HostGator Customer Spotlight: Xcelencia

If you’re a side hustler, who is wondering whether or not your business will succeed, I have some good news for you. Many other HostGator customers that have come before you have built a website and started exceptional side hustles.

Since HostGator started as a college side project, it’s not hard to believe that catering to side hustlers is one of our company passions and missions. We do everything we can to help other side hustlers get their businesses off the ground. How do we play our part?

First and foremost, we provide a drag-and-drop website builder that helps even the most novice of computer users get a professional website up in no time, and at an affordable rate.

But that’s not all. We also sponsor the Side Hustle Stars Awards to help motivate you to keep going when the going gets tough.

To help you stay motivated as you build your website, here’s a quick look into the success of one of our favorite side hustlers, and this year’s 2nd place Side Hustle Awards winner, Xcelencia.

Who Is Xcelencia? 

Xcelencia is an independent, Latin, urban recording artist and music producer who is innovating outside the traditional music industry. Not only is Xcelencia a stellar recording artist and music producer, but we were impressed with his website and wanted to learn more about him. Here is what we learned about Xcelencia.

Xcelencia explained to us how he first became interested in the music business:

“I started producing music at around 14, I started off with songwriting lyrics and music and quickly moved on to production and engineering by the time I was 18. My family collected vinyl records, and I remember the cover artworks drew a lot of interest from me at the time, and I wanted to understand it at a deeper level. I also remember reading lyric books from albums and trying to understand how music works.”

As a side hustler, Xcelencia now gets to work on his own projects and with a team of producers. 

He said, “I am grateful to work both independently on the business side, but have an amazing team of individuals that help me produce music to get it to the next level, the internet allows for collaboration from people from different parts of the world, and I am happy to be a part of the ride.”

With the help of Xcelencia’s website, he can digitally share his recordings and connect with like-minded individuals.

What Challenges Did Xcelencia Face and Overcome?

While the music business has been good to Xcelencia, running a side hustle hasn’t been without its challenges. He explained some of his initial challenges: 

“Lack of funding was always an obstacle, especially in an industry where raising capital is very difficult outside of the traditional music system. This forced me to become more creative, not only with the product, but also on the promotional and marketing aspect. It’s important to remain within the box to conform to the average consumer; however, playing outside of the box allows you to innovate and find new gaps and strategies to overcome your obstacles.”

Xcelencia overcame these challenges with creative marketing and trial and error. He shared, “A lot of marketing entails a strategy but also trial and error. One of my most successful strategies included planning way in advance of the product release day to make sure that all areas were covered before launching the campaign to promote it, however, be ready to adjust as you go.”

Not only does he tout the importance of trial and error, but also patience. He gives the following advice to other side hustlers: 

“Patience is important in very competitive industries. Some people think competition means that there is no room for growth or impact, but rather it means there is an opportunity. The difficulty is a bit higher compared to other fields, and being patient is the secret sauce after discipline and work ethic.”

Xcelencia has been successful, not just in terms of revenue, but also in terms of “the amount of positive feedback and constructive criticism” he receives from listeners, colleagues, and more.

Why Choose HostGator?

Reviewing Xcelencia’s website was a pleasure, and we wanted to learn why he chose HostGator to build his music website out of all other potential choices.

He mentioned that HostGator came highly recommended by some friends that had been entrepreneurs for several years at the time. As he started using HostGator, he came to love the user-friendly dashboard and how support is always very helpful whenever he needs it. 

He also said, “I want to focus on the growth of my business website, and HostGator allows me to! My HostGator website allows me to quickly update it to reflect my moves on social media and other platforms where I showcase my work into a single platform that can be accessed quickly and efficiently.”

For more information about how you can start your own side hustle website, get started with our step-by-step guide.