want. Like, yeah, it's some fluffy ass, cheesy, woo woo shit. But you reminded me about, Joe Dispenza, who is a, You know, it comes from a science background and basically is proving, scientific reality behind how our brain works, how our body works, how the energy in our body works, knowing that we are all energy. Everything is made up of energy. Our body is made up of tiny atoms that are all made up of energy and thoughts and our emotions are connected and how they connect and on the quantum, this is like quantum mechanics, quantum physics on this sort of quantum realm, how our energy attracts other energy into it. So it's proving the science behind quantum mechanics. The manifestation stuff. yeah, ever since you reminded me of that, like, I, my whole coaching approach I've started to use a much different terminology now. It's become much less woo woo and a lot more science based of like, look, this is how your brain works. This is how your body works. Your body is made up of energy. Everything is energy. Money is energy. So how are we like controlling the

SIPPY:

I think that's I remember you bringing that up. When we were doing the coaching, when you started talking about this energy stuff, different words resonate for different people. It is really all the same concepts. It's just, they resonate differently. But I remember when you like started talking about energy. That's something I feel and have experienced. It very much resonated with me, but, I say kind of my 15 minutes to like journal gratefulness manifesting. And essentially it's a routine of 15 minutes and there's three sections to it. The first section is I have 10 goals. That are like my current goals that I. I guess they're more short term goals that I write out every day. One to 10, every day I write them out. And then the second part I do, I've actually changed it a little bit from when we were doing it in coaching. So

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

when we were doing it, then I was doing goals, then the next step was gratefulness. So 10 things that I'm grateful for, and that could be anything. Goals is also anything. it's not necessarily career related. if anything, like half of it is for me is usually personal. and then the 10 gratefulness again, anything from I'm grateful for this opportunity I had to play this show to I'm grateful for the sound of birds. Like it can literally be.

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

and then I've actually changed that one recently instead of just being grateful nurse. It's now called grateful and proud.

Nik:

So a little, a little bit of like celebration in there

SIPPY:

Yeah. because I was noticing sometimes I felt like I wasn't celebrating, in that gratefulness, I was trying to say, Oh, I'm grateful that like I've done this for myself. But then I started being like, well, I can just

Nik:

You

SIPPY:

as like, I'm proud of myself for doing those things. yeah. So that's the second part. And then the third part is sitting down for five minutes and just bringing all of that, essentially like feeling that, Into my body. and just really thinking it out and imagining myself as I'm achieving those goals and, being a person that, that is now a reality for them. and I do that every, every day, every day.

Nik:

First off, I love that you're sharing with me that the word manifest kind of irks you.'cause I call that the 15 minutes to manifest.

SIPPY:

Yeah, I know.

Nik:

I will

SIPPY:

say, but I'm like, I love the exercise. I love the exercise. And,

Nik:

it.

SIPPY:

and it is manifesting. I don't know what other

Nik:

but I'm gonna change it to 15 minutes to make shit happen. That's what I'm gonna call it. instead. Right.

SIPPY:

I fuck with it. honestly, it's my 15 minutes. I know we talked about this concept, but it's my 15 minutes to like, and this is fucking woo woo, but it's my 15 minutes to connect with the greater power. it's connecting me with the energy and the creative,, greater power. And that is like, so woo woo. So I'm not going to be like, this is my 15 minutes to connect with the greater power. Like, everyone's going to be like, Sippy has lost her fucking

Nik:

yeah, yeah, yeah here's the thing, call it whatever you want. I want to take a moment to celebrate you. Because you're actually doing the work. and That's really important is like I can coach people until I'm blue in the face. But if you don't actually do the fucking things, it doesn't matter. I can give you the strategy. That's all I can do though. It's like in sports, it's like I can be on the sidelines and I can help you come up with the play and I can call out the blind spots and give you some tips and some pointers. But you are the one that's on the field that's running with the ball that has to do the work. And I want to celebrate you because not only were, while we were working together, You would discipline, you're like, all right, cool. I'm going to 15 minutes a day. Then I'm going to sit down. I'm going to do this shit. I'm going to trust my coach. I'm going to put in the work, right? but not only that, you also have continued to do it. Right. And haven't stopped doing it. Kind of like we were saying before, and even though things are going well, you haven't been like, oh, okay, I'm good. I don't need to do that anymore. You're

SIPPY:

Well, I'm not gonna lie. I did. I did have some time where I was like, yeah, Yeah. like I'll do it every whatever. And honestly, it was recently that I went on a a break where I had no shows was two weeks in Australia at home and Journaling just stopped, right? I think I did it like twice and, but I wasn't working, I was working on music, but like, I wasn't playing shows or anything like that. I got to the point at the end of that two weeks and I was like, I don't like this. I want to do it. Even when I'm on break, because it makes me feel good, like I feel so much better. I don't know if you never work out or if you never go outside or if you don't like shower, like you can not shower, but you just feel like shit,

Nik:

That's that's the thing is that's it's exactly what it is is it's an exercise and in the same way that we need to exercise our physical body. We also need to exercise our internal body. We need to exercise our emotional body. Right. We need to exercise our mental body and because that's what we are made up of as humans. We are a combination of physical energy, mental energy and emotional energy. And, exercise is very, very clear when it comes to physical exercise. Go to the gym, lift weights, go running, eat healthy food. But. We also really have to do the same thing for the internal world. So this is, this is like, like just 15 minutes of exercise for your mind, for your emotions, for your heart, for your soul. But that's how you build a strong, energetic body and you build a strong mental state is like you have to commit yourself to doing some of the exercises that are going to make it strong. So I really just, again, Want to celebrate you. And even noticing I'm like, damn, when I don't do this for a couple of weeks. I kind of feel a little bit off. I kind of feel like I'm, I'm not as sharp. I'm not as grounded. I'm not as dialed in. And then, okay, now, somebody in your position, okay, now I've got a bunch of flights to get on and a bunch of fucking shows and managers and agents. And so like you need to be solid on the inside,

SIPPY:

yeah. you really do and honestly when you are Everything else just comes so much It just comes easily in terms of decisions and handling things and where to go and what to like, all of that feels so much more easy to handle because you are so solid in your own stuff. it feels way less reactive, even though you're still reacting. you're still reacting to what's happening in the outside world. it doesn't feel quite as like, holy shit, I'm trying to like, make this work and do good and be, I'm trying to make this happen. It just all flows way easier.

Nik:

So what are some of the specific changes and results that you created for yourself while we were coaching together?

SIPPY:

There were a few, I think writing down those goals every day is great because it does also allow you to keep track of where you were and how far you've come. I even like, I'm actually just curious now at where. My,

Nik:

Where the

SIPPY:

like, I'm trying to think what my original goals were,

Nik:

you knocked out your top goals within the first like two months and we were like, wait a minute, like we have to set more goals now.

SIPPY:

got to write more, like, you know, I've also, recently I'm writing down a few goals, I'm like, once you achieve them and you keep writing them, you get to a point where you're like, should I keep writing this down, because I feel like I'm there, and I'm not going to lie, I'm at that point

Nik:

Here's the three goals that I have here. I am on my own headlining tour, I am writing music consistently, and I am more present and enjoying playing my shows.

SIPPY:

Yeah,

Nik:

And those we knocked off real quick.

SIPPY:

those we knocked off. I have a well balanced life between work, rest, exercise, self care, and we're

Nik:

Boom.

SIPPY:

front. I am calm, relaxed, not anxious, happy, and grateful for my life.

Nik:

Yeah. Yeah.

SIPPY:

almost half of these. One of the big ones. me see if there's another, yeah. One of the big ones was I'm not comparing and I'm on my own path slash sure of myself. that was a big one. That was a big one. I wanted to overcome

Nik:

Yeah, you were getting a little caught up in the comparison game

SIPPY:

Yeah, the comparison and the race and the bigger than you and they're better than you and it's happening for them, but it's not happening for you. I got really caught up in all of that. and yeah, it didn't honestly, it didn't take us long to rewire it. Like, I remember being like, Oh, I hate that. I'm like this and you're like, all right, we'll get it. And then, I think a month later, I was like, Nick. I'm like on the other side, like I'm full on, like opposite of that mode now, which is

Nik:

What was How did you make that shift?

SIPPY:

where my thoughts went every time I saw people. I remember you saying, something because at the end of the day, nothing has really changed in terms of the outside. You know, everything's still exactly the same. It's just the way that I was kind of. Dealing with it and processing it now has completely changed. Essentially we, I remember us having a, an exercise that was, I want you to celebrate someone every day. I want you to celebrate someone else every day. And you said extra points if it's someone that you don't like. And not that I don't like everyone, but you know, like,

Nik:

Yeah, some of that you compare yourself to and maybe get jealous of. And, you know, that's, which is our little ego, our little human ego. It's so normal to do that. Like, Oh yeah, this person is, yeah, they're getting billed more. They have more fans or whatever. it's just so normal and natural. So

SIPPY:

Yeah. So that one I remember as I was doing that, I think I got into the third day and there was someone that I, I was so stuck on them. I was like, oh, I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna celebrate this person. And literally only a matter of weeks later, I got to the point where not only was I okay with celebrating them, but I found myself reaching out and trying to help them. You know, like I actively was like. I want to see this person like thrive and live a good life. I remember us like pretty much laughing about it. seeing how my headspace was today, you were like, am I getting this correct? this was a person that you were not stoked on. And now, you know,

Nik:

Well, and that's such a great example of. A big piece of the foundation of my coaching is playing the inside out game rather than the outside in game, right? When we're playing the inside out game at all, it really becomes all about what's going on inside of me, right? If I am feeling jealous or I'm feeling anxious or whatever, normally what we might try to do is then, well, let me go succeed more. really work on, getting a higher fee or getting more bookings or climbing up the lineup or let me go prove myself in some way so that then I'll feel better about myself. Right. When really the inside out game is like, Oh, let me change. The way that I'm operating on the inside, which is that Oh, I can choose to celebrate. I can choose to be in gratitude. I can choose to love on people. I can choose to love my haters. You know what I mean? Or I can go try to work really hard to prove them wrong and prove myself in some way. And at some point I will get to this level of success that I finally feel good about myself. Or I can choose to let go of all that fucking bullshit and feel good about myself now and just choose to spread joy and spread love and be a fucking positive light now. And oh my God, not only does that feel better, but look at the results that I create from there are probably going to be

SIPPY:

exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it's definitely a completely different frequency to be

Nik:

Hmm.

SIPPY:

yeah, and you do notice pretty quick. Other people who are not. You know, sitting in that same frequency and you kind of see it from the outside and you're like, damn, like you're making this lot harder than it needs to be.

Nik:

Yeah. Well, and here's, here's the truth is there is a lot of ego and there's a lot of competition in the scene, there's a lot of comparison, there's a lot of just fucking weird kind of murky energy, and it's like you can get sucked into that and get absolved by it and play that game or you can also really, choose to, bring your own energy. Which I got to share this. I've I found the very this is from a note that I had from our very last session. I want to share with you. This is something that you said was, um, you said, I want to do things the sippy way and then it says doing things from love instead of fear.

SIPPY:

I was actually just going to bring that up because I think everything that I had worked on and all of that, like a lot of it was. the things we've talked about, even though it is deep, it wasn't the root of everything. And I think the root of everything I remember you telling me this so early on was, you sort of encouraged me to try and work and move, out of love instead of fear. And I remember when you first mentioned that concept to me, I didn't fully understand it. I did get it, but, I was kind of grappling with this love versus fear. How are they the same? How, how are they kind of opposites of each other? and then, as the weeks went on, I started to realize, holy shit, most of what I've been doing in my Well, not most, my head space was just very much the way I was reacting to things in terms of my career. And even my life was out of fear. It was, I have to do work because if I don't do work, I won't be successful. And that's. I'm scared of that, instead of, I want to create and I want to be an artist and I want to have fun and I want to bring joy and I want to, you know, like,, it was definitely on the fear side. And now that I've seen that it's. It has changed completely how I go about a lot of different things. especially when it comes to the career, because it's like, wow, now I'm, now that I'm doing things out of love, I'm almost more likely to take risks, but it doesn't feel like I'm taking risks because there's no downside if it doesn't work because I'm purely just here to. enjoy, create, make other people's lives better, and also in doing that, I'm enjoying the process as I go as well, rather than this headspace of fear of if I don't play that show, if I don't work, then if I don't post here, you know, all out of fear that, I won't be successful. I won't have money. I won't be able to pay my bills, all of these reasons why I should be scared.

Nik:

yeah, Yeah. and I know that a lot of people that are listening. Can relate to that right now because I talk to artists every day I work with artists every day and it's not even just an artist thing. It's a human thing. We're so programmed We're so programmed to live in fear. I mean, even look at right now with like the elections, it's just like, Oh my God, the country and all this stuff is going to happen to everybody. Be scared. It's like, we're being fed so much stuff, to fear, and there's just so much deep programming there, but when we can tap into The truth of who we are, the truth of who and what we are, which I believe that we are, spiritual beings having the human experience. And there is a part of ourself that is this infinite spirit with infinite potential with infinite creative energy that wants to come out. It wants to be expressed like we want to fucking love and to play and to create. And when you can tap into that part of yourself, life is so, so different than, um, I have to do this. I, Oh my gosh, I have to succeed and I have to do this quickly and I have to make this money and I have to get these likes and I have to get this acceptance and I have to get signed. It's like the energy around that is all it's coming from fear. this is literally like the deepest level of it. it's conquering fear. Can we conquer fear, and it's not necessarily maybe a switch that is flipped and it's just like, Oh my God, I'd never feel fear again. It's like, no fear is, it's also still going to be there, but yeah, but the, but the, process is, can I continue to choose love and can I continue to choose courage, right? The fear is going to come, but can I have the courage to lean into the fear, right? And can I have the, Consciousness to choose love and not get sucked into the quicksand of fear and it's easier said than done But this is the work What's up everybody? This is Nick and I just want to pop in here real quick because as you can tell, I am super passionate about coaching, especially artists. You know, this path is hard and it comes with its own unique set of challenges from staying motivated and keeping your head in the right place to creating a successful business for yourself and building an audience and building a brand. And I truly believe you're not meant to do this on your own. None of us are. We all need support and can accelerate so much faster when we have other people in our corner. So if you've been inspired by this episode so far and are interested in working together, I'm making a crazy offer right now. I want to take on a handful of new one on one clients by the end of the year, artists that are super committed to their dream and are down to do the work. You know, working one on one really is my favorite because we can go deep together and I can really get in your corner. But for anyone that signs up in the next two weeks, I'm also going to give you access to my headliner mindset coaching group and community. This is my 8 week online program that has videos, exercises, weekly group coaching calls, and most importantly, a thriving community that is super active and supportive, and I'm going to throw this in totally for free. So if you're interested, send me a DM on Instagram, and we can set up a free intro call to see if it's a good fit. And either way, wishing you a ton of success and fulfillment on your journey. Let's fucking get it.

SIPPY:

Yeah. You're right. And also, like, I think, just hearing you say all of that as well, the world right now is really scary and a lot of people are scared There's a part of me that's like, but why, and yes, you can give me a plethora of the things that are fucked up in the world. There's plenty of shit that's fucked up, but the more that we're sitting in a place of the world's fucked up, I'm scared, that kind of moves you into acting and reacting. In that place of fear, which honestly makes it worse. It makes it a lot worse. I remember my dad, cause I was just reflecting on it for myself. I like the past, like a couple of weeks I have been feeling a lot of fear. And I was just thinking right then. And again, not that there aren't scary things that are happening in the world and blah, blah, but you think about that, but then you're like, but I'm sitting here and right now, none of that stuff is happening. Yeah. I'm okay. Like, I remember listening to this, like meditation being like, literally the whole meditation was essentially just being like, you're okay.

Nik:

Yeah,

SIPPY:

it's, it sounds really weird, but I don't know if it's like a hangover from COVID, but I think We saw this period of time where it's whoa, shit can be completely just torn up from underneath you. And then now, seeing the potential of everything to be ripped up underneath you, makes you go, Holy shit. like you get into this constant state of fear around that. but then the problem is if you get too stuck in that, you never really get to live and enjoy it because

Nik:

Yeah

SIPPY:

scared all the time.

Nik:

Yeah. Yeah. And this is one of my Favorite quotes, from Shakespeare. He said, a coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death. But once, it seems to me most strange that men should fear seeing that death, a necessary end will come when it will come. Right? in a simple way, it's kind of like worry about shit when it actually happens, you know, and this is what our brain does. From the survival mechanism of let's be prepared and protect ourself in case something happens. So what we ended up doing is, well, let's imagine all the worst case possible things that could happen, but then that it becomes real in the moment and the body, I mean, this is what anxiety is. It's like the, the, body. I'm like, I just, you know, now I'm having a fucking anxiety attack, even though nothing is actually going on. But my body thinks I'm going to die. And so, you know, we gotta, we, that's that's the part of ourself. We really have to, work on. and, as I said earlier, really like declare war on, and I'm kind of like, look, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

SIPPY:

it's usually never as bad when you're in those scenarios. Then it is when you're freaking out about those scenarios,

Nik:

This is the point I make all the time is it's like, well, we're manifesting all the time, you know, when you're thinking about a worst case scenario, you're thinking about your fear, you're hyper focused on your fear. Now it's becoming real because your body is feeling the physical reaction of to that fear. And so. We make it real and in the same way, well, if we can do it in a negative way, we also can do it in a positive way. And that's really what we spent three months doing was like, okay, let's get super clear. What do you want? What's the best case scenario? Not, not what's the worst that could happen. What's the best that could happen? Let's start Focusing on that and let's write that shit down every day and let's visualize that shit every day. Let me make my body actually feel as if I'm already accomplishing all of that because it has the power to do it in the other way. It has the power to make the worst case scenario feel real. We also have the power to make the best case scenario feel real. If I can wake up every day and I can make myself feel. Even if nothing amazing is happening, but I can bring, I can use the power of my mind to bring my energy and even bring my body into that state. Like that's a fucking superpower. And the truth is we're all doing it all the time. It's just what direction are you doing it in?

SIPPY:

Exactly. And I remember, like,, you said that very early on because I was fixated on this, Oh, like my brain's gotten into a very negative space. And I was focusing on the negative and how my brain got to that point. And you're like. You know, if you got your brain to that point, you can also get your brain the other way. And I just remember the aha moment from that because I was like, Oh fuck. if I got to here, why can't exactly like what, you know, we can, we can kind of go either way. And yeah, it takes the discipline, but you got to let your head space into that positive.

Nik:

Yeah, but you're right. It does take discipline. It's like there's a natural gravitational pull that just wants to pull us into the doom and gloom, you know, negativity. And so it does take effort. It's not necessarily easy. And that's, where I do want to come back to celebrating you for being such a coachable client that was down to do the work and being like, all right, I'll fucking write this shit down every day. What, like, what do I

SIPPY:

weeks in,

Nik:

Let's do it. Yeah. What do I gotta

SIPPY:

I think we got two weeks in and you were like, fuck yeah, like, this is great.

Nik:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, That's it. It's like the work works if you work it, a lot of people just don't even know what the work is to do and they're scrambling. They're just like, damn, I'm just stuck. I don't know what to do. The cool thing is there is a way out. There are things that you can do, where we're talking about some of these tools, these practices, these techniques, even just having these kinds of conversations on a regular basis, I'm curious for you, what was it like as an artist to have this kind of support in your corner because it is very unique It is very different. Obviously when people think about building teams, you have a manager and you have an agent Maybe you have a a tour manager a videographer Like my vision is that someday like there will be coaches on the team also You know where where we can handle the mindset side because it's so fucking important, right?

SIPPY:

For me, it's been the hardest thing for me to also articulate to other people. Although they can see it in my face. Like when, because I told like a lot of people around me, a lot of my artist friends, a lot of my close friends, like music or not music, whatever. I started telling them that I was, starting to work with you and I was like, Oh yeah. Like. You know, I have this coach, Nick, and I'm really excited to work with him and blah, blah, blah. And anytime they asked how, like how it's going or how it went, I almost couldn't articulate how much it changed everything for me, I don't know, there were so many things that I was struggling with, but that was so specific to my, Life and my scenario and my lifestyle, which is, quite different to a lot of people. Say for example, I'd be talking to my doctor and psychologist and whatever, they're obviously helping me in all this sort of stuff, but, there was a part of them that was like, this is the lifestyle you're in and you're going to have to find specific. Ways of dealing with that, they would never normally give that advice to most of their clients because most of their clients are in the same house every day. They have holidays. They're kind of living in a bit of a different sort of structure. Whereas for me, they were a bit like, I don't know what specific suggestions, whereas, when we started working, it was like, okay, done the general stuff to look after myself and my body and blah, blah, blah. Now I need to get specific about how I can get a grapple on my specific life and the way that it goes for me, and I could be a lot more specific with you. I travel all the time and this is what happens and that's what happens. And, you know, this is where my head space goes and there are other people who are doing the exact same thing as me, but they're having completely different issues and problems with it, and it means there are a different set of things that they need to be doing for themselves. say for example, with me, I don't. really have a problem with drugs and alcohol and all that sort of stuff. That comes up so often in our scene and I'm constantly asking myself like, Oh, do I have a problem with alcohol? So then I'm like, all right, I'll stop drinking alcohol. And I just, I stop and have no problem with it. And just, you know, like I, I don't really have a problem with those sorts of things, but a lot of people in this scene do. And I think, having a coach. Especially one that like specifically understands this world and this life. It just allows you to fast track and find the process that's going to help you within the bounds of how your life actually is, say, for example, I'm like, Oh, I feel like my life is all over the place and I don't have a routine. Now I have a routine, you know, but we built it together. The routine wasn't, I wake up and I make a cup of tea because sometimes I can't make a cup of tea. The routine is I journal every day. There's things that we made because that's my lifestyle and realistically we need to make a routine that's can be done anywhere, anytime.

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

I talked to my manager about starting to work with you. Not that, I don't know, there was a big part of it that even though I was like, I think this is really going to help my career. A lot of it was also personal, but you know, I kind of spoke to him and I was like I'm bringing this guy on. I think it's going to be really good for me, blah, blah, blah. I think as I was working with you, and also when I was talking to other people, I was like, for me, someone like you should be built in, you know, maybe not at the start, but for acts that are consistently touring, having a coach in there. I feel like is not only going to work well for the artists, but it's going to work well for the agents, for the promoters, for the management, because it creates an artist that is happy, solid, is going to manage burnout I feel like at the moment in our industry, there's so many acts that are like a quick, fast burn. they blow up super quickly. They do as much as they can, but they kind of struggle with the longevity. And then, people start to become disinterested. They don't know how to keep up with it, or they can't really reinvent themselves or continue to stay relevant. And then they kind of fizzle out and then it's the next, you know, Oh, well, who's, you know, the happening thing now and who's the flavor of the week now and blah, blah, blah. And I think, having someone like a coach on the team allows the artist to keep up with everything, not burn out, stay true to what they're doing, whilst also allowing them to continue to keep creating, In a way that's meaningful to them. and honestly, I've spoken to so many friends about it. I know quite a few of them have now started coaching with you, but so many friends that I'm like, it's a game changer. It changed everything for me. And I think especially, say, for example, I said this to you before, if I was on a bus tour and had a coach there, like I could be on that bus for months and months and have the best time, you know, because it's someone like helping you make sure that you're staying in that. That kind of consistent routine. And also it's someone that, doesn't have skin in the game in terms of like, you don't have any other motive than for me to be happy and healthy Whereas managers and agents, you can have good ones, you can have bad ones, but they always have the, okay, well, we need to make your career. We need you to be bigger, or we need to make more money. Or there's, you know, there's always something, whereas a coach is literally like, I'm just here to make sure that you're happy and healthy and, doing the best that you can.

Nik:

yeah, yeah. And it is a win win for all, you know, it's just the happier and healthier artists are, the better music is going to be made, the more, shows are going to be done, and performances are going to crush it, and fans are going to be engaged with, and, It's something that we've talked about a little bit, but it's, it really is. The vision is just like, yeah, to have, this thing called coaching become more normalized in the music industry. and I think that's where, it hit me a few years ago where I really connected the dots where, you know, I was like, I was a grew up as an artist when I was young and kind of through high school, but then I really got into sports and became super successful in sports, playing rugby because I had. And I had, you know, good people in my corner. I had structure. I had sort of, you know, There was support there. Whereas as an artist, I wanted to be an artist, but I never really did. Made it that far because I was just like, whoa, how do I do this fucking thing? You know, like what do I do? And so I realized like, wait a minute, what if having some of that same structure, having some of that, even just, mindset coaching, brought into this world, which is oftentimes just such a rollercoaster and such a wild West of everyone just trying to figure shit out. Not to mention the yeah. Throwing a bunch of partying into it too in our scene specifically and there's drugs and alcohol everywhere. It's like, okay cool It's kind of just a it's a fucking chaotic, world so, you know, I that really is I think you put just part of the vision is that we start to Make this more of a thing, and this is just such a great just such a great case study right here that you and I have been able to do like wow,

SIPPY:

mean, I honestly think, yeah, I honestly think if I had my own management company that I would have a coach that was like in there on retainer. A lot of managers have to become a little bit like a, I wouldn't say that they're like a coach, but they're usually just like a lot of artists, Dump onto their managers because they're just like, they're the ones they talk to all the time, it honestly doesn't work for either side because I don't think it really helps the artists. Yes. They're kind of venting to someone, but it doesn't really help them. And then the managers, they're not really equipped to deal with that. And then it also makes them feel more shit and maybe even resentment to like some of their clients. And, I love my team. I've been with them for, for so long. Very much like respect and understand. Them and their time. And yes, I do go and talk to them about a lot of things like me and Harrison, my manager is super close, but in saying that, I came to you for a reason because I'm like,

Nik:

Well, it's, it's also, it's, it's not really, it's not really their job. It's not really

SIPPY:

it's not,

Nik:

there, what they signed up for.

SIPPY:

and I don't want them to

Nik:

run. Yeah. They're, they're there to, they're there to help you run your business, but also your Mindset and your emotional state is so tied into the ability to run your business and most managers are not necessarily technically trained in, you know, coaching or therapy or modalities like that. But yeah, they do get through it. Thrown into that position. I mean, that's literally why I became a coach was because I was a manager first and I was managing acts for four or five years. And I, what I realized was like, Oh, I'm actually the business side. Wasn't really my skillset, but that those late night talks and those venting sessions and those motivational speeches, I was like, Oh, that's my shit. Like I, I could do that all day. And so just naturally kind of, kind of found that. So yeah, it makes sense that. There is a space there, and I get to put more effort into, into creating that. We get to, just open up this dialogue and this conversation and, you know, someday when you are retired from touring and you're ready to, join me as the coach, we'll open up our agency and start, coaching artists across the globe.

SIPPY:

A

Nik:

the, vision. I, we're, we're going to call it out, call it out now. We'll look back on this podcast and like. 10 years and be like, wow, yes, yes, yes. yes.

SIPPY:

higher power, yeah,

Nik:

Well, Sippy, this is, this is, so, so cool. Like what a just pleasant rad experience. Who would have thought that a year and a half ago when I had this weird idea, like, I think I'm going to start a podcast. I was, I had no real, like, And you were the first person to say yes, and so grateful for you, you helped me get this thing off the ground. But who would have known that we'd now be in this=position, year later, you know, not only as, coaching client, but just as like fucking friends and homies. And, you know, I am 100 percent in your corner for the rest of your life. And I'm just super grateful for you and super excited to see what you're going to create over this next, uh, you

SIPPY:

well thank you, I'm also fully in your corner, and I'm excited to see what you do, and yeah, it's been a really cool experience. Experience, I'm really glad and grateful that I, did end up working with you as well, because like the first podcast was like fun and awesome. But now I'm like, I'm in a different, completely different place now, which is awesome. And it's like, cool to be able to even share that.

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

Over here, because it's also doesn't really matter. Like you said before, it doesn't matter like what level you're at. There's always work to do. And I'm the perfect example of that. You know, I was over here, I'm playing shows and blah, blah, blah. But here I am, you know, a year later, having done that next level that I needed to do and yeah, it feels fucking good and, I'm glad it's all working out for you. Look at this. what

Nik:

Yeah.

SIPPY:

is this now?

Nik:

Uh, this is like, I want to say 78 probably.

SIPPY:

Shit.

Nik:

78. Yeah, we've been doing the damn thing. Yeah, it's been cool. Shout out to everyone that's been listening, everyone that's been following. You know, there's someone listening now, I'm sure, that was like, I remember the first episode. Some of you guys have been listening since the very first episode. Whether you've been listening since the first episode or you just started listening, three weeks ago. I really appreciate you guys for tuning in and being a part

SIPPY:

I was going to say that you, uh,, you came to, for anyone who didn't know, I took Nick to Lostlands with me this year, it was kind of the end of when I'd sort of finished our little period of sessions and he came to Lostlands and people were, Starting to recognize you because they're like, Hey, I know you from the podcast. And I was, like,

Nik:

That was,

SIPPY:

a celebrity. Okay.

Nik:

uh, yeah, that was my little 15 minutes of fame. I totally was like,

SIPPY:

Yeah.

Nik:

what's up y'all? Yeah, if you ever

SIPPY:

Like when you were backstage too, like artists were flocking to you, like left, right and center. I was like, do you know them? Have you met them before? You're like, no, just, you know, started getting into it. And I was like, I love

Nik:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting me out as well. That was a really fun trip. You g you crushed it. You and you and smoke Lynn just tearing it up at lost Lands. That was cool to experience that. And, um, Yeah. I look f we gotta do that again sometime. Catch you at another big rage fest. But

SIPPY:

For sure.

Nik:

sippy. I love you and I'll see you soon.

SIPPY:

much. I love you too. Thanks.

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Nik Cherwink

Host