Shane Proffitt approached Chris Janson at a sushi restaurant, and the rest is history

“You never know what can actually happen until you chase your dreams. You never know if you don’t try,” the up-and-coming country star told People

Last year, Shane Proffitt was chopping his way around his hometown of Columbia, Tennessee, making $11 an hour and wondering what life had to offer.

Shane Proffitt But now he seems to have the answer.

“Having a song in the top 40 is absolutely amazing,” Proffitt, 22, told PEOPLE about his debut single. How It Should Be. “I woke up at 4am today because I was really looking forward to starting my day. You never know what could actually happen until you chase your dreams. You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

Profitt’s efforts have allowed him to quit his job, open for his musical hero Chris Janson at the Ryman Auditorium, and take the stage to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.

“I cry all the time,” she admits quietly. Of course, it’s emotion like that that a guy like Profit seems to be able to display effortlessly on and off stage. He is the man who calls every woman “Mom. The man who puts down his cell phone while sitting at the dinner table, and the man who still believes in the importance of prayer.

He was just brought up like that.

“I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing I could say I wanted to do growing up that my family didn’t support 110 percent,” explains Proffitt. Whose grandfather taught him to play the first three chords on his guitar when he was in high school. “I can tell them I want to be an astronaut tomorrow and they will be there to watch the spaceship take off.”

When Proffitt shared his dream of becoming a country musician with them. Everyone who loved him immediately stepped in to help. Perfecting his playing skills, Profitt began performing gigs around town and soon caught the attention of Janson himself after approaching him at a sushi restaurant.