Creativity Excitement Emotion

David Andrew Wiebe

Creativity Excitement Emotion features award-winning composer, best-selling author, and professional podcaster David Andrew Wiebe formerly of The New Music Industry Podcast. In addition to offering expert tips for musicians, artists, and creatives, the podcast delivers candid conversations, interviews, and roundtables with an array of artists, creatives, executives, marketers, coaches, and entrepreneurs. Favoring a storytelling approach, Wiebe’s new podcast is chock-full of personal stories and examples that equip the listener with valuable takeaways they won’t soon forget. read less
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Episodes

053 – Pros & Cons of Being an Approval Seeker
6d ago
053 – Pros & Cons of Being an Approval Seeker
Thanks to the proliferation of social media and smartphones, attention- and approval-seeking behaviors are at an all-time high. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David explains the pros and cons of being an approval seeker. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Can you do life without constantly having to be validated? 00:55 – Getting the results you’re looking for 01:58 – Getting results for yourself first 02:12 – It’s not just about being independent 03:08 – What lengths are you willing to go to? 04:03 – Short-sightedness is a problem 04:36 – Approval seeking is beneficial to those who are willing and able to do it 05:04 – Not everyone is going to like you 06:19 – The upsides and downsides of being an approval seeker 07:27 – Know thyself Transcript: I don't think I'm much of an approval seeker. There's something that came up in my reflections and I think that's the ideal… if you can be independent… and don't get me wrong, it's always nice to get compliments. It's always nice to get praise. And I think we're all deserving of it to greater or lesser degrees, and we all need it as well. But if you can be as independent as possible and not have to run on compliments or praise as fuel to do life, I think that's the ideal. You’ve got to take care of yourself first before you worry about taking care of anybody else. If you're doing things in life, it doesn't matter what area, relationships, business, music, or anything else that you might be taking on. If you're not getting the results that you're looking for, it means that some aspect of what you're doing is not working, right? I can tangibly see, since February [2023], when I started working out again, that I am getting results. I am looking trimmer, fitter, more in shape, gaining muscle, and losing fat. So, there's proof right there that it's working. If someone wanted to get the results that I'm getting right now, there would be good reason to listen to me. If I wasn't getting those types of results, and I was merely advising people from my armchair, that's a whole other situation. So, we want to be mindful of where results are showing up before we worry about trying to advise others on the direction that they should go in. First look at whether our method is working at all, in any capacity. I'm not talking merely about being independent, though. I think culturally speaking, North America has a lot to learn from a country like Japan. People often come back to me and say, “Everything has its pros and cons,” and yeah, that is true. Japan has some odd bits of culture that can be a little bit hard to understand or process. You could get thrown in jail for rather bizarre reasons, but I think every country has that. If you start looking into the law, like, there's almost no country that doesn't have some bizarre rules that could get you into trouble. So, I think there's something to be learned about community culture. It's something that Japan does so well, and I'm sure it happens in other countries, too. I just haven't seen it. So, I’m not just talking about being independent, although that is important. I think with approval seeking, it's almost your tolerance for what lengths are you willing to go to, to get people's attention. It's exactly what we're seeing with influencer culture. It's exactly what we're seeing with creator culture. People are running around in tiny little bikinis, or if you're an OnlyFans model, then naked. There's ASMR, there's video games, there's all this stuff… Look, some people genuinely love what they do and are good at it. I'm not going to take that away from them. But you will also find some people do this just because they think it will get them a lifestyle. In some cases, it does. You can get advertising money.
052 – You’re More Resilient Than You Know
1w ago
052 – You’re More Resilient Than You Know
What are you putting up with? Health challenges? Financial problems? Relationship issues? The fact that you’re putting up with anything goes to show how resilient you truly are. But are you wasting your precious resiliency on people and things that don’t matter? In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David why it’s important to be willing to change. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – People are better at coping and dealing with things than they realize 01:30 – You are more resilient than you realize 01:52 – You can’t change anything you’re willing to put up with 02:34 – What are you putting up with? 03:09 – Make a new commitment 03:45 – What have you been tolerating? Transcript: The human ability to cope and put up with things is a marvel. It's incredible. I think almost everyone is better at coping and putting up with things than they even realize. Like, “We have a noisy upstairs neighbor and they're always partying on Thursday and Friday. But now that we know, we can plan around that and it's no big deal.” No big deal. Really? And it could even be an injury. It's like, “Yeah, I damaged my foot about a month ago and just letting it heal on its own, not going to see the doctor.” Just think of all the situations, right? “Yeah, I gained 500 pounds and it’s fine. I'm just going to continue eating and enjoying myself and no big deal.” And that's not a judgment on anyone. I think we all do this to greater or lesser degrees. “My financial situation is out of control, and I've been going into debt for 24 months. I haven't been able to pay my credit card bills except for minimum payments.” People just don't understand how bad of a situation that is, because they haven't investigated it. “I put up with it, it's a fact of life, no big deal.” So, understand that your ability to cope with change and put up with things is far greater than you realize. You may fear change, and many people do, but at the same time, you are so strong, and you are so good at putting up with it. What is most likely to happen is the event will happen and you'll figure out a way to put up with it or work around it. Your ability to cope with change and put up with things is far greater than you realize.Click To Tweet Here's the point. We can't change anything that we're willing to put up with. If it's like, “Yeah, it's okay. No big deal. I'll figure it out.” If it's like that, then we can't go and make a difference in that area in any significant way. And usually, that's where we want the biggest breakthrough. And we're sitting there going, “Yeah, credit card bills, no big deal.” And they've got like three credit cards, each maxed to the hilt. And they're barely making minimum payments. You're in a much, much worse situation than you even realize right now. And there are some actions to take. There are some things to do. So, where are you putting up with things? If you're putting up with them, it means that you're not willing to do anything about them. You must change that to something else. You must change the context. You’ve got to say, “I'm not willing to put up with this anymore. I'm going to get into action. I'm going to do something about this. I'm going to start working out tomorrow,” or “I'm going to start looking at my finances every single day and start cutting expenses that I no longer need.” Or, “I'm going to start seeing a doctor or a naturopath or someone who can help me with my health.” These areas where we're putting up with things are an invitation to make a new commitment, make a new decision, try something else, try something out of the ordinary. People get easily stuck in their ways, not recognizing that they have. a near-limitless set of options in front of them. Maybe it's not infinite,
051 – Rental Drama: The Sequel
Mar 20 2024
051 – Rental Drama: The Sequel
Sometimes there is no logic to the way people treat you. You could pay less for better service. You could pay more for lesser service. And what you end up with isn’t always predictable going in. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David elaborates on the rental drama that recently unfolded in his life. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Being treated worse for more money 01:34 – Blood, sweat, and tears 02:17 – All feelings, no logic 03:10 – Paying back kindness with cruelty Transcript: Something that occurred to me about my ridiculous rental situation... I realized that I was staying in Abbotsford for about two years, paying, I think it was $800 or $900 a month. It certainly wasn't a whole lot more than that. And I was treated way better there than paying $1,350 at a friend's house in Vancouver. Like, how does this even add up? Simple math says I should be treated just as well, if not better. And yet, on some level, I think there's miscommunication, or communication that needs to happen that's not happening. “We need you to be out of here in two weeks.” Now, we have no formal written agreement. So, it's not a situation where I can go back to them and be like, “Yeah, two weeks is not enough.” I've pleaded my case already. I've already made my case. I said, “Even if I happen to find a place tomorrow and send in my application, and I'm approved, it's very unlikely that I'll be able to move in after two weeks,” and I was met with a dead stare. So, that kind of tells me everything. They're clueless. They have no idea what's going on. Maybe they think I'm lucky, for being able to move from place to place. Yeah, lucky, sure. You try working your ass off for 10 years or longer to get to this point and build something from nothing. Something that you must put your blood, sweat, tears, and effort into every single day to build. All I can say is “Good luck with that.” Because most people don't do it. Honestly, all I can think is they just want to be more buddy-buddy with me or something. They're expecting way more communication than I'm giving. Even though they could just as easily, come down, knock on my door, and say “Hi.” See what's going on and ask about my life, which they don't do. So, at the end of the day, it just seems to me it's all about feelings. It has nothing to do with logic. Like, if someone was paying me $1,350 per month, and they were living in my basement, and they were quiet and clean, Sure, maybe I'd worry a little bit and check up on them every once in a while and see if they're okay. But aside from that, I would let them be. I would let them live their life. I wouldn't worry too much about their habits as long as they're not completely out to lunch. And it's like, “Man, we all miss a meal now and again. We all miss a shower now and again.” But just because I'm not always eating at home or not always showering at home, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not doing those things. I want to ask, like, “Do I look dirty and unhealthy?” Because I don't. Not even a little bit. So, this is what you get for being respectful of others. They pay back your kindness with, “Yeah, you can't be here. We don't like you.” Like I said, I think something is missing in communication. I'm not getting something they're saying, and they're not getting something I'm saying. They're just basing everything off things I've done or not done, not based on any communication or conversation that's been had. All I can say is “Good luck with that,” because I know we're human, but if you make all your decisions based on, “I don’t want to talk to them.” Sometimes, you’ve got to take the initiative and have those conversations, especially if something’s missing for you. For someone who's supposed to be a leader,
050 – The Golden Rule & Throwing Pearls to Swine
Mar 19 2024
050 – The Golden Rule & Throwing Pearls to Swine
Life is unfortunately full of unequal exchanges. You give more than you get. Or you get more than you give. Over the long haul, these types of exchanges always tend to balance out. But the process the universe uses to balance things can occur as chaotic. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares his experience with unequal exchanges. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Treat others as you would like to be treated 01:36 – Enduring hell 02:46 – You can control what you say, not what others feel Transcript: The golden rule is “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” So, for as long as I can remember, I've always treated others with kindness and respect and understanding and given them plenty of space. Even if they get angry, even if they're weird people, they'd usually get a second and maybe even a third or fourth chance with me. As things went on and I got taken advantage of and didn't want to be a doormat anymore, I decided that I couldn’t be that kind or that giving. I couldn’t be that respectful of everyone. Because the reality is a lot of people just don't deserve it. But those seeds were planted. And I'm still a kind person. I try to treat people with respect and treat them the way that I would like to be treated as much as possible. So, I'm not just thinking about me and my convenience. If it's about me and my safety, that's a whole other fucking matter. I will get out of a situation as quickly as I possibly can if it's about my safety, and I've had to do that. But if it's not a matter of safety, I'm the gentlest giant you're going to find. And I'm not that big. 6'1”, 6'2” is tall, but I'm not huge. I'm not Michael Jordan. I'm not an NBA star. And so, when I think about the way that I've been treated – and I'm not referring to my friends – but when I think about the way I've been treated in the last year plus… In a situation where I can't find a fucking home or I'm having to go from place to place, at times paying for exorbitant Airbnb fees, trying to figure out what the fuck I'm going to do next, working my ass off every single week to make sure that an income comes in so I can sustain some kind of lifestyle. Have I been treated all that well? I mean, it's human to look at the situation and evidence for all the reasons why people didn't treat you with respect. I could do that, and I'm sure I could find a bunch. But the reality is I haven't been treated badly by everyone. But some of the most disappointing ones are the ones that should know better, in my opinion. But they do say that when crimes occur, it’s usually someone you know. It's more likely to be someone you know stealing from you, taking from you, or doing things to your property than someone you don't know. And it's just like, “I may have made you feel a certain way, but you have to take responsibility for how you feel.” It doesn't work the other way. You can't put that on me. I can control what I say, but I can't control how you interpret it and how you feel about it as much as I might want to. So, if something is going on, man, come to me first, and let's have a conversation. Seriously. Don't just go assuming things. Don't just go and make plans of your own. I'm a safe guy. I'm not going to do anything to you. But if it's something concerning my living situation or my lifestyle, come and talk to me first. Jesus Christ.
049 – They Won’t Play It Unless It’s a Hit
Mar 18 2024
049 – They Won’t Play It Unless It’s a Hit
The entertainment industry isn’t interested in taking any chances. They only want to work with entertainers who have a proven track record. They only want to bank on ideas that have already enjoyed success. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David considers the future of the music business. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Disappointing meal at Barcelos 00:34 – Covers of Top 40 songs 01:02 – It’s not a crime to record covers 01:22 – Where things have been going in the film industry 01:40 – Gambling on the unproven 01:50 – How sad would it be? 02:04 – Adding insult to injury Transcript: So, I was at Barcello's having a mediocre dinner. It wasn't terrible, I guess, but it wasn't the best either. I've had very good meals there before, so by contrast, I was a little disappointed. I had a chicken sandwich. I guess it was okay. Anyway, on their sound system, they have this music playing and it's covers of very popular tunes from the last 10, 20 years or so, and it's this female singer. It's just one cover after another of Maroon 5, Linkin Park, Katy Perry, and who knows what else? I couldn't even identify all of them, but I recognize the songs because they’re all Top 40. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, “Is this the direction the music business is going in?” Recording covers is not a crime. Many of us were inspired by different artists and when we pay tribute to them, I think most of us are very sincere. But with the business side of things, it could move in that direction. Think of movies. In recent movies, they don't take chances. It’s like, “Let's make a sequel” or “Let's make something with the same storyline from so and so or a very similar plotline from this other movie.” And very rarely do they take risks on anything else that's not proven. Of course, the music industry has kind of been that way for a long time, as far as the artists that they sign go. Unless it's a proven concept, they're not going to work with them. But I mean, how sad would that be? Like, do you want to be listening to the hits of the 2020s, 2010s, 2000s, and the 90s for the rest of your life? Yeah. I don't know. It wouldn't be much fun. To add insult to injury, these are pop songs being covered in a pop genre. Like there's no change. Maybe there's a little bit of an electronic or atmospheric, vocal trance-type quality to it. But aside from that, it's the same thing we've heard just with a female voice. There was one song, I think it happened in recent history where a song took the hook of, “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” which was never a great song to begin with, but whatever. And they're covering that. So, I'm sitting here going, “You're covering a derivative work, a hook from a song from the 90s that was taken and put into a modern song, which you're now covering.” I just thought like, “Wow, the level of meta here has reached a new level.” And then the most hilarious thing was listening to her rendition of Linkin Park's “In the End.” She's singing just Chester's parts. In other words, Mike Shinoda's rap is completely absent. And I'm like, “This may as well be a karaoke track.” This is so cheesy. You forgot to put the rap in, or you just decided it didn't need to go there. You could have vocalized it. You could have come up with some creative way. Instead, you just ignored it completely and only sang Chester's part.
048 – “You Have to Leave”
Mar 15 2024
048 – “You Have to Leave”
Things don’t always work out with significant others, landlords, partners, investors, bandmates, or otherwise. It can be devastating, and figuring out your next move can be tough. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David vulnerably shares about a rental situation gone wrong. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Raw emotions 01:00 – “You’ve got two weeks” 01:28 – Trying to find a place in Vancouver 02:38 – Taking responsibility for the role you played in dysfunction 03:40 – Somehow, it will all work out Transcript: All right, so I'm going to talk about this while my emotions are still raw. And this is not something I used to do, but I think nowadays I'm realizing it's okay to complain. It's okay to react to life. It's okay to vent and rant sometimes. Assuming you come back to that place of understanding or realizing that everything's going to be okay, something's going to come up, it's all going to work out, and an opportunity will show up. If you believe that it must happen, right? But in the meantime, I'm like, this is bullshit. That's why I'm going to share while I'm still raw because I know that's going to be more relatable than me waiting for later to collect my head and think about what I'm saying. So, I've been staying with this lady now for about six weeks in her basement and it's been fine. I stayed with her last year too, so like, obviously that generosity has been super appreciated, and I've communicated that to her, and I'm paying rent. Pretty normal rates to stay there. So, it's not like there's no benefit in it for her, but she came down and told me today that, I've got two weeks to stay there. It's not like I was going to stay there forever, and I knew I'd have to move on and find something else. And at the same time, it's like, “Could you give me more than two weeks to figure out where I might be going?” It's September, we're almost in October here. I think October starts tomorrow or Monday, but Vancouver is nuts. The rental market, the housing market in general, is insane. So, in September, people have just settled in, and there is nothing. I guess you can find the occasional apartment for a bazillion bucks or whatever, but what in the world? Why would you think that there's still something out there right now? I probably need to wait until after December, the way that things have been filling up this year, to have any chance of finding anything that's within my price range. And I wouldn't even say price range. Moreso what I think is reasonable. Some people might be okay renting a closet for $2,000 and a police check. And I'm not willing to do that, right? You’re going to have to do a little bit better than that for me. I understand. It's maybe not a buyer's market as much as it is a renter's market, but give me something here, please. Anyway, the message is delivered, and I’ve got to be out of there. Of course, I can take responsibility for the part that I played in this whole thing, which is that I agreed to stay there in the first place. Could I have explored other options before staying at her place? Yes. Could I have maybe communicated some things about my life, what I'm up to, and the things that are going on in my life before staying there? Yes. So, there hasn't been a lot of communication, and I can take responsibility for that part. But I don't know, I think she just wants to be buddy-buddy or something like that. She has a whole world going on that I don't know anything about and I have a whole world that she knows nothing about, and no part of that's been communicated. Leaders take responsibility for the lack of communication.Click To Tweet So, it's one of those things where it's a two-way street, right? There's no power in thinking of it in terms of a two-way street,...
047 – What to do if You’re Starting from Scratch on Social Media
Mar 15 2024
047 – What to do if You’re Starting from Scratch on Social Media
So, you’re looking to climb your social media mountain. But you’re not sure where to start. What should you do? In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares the exact steps you can take to get started, stay started, and find your footing on social networks. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Figuring out the social media landscape for the first time 00:50 – Determining the right course of action 01:39 – Pick a channel you like 02:52 – Make a daily video 03:37 – Share your stories 04:01 – Covering off the technical details 04:42 – The benefits of posting daily 07:03 – Social media strategy summary Transcript: I was talking with someone who was trying to figure out the social media landscape for the first time. She's in the skincare business, and she wanted to attract people from all over the world to her content because she was convinced, or rather she knew, that she could make a difference for people. This is one of those questions where… What do you say to someone completely new to all this? Someone who wants to attract attention and knows that there's a way to do it but hasn't gotten started with the process? And I thought about that for a moment, and my mind immediately turned to all these great tools and content distribution and taking advantage of Fiverr. And I'm like, “I don't think that's what a beginner needs to know.” That's just too much. It's overwhelming. People make this mistake all the time. They try hard to create a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and on and on. And that's where people get scattered. That's usually the first mistake. Down the line, yeah, try to post everywhere. But when you're first getting started, when you don't even have a team helping you, it just doesn't work. It’s a tremendous amount of effort. Plus you always tend to find more resonance on one or two channels versus all of them. The first mistake in social media is trying to be everywhere at once.Click To Tweet The advice that I gave was “Pick a channel. The one that you like.” And the reason I say that is because beginners aren't knowledgeable about secondary channels. They don't know about Rumble and Odysee. They've heard of YouTube and TikTok. Those are the ones they know. And those are the safe ones. They have a significant user base. And people sometimes go “I need to grow my audiences” and I say, “Yeah, true, but if you pick one of those, you're safe. For example, you can't go wrong with YouTube or Facebook. I get that Facebook is not the cool kid on the block anymore. And some kids are like, “Yeah, it's only for old people.” Yeah. Sorry to tell you though, Facebook still has the largest user base of any social network out there. And as other countries come online that haven't already, sorry to say, I think that's the first place people are going to be crowding. So, Facebook is not out of the game in any way, shape, or form yet. I'm not a big fan of it or anything, but let's face facts. Secondly, I said, “Commit to posting a video on one channel, just one, choose one, every single day.” And I think it took her a while to get this, but eventually, she was like, “Okay, so that's like brushing your teeth every day. I don't necessarily feel like it, but it's a good idea and it's a discipline and I do it every day anyway.” Publishing daily is like brushing your teeth. It's a good habit to get into.Click To Tweet And I said, “Yeah, it's kind of like that.” Not that you want to make it hard on yourself. Like, you don't want to hate posting to social media every day. But there are days when you might hate yourself, right? Especially when you're like, “I’ve got to make a video again, and I'm going to talk about something again.” By and large,
046 – Cutting the Subscription Bloat
Mar 13 2024
046 – Cutting the Subscription Bloat
Spending can easily get out of control, even if it is spending on seemingly helpful, worthwhile tools and resources. Sometimes it’s necessary to cut back. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares how cutting your subscription bloat can free up energy. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Cutting costs is often a necessary aspect of business 00:38 – When pride gets in the way 01:12 – Successful entrepreneurs are willing to cut expenses if necessary 01:38 – A time to reevaluate 02:07 – Giving up pride 02:47 – Cutting costs will free up energy 03:34 – A helpful app 04:02 – Get good at managing your finances Transcript: Entrepreneurs sometimes must cut costs. If this weren't true… Just look at the big businesses out there that sometimes lay off employees in droves. Sometimes for a business to survive, it's got to cut away at the fat to be able to survive. But sometimes it is so easy to fall into a sense of pride, like, “I know what I'm doing, things are okay. I don't need to cut costs. I just need to be more consistent and make more money.” And, I mean, how many times have I or someone else or people in general thought that way that they could just go and make more money and solve all their problems? It's partly right. But many have had that experience where they weren't able to generate that amount and found themselves treading water because their income stayed about the same. Their expenses also stayed about the same or just went up. But if you think about the fact that successful people are those who are willing to do what others are not willing to do, that means successful entrepreneurs are willing to cut expenses, even if temporarily, if need be. Now I've heard people do insane things just to be able to meet payroll at times. I think in those cases it pretty much paid off, but I don't know how much I could recommend being reckless in that sense. But I do think there's a time and place to evaluate your finances. Look at all the subscriptions that have stacked up. Do you need those right now? Are those contributing to you? Are they helping you make more money or are they just eating away at cash reserves? As someone who's had to file for a consumer proposal, I can tell you that it is possible for those to keep eating away at your cash reserves to put you into debt. Subscriptions may seem harmless, but they can add up and even put you into debt.Click To Tweet So, we must give up pride. And I say that as if it's always an easy thing to do and it can be hard at times. It’s like, “Oh, I know what to do. I've got the Midas touch, man. I've got the golden finger. Everything's going to work out.” Well, sometimes it doesn't. And we can have a bias towards our success and that's a good thing, but sometimes we can go from success to success to success and suddenly encounter failure and go, “Well, that was the anomaly.” But the reality is that it's usually a mix of failures and successes on the way to your eventual success. And I think this is what I recognized about cutting expenses. What it does is it frees up energy. And this is something I noticed this last time I went and cut a few costs that were idle and not doing anything for me. When you trim away the fat, you don't have to think about it anymore. Cutting expenses frees up energy.Click To Tweet Then you can free up yourself and free up your mind to concentrate on ways that you can improve your financial outlook and improve your income. And what matters is your takeaway or your profit, right? So, if you haven't done some purging recently and things don't appear to be going well, it might be time to explore purging to look at what you can do to cut away some expenses that aren't serving you. And while I'm not sponsored by them or anything, maybe I should be.
045 – The Vehicle That Gets You There
Mar 12 2024
045 – The Vehicle That Gets You There
You may begin your journey thinking to yourself, “This the band that’s going to make it!” But as with so many other things in life, the vehicle you started with may not be the one that gets you to where you want to go (and of course, this can be LITERALLY and FIGURATIVELY true!). In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David expands on the importance of persistence and iteration. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – The vehicle you started with may not be the vehicle that gets you there 01:18 – There’s nothing wrong with the dream 01:53 – Be flexible 02:27 – David’s experience 03:18 – The power of iteration Transcript: I think I've written and even spoken on this before, but it hit me today in a new way. And that is that the vehicle that you started with may not be the vehicle that gets you there. And the reason that's the case is because your dream has nothing to do with the vehicle. Your dream and the vehicle that gets you there aren't mutually inclusive.Click To Tweet You may want certain things such as the ability or the opportunity to play in front of thousands or tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people. You may want financial independence. You may want the ability to travel anywhere, anytime, and work from anywhere. You may want to write songs. For other artists, maybe it’s being known as a great songwriter. So, that's the dream. That's the grand vision, but whatever vehicle you might be using to get there right now, it might be a band. It might be a specific project. It might be your solo performances or your solo project. That may not be the vehicle to get you there. And this is the thing that I think we struggle with. It's like, “Okay, our dreams are not reality because our chosen vehicle, our band, our project, our solo project, whatever it is that we're working hard on, isn't getting us to where we want to go.” So, when our project fails or doesn't capture people in the way that we think it should, we give up. Then we make the dream wrong, but there's nothing wrong with the dream. Your dream is attainable, and you don't want to let anyone, including yourself, steal your dream, right? The dream is attainable, but we must be flexible in what vehicle we choose to get there with. There could be a different avenue. There might be a different project. There might be a different band. You might have to start releasing music on your website. There might be things that you're not doing right now that are going to lead to the results you want. So, I think where most people give up is they give up because the vehicle they've chosen didn't work, wasn't working, or they can't find a way to make it work. I've launched a few vehicles for teaching and sharing my experiences about the music industry, and the music business. Some things I've been able to accomplish as an author, as an artist, as a composer, and so forth. And look, the reality is some of those just didn't work out. Maybe some of them generated traffic, but no money. Some of them generated money, but no traffic. Not that all that is problematic. It's just a matter of, “This vehicle that I've chosen, for whatever reason, is not quite resonating in the way that I'd hoped.” And that's because of the things we create, we must focus on our audience as well. We can't just be thinking about ourselves. And what would audiences want? What would they want to hear? What would they want to see? What would they want to learn? What would they like to check out? And we’ve got to be thinking about that too. Therein lies the power of iteration. So, if something kind of works, but not quite, make some subtle changes and try again, right? And keep trying and keep iterating and keep trying. This is what comedians do.
044 – Selfish Gains Quickly Erode
Mar 12 2024
044 – Selfish Gains Quickly Erode
There is nothing wrong with personal achievement. But you can’t necessarily equate your accomplishments with serving the world. And unless you’re serving the world, your successes could end up feeling very empty. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David breaks down the three types of motives and the results one can expect from each, as well as what he learned from blink-182’s Tom DeLonge. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Deeper realizations 01:12 – Doing things for personal gain 02:20 – Selfish gains quickly crumble 03:10 – Three types of motives 06:04 – Serving the masses (what you can learn from blink-182) 07:40 – See your projects through this lens Transcript: There is something I recently found that kind of gave me pause around the whole constant “Go, go, go, push more, publish more, always be productive, get more done” side of things. And surprisingly it had nothing to do with health. Although, of course, health is important. And I came back from Calgary with eye floaters. I’m doing what I can to reduce them by cleansing and cleaning up my diet and it seems to be helping. But this insight didn't come from some kind of health scare or anything else. It came from some personal development work that I've been doing, and as you know I'm constantly reading and listening to things at this point. It's like there's only deeper realizations in a way. You're not going to discover something completely new for the first time by the time you've read several hundred books and read thousands of articles and listened to thousands of podcasts and been through various personal development programs. But the essence of what I heard was this… and again, it's not something revolutionary or completely new. I've probably read or heard or seen stuff like this dozens of times, and yet this time it hit me square between the eyes and that was this. When you do things for personal gain and selfish reasons, even the successes you do get, and you can get successes being selfish… even the successes you do get tend to crumble or be taken away or is stolen from you. True success is not based on personal gains alone.Click To Tweet I've had some successes that were like that. I just couldn't quite figure it out. It's like I accomplished all this, but suddenly something appears to distract from that success or detract from that success. Or the success itself just doesn't seem meaningful to anyone but me. Like, it makes no difference whatsoever in the eyes of the people that I'm supposed to be serving and care about most, and I couldn't quite make sense of that. But I've started to have some growing awareness around this more recently as I've been diving into some, personal development material. So, first and foremost, success earned through selfish means or for done for personal profit or selfish gain tends to crumble. These successes don't last. They're not meaningful. And the things we do to benefit those around us, like our team members or collaborators or partners or employees, and the things we do to benefit customers… You might remember me talking about win-win-win before and that's in line with us. We want to create a win-win-win situation where there's something in it for everyone. Like there's something everyone cares about. And that made me go like, “Yeah, I love creating things. And on the other hand, I feel like it's okay to kind of slow down and look at what it is I'm doing.” And I think there's sort of three broader categories as I think about it. The first one is something that's done completely out of selfishness. You know that there's a gain in it, you know that there's a credibility or authority boost, or you might be awarded or credited in some way, and you do it because of that. And of course,
040 – The Strange Double Negatives That Might be Tripping You Up
Mar 6 2024
040 – The Strange Double Negatives That Might be Tripping You Up
How you express yourself matters. What you say and what you don’t say are both important. In creating the life you love and in interacting with others, you must be thoughtful and deliberate in your communication. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares how language can make a big difference in communication with others, setting goals, and even manifesting desires. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – The difference language makes 00:45 – If we fail to express, we don’t get anything we want 01:19 – Should you go into every conversation with an agenda? 02:54 – Investing in a music industry startup 04:20 – How your brain interprets language 05:21 – “All good” vs. “No problem” 06:17 – Developing good habits 07:07 – Communication is about what others hear 07:51 – What to do when you’re feeling horrible 09:32 – Pay attention to the double negatives Transcript: So, this one is going to be titled “The Strange Double Negatives That Might be Tripping You Up” or something along those lines. And this is all about language. It may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, what I'm about to share with you, and yet, if we were to look at how everything is in language, everything is in communication, whatever we express is just as important as what we don't express. But if we don't express anything, we don't get anything we want. And that's where sharing comes in. We must share our vision with others, not so that we sabotage ourselves or our goals, but more so that sharing creates momentum. If we don't express anything, we don't get anything we want.Click To Tweet You just never know when sharing your idea with someone might help you find an investor or a collaborator or someone who's going to help and support you. Now, do we go into conversations with an agenda all the time? My feeling is no. It sounds strange and I think there's a time and place to go into a conversation prepared to request because so often we're just scared of making requests, and if we realized the power that we had and the requests that people would agree to, or at least counter, we would make way more requests than we do. What I do believe in is having an intention for every conversation. What is going to be talked about? Have an intention for every conversation.Click To Tweet Why would you go into a conversation with no intention? That is my question to you. Going into a conversation with no intention is for fun. That's not going to move your career forward. That's not going to move your business forward. And in fact, chances are it's not going to move your relationships forward. You might decide in the spur of the moment to go watch a movie or have a barbecue with friends. And obviously, that's valuable time. But open-ended conversations about nothing with no intention tend not to move anywhere. They're fine for entertainment, they're fine for your spare time, they're fine for relationship building with friends and people that you're getting to know. But they don't work for business-oriented conversations, career-oriented conversations, or opportunity-oriented conversations, that's where you want to bring intention to what you say, as well as what you don't say. Many years ago, I was invested in a music industry startup, and I was brought on as a part-time digital marketer to help spread the word about that company. I had a fair bit of success as far as blogging and social media were concerned. It was kind of the earlier days of social media if you will, maybe not MySpace or Friendster. That was kind of going out of style, but Google+ was still around at the time. So, that might give you an idea. I remember they brought on another guy… multiple contractors were brought on,
039 – It Was Never Your Main Thing…
Mar 4 2024
039 – It Was Never Your Main Thing…
You may start a new project thinking it’s your main thing. But other people don’t necessarily see it that way. Not that perception is everything, but getting an outside perspective can sometimes be very enlightening. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares a couple of conversations that he found very helpful. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Music Entrepreneur HQ is dying… 00:33 – A new perspective 01:24 – “You’re not fully self-expressed without music” 02:13 – “Just let me do my thing…” 03:22 – Maybe it was a side hustle after all Transcript: I recently told my mentor, “Music Entrepreneur HQ is dying.” He said, “That's the first time I've ever heard you say that. I know you've had some ups and downs and some struggles, but this is the first time I've ever heard you say that it was dying.” But he said something interesting, which was, “The way I looked at it – maybe you didn't feel this way and you felt like Music Entrepreneur HQ was your core thing – I always felt like there’s David Andrew Wiebe, and then there’s this side thing he does at Music Entrepreneur HQ. And I was like, “Huh. I never quite thought of it that way,” but maybe it was one of those situations where I set myself a layer back. And that wasn't always a bad thing. Sometimes I was overwhelmed with emails that I simply could not answer and didn't have the time to. Setting myself a layer back in terms of communication – for a while at least – was a matter of survival more than anything else. It didn't always work exactly the way I hoped it would work, but it did take some pressure off me to be able to do the work that I needed to do. There was another conversation that we had several months back. Now, as I share this with you, it might be several months before this podcast episode ever comes out, and I might be talking about something that happened last year, just so we're clear on this. But from where I stand, several months ago, I was staying with a friend in Penticton. She happened to have a room open where I could stay, so I ended up renting it for three months. She had some mutual friends over for a couple of days. They were headed to Toronto One of the things that they said to me was, “Without music, it just doesn't seem like you've got your full self-expression. There's a missing piece and without that in your content, it may not fully resonate.” And I think that kind of hit home for me, finally. Maybe I've only been thinking about trying to do this in a particular way, maybe even my way, without thinking about other elements that could be incorporated. Ways to make it more fun, ways to make it more interesting, engaging, and consistent. And a lot of those things just didn't show up for me until later. Because I was like, “This is my info product and coaching business. Just let me do my thing. I don't want to change.” That wasn’t always the right decision. There definitely would have been opportunities to change that. I wish I'd paid a little more attention to it along the way. But I don't know that it would have ended up in a different decision or a different outcome. It was a platform for me to experiment and try a whole bunch of things to learn. And I did. I learned so much. Things I would do and things I would not do in the future. And how I would tweak things in the future. It's been very educational and informative. So, maybe Music Entrepreneur HQ was a side thing, I just didn't know I looked at it like that at the time. And now in hindsight, there's no denying that it was one of many things that I was doing simultaneously.
038 – 3 Concepts I Learned from My Mentor
Mar 1 2024
038 – 3 Concepts I Learned from My Mentor
There are always those around us who end up having a huge impact on us. We may not realize it as it’s happening, but in retrospect, we can always see who offered a timely word that ended up helping us on our journeys. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares what he learned from his mentor and how he applied it. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – The people who make the greatest difference are those who you are in direct communication with 01:08 – Mess things up 02:10 – #1: Analog vs. digital 05:26 – #2: Beware of who you take advice from 09:02 – #3: Community enterprise 11:57 – Reflecting on David’s community years 12:33 – Win-win-win Transcript: Three concepts I learned from my mentor. Here is someone that I've seen as one of my main mentors over the years. You can have relationships with close people, mentors at a distance, coaches, even the books you read… All of it can end up contributing to you significantly. But inevitably the people who end up making the biggest difference are those that you are in direct communication with. This is someone who has been… I've been by their side, creating projects with them, and they've been by my side, supporting my projects. There are three key things I learned from them that ended up steering the direction of where we're going versus where things went with Music Entrepreneur HQ in the past. Music Entrepreneur HQ was a grand experiment. We had so much fun with it. We tried a whole bunch of stuff. We made lots of mistakes and learned from them. I think a lot of people are afraid of doing that. If they went out and started making projects, started messing things up… Go make a mess. The thing that often gets repeated, whether in network marketing or leadership circles, is “Go make a mess.” That's what people who accomplish things are doing. They're not trying to figure everything out before they start. Never. Commit first, get into action, and then figure out the rest as you go. This is how it works. Commit first, get into action, and then figure out the rest as you go.Click To Tweet This is how courses are developed, right? At least the good ones, because it gives you way more leverage. You can share your course content with your audience before it's ever done. And you can test your stuff and see what people resonate with and see what works. Anyway, the number one concept that I learned from a mentor that has made a difference is “Analog versus digital.” I reinterpreted it into my ecosystem to make sense for me. But his whole contention was that I was doing so much digital marketing stuff. I learned a lot, and that's what a good entrepreneur would do, is they would go and learn. They would go and figure out how marketing works because marketing is your direct connection to revenue. If you don't have good marketing, you can't create revenue in your business. Marketing is your direct connection to revenue.Click To Tweet I don't think my intentions or even my priorities were misplaced. I think that they were in the right place. But I spent so much time creating content, sharing on social media, and sending emails. I was disappointed with some of the results we were getting. Something that he brought to me repeatedly. He would say, “But you know, I tend to think way more analog with that. I'm thinking like, if I look at events, how many people will come out? That's way more of a confirmation of how your project is going, versus passive content that people can just like, comment, or share, or just not even look at or respond to,” And he’s so right, because we publish a lot of stuff that doesn't necessarily do anything, and it's easy to get discouraged with that. When it comes to publishing, I believe you’ve got to keep going no matter what.
037 – The Right Questions Lead to Breakthrough Answers
Feb 29 2024
037 – The Right Questions Lead to Breakthrough Answers
Building a music career isn’t all fun and games and sometimes it’s easy to become discouraged. Maybe no one is coming out to your shows. Maybe you’re struggling to make an income. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares how one well-placed question can change everything. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – A stranger started asking questions 01:02 – Doing all the right things 02:08 – Gaining experience playing for an audience 03:13 – The right question can make you feel more understood 04:07 – Therapy is but a question away Transcript: Years ago, I was playing a gig at a coffeehouse, and afterwards, there was someone who came up to me and started asking questions. In hindsight, it may be that he was doing a little bit of market research, trying to figure out if there was a niche that he could serve in the music industry. He never came out and overtly said anything. But I’ve gained some experience in marketing, so the kind of questions he was asking me, later, led me to believe that he may have been looking to see if there is an opportunity for him to be a promoter or help musicians with gigging and stuff like that. Some of the questions were like, “What's the greatest struggle about being a musician right now?” With live performance being one of my focuses at the time, I would have said, “Bringing out an audience.” And we were doing all the right things. I had collaborators, I had songwriting partners, and we performed together regularly. Oftentimes we were very dysfunctional, but we somehow made it work. So, we would play these gigs, and we'd try to do all the right things. Not just the digital presence, although we did send out emails to the email list, posted to social media, put the show dates up on the website, and I think we would have printed out posters and sent out flyers and made personal requests for people to come to our shows. In retrospect, too, it could just be a function of we overplayed the market a little bit, or the same venue too many times. Bringing people out to the same kind of gig at the same kind of venue every single time would present some challenges. I just wasn't thinking that at the time. Bringing people out to the same kind of gig at the same kind of venue every single time can present some challenges.Click To Tweet I'm just thinking, like, “I want to play shows and I want to play more shows and I want to play outside of Calgary, and I want to play everywhere I could possibly book a show.” So, that's kind of where my mind was at. In retrospect, I think it was a great opportunity to gain experience as a live performer. Getting out there and playing in front of an audience, you grow in ways that you simply wouldn't be able to otherwise. And I think you grow faster, too, than just playing music in your basement. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and you can make music from home and make a living doing things that way, too, but I was always on the live performance side, where I wanted to do something with that, including touring. It's funny how things change, though. I don't have as much desire to do grueling schedules across North America. We'll see if that's something that changes. Things can change at a moment's notice, depending on the opportunities that come up, right? But as of now, that doesn't hold a whole lot of appeal for me. I'm looking more so for ways to play a few times per year and make it special, have people come out to those events because it's going to be one of the rare moments, when they'll even be able to see me. That's kind of more been my thought process as of late. But getting back to those questions, I think it's surprising how sometimes people ask questions and you sharing your answers makes you feel more understood.
036 – Where There’s Success, There’s Constant Activity
Feb 28 2024
036 – Where There’s Success, There’s Constant Activity
David formulated a strategy for a tribute band he’s been playing with for a long time. Having launched a new podcast and merch line, the strategy gained immediate traction, helping the band land a lucrative gig. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares the concept that changed everything for the band. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Starting a new podcast and merch line 00:33 – What the top artists and businesses are doing that others aren’t 01:25 – The different types of content and their advantages and disadvantages 02:05 – Busying yourself with activity attracts customers 03:25 – If you aspire to something greater in your music career, do this 04:18 – Always show that something is going on Transcript: One of my projects beginning last year in November [2022] was getting a new podcast and merch line started for the Def Leppard tribute band that I play in called Adrenalize. One of the reasons that we decided to do anything with that to begin with is to show activity. If you have a website that's not frequently updated, as much as you might think, like, “Okay, so what are people expecting,” right? It takes a while to come up with a new release or “We couldn't take time away from our jobs and our lives to film a video or write a blog post. “So, what do people want?” As much as you might think that… And I think the people who are doing the best in music and honestly, business and most areas of life are those who make it a point to come out with something, with some regularity. You can figure out a way to do it every month, but honestly, for most people, it's a weekly minimum. And if you can do it, do it daily. That would be my suggestion. It doesn't matter whether it's a blog post, a podcast episode, or a video. I think video gives people a direct connection to you, but podcasts benefit you too, because that's one way to get into people's pockets, and into their lives, right? You get to interact with them through the audio medium. They're going to listen to you as they're jogging, doing the dishes, or going for a walk. Whatever it might be, people are going to give you 30 minutes to an hour of their life to listen to you and get to know you. But that's not the point. In terms of content types, choose one, do it, and do it with frequency. That's more the point. And this was based on a book I'd read. I'll find the book and put it in the show notes. I just can't think of the exact title right now. I think it might've been Creative Mind and Success [by Ernest Holmes]. He talks about – and this perspective comes from an older time – he talks about the fact that if you've got a storefront, you should be constantly reorganizing your products and putting them in a new place. Busying yourself with activity attracts customers. It attracts people to your business. It's a great principle. It is correct. So, I suggested to the band leader of Adrenalize… I'm not the one running this show, but I've had a lot of sway in it… I said, “Look, let's begin to show that we've got some activity. Something should always be happening on the website.” So, we got the podcast started and we launched the merch line. And I don't think we recorded and published more than three or four episodes. And I think the gig in downtown Calgary got booked within a month. An outdoor gig of all things. I just finished it. It's, September 16th [2023] as I record this audio. And it was incredible. First, understand. It's not all about money, right? But We got paid $1,500 to do this gig. That's four people. You can do the math, right, as far as how much each person makes? I'm not going to sit here and tell you that that's astronomical. But I do think it's an amount that most musicians and most bands would be like,
035 – You’ve Got to Trust Yourself
Feb 27 2024
035 – You’ve Got to Trust Yourself
Do you trust yourself to make the right decision? Or do you doubt yourself at every turn? While it’s a good idea to question everything including yourself, putting too much pressure on “getting it right” can paralyze you. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares why getting our constraints out of the way can help us succeed in our projects. Download the PDF Transcript Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – An unusual coaching call 01:34 – Lean on the expertise of others 02:33 – Trusting yourself 05:12 – The coaching you need vs. the coaching you want Transcript: I had a coaching call today, not with someone I've had a coaching call with before. But of all things, she was looking for some advice on researching a medical device for mental wellness patients. And it was AI-based and all this kind of stuff… She's like, “Well, you know about this stuff in this kind of field, right?” What she was referring to was I know about. business plans. I know about entrepreneurship. I know how to set things up. I've had to produce all kinds of documents for all kinds of people. So, whether it's grants, business plans, or blog posts, I've done it, and I can do it – not with my brain tied behind my back, but close. So, this ended up turning into a very different kind of coaching session, mainly for the reason that I could hear she was stopped and she didn't trust herself with the decisions she was making. I looked at the structure that she had created for the goals she had set for this quarter and the project that she was undertaking. And I was thinking to myself “Okay, she may never have accomplished something quite like this before,” although she got her PhD, and she said that was a painful process. I said to her, “This is not a difficult project if you lean on the expertise of others. In other words, assemble a team, and find the people who know this stuff rather than you trying to figure it out,” especially tedious legal details. It's so easy for us sometimes, artists and entrepreneurs, to let go of a few things. Even when it comes to legal matters, we try to go and research and figure it out ourselves and go on LegalZoom to find documents. But this is what attorneys are for. Now I get that it can be a little bit pricey but go and ask them for their advice. Some people are more than willing to offer some free advice, or maybe just do something for them in exchange. I've met lawyers who like to perform and play gigs. Maybe you could set them up with a gig at a local pub. Who knows, right? Start thinking in terms of possibility rather than “Well, there's no way to do this or have this happen.” Anyway, she's trying to figure out what to do, so I asked her what her “point of view was.” Now, I can't define and explain what that is. If you're interested in learning more about the leadership programs that I've been taking recently, contact me directly and we'll try to figure something out. But anyway, I asked her what that was. It was a distinction I learned in the program. This program has set me up with incredible communication technologies and tools that I’ve never seen or heard of anywhere else. So, that was one of the things that made the leadership program worthwhile – the fact that, at its core, it’s a com communication program. So, she figured out that she didn’t trust herself. She didn't trust the world. She could see that she tried so many projects and tried to get them done in the past and just never got anywhere with them because she didn't trust herself. Like, “Am I doing this right? Is this how it's done? And who should I get to be a part of this?” We all get trapped in this, and I could see how if you were constantly in that state of like, “I don't know, I don't trust myself, I'm not sure if this is the right decision,
034 – Bad Instructions, Bad Results!
Feb 26 2024
034 – Bad Instructions, Bad Results!
If you receive bad instruction, you’ll get bad results. Obviously, right? And to be fair, there are people out there who are intentionally steering you in the wrong direction. But sometimes, the best instructions can still go through the wrong filter, leading to subpar results. In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares why this happens. Sponsors: Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.” Highlights: 00:17 – Trying and failing to open a bag of cereal 01:07 – Getting and interpreting instructions 01:46 – What happens when you get the recipe wrong? 02:43 – “Gurus” steering you in the wrong direction 03:59 – Even with the best instructions, you can still mess it up 04:38 – The importance of ongoing self-education Transcript: I was opening a bag of cereal this morning. You notice how sometimes they have instructions on them, like “Tear here?” So, I was trying to tear it open, and I managed to remove some of the material but not enough of it… the tear should have been a little bit lower. So, the bag did not open. Now I'm trying to pull it open and that's not happening. Of course, at that point, scissors and knives come out to cut. It's one of those resealable bags, right? If you do it wrong – now, I managed to avoid this – but if you do it wrong, you end up ruining the resealable parts. Then the bag is cut open and the entire system is ruined. But what this reminded me of was the fact that sometimes we get instructions from our coaches or mentors, the people who are guiding us in our careers. It could even be our managers. Now, their advice could be perfectly on point, but sometimes the way we hear it and interpret it and then put it into action simply won’t work. The advice you receive could be on point. But the way you interpret it and put it into action could be flawed.Click To Tweet So, even with the best instructions, you can run into situations where it was not executed correctly. It was not interpreted correctly. And because it ended up filtering through you, you did not get the expected results from the action. And this is what we run into most with our training. I think most experts are well-meaning. You can certainly identify those who are just out there constantly selling on webinars every day, all the time, every week. “Webinar, webinar, webinar, come see my webinar. buy my course, buy my thing, buy my stack, buy my offer.” I'm not saying that's wrong, but I think some people do have more of a money motive than a willingness, inclination, or passion to help others. But the point is if we're actively looking and questioning what we're hearing, then we're not receiving bad advice. Now, sometimes we are. But we're not generally receiving bad advice though. So, we think we heard it right and we did it right and we executed correctly and for some reason, the recipe doesn't work, and the cake tastes horrible. That's human error. Then on the other hand, of course, you will find people that don't give you the right instructions or don't give them to you in a way that could even be interpreted and executed properly by you. Now, mindset advice is sometimes like this, and mindset is more about, “Let me get my attitude and thinking straight so that I can go and do the things that I need to do without having to constantly contend with distractions and negative feedback and negative comments” because those things are going to come whether you like it or not. Some people just aren't going to like you or they’re not going to like what you do. But if you have the right mindset, you won't be held back by negative comments and negative reviews and… God forbid death threats, which is not fun for anyone. Some of my friends have received those too. But mainly we're talking about practical advice on how to book more gigs or how to set up an online music care...