Fabrizio Moreira of Secret Hit: Always Invest In Yourself, Never Gossip and Prioritize Continued Learning

I would say these 5 things to anyone who asks: Be careful who you do business with, always invest in yourself, don’t grow your business too quickly, never gossip and prioritize continued learning. This has been a habit of mine since day one. Will you make mistakes and slip up? Of course, but when you have set rules for living and working, you’ll find yourself making better decisions.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Fabrizio Moreira. Born in Manta, Ecuador, Fabrizio Moreira was destined for entrepreneurship. At age 14 his father sent him a Nintendo system and in his hometown of Manta, most families would not own video game consoles. This gave Fabrizio the idea to purchase systems and controllers with his job income and then rent out those systems/controllers. This turned into his first business, which was profitable and led to his second business of selling and repairing bicycles in his home town. Still in his teenage years, he was a two time leader of his local chamber of commerce and had formal training to become a politician. At 19, he gave his first speech on entrepreneurship in Peru and at that point he was hooked. Fabrizio wanted to give back and be a lifelong entrepreneur of change.

Fabrizio entered the world of banking and initially had an interest in becoming a politician to make a difference in his region. He worked with Interamerican Development Bank and was invited to the US for his first trip to the states by the Organization of American States (OAS). He also won a grant for entrepreneur training via AECI (which translates to Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation) and began the process of getting his US Visa. Fabrizio then relocated to New York where he continued to work in banking before starting Secret Hit Music and VIP Records. Some of the initial artists Fabrizio worked with upon launching Secret Hit included Soulja Boy, Manutidi and NK from the Ukraine.

Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I grew up in Ecuador and had a knack for entrepreneurship before I really knew what it was. After having small businesses that did well back home as a teenager, my journey brought me to New York and the East Coast to work in finance. After a chance encounter with a top music executive, he became a source of mentorship and inspiration, which quickly made me pivot into creating Secret Hit. I think you’ll find that stories are often like this with entrepreneurs, they usually don’t start off wanting to do X as a career but something happens that puts them on the right track.

To be honest not a lot of people believed in what I was doing when I first started. I didn’t have that “music industry credibility” that others had, but I had the determination and passion to make things happen. They say hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard right? I figured it out as I went, and surrounded myself with people in music production and writing who were the best. I was, and to this day, am here to help be a partner and resource for my team to be their absolute best.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?

The hardest times were actually back home in Ecuador, I had a brief time in politics and for those who know, the political system in the region can be very corrupt. I knew that I had to make a big change, in perhaps a different industry, while still using the skills that I had at the time. Growing up without much money forced me to make decisions that were both risky, but bold enough to create major change in my life. While I still see a future in politics in the near future, I knew finding a new path in New York was something I needed to explore.

Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

When you have nothing to fall back on, you really figure things out since there is no plan B. When things get tough, you have to accept the situation, push through it and learn enough to not repeat those type of situations. Most situations are controllable and preventable, and for the types that are not I just have to accept and learn where possible. When you put yourself out there, things will be hard but you have to be creative and figure out ways to keep moving forward.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I worked with an artist once who convinced me he was more popular and connected than he really was. Since I was new to the scene I believed it all without doing much research. After working with the artist for a short while I figured out he had almost no marketable talent and I was trying to create something for him out of thin air. I was sort of scratching my head at the time, but always wondered if he was more embarrassed than I was haha. You learn to trust carefully as time goes on, but I’m sure I just had to learn that lesson personally to understand using proper research and a little bit of that “gut instinct”.

If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self regarding life lessons, things you would like him to know what would they be and why?

I would explain that your path may feel a little uneasy at first, but often if your intuition is telling you to do something you should probably act on it. I would explain that wasting time on things that don’t bring happiness is just that, wasted time. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I would of course help my younger self skip past wasted situations by encouraging them to avoid it. You can read all the books in the world and get advice from dozens of professionals, but really you just have to dive into the deep end and learn to swim.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We specialize in a niche of music that includes genres like Latin Pop, Reggaeton, Hip-Hop and others. I think a lot of production and songwriting companies may specialize in mainstream pop, EDM and rock, but we have carved out a part of the market that is massive yet underserved. I knew that from the moment we scored hits with artists like Soulja Boy, we were on to something and it worked because we absolutely love what we do. When we started seeing the numbers climb, we were floored and full of gratitude from the work we put in. We have zero sense of entitlement, and we worked hard for a client because it was the right thing to do.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Focus on doing work you enjoy, so you don’t feel like it’s endless workday after workday. For those who aren’t quite in the pocket of doing what they love in music yet, practice different ways of gratitude and increasing your skill set to at least feel like progress is happening. A lot of this is mindset, and how you work doing a job you don’t like will transfer to how you handle something that is “cool”.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

There are too many to list in this interview, it’s really the collective of the hundreds of people you ask questions to and in return help as well. That synergy amongst the industry leads to landing your place as a leader, while also providing massive value for others. I can’t do this on my own, and each day I ensure I bring value to others as they bring it to me as well. The artists that I worked with early on (Soulja Boy etc) are to thank as well, as they put their faith in me and the team, which of course

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Absolutely, we give back via events with partners like BMI music and help financially back other businesses and young, emerging artists. I believe in paying it forward no matter where you are in your career. Not only is it good karma, but it’s the right thing to do. Especially during these times, showing a little support to others can go a long way.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started my company” and why?

I would say these 5 things to anyone who asks: Be careful who you do business with, always invest in yourself, don’t grow your business too quickly, never gossip and prioritize continued learning. This has been a habit of mine since day one. Will you make mistakes and slip up? Of course, but when you have set rules for living and working, you’ll find yourself making better decisions.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Well, thankfully I consider Secret Hit Music to be a movement. Everyone who works with us on the production side, writing side and running the business is part of the family. We understand that we are a sum of the whole, and each person contributes something special. We consider everyone in our community as part of the Secret Hit culture and movement. We’re all in this together, as they say.