Okay, so you’ve decided that social media growth is for you. You’re committed to the process, and you’ve started putting effort into it.

But should you be doing social media at all?

It sounds like a dreadful existential question, but knowing why you shouldn’t be putting any time into it might just strengthen all the reasons why you decided to engage in the first place.

So, let’s delve into “7 reasons you shouldn’t ‘do’ social media.”

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Sponsors:

Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.”

The Renegade Musician: David’s magnum opus on building an independent music career is here!

Highlights:

00:17 – Today’s topic

00:41 – Let’s avoid “purgatory infinity”

01:50 – It’s one more thing you have to get good at

05:06 – Social media is a horrible hobby

06:30 – Social media is addicting

08:57 – An open invitation to the comparison game

10:59 – Social media may not be the solution

15:13 – Social media sets false expectations

17:44 – There isn’t a guaranteed effort-to-reward ratio

19:28 – Closing thoughts

Transcript:

Welcome to Spark Infinity Office Hours. This is David Andrew Wiebe and it is October 10th, 2024. Today's presentation is seven reasons you shouldn't do social media.

Do is in quotes for a reason. I'm not going to explain that reason, but if you pay careful attention to this presentation to the very end, I think you'll figure out why I'm not here to burst anyone's bubble, the reason Spark Infinity and this team and this group exists because we have that common goal of wanting to grow on social media. So today I'm not going to be discussing reasons to quit.

That's not what this is about, but we need to remember that if you're going to say yes to something, you're saying no to other things as well. And being mindful of that choice and that trade off is really important in life. I also think it's a really good intellectual exercise to explore arguments against whatever your chosen path is, because it facilitates critical thinking and it helps you refine your beliefs.

Ultimately, I want everyone involved, including myself, the participants or the leaders in Spark Infinity, as well as the viewers to be in Spark Infinity mode, not Spark Purgatory mode or Purgatory Infinity, that sounds even worse. That's not what we want. We want to see and get results and to put effort into things that do get results.

So let's move into those reasons. Number one, it's one more thing you have to get good at. If you're already good at several things or a couple of things, or maybe just one thing, whether that's guitar or taking photos or programming, whatever it might be, if you're already good at one thing or a couple of things or three things, remember, if you want to get results with social media, that's one more thing you've got to add to the plate and actually get good at to get results.

Author and blogger Seth Godin was getting started as a blogger in the early days of the internet. If he had chosen to, he could have had first mover advantage on Twitter and he was considering it. He decided against it.

He saw it as one more thing he would have to get good at. Trying to get good at more things he felt would have diluted his focus. He opted to focus on his writing, thereby increasing his chances of becoming the best in writing, or at least in his category.

The term best might be subjective here, but I think Seth Godin's influence speaks for himself. For a long time, if you put the term Seth into Google, he was the first result that showed up. May not be anymore, but he's definitely in the top 10 results still.

And he's probably one of the people that has influenced more thought leaders on the internet than anyone else. Ironically, it's interesting. I don't know why no one seems to want to point this out, but Seth is on Twitter slash X. It's just that he's not active on it.

His daily blog posts automatically publish to you and appear on his X feed. And in his case, that is really more than sufficient because he has a following of over 761,000 on X. I don't think he's going to. But if he ever did change his mind about being popular or doing well on X, he would have a pretty good foundation to stand on.

Is that going to work for every blogger? I don't think so. I don't think merely having your posts re-shared to X, unless you've built your authority and credibility and your prominence in other ways, is automatically going to boost your views or help you grow a following on X. But for Seth, it worked just fine. If he had focused on X, I don't think he would have just 761,000 followers either.

He'd probably have many more. Key lesson, there's actually two here. First is if you want to become the best at anything and want to have any hope of becoming the best at it, again, best being subjective, you've got to strip away all distractions and give yourself the best chance possible at making that happen.

Meaning you'd probably be saying no to a lot more things. So you can say yes to the one or two things that you ultimately want to be good at. And number two, and we will talk more about this later.

So I'm not going to expand on it a lot right here. There are pathways other than social media to get to where you want to go. Seth is proof of that.

Number two, social media is a horrible hobby. When I was a network marketer for about four or five years, my mentors often said this business makes for a horrible hobby and one more quote, if you treat it as a hobby, you will only ever earn a hobby level income. And I think social media really is the same way.

If you treat it as a hobby, you are never going to see better than hobby level results. So if you're on the fence about social media, there will be pain and the pain will only increase over time. There is no pain when you're a decisive yes or a decisive no, regardless of the consequences.

But the maybe people will suffer and so will the results. So the key lesson here is if you're committed to growing on social media, no price will ever seem too high. If you're deliberately and intentionally choosing not to do social media, there is no quote unquote missing out.

No FOMO, only JOMO, joy of missing out. But if you're wishy-washy about it, there's a chance you'll get swallowed up in the next wave of trolling, criticism, hardship, or something else because life happens whether you're doing social media or not. And there are plenty of things that could take you out.

Number three, social media is addicting in the worst way possible. Social media and smartphones are addictive by design. You can find many articles on Google corroborating this notion as well as many studies.

According to Addiction Help, social media addiction is growing year by year. Research shows that roughly 210 million people are addicted to social media worldwide. As I understand it, only about 4 billion people, in other words, about 50% of the population is even online yet.

What happens when an additional 4 billion people come online? What will the addiction stats look like then? Addiction Help seems to indicate that these numbers are rising year by year. Gary Vee said, social media is more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. Yet, I have a hard time imagining anything that could leave you feeling as empty and unfulfilled.

Those dopamine highs let you down every time. I'm not advocating anyone become addicted to anything. Although, if we're honest with ourselves, we all have addictions of minor or major forms.

I'm not necessarily talking about clinical addiction, which is a whole other thing. But I can think of other things that would have a little more payoff than staring at social media. In fact, I think that's the lowest payoff there is.

Key lesson, if you are easily distracted by the posts you see on social media and forget why you opened the app in the first place, you are likely addicted. If you frequently find yourself doom scrolling and can't seem to control it, you are likely addicted. The question is, and this is really key, are you a creator or consumer? My coach and anyone that I respect is pretty much in the category of a creator.

They make things, they prioritize making things over consuming things. I even heard, I think it was Ralph Smart, and I love his channel as well. I think he was the one that said successful people for every hour of content they consume, they create two hours of content.

So they create double the amount they watch. Think about that. Number four, social media is an open invitation to the comparison game.

Comparison is the root of all unhappiness. If you look up that term on Google, it seems to think I came up with it. I simply summarized a sentence that effectively said the same thing, and I'm pretty sure it was Joe Vitale who originally said that, but thank you, Google.

It's nice to be known for something. JED says social comparison can lead to increased depression, decreased wellbeing, poor body image, and even eating disorders. I don't know why they separated increased depression and decreased wellbeing, because if you read the article, you find out that by decreased wellbeing, they mean depression, I guess, because depression leads to decreased wellbeing.

But it seems to me, they're kind of in the same category, either way, more often than not, we are comparing ourselves unfavorably to others, their highlight reels to our bloopers, virtually anyone you can name has gone through hardship. And if they haven't, they will. People aren't exempt from difficulty or challenge just because they're rich, famous, good looking, or otherwise.

Many so-called social media influencers will tell you they don't even know what they're supposed to be influencing. And in fact, many of them earn an aggressively mediocre income.

Life is going to unfold exactly as it’s going to unfold, regardless of the force you attempt to exert over it. Isn’t it…?

What if reality wasn’t so “set in stone?” What if your imagined realities were actually real? What if there was a way to transition to a path other than the one you’re already on?

The Spark Infinity crew gathered again for David’s “Parallel Universes of the Artistpreneur,” a presentation dedicated to surfing between parallel universes.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

Productivity, Performance & Profits Blackbook: Get a free copy of the “Definitive Guide to Productivity for Artists and Entrepreneurs.”

The Renegade Musician: David’s magnum opus on building an independent music career is here!

Highlights:

00:17 – Welcome to the show

01:33 – Introduction to Parallel Universes of the Artistpreneur

02:08 – Why this topic?

02:58 – “Paying your dues”

03:37 – Life is a stream

04:52 – How to become a reality surfer

06:59 – Your imagination is your reality

08:05 – Time is just a concept

08:49 – Why you shouldn’t attempt to manifest multiple realities simultaneously

09:16 – Change your perspective/shift your attention

11:09 – What does it feel like to make an identity shift?

11:59 – Next steps

12:23 – Group discussion

Transcript:

David: All right, welcome to Spark Infinity. It is October 3rd, 2024, and we have Jody on the call. How you doing, Jody?

Jody: Good.

David: We also have Susanna on the call. She's brand new to Spark Infinity. Why don't you introduce yourself, Susanna?

Suzanna: Thanks, Dave.

So hello, everyone. I'm Suzanna, and I'm just a fellow artist as well. Yeah, art and design, in terms of graphic arts, I do acrylic. I also do digital art and also have my own business as well. And I’m also employed. So that's a little bit about me, and I love unique stuff and technology and yeah, there's so many things that I like. You can go on and on and on. So that's a little bit about me.

David: Great. What are you looking to accomplish on social media?

Suzanna: I look to accomplish actually creating, you know, like events for people and have them being connected with art and also with technology and create course content. And yeah, and to be better with regards to how I present myself.

So looking forward to creating these videos with you and the journey that we are going to go on.

David: It's going to be a lot of fun. And I would say that is a worthy and noble pursuit, Susanna. So, thank you for sharing.

Suzanna: Yeah. Thank you.

Parallel Universes of the Artistpreneur

David: Today's presentation is the Parallel Universes of the Artistpreneur. I actually had AI generate this image. I'm kind of impressed. “Artist surfing between highways awkwardly with the guitar around his shoulders.”

This presentation is loosely based on the book by Frederick Dodson, Parallel Universes of Self. It's not a complete copy. It's a very big book. I use different terms. I have different discoveries than he does.

It's not for everyone, this book. But if you want to explore this concept in greater detail, then I recommend the read. If this resonates with you, and if this is interesting to you, that is where to go.

Why Does This Topic Matter?

Okay, so why are we going to talk about Parallel Universes of the Artistpreneur? I've really noticed that a lot of artistpreneurs take dramatically different actions based on how they're feeling in the moment, based on their confidence, based on their belief level.

So, if they're not feeling great that day, they might be less inclined to post to social media, for an example, or they might be less inclined to reach out to a potential contact.

But if they’ve got confidence and belief in what they're doing, and then they're in the momentum of it, they tend to make more contacts, they tend to post more to social media, they send more email campaigns. They try more things, because they're more excited, and their belief level is higher.

If we can get to the point of believing that everything is working out for us, we would never fear taking risks or dwelling on temporary setbacks, or things that appear to be setbacks. And remembering that all things are temporary.

Common Assumptions and How They Hold You Back

A few prevalent assumptions, especially in music industry, I'm sure Jody has noticed this too:

“Success is hard,” “it's going to take a long time,” “it's going to take 10 years,” “I've got to pay my dues,” or some variation thereof, has been repeated.

We've been told the stories of The Beatles and Metallica and Billy Talent and countless others for whom success required 10 years of consistent, diligent, vigilant effort through great travail. Some variation thereof I'm sure every artist can relate to.

Good news is, there are other paths, and today we're going to be talking about what that path might be – the secret path.

The Streams of Life – Choose Your Stream

I want you to imagine something. Life is a stream, but there isn't just one stream, there are many streams, and at any time you can choose what stream you want to float down. If you don't like the stream you're on, you can transition to another. Some are fast, some are slow, some are more adventurous. There are an infinite number of streams, and if you want, you can even stand on the shore and observe for a while. But it is a requirement that you stay on a stream.

In his book, Frederick actually describes this as the highways, I like his analogy a lot too.

Here's another way of thinking about this. There's a version of you that went right when you went left. There's a version of you that enrolled in a university when you took a job. There's a version of you that got married when you opted to stay single. And all these choices represent different streams of life. But every version of you exists.

So there's already a version of you that has been married if you're not married. There's already a version of you that has experienced fame or fortune. And this is because all timelines coexist simultaneously, and you have access to all of them.

You can surf between the streams at will, opting to experience anything you want, because there is a parallel version of you that has already experienced it, whether wealth, fame, or freedom.

How to Surf Between Parallel Realities

Okay, but the question is “how?” How can we surf between these streams?

To experience another timeline, you would need to surf over to it. It certainly can sound complicated, but it isn't. And it's something that can happen in minutes, probably not seconds, but minutes.

If you still your mind and imagine yourself having the preferred experience and feel as though you already have it, and then come out of that experience, completely release it, then it's done.

And the moment the identity shift has occurred – and we'll talk more about identity shift throughout this – is the moment it's become your new reality.

So often we talk about growing, expanding, becoming, trying to get somewhere. But if the identity shift happens, all those other things tend to happen naturally. So oftentimes we have that process backwards.

In other words, it's not about doing, it's about being. There's no trying. There's no striving. There's no waiting. There's no expecting. There's no faking it until you make it.

If you've initiated and gone through an identity shift, there may be a time delay in experiencing your new preferred reality in the outward world. But this is simply giving you the opportunity to further define and refine your preferences. Because sometimes if you aren't specific enough, you can bring about undesirable results.

You could say things like, “I want to be called by 100 people who are interested in my music next week,” and then get a hundred people who are a pain to deal with. And so, you attracted what you asked for, but because you weren't totally and completely specific with what you wanted, you got any random group of 100 people contacting you.

Having initiated an identity shift, things, potentially unwanted things will happen, but it's all in how you view the proceedings. In other words, things start happening. That's a good time for you to affirm and confirm that you've actually initiated the identity shift.

Most times we think when something bad happens, we assume we did something wrong. When in fact, if we make an identity shift and things start changing, we should confirm and affirm that we're moving towards the thing we want.

That's because bottom line, the universe is taking you on the shortest possible path to get you to where you want to go. And that might include some unexpected surprises. And your only role in all of it is to affirm the shift you've made. That's all you have to do.

Your imagination is a reality. Oftentimes we distinguish between waking life and dream life, but was your dream any less real than your waking life? Didn't you experience your dream? Isn't it a part of your experience? Can't you recollect what your dream was? There is no IRL.

We like to talk about that in social media, “in real life.” Let's meet in real life. IRL, right? There is no “in real life” because it's all real. None of it's fake.

The linear progression of life doesn't stop just because you're playing video games or doom scrolling or dreaming or engaged in virtual reality. It's all real.

There's no augmented reality. There's no virtual reality. There's no fake reality. Which can only mean if left unquestioned – and that's key – your imagination is reality.

It's as real as reality itself, just like a dream. When you imagine a new reality, it's already real. If it doesn't become your reality, the only reason is because you doubted it.

One thing I like to add though, when I'm imagining or thinking of a new reality, and I just submit this to the universe or God, I like to say, “or something better.

Why bother with social media? Is it even worth doing? And if you are going to do it anyway, wouldn’t you rather get results than not?

In this installation of Spark Infinity Office Hours, David illuminates how social media can bring real business value to an individual, creator, entrepreneur, or business.

Later, Jody and Karlo join the discussion to share what they’re getting from David’s presentation.

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 – Why you shouldn’t get caught up in vanity metrics

01:06 – The importance of building connections

01:50 – The cruciality of growing your subscriber list

02:53 – Sales are highly valuable and desirable

03:39 – If you do this right, opportunities will come to you

04:34 – Mindset landmines you must circumvent and avoid

08:05 – Group discussion

Transcript:

David: Alright, welcome to Spark Infinity Office Hours. It is September 26th, 2024. Today's topic is what's the point of social media? Why do we do it?

Why Vanity Metrics Don’t Matter

If you are a creative or business oriented individual, you're not doing social media for the vanity metrics. That's things like likes and shares and comments and even follows.

They might make you feel good. They might stroke your ego. They might offer validation.

No judgment here. It feels good to feel good, but those don't have any inherent business value.

There are two examples of people I know who are killing it without a major following. You can look them up yourself, James Schramko being one, Gary Spivey being another. They may not have massive followings, but in the background, they've got multimillion dollar businesses.

Okay, so what has business value on social media?

Connections – Your Net Worth is in Your Network

Number one is connections. If you really stop to think about it, most opportunities you've gotten to this point, including jobs, gigs, partnerships, any other opportunity you can think of, it's not because of your talent, skills, or experience, which can be helpful, but it's because of who you know. Your talents, skills, experience are valuable, but they're secondary to relationship.

I can think back on gigs that I got paid $800 for as a guest guitarist. It's not because of my skills. There were other people that could have filled those shoes, it's because of who I knew.

And social media is a great way to build new connections. We're not covering how to do that here. That could be a whole can of worms unto itself, but it is valuable.

And out of everything we'll be talking about today, connections is probably the easiest thing to build. That's of value.

Subscribers – an Asset You Own

Number two is subscribers.

And in this case, we're not talking about YouTube subscribers, although that can be valuable because if you reach certain metrics, you can monetize your channel. I'm pretty sure TikTok works the same way.

But we're talking about building your list, your email subscribers, preferably, but it could also be a text or SMS text message list that you're building.

Unfortunately, you can lose followers for a variety of reasons. It could be because people don't like you, which has happened. It could be because you're shadow banned or demonetized or your account's been deleted. You don't get to keep the followers you have on social media unless you turn them into subscribers.

Your number one goal on social media, hopefully, is to turn people into subscribers. And then you can grow the relationship with those subscribers to the point where customers are sharing their mailing addresses with you.

This is kind of advanced, but if you can send them stuff, direct mail, thank you notes, birthday cards, maybe even the occasional book, you're going to build a better relationship with that customer. They're going to keep coming back and stay with you.

Sales – Cashflow Keeps the Creativity Alive

Number three, this could be the hardest thing to get on social media, but of course it is valuable when it happens. That is sales.

I dug up some stats on this that are really interesting. A good conversion rate on social media is two to five percent. So, for every 100 people that engage your content and take it seriously, two to five people should buy. But that has to be 100 really, truly engaged people.

And the monthly average conversion rate on Instagram is 19.7%, which outperforms Facebook and TikTok combined. For organic content creation and generating sales organically, Instagram pretty much outperforms all the others.

But this comes with the disclaimer or caveat that your mileage will vary based on your following, your reach, number of impressions you get, your industry and other factors.

Opportunity – They Come to You on Autopilot

I identified one more thing that could be a value on social media, and that's opportunity.

This is what comes to you rather than what you go out there and generate.

Big followings, sometimes even small followings can land you free products and services, courses, coaching, watches, gigs, roles, sponsors, and more.

I've gotten free guitars to review and share. I've gotten free watches. I've gotten free keyboards. I've gotten free headphones. I've had many opportunities to promote other people's products.

And the bigger your following is, if someone is doing an A to B comparison, “should we book this musician or that musician,” there's a pretty good chance the person with the bigger following is going to be booked.

So having a following doesn't have to be big, like I said, but a sizable following, whatever that means to the person evaluating you, because it's really subjective, can be useful.

Mindset Traps You Must Navigate

I want to cover a few mindset traps because it's really easy to get stuck in this whole social media game. Sometimes it feels like a grind and little else.

So here's what to avoid or to recognize:

Giving up at the first sign of difficulty or challenge. Life has ebbs and flows. We all go through things. If you want to win someday, you’ve got to commit to continuing today. Today is really all that matters. I heard recently that when Joe Rogan was asked, “so what are you going to do with this podcast before he got his sponsorship with Spotify?” His answer was, “I don't know. I'm just focused on getting better every day.” And then the $250 million deal comes through.

Constantly thinking about what you don't have. This tends to keep you stuck where you are.

Being lazy in the way you connect with others. Templated messages are only useful if customized to the individual. For example, if you're reaching out to Dave, don't call him Bob. “Hey, Bob,” or “hey person,” or “hey” is even more impersonal. And a really good tip here would be to read – if you haven't already – How to Win Friends and Influence People. You’ve got to customize your message. This is like pitching 101. You’ve got to think about the person you’re reaching out to, why it's a benefit for them. Make the message about them, not about you, but also make your ask really clear.

Being more aggressive than you need to be. Now I think it's really okay to share your offers with a sense of urgency and even to share them often. Just don't let it become snake oil sales or spam or scams. That's a good way to get unfollowed. I guess we're not talking to the crowd that's less ethical in their approach to social media and sales in general, but I think it's good to have this as a value – honesty and integrity – when promoting your stuff. Promote your stuff often. Just don't be so aggressive that you're like, “okay, whatever, I'm just going to throw this out there and bait people.”

Having to know everything. You don't need to know anything. You don't need to know your mission or purpose. You don't even need to know what you're building towards. All you’ve got to do is start, keep moving, improve, enjoy the journey and things will show up. That goes back to the Joe Rogan example from earlier as well. Have fun, strive for improvement, or commit to improvement, and that's it. Eventually everything will start to show up if you act with that level of trust.

Trying to do everything perfectly. This is something everyone here at Spark Infinity should be quite familiar with already. Bottom line is messiness on social media is practically expected. Misspellings, grammatical errors, and low-quality videos can sometimes boost engagement because people comment saying, “oh, there's an error in your post.” So, authenticity and showing up is what matters.

Expecting success to hit you over the head. Chances are it will take time. I think there are people who can do it fast. I'm not advocating doing it slow, but it may take six months. It may take a year. And for some people, it might take three to five years. And for others, it might take five to ten years. If you're focused on what you're not getting right now, some of the other mindset traps that we talked about, then it will be really easy to give up. But if you focus on daily improvement, becoming better at what you do in your craft, then things will naturally begin to show up.

Follow Along – Join Us on This Journey

As always, don't forget to follow me on Instagram: @DavidAndrewWiebe.

Group Discussion

What did you get from this, Karlo?

Karlo: For me, it's a practice. I’ve got to get myself out there now that I have this new reiki and tarot venture. So, it's time to spend some time and create some content.

David: You’ve put some effort into sharing your offer, building your website, ads and stuff like that. So now your thinking is, in addition to that, adding some content into the mix to support your efforts.

Karlo: Yeah.

David: Do you have thoughts on what sort of content you would create?

With massively exaggerated rumors of Elon Musk running Twitter (X) into the ground, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t resist the allure of launching a new platform to rival and quickly eclipse the “waning” X.

So far, things haven’t exactly gone that way, but because Threads was integrated with Instagram, it initially got more traction than even ChatGPT.

A little over a year has passed, and the dust has settled. Threads is alive and well (and so is X, which still boasts more features than Threads). So, should you consider adding Threads to your marketing mix if you haven't already?

Join David and Karlo as they explore Meta’s daring venture into microblogging.

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 – Introduction

01:58 – What is Threads?

02:51 – Why was Threads created?

05:53 – Should you be excited about Threads?

06:47 – Key stats and fun facts

07:57 – Is it worth adding Threads to your marketing mix?

09:08 – Group discussion

Transcript:

David: Welcome to Spark Infinity Office Hours. Today's date is September 19th, 2024. I'm David Andrew Wiebe, and I am joined today by one of our members, Karlo. How are you doing, Karlo?

Karlo: I'm doing well, thank you. How are you doing?

David: I'm always good, man.

Karlo: Great.

David: What have you been up to lately? Anything cool with social media?

Karlo: Promoting my Tarot Power Reading Bundle on my Reiki and Tarot page on Facebook and also on my website and Instagram afterward.

David: Oh, awesome. Why don't you do a quick briefing for us so our audience can learn more about what it is that you're offering in that bundle?

Karlo: Well, let's see. It is an hour-and-a-half session consisting of a Tarot session at the beginning, and then the other half of the session is a Reiki session to clear any blockages and rebalance the aura. And right now it's at a 30% discount from $170 to $119. Book before the end of September 22nd and get a free half-hour meditation/relaxation music track.

David: That sounds incredible. Wow.

Karlo: Yeah.

David: Okay. If you've got a custom link or anything you want to share, maybe bring that next time and we can plug that too.

Karlo: They can go to KarloKeet.com and there's a really big green button that says book now.

David: KarloKeet.com. Awesome.

Karlo: Yep.

David: Okay. Everyone go and check that out for sure.

I'm working on the Digital NO-Mad plus six bonuses bundle. That's almost ready to go, but I can't announce that just yet. I can talk about it, but that'll be available real soon. And just to give a sneak preview, you're getting seven resources for 10 bucks, which could potentially save you thousands of dollars in all kinds of travel catastrophes. So, grab it if you're creating your freedom lifestyle, that would be my advice.

What is Threads?

Today's topic is an introduction to Threads. And the first thing we need to look at is “What is this thing?” I always find it valuable to understand a social network before diving in and trying to do something with it, knowing where it's been, but perhaps most importantly, knowing where it's now going can help you align with that stream and get better results with that social network.

Threads is an Instagram social media app where you can participate in public conversations. You can post threads, reply to others, repost threads, and follow other personalities. This is how Instagram or Wikipedia likes to term it, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a Twitter copy or it's a direct competitor to X, but we'll get to that.

Threads was launched on July 5th, 2023, so it's been out a little over a year.

Why was Threads Created?

Why was Threads created? Instagram created Threads to bring the same social media experience – in other words, their visual social media experience or the community experience – over to a text-based ecosystem like Twitter or X.

Based on the reading that I did last night, it seems like Mark Zuckerberg saw an opportunity when Elon Musk bought Twitter/and seemed to be running the platform into the ground. In reality, Elon seems to be doing a pretty good job with it, but at the time everyone thought “This is going to be a disaster, so let's capitalize on this opportunity.” That was my impression of what Mark Zuckerberg had planned with Threads.

Let's face it though, like the very idea of “Threads” comes directly from Twitter or X, where users would plan long-form messages to be distributed using multiple tweets or replies because of the character limit. In other words, people can almost post full blog posts on Twitter if they use enough tweets and they keep replying to the last tweet. And that's what a thread is. That's where it comes from. So, Threads is a direct competitor to Twitter/X.

This might be a little hard to see, but this is an example of a thread on Twitter. You can see kind of at the top, here's the first post, and then this is a reply to the post and it's like part one or number one. And then another reply to the same post. Number two, do this. I think this Twitter thread was specifically about some aspect of launching a business. There are more than three tweets. I think it's something like 12 or possibly even 20 tweets.

But this kind of thing I saw as I was beginning to explore Twitter and X more probably throughout the pandemic, I saw it was becoming more common for people to do this kind of thing.

And when you boil down a blog post to just its key elements, it ends up being high-value content when it's presented in a short form like this.

Of course, you can do this on threads, but you don't have to. You can just use it like X and post one single short-form piece of content too.

Karlo: Is there a character limit on threads?

David: Yes. And that's something I should have looked up. I don't know what the character limit is, but there is.

What I do know is it does allow the posting of text-based content, graphical content, and videos.

Karlo: 500 characters.

David: 500. So, I think that's maybe another thing that Mark Zuckerberg was hoping to compete on. Twitter or X I think is limited to 280 characters.

Karlo: Yeah, it is.

David: Unless you have the pro (Premium) plan, in which case I think you can write articles on X now.

The subscription plan is still… I still don't know why I would want it just for the blue checkmark. It doesn't make much sense to me. Or bolded text or revised tweets. Those functionalities are not enough for me to buy an X subscription, but maybe as the value goes up or more features are added. Threads does not have all those features yet. It's a very minimalistic platform, but of course, X has had years to kind of perfect and try different things.

Should You be Excited About Threads?

Should we be excited about Threads at all? Here's a quote from Mark Zuckerberg that was from around the same time the platform launched.

He says:

“I've thought for a long time there should be a billion-person public conversations app that is a bit more positive. I think that if we keep at this for a few more years, then I think we have a good chance of achieving our vision there.”

His idea is to turn Threads into a billion-user platform. Last I checked, Twitter had about 200, 300 million active users.

The other claim here about being more positive, I don't know. X is sort of becoming more of a place for free speech, but just because that's the case doesn't mean I find it more negative. But maybe I'm reading between the lines.

But as far as should we be excited about Threads? You can bet that Zuck is excited about it.

Key Statistics and Fun Facts

Some key stats and fun facts.

Threads serves over 100 countries and is available in 31 languages. It was initially available on Android and iOS, and now there is a web browser version at threads.net.

It was the fastest-growing consumer software app in history, with over 100 million users in its first five days, which surpassed ChatGPT, believe it or not. Of course, the platform hasn't sustained this level of activity, but Meta kind of anticipated that it would drop a little after its initial launch.

Ads are planned. Advertising opportunities are coming to Threads, which probably should surprise no one. But it might be cool to test that out once it's available.

Here are the growth metrics.

Threads has over 200 million monthly active users now. It has roughly 30 million daily active users. In the US alone, Threads has 30 million monthly active users. Actually, I think that the second stat was 33 million daily active users. And out of those 33 million, there's 30 million in the US. Meta is therefore about a quarter of the way to their goal of a billion users.

Should You be on Threads?

Should you add Threads to your marketing mix? And I feel this depends a lot on your marketing focus.

If you already have momentum on other social media platforms, then it might not make a lot of sense to scatter your focus among more networks.

But the thing that I noticed was you can schedule your threads using, conventional tools like Hootsuite. I found a tool and might talk about it in the future, not in this particular Spark Infinity Office Hours, but I found a tool that lets me schedule to Threads, X, Bluesky, and Mastodon (among others) all at once. That's how I distribute my text-based content now.

And for me, that makes the most sense rather than having a single platform occupying my mind space. More like grouping the text-based microblogging platforms and using them simultaneously to drive traffic. And that's the direction that I'm headed in.

Follow David on Instagram

As always, don't forget to follow me on Instagram.

And in the description of this video, you'll find a link to Karlo and Jody's Instagram as well.

Summary: Dr. Joseph Murphy is an expert on the topic of the subconscious mind. In this podcast episode, I explore what several valuable ideas I took away from reading his book, Believe in Yourself.

Believe in Yourself is a shorter volume containing great wisdom. Dr. Joseph Murphy, one of the foremost experts on the New Thought movement and accessing your subconscious mind succinctly explains how to achieve spiritual health and external success.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, I look at one of Murphy's great works.

Download the PDF Transcription

Podcast Highlights:

00:14 – Believe in Yourself vs. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

00:40 – Feeling is the fountainhead of power

01:31 – Imagination controls the conceptive realm

02:37 – Your concept of God determines your attitude towards life

03:47 – If you are in rapport with your subconscious mind, you unlock your genius zone

04:22 – What your subconscious mind accepts is reality in the outer world

05:24 – You are the master of the circumstances you find yourself in

06:26 – Concluding thoughts

Transcription:

Compared to The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Believe in Yourself by Joseph Murphy is one of his shorter works.

But every sentence in Joseph Murphy's book contains valuable insights into spirituality and personal success. I have read this book from start to finish twice, and each time I've gotten something new from it. Readers should come away with fresh insights on every read as well.

There is no way for me to summarize the entirety of the wisdom contained within, but I did want to share with you what I learned from this book.

1. Feeling Is The Fountainhead Of Power (or Universal Power), According to Joseph Murphy

When personal development authors talk about goal-setting and visualization, they often add the phrase, “Add emotion to it!”

I think Murphy is essentially saying the same thing here. He's pointing out that feelings and emotions have power, and that we can learn to channel them into achieving and obtaining our desires. Mastering this ability is an important thing!

If you're setting goals that don't motivate you, you'll find it challenging to add feeling to them. But if you become obsessed with bringing about a result, you'll naturally take actions and move in the direction of your wishes and longings. Fear will reduce with each action you take, taking you closer to your dream.

You must become aware of what your true desires are. The only way to make that happen is to build rapport with your subconscious mind (also see point #4 on this list).

2. Imagination Controls The Whole Conceptive Realm

Life in the digital age is frantic. Few people take time to think, reflect, and ask questions.

“Visualization? I have no time for that!”

But you must make time for it, because most people don't. They aren't thinking about the desired result, the end goal, what their hearts yearn for. Many have forgotten the power of imagining. This is one of the reasons they struggle to create the desired conditions of life, whether money, body, love, or otherwise.

Disney came to be because it was first conceived in the mind of Walt Disney. There are endless examples of technological breakthroughs, attractions, movies, books, and other works that would not exist if they weren't first conceived in someone's mind.

If you want to control the conceptive realm, start imagining once again. If you don't know where to start, daydream. Remember what it was like to be a child sitting in a classroom thinking about what else you wanted to be doing, or what you were going to do when you got home.

3. Your Concept Of God Determines Your Attitude Towards Life

Maveen Kaura and I spent an entire episode of Using Your Power discussing this concept. As of this writing, the episode has yet to be released, but it will be out soon.

“But I don't believe in God,” you might say.

The surprising conclusion I came to was that whether you're an agnostic, atheist or Christian, you believe in something. And that something is your god, whether it's belief in self, belief in aliens, or belief in an autonomous divine being.

What I'm saying is that this statement is impossible to refute.

You could replace the word “God” with the word “you”, and it becomes “Your concept of you determines your attitude towards life.” You could replace the word “God” with “aliens”, and it becomes “Your concept of aliens determines your attitude towards life.”

Basically, Murphy shows that your beliefs affect your attitude. So, if you want to change your attitude, you need to examine what you believe in, regardless of what it is.

4. A Genius Is A Man In Rapport With His Subconscious Mind

What this means is that if you are well-acquainted with your subconscious mind and its inherent power, you are a genius.

Knowing how to unlock its power, and accessing God (which could be equated with building a rapport with your subconscious mind) leads to fresh inspiration, ideas, and insights. It can also help you achieve your dreams.

Murphy furnishes us with practical steps on how to tap into this capacity throughout the book (including prayer, sleep, focus, positivity, affirmations, motivation, and more). See points #1, 2, and 5 on this list for how this works.

5. According To The Image Impressed On The Subconscious Mind, So It Is On The Objective Screen Of Life

Again, what are you constantly thinking about? What are you regularly visualizing? What are you picturing in your mind's eye?

Whether you're aware of it or not, there are thoughts and images you are always meditating on. And in this context, I mean things you're repeating to yourself, not the act of meditating (which is beneficial).

And whether you're aware of it or not, your life is slowly but surely becoming what you're repeating in your mind. A person receives what they dwell on. It's a law.

Classic personal development writer, speaker, and author Earl Nightingale said:

We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret.

Nightingale's most significant discovery about life had to do with this statement. So, what images are you impressing on your subconscious mind? Your life will move in the direction of your thoughts. If you wish to reprogram and transform your subconscious mind, you must begin with the garden of your thoughts.

6. You Are A Master Of Conditions, Keep a Positive Attitude

You are where you are because of actions taken and not taken. Reality is because of what you have and haven't done.

This is a difficult idea for the mind to accept. Throughout our lives, most of us haven't been taught to take responsibility for everything that's happened. Instead, we play the blame game. We blame the world for our problems.

Taking full responsibility for who and where you are is empowering. Maybe we aren't encouraged to do so because of this fact. If we all “woke up” and freed ourselves from “The Matrix”, we'd be dangerous – maybe not to people, but to the system of control we're under.

You are a master of your conditions. But if you haven't taken ownership of yourself, you haven't mastered your conditions yet.

The reason taking ownership is powerful is because it means you can change your circumstances. The moment you realize you can change your situation is when you bestow yourself with the keys to life, happiness, and the abilities to succeed.

Final Thoughts, Believe in Yourself by Dr Joseph Murphy

I hope you enjoyed my insights into another Joseph Murphy book. I hope your understanding has grown.

The ideas I've shared with you here aren't necessarily what the author intended, but through my own filters, these are the conclusions I've come to.

Ultimately, each of us are a possessor of tremendous power. But many of us have also forgotten how to harness it. When we learn how to access our subconscious mind, it links us with God, the wellspring of all knowledge and wisdom.

Thanks for reading! If you feel inclined to check out Believe in Yourself, you can go to Amazon, where you can learn more about the book, and see what others have had to say about it. Should you choose to buy the book through the provided link, I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

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Most of us have been brought up to be modest, but… Does that help us in our careers, enterprises, and relationships?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares an important truth he’s realized about self-promotion and self-aggrandizement.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

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Highlights:

00:17 – What’s new in David’s world?

01:51 – Save yourself from years and even decades of heartache, frustration, and disappointment

Transcript:

Hey, it's David. I hope you've been enjoying these little catch-ups at the beginning of each episode. I don't have to do this. If it's unnecessary padding and you don't want to listen, then I'm happy to cut them out. You're welcome to let me know at any point. I just thought it might be a fun way to catch up on what's going on.

And honestly, there is quite a bit going on in my world. I put together a new track that I submitted to a YouTube channel, and I'm pretty sure you're going to be hearing more about this, even in the Spark Infinity stuff that I've been up to lately.

And if you aren't subscribed to my YouTube channel, why is that? It's called David Andrew Wiebe: Creative Expansion, and each week we cover social media growth.

I've been growing by leaps and bounds since the beginning. So, I don't know. I guess maybe you just don't care about your growth if you're not subscribed. But if I were you, I would head on over there and subscribe right away.

Anyway, I've submitted this track to a YouTube channel, and they've said they're going to play it on a live stream, which is very exciting. It's not a huge channel, but it's a step or two ahead of where I am right now. And honestly, they have good engagement. So, this is something that could turn into a heck of a lot more. And I'm really excited for it.

Today's episode is a real quick, real short one, but I hope you enjoy it. It is a valuable insight. This is something, weirdly enough, that came to me while I was doing my laundry.

But either way, some valuable life experience coming through here.

You Must Become a Ruthless Self-Promoter

For those of you with ears to hear, I'm going to share something that's going to save you years, decades, and possibly even a lifetime of heartache and frustration. And that is this:

As you're growing up, you're probably going to be told to hold back, be modest. Don't talk about yourself. Let others do the talking for you. Let others brag for you.

A version of that, which existed in my youthhood was people saw the potential I had as a guitar player. My style, my approach, it was kind of different than what was out there in church, especially in conservative church contexts.

The whole thing about guitar playing in church is you aren’t supposed be flashy, you shouldn't be soloing, you shouldn't be showing off. You should just play little plinky chords in the background that barely anyone can hear or notice. You're somehow taking away from the “spirit of worship” if you're not holding back and playing simply.

And it's all wrong. It's all complete B.S. If you want people to notice you, if you want that promotion, if you want to get that date, if you want to grow your business and build the right connections to make that happen, you must talk about yourself. Share what you've accomplished and the value you bring to the table.

You don't have to brag, although it will probably come across as bragging much of the time because that simply cannot be helped.

Be a self-promoter, be a self-aggrandizer. You must be.

It may be uncomfortable for you, just like it was for me. You may not like talking about yourself and you may have trouble breaking free from all this programming that has come from society and culture and media and religion and parents and coaching and pastors and on and on and so on and so forth.

Nobody knows what you do. Nobody knows what value you bring to the table. You must be outspoken. You must be loud.

And as a challenge to myself, I'm letting you know right now that I'm an award-winning composer, best-selling author, and professional podcaster.

Who are you? What value do you bring to the table?

Do you ever feel stuck with social media growth? Do you feel like you’re running behind the times? Or do you struggle to get it all done?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David reveals a new approach to social media growth that can be readily applied to any independent career or entrepreneurial endeavor. Let’s dive in!

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

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Highlights:

00:17 – Opening thoughts

04:55 – Today’s presentation

05:05 – Why fine-tuning and micro-adjustments?

09:33 – Benefits of this approach

27:29 – Potential pitfalls to this approach

31:38 – Adjusting to data

33:46 – Conversation with an aspiring entrepreneur

37:24 – Attending the sold-out Living Colour and Extreme concert

39:30 – Adjusting your attitude

40:17 – The results so far

42:11 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

New times call for new approaches! In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares what he has termed a “fine-tuning and micro-adjustments” approach. His methodology will help boost your productivity while improving outcomes.

Introduction

David briefly discusses AI and how many people fear the rapid changes and their potential consequences. David intends to create the Contrarian’s Guide to AI to help people understand why it may not be all it’s been cracked up to be.

Why Fine-tuning and Micro-adjustments?

David shares the story of how his invoicing system wasn’t working for him anymore, mainly because it wasn’t letting him accept payments in USD.

(Free solutions can have their limitations…)

Since there was a client who wanted to pay him pronto, David quickly replaced his invoicing system one night and got paid for the outstanding balance almost immediately.

David began to see how a simple adjustment reduced friction and improved efficiency. He started to see how this approach could apply to social media, entrepreneurship, and beyond.

Benefits of Fine-tuning and Micro-adjusting

Reduces the stress of having to make huge changes now. Adapting to present realities is a never-ending battle for independents and entrepreneurs. But if you make it a point to fine-tune as you go instead of waiting for the inevitable, it reduces the overwhelm of being forced to make major changes later.

Makes a big difference long term. Constant course correction ensures that you’re moving smoothly toward your goals instead of veering off track and taking long detours you may not recover from.

Creates greater awareness of opportunity. An important aspect of fine-tuning and micro-adjusting is input. To be able to make the changes you need to make today, you must be informed about the changes that are coming. When you stay abreast of changes in the world, you also become aware of more opportunities.

Helps you avoid the “insanity cycle.” If you are constantly fine-tuning and micro-adjusting, then naturally you aren’t stuck doing things the same way expecting different results.

You can adjust to real-time information and circumstances. Big companies can’t be as agile as the independent or entrepreneur because there’s often an approval process for everything, and the simple act of swapping out one tool for another can result in pushback from employees, the need for additional training, the creation of new procedures, and more. Fine-tuning and micro-adjusting is an agile approach, allowing for gradual change that reduces overwhelm.

Implementation of better solutions leads to better results. Is that social media scheduler slowing you down? Is it lacking the features you need to be fully unleashed in your creativity? Then swap it out for another tool that gives you what you need. This will lead to better results!

Gain knowledge and skills. If you’re stuck, take a course! Not all input will prove useful, but the more aware you are of your surroundings, the more likely you’ll be to pinpoint and implement solutions that solve your problems.

Accomplish things you might not otherwise get around to. A slight change can make a world of difference. Because you’ll constantly be looking for efficiency hacks, you may leave yourself with more time to get things done that you previously had trouble getting around to.

Allows for more creative fusion and alchemy. Connect the dots between seemingly different subjects. Utilize your skills and experiences in new ways. Innovate your creative expression.

Adapt faster. Adaptation doesn’t have to be slow. As you get into the practice of fine-tuning your work, you’ll become acclimatized to adapting at a speed most would find rare.

Save time. Maybe today’s the day you learn keyboard shortcuts for your DAW. Or, maybe you find a virtual assistant to do some research for you while you’re updating your website. Whatever it might be, opportunities to save time will present themselves as you’re making those 0.1-degree turns toward your desired outcome!

Take an entrepreneurial approach. The methodology proposed is decidedly entrepreneurial. It’s about taking the reigns and making the decisions, not becoming paralyzed by options. Something better came along? No problem – you can keep micro-adjusting until you get there.

Say “goodbye” to perfectionism. Perfectionist tendencies will be challenged at every turn. This methodology requires that you make a mess rather than trying to get everything right.

Potential Pitfalls to Fine-tuning and Micro-adjusting

Can confuse your audience. You’re changing. But is your audience changing with you? You’ve got to make sure you’re steering in the direction your fans are headed, or you could end up giving them whiplash!

Can be exhausting. This methodology can be a little like running on a caffeine high all day, every day. But we all know what’s waiting on the other side of a caffeine high… the dreaded crash. Take proactive self-care measures to ensure you aren’t burning the candle at both ends.

Can lead to analysis paralysis. While David’s approach is meant to help you avoid this very thing, some people may still doubt themselves, doubt their decisions, spend too much time thinking about what to do versus actually doing… Be bold, take calculated risks, let the chips fall where they may, and only stop to look up at planned intervals.

Not guaranteed to get better results. This is, unfortunately, true of any method you can name. Results are not guaranteed. But if you’re continually course-correcting to ensure you’re on the right path, it’s unlikely that you won’t see results from continually fine-tuning.

Conversation with an Aspiring Entrepreneur

David met up with his grade six teacher’s son, who mentioned that he would love to create what David has created. The aspiring entrepreneur shared some of his observations with David, and they rang true to his experience.

This prompted David to say, “Entrepreneurs aren’t looking for opportunities to Kaizen every three months. They’re looking for opportunities to Kaizen daily.”

Attending the Sold-out Living Colour and Extreme Concert

David attended the solo-out Living Colour and Extreme concert in Vancouver. Their prior success notwithstanding, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt commented to the effect that it had taken Extreme the better part of 38 years to get to the point of playing solo-out clubs (especially in North America).

David came away feeling inspired and assured of the fact that good work is rewarded. It may not be on your timelines, but if you keep putting in the effort, you will be rewarded for it.

Adjusting Your Attitude

You may not be able to control outcomes. But the one thing you can control is your attitude. One of the biggest benefits you can derive from the approach discussed here is to adjust your attitude.

The Results so Far

David started creating “org charts,” detailing who is responsible for what, as well as the tools that are, in a way, taking the place of human workers.

He’s come across an array of tools he never knew about and has even purchased or implemented some new ones.

He replaced his invoicing software (obviously!).

He’s increased his social media output and is now publishing to 11 channels versus the previous five.

Instead of putting things off, he’s getting to things immediately.

Thanks to Udemy, David sees an opportunity to learn anything he needs to know, which has been helping him get unstuck rapidly.

Transform Your Event with David's Expertise

Did this presentation ignite your imagination? Elevate your next virtual or live event with David's dynamic speaking!

Why David?

✅ Multifaceted Expert: From music and creativity to digital marketing and entrepreneurship

✅ Engaging Presenter: Captivates audiences with real-world insights and actionable strategies

✅ Customized Content: Tailors presentations to your audience's specific needs and goals

David's Areas of Mastery:

🎸 Music (Guitar, Composing, Industry Insights)

💡 Creativity & Innovation

📱 Digital & Social Media Marketing

📚 Content Creation & Self-Publishing

🚀 Leadership & Entrepreneurship

⚙️ Operations & Productivity

Limited Availability – Act Now!

🗓️ Book a Call with David

Don't miss this opportunity to bring David's wealth of knowledge to your audience. His calendar is filling up fast – secure your date today!

"I want to thank you so much for being on the show. You’ve unloaded a ton of value on my audience today and there’s so much great stuff to think about, especially around mindset. I feel like I’ve learned some things just talking to you. Thanks for being on and I have a feeling you’ll be on a show in the future as well." – Brent Vaartstra

Questions? Contact us at [email protected].

It’s time to get caught up! After a prolonged absence, David finally returns to share some important news about the podcast… along with some juicy details about what he’s been up to on social media.

Creativity Excitement Emotion is back! Celebrate good times, come on! 🎉

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

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Highlights:

00:17 – Getting caught up with David

05:50 – How we got here

11:17 – What Spark Infinity is about

14:42 – What David has done so far

21:43 – Mistakes and lessons

22:49 – What David has accomplished so far

25:21 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

We hope you’re ready for some amazing content on social media growth, because that’s what we have to look forward to in future episodes of Creativity Excitement Emotion!

Getting Caught Up

David acknowledges that listeners may have been expecting a new Creativity Excitement Emotion episode as early as September, right around the time the website (you’re looking at it!) got a bit of an overhaul. The stars didn’t quite align for there to be a new episode on September 1, but a new episode for the first week of October isn’t so bad, right? Right?!

David got a bit of feedback on the show so far, which seemed to indicate that it's been a bit whiney…? 😅 David’s intention was to practice sharing his stories, but admittedly he was kind of going through a rough time when many of the ideas were originally captured.

What do you think? Send us a note of feedback.

Before diving into the meat of the episode, David shares that while there will still be an array of content, including solo episodes and interviews, he intends to share the Spark Infinity Office Hours on the show as well (including this episode). Hopefully that’s cool with you, but you’ve got our contact information… feel free to chime in with your two cents.

Background and Inspiration

First, a note about how we got here!

The Spark Infinity team evolved from the Clean Slate event, which was created and hosted by David, Jody, and Karlo in February

Inspired by a Peng Joon presentation on creating 120 pieces of content (three month’s worth) in a few days, the team decided to create the Spark 120 challenge

The team transitioned from Spark 120 to Spark 90, making the goal of the challenge to create 90 videos in four weeks

David was successful in capturing over 90 videos, though he couldn’t edit them in time for the deadline

The team took a break during the summer, when the project was renamed Spark Infinity to reflect the notion that the content monster is insatiable and will always want more to content to consume!

Core Values and Principles

Growth: Focused on increasing engagement, following, subscribers, and ultimately sales

Doing what works: Emphasizing strategies and tactics that yield results

Moving fast: Speed of action over perfection, embracing some messiness (especially since social media tends to be a very messy place!)

The Spark Infinity Journey

Creating a dedicated folder for Spark Infinity: With a focus on sustainability and consistency, David began creating, and loading up the folder, with simple content.

Content creation and publishing:

First Push: Set the foundation with simple posts and captions

Second, Third, and Fourth Push: Gradually iterating and refining content, incorporating videos as well as call to actions

Fifth Push: Incorporating AI in caption assistance, experimentation with promotion services

Results and Reflection

Engagement and growth: Notable increase in followers and engagement

Learning from mistakes: Accepting imperfections and adjusting

Future directions: Focus on engagement growth and ultimately, sales

Conclusion

Share your feedback and suggestions for future content! What would you like to see? Group discussions, status updates, interviews, social media trends, something else? Let us know.

Would you like to join the Spark Infinity team? Get in touch!

Who is David Andrew Wiebe? Where did he grow up? What pivotal life events shaped his views on life? What does he believe about the Universe?

This episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion features a conversation between WeMaple’s Matt Keay and David.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

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Highlights:

00:17 – David Andrew Wiebe on WeMaple

00:56 – What is The Indie YYC?

02:03 – Clean Slate

06:30 – What David’s guitar teacher told him

08:59 – How David bet on himself

12:55 – What role does formal education play in a creative’s life?

16:38 – How does more views or more subscribers affect our perceptions of a creator?

19:30 – Growing up in Japan and the moment that changed everything

23:23 – How David has applied personal development to his career

26:44 – David’s (controversial) thoughts on masculinity and men in culture

34:36 – Life expectancy – are we really living longer?

38:35 – Is David a flat earther?

41:05 – Reality is malleable

43:54 – How can you be positive while encountering negative circumstances?

46:56 – The hotbox incident

47:33 – When David got the cops called on him

48:18 – Three roommates and the sale of David’s home

49:08 – Three months of WTF

50:48 – David’s advice on writing and publishing books

52:18 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

Award-winning composer, best-selling author, and professional podcaster David Andrew Wiebe was recently a guest on WeMaple, hosted by Business On Camera’s Matt Keay. The conversation touches on everything from events and music to conspiracy theories and bizarre life events.

What is The Indie YYC?

Noticing David’s T-shirt, Matt asks what The Indie YYC is. David shares that The Indie YYC community was created by him and Frederick Tamagi.

Pre-pandemic, the community focused on three unique live events, including The New Beat (a fusion of poetry and live music), Storytellers (bringing together songwriters, poets, and authors), and Avant Guardians (featuring avant-garde and alternative musicians).

During the pandemic, as well as after, the community focused on growing mostly through user submitted content on Facebook.

Clean Slate

On February 16, 2024, David hosted a live music and multimedia event in Victoria, BC called Clean Slate. Matt asks how the event came about, and David shares that the idea came to him while reading Frederick Dodson’s Parallel Universes of Self.

David initially envisioned an event where he could bring people together to celebrate the launch of new music, a new book, new comedic video content, and more.

The initial phases of planning went swimmingly. Then, things started going awry in September 2023. David could not secure the featured artist he’d hoped to, and despite booking local artists for the event, it failed to gain local support. Most people in attendance were there because David had invited them.

Matt asks David whether he sees the experience as a stepping stone or opportunity to try his hand at another event.

David shares that while he sees the possibility of hosting low-cost, low-key events in the immediate future, he can’t see himself attempting something like Clean Slate again unless there’s a rabid demand for it.

What David’s Guitar Teacher Told Him

There is something David’s guitar teacher told him that has stuck with him until present day. Matt asks David what that was.

David shares that his guitar teacher told him that he’d surpassed him within one lesson.

I’ve been playing guitar for 13 years. Imagine what you’ll be able to accomplish in 13 years.

Matt asks David what kind of impact that statement had on him. David shares that it gave him the motivation he needed to keep practicing. From his teacher, he also learned not to dismiss people who offer him praise.

If people say good things about you, you don’t counter them, you don’t cut them off, you don’t argue with them. You simply accept it.

Betting on New Media

Matt asks if there was a connection between what David learned from his guitar teacher and the chances he took in 2009.

David answers that music was the commonality. Inspired by video game composer Tommy Tallarico, he was planning to take a new media course at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), but the class was full, and he couldn’t get in.

The new media course was to cover composing, podcasting, and video editing, so instead of taking the course, David decided to learn how to do it all himself. He already had a home studio facility, so now it was just a matter of being willing to experiment, research, and ask questions to find his way.

David recalls starting a YouTube channel about movies and video games. He would often incorporate original compositions into his videos, hitting two birds with one stone (composing and video).

He also began podcasting in 2009, with the eponymous David Andrew Wiebe Podcast. The podcasts kind of mushroomed from there – AS Movies & Games Podcast, The New Music Industry Podcast, The Question Podcast, Using Your Power, and Creativity Excitement Emotion, among others. David was also briefly the co-host of Inside Home Recording, toward the end of its lifespan.

What Role Does Formal Education Play in Today’s Creative Space?

Matt asks David how relevant formal education is in the creative space, and whether (or how) natural talent plays into the equation.

David answers by sharing that he felt like exploring and learning himself was the right decision for him. He had the facilities, so it was mostly a matter of taking the time to understand software and hardware tools.

He remembers how frustrating it initially was to learn Adobe Photoshop. There were many times when he felt like throwing his laptop across the room. He’s still glad he did it, though, because in time he became much more adept at photo manipulation and graphic design (though David does not fancy himself a designer).

David learned from people like Steve Pavlina and Derek Sivers – who both did four years of university education in a year – that most programs are designed to accommodate the lowest common denominator. They move at a “chump’s pace.”

Thus, if you opt to learn the ropes (of anything) by yourself, you can take things at a pace that makes sense for you, versus trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.

David adds that the work he put into becoming a new media creator ultimately led to the point of him becoming an award-winning composer, which was well worth the effort.

More Views = More Credibility?

Matt asks David how much numbers (likes, followers, subscribers, etc.) come into the equation when people are looking for creators to follow.

David shares that most people who are trying to establish themselves on social media are effectively modeling their favorite personalities without understanding just how much names like Gary Vee or Grand Cardone carry weight.

The average creator, adds David, needs to be thinking about the viewer and structure their content in such a way that engages them. The video must be about the viewer, not the creator.

One of the top reasons to advertise, says David, is so that your face can be seen, which increases your recognition. Over time, you can establish yourself as an influencer, guru, or expert.

Ultimately, numbers can be deceiving. David says that they do play a part in perception, but they are not ready indicators of outward success.

The Moment That Changed Everything

Matt asks David about the “worst day” he’d ever experienced.

David was born in Camrose, AB, but was raised in Takarazuka, Hyogo, Japan. His older sister was born in Fukuoka, Japan. After returning to Canada for a few years, his parents decided to return to Japan, as English teachers and missionaries, when David was five.

While in Jr. High School (grade eight), David was one day called down to the office. David had a bad feeling about that, wondering what he might have gotten himself in trouble for. But when he got there, he was told that his dad was in the hospital and that someone would take him there immediately.

His father had gotten into a motorcycle crash and was receiving emergency care when David arrived at the hospital. His father was in a coma for 10 days but ultimately did not survive.

David says that moment had an impact that has lasted to this day. Much of the personal development work he’s engaged in through the years has been about untangling many of the false beliefs that were formed through that experience.

Matt asks David what it was like to see his father in a coma. David says it was a bit like “candid camera.” He was wondering when someone would pop out to let him know that it was just a joke. But that never happened.

Instead, his God- and Bible-believing family prayed for his father's healing, but he passed on anyway.

How Has David Applied Personal Development to His Career?

David shares how discovering that only action is in the realm of performance turned him into a productivity machine. He adds that many of us run mental gymnastics about our day, trying to figure out what to say, what to do, how to do everything perfectly… If we can set that aside and stay in action, it’s possible to get a lot more done.

Another discovery was how everything can be gamified. Life is a game. Business is a game. It’s okay to approach things seriously, but it’s important to have fun and enjoy yourself too. Entrepreneurship is a game where you’re the one setting the rules and keeping track of the score, so you may as well make the game winnable.

Entrepreneurship is a game where you’re the one setting the rules and keeping track of the score, so you may as well make the game winnable.Share on X

Recommended reading: Anything You Want by Derek Sivers

Now that we’ve had the opportunity to see just what AI is capable of, many of us are starting to wonder about our futures, our work, our financial lives, and more. So, how concerned should we be? What is the right attitude to have toward AI?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David passes the mic with Karlo Keet, who shares his creative passions, business pursuits, spiritual practices, and why he’s embracing AI in creativity.

Sponsors:

Digital NO-Mad: Exposing the Lies of the Freedom Lifestyle and Grass is Greener Syndrome. David’s new book on designing the life you love through your passion is coming. Pre-order TODAY.

Highlights:

00:17 – Today’s guest, Karlo Keet

00:37 – How did Karlo get into photography?

03:15 – Karlo’s involvement with graphic and web design

04:45 – Aurora conspiracies?

07:22 – Digital marketing for artists, creatives, and creators

08:47 – How has Karlo’s work changed with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence?

11:31 – In the next 10 years, AI will overtake humanity in logical processing

19:46 – How Karlo got into tarot reading, Reiki, and all things spiritual

23:49 – Karlo and David’s comedic collaborations

26:37 – Karlo’s book and course recommendations

28:47 – What Karlo is looking to accomplish next

30:10 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

Coming soon.