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Culture: ‘Breaking Out of a Broken System’
/ February 26, 2015
Normally when you put two brothers in a room, the thing that breaks is the new bunk bed or an arm. However, in Seth and Chandler Bolt’s case… they broke a long-held societal system of financial misunderstanding and individual limitation, becoming catalyst’s for global change.
Written in a week over Christmas holiday ‘Breaking Out of a Broken System’ is the culmination of Seth and Chandler’s realization their friends were living by different rules to ones they were taught growing up. Inspiring us with stories from their childhood in South Carolina, the brothers take us in to their family home sharing lessons learned that led to success in completely different vocations – Seth as bassist and vocalist for rock band NeedtoBreathe, and Chandler as innovative Entrepreneur.
The book though, is far more than ‘another self-help guide’.
Built around the #1Book1Life campaign, every purchase saves a life, with 100% of profit buying the $4USD pill needed to offer medical care to malaria sufferers around the globe. Administered by Palmetto Medical Initiative – a group close to the brother’s hearts – readers simultaneously enrich their own life while saving another; one of the profound qualities admired most about the book.
In hearing about life growing up, Seth also shares principles that stood him in good steed chipping away at Needtobreathe’s artistic dreams, collecting small victories to establish them as a globally recognized act.
The Connect Press caught up with Seth Bolt during NeedtoBreathe’s first Australia tour, to hear more about the project:
TCP: As a musician, how did you feel stepping into the role of ‘Author’?
Seth: I was scared to death. Honestly, because I didn’t do that well at literature in school, but it was something I felt compelled to do. So I decided to put the fear away because it wasn’t really about me, or skills that I thought I had as a writer, it was about passing some things along that I thought were really, really, helpful for me and my brother, and sharing that with the world. More than anything the project became about helping a really good cause, and figuring out a way to that combining art and business.
TCP: What made you decide to write ‘Breaking Out of a Broken System’ initially?
Seth: At first I was just really impressed with my brother. He’s pursing a completely different path to me, we’re a decade apart so we’ve grown up differently, and the conditions were different; My parents were really poor when I was young, and they have become successful over time, so he sort of had a different experience, yet I still see a lot of the same values in him. Part of [the writing process] for me as a man who’s hopefully growing up a little bit, is to go “Mum what was important to you?” “”Dad what were things that you were like “I’ve got to teach him ‘this’, I’ve got to teach him ‘that'”” so that I could turn out alright.
Seth Bolt in Uganda with Palmetto Medical Initiative
TCP: You’ve given a lot to the journey of NeedtoBreathe which we hear about in the book. How did you feel when it all could’ve been over?
Seth: I think for a while I was, in a way numb to the idea that we could lose it; What I saw day after day was [Bear and Bo] being brothers and fighting a lot, but that they were just going to be brothers, and this was the reality of the situation. I hated it for them, but I didn’t know what to do to change it. It was really only something God could change. I couldn’t do it. But then to actually hear them say, “I’m done, this is it, it’s over” was kind of surreal. I thought, “No you’re just saying this today, and tomorrow everything’s going to be fine right?” but no, they just didn’t talk to each other for weeks. It really did look like everything was over.
I think our vision had gotten further and further away from what we originally intended to do. And I guess it’s easy for that to happen regardless of what you do, whether it’s music or something else. As soon as success becomes the goal it changes things; if success is a higher priority than relationships, relationships are going to drift apart, and that is what happened to us. As soon as we corrected that, and really got our relationship with God in line, then it was easy to see that other relationships needed help.
NeedtoBreathe
TCP: Have you and Chandler always got along?
Seth: We have. Being ten years younger, there was a long time where I would just aggravate him… but luckily he was young enough not to remember any of that. Once he got into High School he got into music and we had more common interests and we’ve grown closer and closer together. It’s been a really good and really mutually beneficial relationship.
TCP: What motivates you to challenge the status quo?
Seth: I really love to meet different artists and different people who burn with a passion for life or their art, or how they can somehow positively impact the world, but I know that can be a difficult road, because a lot of time those causes and those jobs don’t pay lots of money. I was only able to make it in music because of the incredible financial education my parents gave me, and so I wanted to share that.
TCP: Are there plans for a ‘Breaking Out of a Broken System: Part 2’?”
Seth: I don’t have anything in the works right now; I put it all out there [in this book]. …I mean we’ll see. I don’t have plans to, but this was just one of those things I felt like I was supposed to do, so I was like “OK, I have to listen to this and do it”, and I haven’t been told yet to do anything else yet.
‘Breaking Out of a Broken System’ is available now on Amazon.
7 Strategies To Start Writing Your Book Today
More: Learn more via Bolt Bros. and NeedtoBreathe.
Support: Palmetto Medical Initiative.
Flashback: Seth Bolt preempts the release of ‘Breaking Out of a Broke System’:
