Isaac McCallum hopes his Australian Idol journey will springboard him towards becoming a professional performer.
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The Cootamundra-raised Burrill Lake singer recently became a viewer favourite of the Channel Seven show thanks to his voice, talent, background story, grit and determination.
However, his time on the show ended this week and he is looking towards what he will do in the future.
"I hope to start working on my music and I hope to write some of my own songs," he said.
He plans to get a manager to help guide him towards following his dream of becoming a professional performer.
Isaac said his Australian Idol journey gave him the tools and the experience he needed to continue to chase his dream.
"I did learn a lot. One of the things I learned was to never give up," he said.
Cootamundra had thrown its support right behind its local link during the course of the competition, which was an overwhelming kindness for Isaac's mother Natasha McCallum.
"It's amazing how music can bring people together," she said.
"People I grew up with and people I used to know from Cootamundra have been voting for Isaac and posting about him."
Natasha describes her son as a "lovely and humble" man, but his journey with singing over the years hasn't come easily.
"I used to take Isaac to the Illabo Country Music Festival and had encouraged him from a young age to sing," she said.
Now his run has ended, Isaac hopes to be back home in the Ulladulla region by next Tuesday, March 26.
No doubt his legion of fans and supporters will give him a nice welcome back home.
People will also be keen to know when and where they will get to hear and see him sing in person.
"Plenty of people want me to sing," he said of the potential of a few gigs down the track.
The owner of a caravan park in Burrill Lake reached out to Isaac and they are in the process of organising a performance.
Isaac, before going on Australian Idol, enjoyed his time busking in the Woolworths car-park at Ulladulla but he wants to take his career in other directions.
"I have got to get out of the car-park and aim for bigger things," he said.
Isaac said he felt good in general about life and once again he took what happened on the show well.
"It is what it is," he said again about not progressing to the show's "grand final".
He remains grateful he made it through the audition round - let alone into the top six.
The 23-year-old also appreciated the support and advice he got from the three judges Amy Shark, Kyle Sandilands, and Marcia Hines.
He got on well the the judges.
"They were all so good to deal with," he said.