The David Andrew Wiebe Show

What are your goals for social media in 2024? Are you thinking about phasing it out of your life? Or would you like to experience explosive growth as never before? Isn’t it time you got the kind of growth you truly deserve?

If you’re ready for a change, listen carefully to this special message from David Andrew Wiebe.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

Catapult: If you’re ready to build a community of rabid fans who will happily hire you and buy everything you have to offer, this program is for you! Use the code “Creativity Excitement Emotion” to let Amos know I sent you his way, and he’ll give you a 10% DISCOUNT!

Highlights:

00:17 – A special message from David Andrew Wiebe

Transcript:

Imagine this:

You’ve just set up a brand-new Facebook group.

You show up for a couple of hours per day to have conversations with your tribe. Your people.

You do it consistently for a month or two, and before you know it…

BOOM!

Your group is growing CRAZY.

Now, you might be rolling your eyes right about now, and I get it. 🙄

First, you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, that sounds like A LOT of work.”

Second, you’re thinking to yourself, “I have no idea how to grow a Facebook group, and I honestly don’t care that much about Facebook.”

Third, you’re probably thinking, “What’s that going to do for me and my career or business?”

You might even be thinking… “I don’t want to become a social media guru. I just want to focus on my art!”

I know EXACTLY how you feel, and I’ve been there.

So, let’s rephrase the question:

What if, with just a couple of hours of effort per day, you could grow your Facebook group by 150 to 200 engaged members per week?

And what if 1 to 3% of those people were eager to listen to your music, hire you for a gig, buy your merch, or collaborate with you?

(That’s anywhere from 1.5 to six high-quality customers or clients per week for those who don’t do math.)

And on top of that, what if you got a lot of other sweet perks on top – free swag, free books, free coaching sessions, homes to stay at in a variety of locations, opportunities to play across the world, and more?

Would THAT be worth your time?

And what if, on top of that, you didn’t have to do it all yourself?

What if you had the support, coaching, and guidance you needed to be able to do the right things to grow your Facebook group consistently?

This is exactly what my friend, Amos Bracewell is offering.

And he and his student groups aren’t just growing by 150 to 200 members per week…

Some are growing by as much as 400, 500, or even 600 members per week.

How does a whopping 18 high-quality clients per week sound to you?

Do you think you might be able to make it worthwhile?

Do you think your musical, artistic, or creative career could benefit from that type of growth?

Fast growth is not for everyone, and I get that…

But if you’re the kind of person that LOVES to serve and make other people shine…

You will LOVE this, and I haven’t seen anything else like it.

But time is of the essence, because:

Amos is only offering a 10% discount for those who sign up before April 30.

Once it’s gone, it’s gone. There will be NO extension.

So, yeah, there isn’t much time…

Even if you’re just thinking about it and you’re not quite sure whether it’s for you yet…

You can book a discovery call with Amos to talk it over.

So, when you’re ready…

>> Book your discovery call with Amos and let him know that I sent him your way for your 10% discount

When it comes to social media growth, we’re all hoping for consistent, reliable growth. Yet, most if not all creators struggle to get new followers each week. It could be because of their content. It could be because they’re nobodies. There are reasons too numerous to mention.

But if you’re willing to approach things in a new way, you could experience unprecedented growth. The kind of growth that helps you build a sustainable income from your passion in a year or possibly even in a few months.

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares a special message.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

Catapult: If you’re ready to build a community of rabid fans who will happily hire you and buy everything you have to offer, this program is for you! Use the code “Creativity Excitement Emotion” to let Amos know I sent you his way, and he’ll give you a 10% DISCOUNT!

Highlights:

00:17 – A special message from David Andrew Wiebe

Transcript:

From 0 to 5,200 members… in a year?!

So, I’m not sure if you knew this but…

Most effective Facebook groups only grow at a pace of 50 to 100 members per week.

Again, that’s the most effective ones.

Now, that’s nothing to scoff at, but it’s not what you would call… MEGA growth either.

I know that if you don’t already have a Facebook group (or don’t even have Facebook in your crosshairs – because, after all, it’s so old man), you’re probably wondering whether it’s even worth your time.

Well, stick with me here, because I think you’ll be amazed at what my friend, Amos Bracewell, has been able to do.

His strategy has been helping him and his students grow their groups by 400, 500, and even 600 members per week!

Even better, Amos says that 1 to 3% of people joining your group consistently become your clients.

If your group is growing by 600 members per week, that means you’re converting anywhere from six to 18 clients per week!

Now don’t get caught up in the terminology here…

I know some of you aren’t looking for “clients.”

You want streams or customers. You want gigs and exposure. You want to have an impact on your fans. You want to sell your eBook. I get it.

I have very good news for you…

Amos’ method for building Facebook communities doesn’t rely on you monetizing your group through clients…

You don’t even need a product!

Honestly, you don’t even need to be thinking about monetization!

People will read, listen, watch, or buy WHATEVER you have because they will see you as a leader in your niche.

But that’s not all (sorry for the cliché here).

Amos and his clients have landed themselves all kinds of great opportunities, and I have witnessed it firsthand:

A couch or bed to crash on

Free products

Free coaching

Free plane tickets

High-profile collaborations

Joint ventures

Opportunities to speak across the world

And more... small stuff and BIG stuff!

If you did this…

Could you land yourself some great gigs?

Sync and licensing opportunities?

A record contract?

Look, I’m not giving you any guarantees here.

But the bottom line is, you won’t know unless you try.

And while it would be great if there was all the time in the world to make up your mind…

Amos is only giving us until the end of April to get a 10% discount on his Catapult program.

Maybe it’s right for you, maybe it’s not.

But if you’re the kind of person who loves to support and help others…

If you love the idea of leaving an impact and a legacy…

And you’re at least entertaining the idea of earning a good income from your passion…

I haven’t seen anything else like it.

So, don’t delay…

>> Get the Catapult program and mention “Creativity Excitement Emotion” to get your 10% discount

How’s the social media game going for you? Are you winning?

Let’s face the facts. Most people working their butts off aren’t going to win any medals any time soon…

Are you done trying to figure it out all for yourself?

If so, tune into this special episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

Catapult: If you’re ready to build a community of rabid fans who will happily hire you and buy everything you have to offer, this program is for you! Use the code “Creativity Excitement Emotion” to let Amos know I sent you his way, and he’ll give you a 10% DISCOUNT!

Highlights:

00:17 – A special message from David Andrew Wiebe

Transcript:

Have you been trying and failing to crack the code on social media?

So, does any part of this sound familiar to you?

Some expert online tells you “Hey man, all you’ve got to do is A, B, C and you’re going to be a social media rockstar.”

But you go out there and test their tactic in the real world for a month…

And it doesn’t do anything?

So, you start to feel frustrated, angry, and eventually, defeated.

Come on, we’ve all been there.

We’ve all been promised the world when it comes to social media.

But in practice, it feels as though getting any kind of attention, let alone sustaining it, is a Herculean uphill climb to oblivion.

And it is just so frustrating when you’re trying to put your best foot forward.

It takes SO MUCH effort to pump out the content required to get attention…

Yet most of it doesn’t do anything for you!

I know something about you…

I bet you didn’t get into social media hoping to become a digital marketer.

But you’ve effectively been forced into a position where you’ve got to try and figure everything out for yourself…

Scouring the web for disconnected information that’s only available in fragmented pieces.

As if you were moving slowly down a path one inch at a time, as opposed to one stride.

And hoping that somehow, tomorrow, you go viral.

I mean, the rent was due yesterday man, come on.

Well, some of my smartest mentors say you can’t deposit likes, shares, and comments at the bank, and they are right…

Engagement falls under what clever people call “vanity metrics,” and I’m sorry to be the one to burst your bubble, but they don’t mean a thing (if they ain’t got that swing).

But if you thought it was all for naught, think again.

Because there is a way to crack the code on social media.

My friend, Amos Bracewell, recently figured it out and has started teaching others how to do what he did.

He supports his students at every leg of the journey…

And when you hear what it is and how it works, you’ll be BLOWN AWAY.

It’s so simple and yet so authentic and genuine.

You’ll wish you thought of it first.

If you haven’t watched my recent interview with Amos, that’s your homework for now…

Come on, you know you’ve got 20 minutes to spare, especially if those 20 minutes change your life.

So, don’t delay any longer, because as with anything worthwhile, there is an expiration date on this unique offer…

>> Watch the video now

It has gotten harder than ever to grow your career or business organically. Dropping your desperate messages onto social media is like a loud fart at a bad party, noticed but annoying.

Are you ready to cut through the stinky cloud of frustration and take a different approach to growth? Would you like to see how YOU can build an audience that will adore you and delight in your content?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David engages in a conversation with longtime friend, collaborator, and entrepreneur Amos Bracewell, who shares his new, amazing program to help you grow your audience and business organically.

Download the PDF Transcript

Sponsors:

Catapult: If you’re ready to build a community of rabid fans who will happily hire you and buy everything you have to offer, this program is for you! Use the code “Creativity Excitement Emotion” to let Amos know I sent you his way, and he’ll give you a 10% DISCOUNT!

Highlights:

00:17 – A delicious meal in Pemberton

01:15 – Amos’ new program

04:23 – What have Amos’ students been able to accomplish?

09:36 – Amos’ next goal and the “secret sauce” to building a Facebook group

12:26 – Can the Catapult program work for any niche?

15:25 – Are there any other monetization opportunities?

17:33 – Are there different tiers to the Catapult program?

18:32 – Reach, Relationship, and Riches

21:41 – What makes Catapult the right opportunity?

23:26 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

Digital marketing is an ever-changing landscape, and it has gotten harder than ever to attract, engage, and retain an audience on content alone. This has forced many artists and entrepreneurs to turn to advertising as the solution. The only problem is… Advertising has risen in cost, it’s more competitive than ever, and without the help of an expert, creating effective ads can be a crapshoot.

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David and Amos discuss the solution.

A Delicious Hamburger

David and Amos briefly bond over their love of food. Amos recently had an incredible burger and fries combo in Pemberton, BC, just north of Whistler, and he says he would recommend the place to anyone.

Amos’ New Program

David shares that for as long as he’s known him, Amos has been great at building communities – especially Facebook groups. Amos recently turned his knack for growing Facebook groups into a program called Catapult.

Amos began building his Facebook group, ENTV Today, in January 2023. In one year, he grew the group from 0 to 5,200 members. By month 11, he’d started to clue in that his group was growing faster than most others out there.

He suggests that growing your Facebook group by 50 to 100 members per week is a good pace. But he noticed that his group was growing by 400, 500, and even 600 members per week, completely organically!

That’s when he decided that he should begin showing others how it is that he was able to accomplish what he accomplished.

One of the keys to creating ongoing engagement, says Amos, is bringing people into your house. If all you’re doing is blasting your message into the void of social media, it’s going to be difficult to get noticed and create a connection with your audience. But if you bring them into your Facebook group, you’re better positioned to interact and connect with your audience continually. This also enhances income opportunities.

His first Catapult student started building their Facebook group on February 19. Most of his students are growing by 200 to 300 members per week.

Amos has found that roughly 1 to 3% of your group members will become your clients. That means if you have 100 members joining per week, you can expect to land one to three new clients per week.

Since his students are growing at 200 to 300 new members weekly, they are landing two to six clients per week. If you have four to 24 clients coming in per week, your sales and marketing challenges should be solved, would you agree?

What Other Results Have Amos’ Students Achieved?

Amos has grown ENTV Today to over 9,300 members in a little over a year. Meanwhile, his students have only been a part of his program for one to two months, and already, some of them have 1,000 members, 1,500 members, 2,000 members, and even 2,500 members.

All students are growing by an average of 200 members per week, with 1 to 3% becoming clients. The goal of Catapult, shares Amos, is to help people attain five years of business growth in three to six months. No wonder some of his students have been getting questions about how they’re growing so fast.

Creating a relationship with your leads and customers is paramount to fast growth, and a niche-based Facebook group is going to outclass random and sporadic posting to social media. Well, let’s face it – it’s going to outclass well-planned, organized strategies too.

After the growth phase, explains Amos, comes the monetization phase. Because your audience has had the opportunity to feed on your “appetizers” for a while, when you roll out your “entrée,” people are predisposed to buying.

The Secret Sauce

The secret sauce to the Catapult program is serving from the bottom up. Being a facilitator rather than the “expert.” Instead of focusing on yourself, and doing all the yapping, you focus on others and how you can empower and uplift them. When you help your audience shine, they will help you grow your group.

What Niches Are Suited to the Catapult Program?

David asks Amos whether the Catapult program could work for artists, musicians, visual artists, creatives, and dancers – people who are passionate about their creative craft.

Amos says if you can answer “Yes” to the following questions, chances are you’re a great fit for the Catapult program:

Do you like gathering others?

Do you like holding space for others?

Do you like helping others shine?

If so, Amos is confident he can help you create a community filled with amazing people.

He points out that one of the reasons Oprah Winfrey is successful is because she focuses on letting others be in the spotlight to shine brightly. And as you focus on helping others shine, you will naturally rise to the top as well.

How Can You Monetize Your Facebook Group?

Amos shares that you will naturally attract clients. This is an organic byproduct of being a servant leader. When you have momentum, you will magnetically attract all types of opportunities you might not even expect.

If you have existing products and services, your audience should be ready and willing to buy. Additionally, Catapult cohorts can become affiliates of the program and promote it to people who are interested in setting up a Facebook community of their own.

Other possibilities include collaborations, joint ventures, contract work… Amos says he doesn’t even know what the upper limit on this might be.

How is the Catapult Program Structured? Are There Different Tiers?

The program is still fresh out of the gate. But Amos says he currently offers three-month, six-month, and one-year options. Each of them comes with different incentives and guarantees, depending on your level of interest and budget.

The Three R’s

Amos says he went from $0 to $30,000 in just five months. As he was getting started, he didn’t even know what he was going to promote. He simply showed up to have empowering conversations.

The three R’s consist of Reach, Relationship, and Riches. Amos says the more reach you have, the more relationships you can ultimately build. As a result, you’ll attain more riches. Even if money isn’t a motivator for you, there are upsides. For example, you can create a positive global impact.

Catapult students have been landing joint ventures and even opportunities to speak across the globe.

Why Choose Catapult?

Amos said he almost took another program to grow his Facebook group from his friend Dan. Before he knew it, Amos’ group was growing faster than Dan’s. Dan ended up hiring Amos for an hour of his time to check out what he was up to!

If you’re interested in growing an audience organically, if you’d like to go at a faster pace than even Amos did (which is exactly what his students are doing), and if you’d like to change and impact lives, the Catapult program is for you.

Would you like to spend more of your time doing what you love to do? Would you like to be able to pick and choose the projects you want to work on? Are you thinking about becoming a digital nomad?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David interviews Evan Price, who shares the steps he took to create his freedom lifestyle.

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 – Returning guest, Evan Price

00:31 – How do you package your creative skills to create a viable business?

03:08 – Streamlining you and your customer’s focus

09:26 – The value of being unfocused for a time

10:19 – Improving your product vs. improving your marketing

13:48 – Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich

15:11 – How do you identify your ideal customer?

17:40 – Evan’s best tips for building a team

20:24 – Content creation and giving away the keys to the kingdom

24:04 – Building trust with people

26:15 – The importance of networking

29:12 – What’s the right time to scale your business?

33:23 – How did Evan decide to take the leap of faith?

38:59 – What is it like to live nomadically?

45:39 – How much money do you need to live a freedom lifestyle?

51:12 – Closing thoughts

Summary:

The very idea of trying to create a freedom lifestyle can sometimes appear an uphill battle. You’ve got to get your finances in order. You’ll probably need a passport. On top of that, you’ve got to plan the logistics of where you’ll be going and when, where to stay, whether to bring your car with you and more.

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David and Evan break down and simplify the process of becoming a digital nomad.

Bundle Up Your Expertise and Sell it

Evan emphasizes the value of the DLB (Do Less Better) offer model. Nowadays, many businesses are a little bloated – they offer dozens if not hundreds of products and services, and this scatters the focus of the business owner as well as the prospects and customers who might otherwise be interested in buying.

Evan suggests that you should find something you can do that no one else can. The more specific, the better. This allows you to create what Evan calls a “luxury” offer, something that can be sold for thousands of dollars rather than pennies. Evan says this is how he streamlined his business.

David offers that minimizing and optimizing seems to be the direction things are going in now. As opposed to having dozens of websites and products, marketers are creating central portals and leading prospects on different journeys depending on their interests.

David also shares an example from his life, stating that when he had one or two books, his customers knew what to buy and were happy. But as his catalog increased, his customers became paralyzed and bought fewer books. Which explains why he’s only promoting his latest book on his website.

Spreading Yourself Thin

Evan shares that it’s easy to spread yourself thin. When you’re young, and you’re not sure what you want to focus on, you feel like you could take on the world and try your hand at dozens if not hundreds of different things.

At the time, Evan was learning how to use Facebook ads, managing acts, booking tours, and more. But he noticed that none of the things he was working on were reaching the tipping point of success.

If you keep on that path, says Evan, you will eventually reach a point of burnout. So, he stopped doing what he was doing, made an assessment of his strengths and weaknesses, and bundled up his expertise to streamline his business.

David admits to having too many things to fulfill in recent years, including Members Only Audios, which he quickly realized was akin to running two podcasts at the same time. He would often think to himself, “I’m a superhero, and I can do it!” But he would either end up disappointing himself or his prospects and customers by trying to do too much.

Evan adds that this principle applies to social media and content channels as well. You can easily take on too much, becoming a Jack or Jill of all trades, never mastering any. There are more than enough people on any of the main channels for you to be able to build an audience. There is no need to take the Gary Vee approach of “being everywhere,” says Evan.

David summarizes that one content channel and one offer can be enough to scale to seven figures, at least according to marketer Russell Brunson.

But… You Should Also Try Everything

Despite everything just covered on focus, if you’re just getting started, says Evan, spreading yourself out and trying a bunch of different things might be the right approach. You need to figure out what you’re good at and what you enjoy, and if you have no idea, there is wisdom in experimentation.

Making Your Products Better vs. Making Your Marketing Better

David shares some of the challenges he’s had in getting the word out about his books.

Evan responds that the quality of the product might not be the issue, but rather, the marketing (messaging) might be. Maybe people simply haven’t been able to find the books to be able to appreciate them.

Meanwhile, Evan has observed how most musicians seem to think they always have a marketing problem and never a product problem. They tend not to consider that the quality of their product might not be up to snuff.

Ultimately, we need to examine both. Identifying the holdups and addressing them is the key to finding an offer that converts. Sometimes, the holdup is the product, sometimes it’s the marketing, and sometimes we must turn to other areas of our business as well – bottlenecks in project management, staffing, cash flow, or otherwise.

When you’re in the early phases of building your business, says Evan, you should be spending roughly 80% of your time doing things that bring in money – marketing and sales. And if you don’t know how to sell stuff, asserts Evan, you need to learn.

Most creatives don’t like to sell, but if they could see for themselves that it’s not some “icky” process of manipulating people to get their money, but rather a process of identifying problems, solving them, and making the quality of their customer’s lives better, they would realize that selling isn’t so bad.

Selling is improving the quality of your customer’s lives.Share on X

Think and Grow Poor?

David explains how Think and Grow Rich author Napoleon Hill wound up penniless late in life, only to be rescued and put to work by businessman and philanthropist W. Clement Stone as a sales trainer.

Think and Grow Rich sells millions of copies per year by accident. So, how did the legendary Napoleon Hill end up there?

Systems were the difference. Hill didn’t have them. Stone did.

Identifying Your Dream Customer

Evan says, rather than trying to figure out the demographics of the customer, first identify the problem that you’re going to be solving for them. Once you know what problem you’re solving, you can tie the design of your product to the pain points you’re addressing with it.

There are three types of pain that customers experience. The first is Source pain, the second is Secret pain, and the third… Evan can’t remember. But Source pain refers to something the customer would tell their friends. Secret pain refers to something they hold within themselves and would rarely reveal to anyone.

If you can identify and articulate these pains, you will know your customers better than they know themselves, reducing friction in the sales process.

David adds that another way of explaining this concept is External and Internal pain, where External is something that can be seen on the outside, and Internal is something the customer holds close to their chest.

Evan’s Best Tips for Building a Team

First, says Evan, you need to be the team. You don’t necessarily need to get good at everything, but you should gain some experience with everything. Learn the basics. This allows you to create your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) so you can hand things off to your team, and also know who would be a good fit for what position.

You need to figure out your sales and marketing, product creation, and then, who the “face” of your company is going to be. You need to create a persona / attractive personal branding to attract an audience. It could be you, it could be someone else, and there are ways of marketing without a “face” too, but ultimately you’ve got to decide what direction to go in.

Having gone through this process of learning the basics, you’ll have a much better idea of who to hire for what role.

The Myth of Social Media “Marketing”

David says you need different types of content depending on who you’re talking to. There’s content that Attracts, there’s content that Engages, there’s content that Nurtures (or Converts) and there’s content that Retains.

David asks Evan his thoughts on giving away your best material at the Attraction phase, and Evan says this usually works in your favor. People hear what it is they need to do to get where they want to go, and they realize just how hard or complicated it is. So, they end up wanting to hire you to do it for them.

Evan offers that this can open the door for “done for you” or “do it together” services that benefit the client.

David responds by observing that you can present a million-dollar idea in a video, and most if not all viewers will not do anything with it. Free content is not appreciated to the degree that paid content is, ever. But, as Evan says, it can still make people want to hire you.

Evan laments how cautious people have become in the digital age, as it has become harder to sell. Most people are trustworthy. David says it’s still important to beware of people who are texting you out of the blue, as they are often scammers.

The “Drudgery” of Networking

...

Do you struggle with confrontation? How does it make you feel? Does it hold you back from expressing yourself?

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares about the challenges he’s experienced in confronting others.

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 – Labels

01:17 – Sensitive-intuitive

02:16 – Avoiding confrontation

06:11 – You need to speak up

Transcript:

I'm not a very confrontational person and I have a feeling it's one of those things that has held me back in my life.

My friend Maveen Kaura always said, “Don't give yourself labels.” You might've heard a little bit of that kind of conversation on Using Your Power.

And I agree with him. I never labeled myself as something permanent. We’re not all fixed. We're all changing. The only reason a label would stick is if you’re telling the story over and over.

Even as I say that I think I'm kind of realizing the insanity a little bit in what I'm saying, which is helping. I'm trying to identify or distinguish something in the way that I've been so that I can be freer. And I think that's what today's conversation is about.

Why I’m sharing this with you, is because of what I understand about being a sensitive-intuitive… I'm not saying that description fits me to a T or exactly. All I'm saying is there was a period in my life where that was something that I needed to hear and it helped me heal in a very difficult situation where I was feeling very depressed and I don't use that word casually at all.

It was the summer of 2014, and my prayers were hitting the ceiling, and I didn't feel like living anymore. So, I was in that state and that's when I discovered “sensitive intuitive,” what that meant, and that made a difference for me. So that's where the identification originally comes from.

Like I said, it doesn't have to be set in stone and it doesn't even have to be permanent. It's just something that helped me through a period of my life.

But what I know about being sensitive-intuitive is we have trouble with confrontation. There is something physical that happens. When the need for confrontation arises, usually it's in our gut. We feel pain when there's something that needs to be said to another person.

Now, throughout my life and my personal development journey, I have gained a lot of ground in terms of self-expression. I'm more self-expressed than I've ever been.

But if there's a part of me or there's an aspect of myself that has held me back from being everything, I think I'm capable of being, and from being totally and completely free, it's probably this – confrontation.

Now, when you hear “confrontation” you might immediately think to yourself, “Okay, so like yelling and shouting matches and that types of scenarios.”

And yes, that can apply, but it can be something as insignificant as “There's something I need to tell someone,” but knowing that you have to go and tell them makes you feel nervous.

So, that's the physical reaction that I'm talking about. It’s not just some minor butterflies in your stomach. You feel pain. That's the kind of physical reaction that I'm talking about.

So, are there situations where I've stepped through pain, the butterflies, the fear to tell people things? Absolutely. That's a deviation from the norm. That's a deviation from how I've described myself. That’s why I say, “Labels are a moving target.”

So, at times, I have been able to be fully self-expressed in these scenarios, but there've been scenarios where I also wasn't able to express myself in the way that I needed to.

I have tended to get away from those scenarios as quickly as possible. And there are situations where maybe I wasn't fearing for my life, but a little bit. At least fearing for my possessions and my finances because of the people I met who are sociopaths, psychopaths, drunkards, and people with chemical imbalances, no doubt.

And I'm not judging by saying that. I think there are people close to me who've struggled with various conditions. So, I understand. I would consider myself very compassionate, or at the very least understanding of people with different conditions.

In situations where you feel as though you could be in harm's way, getting away from the situation is the right reaction. You can confront crazy people if you wish, but it’s not always a great decision. You could put yourself in danger.

I also think I’m a pretty likable guy. Maybe because of that, some people hate me. I've sometimes been told, “You're too smart for your good.” I'm like, “I have no idea what that means,” but people didn't like me for those reasons.

Anything can come up. We can have any reason we want for not liking people. It doesn't make it right. It just means that you're going to feel what you're going to feel.

But I think I'm beginning to realize there are situations in life where you do need to speak up for yourself. I think that's what I'm working on. And, I know there's nothing to work on because there's only something to transform.

Transformation is instantaneous. Working on something suggests that it's going to take time and effort, and we have to figure out what specific steps we're going to take, and where transformation can come from discovery.

But this is what I'm out to discover for myself:

What do I do in situations where I need to confront? Is that something I can face up to? And what would I need to have distinguished in my life such that I’m free to express myself?

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you an important update. There are several great announcements in this episode, and you won’t want to miss out!

In this episode of Creativity Excitement Emotion, David shares essential updates concerning his business as well as the podcast.

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 – Podcast update

01:17 – David’s grandfather passed away

02:18 – How DavidAndrewWiebe.com is transforming

03:54 – The launch of MusicHackers.org

06:23 – The launch of Better Ways to Survive

07:28 – The future of the Creativity Excitement Emotion podcast

08:29 – Closing thoughts

Transcript:

Welcome to Creativity Excitement Emotion.

I know this is one of the few times I’ve even given an intro like that, and there is a reason for it.

I began recording episodes for Creativity Excitement Emotion in July 2023, so aside from the interview with Jody in episode 9, as well as episode 30, in which I talked about why I deleted Music Entrepreneur HQ, you’ve been hearing episodes I recorded months ago

The last few episodes, specifically, were captured around October of last year.

But today’s episode is more current, meaning I’m capturing it at the end of March 2024, to give you a timely update.

And I know it’s April 1, but I’m letting you know at the outset that what’s covered in this episode is not an April Fool’s joke – we truly are moving forward with the things talked about here.

Either way, there is much to talk about today, so let’s go item by item.

The Passing of David’s Grandfather

Last weekend, I got the news that my grandfather had passed away.

So, I decided to honor him with a week of silence – you may have noticed that I didn’t post any new podcast episodes last week.

I know that may sound kind of convenient, but they say everyone mourns differently, and the main way it’s been showing up for me is exhaustion, so I’ve been resting a lot and taking things slow.

There has been no reason to overexert myself, and in fact, I’ve kind of been enjoying more of a relaxed pace lately. I’m discovering more and more that I don’t need dozens of projects in my life to sustain or fulfill me.

Anyway, I plan to honor my grandfather in the written word, and I’m going to write something for the man who never taught me anything but showed me several things, like how to fish, how to drive a lawn tractor, or how to drive a truck.

And yes, I will be sharing that piece publicly, so keep an eye open for it on DavidAndrewWiebe.com.

DavidAndrewWiebe.com’s New Look and New Focus

Speaking of DavidAndrewWiebe.com, I needed to make some decisions concerning how I wanted to continue to build my brand.

There were a couple of big considerations, with the first being that I hadn’t brought the styling of the website fully up to date. I got some great photos done in February, and I hadn’t gotten around to using them across the entire website yet.

So, it was time to get on top of that.

We also chose the specific fonts and colors I’m to be using on the website.

If you go to the website now, while it’s still somewhat of a work in progress, you’ll find that we’ve largely implemented the new style.

The second consideration was deciding on a specific direction for my site.

It was far too general to appeal to anyone, and that put me in a position of having to work for attention and business instead of attracting and earning it.

So, I now have a very simple sentence explaining exactly the purpose the site serves:

Here I document my journey of music, starting businesses, and personal growth.

It took some time to land on that one, but that’s almost exactly what the site already is, so I’m very happy we were able to condense it into that.

Additionally, I’ve warned in the past, but let me say it again – we’ve already archived dozens if not hundreds of posts, and that trend is going to continue.

So, if you’re not already subscribed to my email list, go to DavidAndrewWiebe.com and sign up now to stay informed of all the ways you can still gain access to the content you want.

Introducing… MusicHackers.org

For all those artists out there who’ve been watching what I’m up to, wondering whether I had any plans of continuing to serve artists… Well, you’ll be glad to know that today I’m announcing the launch of MusicHackers.org.

Music Entrepreneur HQ, Content Marketing Musician, and Productivity for Musicians now all redirect there. I happen to own another domain, which is IndieCareerFormula.com – that domain now redirects to MusicHackers.org as well.

The concept of the site is simple – we either dissect the strategies of successful independent artists or crash-test the strategies of expert marketers.

For example, I’ve heard both Peng Joon and Myron Golden say that if they were a musician today, they would post covers of Top 40 songs to YouTube all day long.

That will be a very good thing for us to test!

But one of our first experiments will be based on a strategy Peng Joon uses to produce content. Expect to see more on that.

In terms of content for MusicHackers.org, while we will have a few free things out there, it won’t be like before. There won’t be any content-feeding frenzies. I’m letting go of that model.

We’re going to be sticking to the theme of music hacking, and that’s it. It will be very cut and dry – you either subscribe to the print newsletter, or you don’t. You either buy the book, or you don’t.

The good news is, that way, we can better serve you and provide the best quality content possible.

We’ve got a bit of work to do to bring the branding of the site up to date, but for now, everything available at Content Marketing Musician is now available at MusicHackers.org.

Guaranteed we will be reworking and representing the offers in a way that makes more logical, sequential sense though.

Introducing… Better Ways to Survive

I am also launching a site called Better Ways to Survive at BetterWaysToSurvive.com.

The concept is kind of similar to MusicHackers.org, except that I’m going to be crash-testing different ways to make an income online and reporting on the results.

I know that many people are starting to struggle financially out there, and the cost of living in Canada especially is sky-high.

You’ve probably heard about making an income from writing reviews, answering surveys, app testing, and so on.

Most of these are legit but they’re usually only good for earning a few bucks on the side, and it’s very difficult if not impossible to earn anything resembling minimum wage, even if you work at it for eight hours per day.

So, my mission with Better Ways to Survive is to point people in the direction of better opportunities.

If you have any sites or methods, you’d like me to check out, I’m all ears – please let me know!

What’s Coming for Creativity Excitement Emotion

As for the podcast, the only thing that’s changing is the publishing schedule. In the immediate, I will still be publishing five days per week. But this is likely to go down to one to three times per week.

I’m looking to land our first sponsor for the show – and I think we’re getting closer to finding a viable partner – and the moment that happens I can reinvest in helpers to publish five times per week again.

But since I am taking on a couple of other projects, I am choosing to lighten my load for now.

I’ve discovered that a podcast plays a very important role in the life of a digital marketer’s portfolio, and I can’t see myself stopping any time soon.

Podcasts play a very important role in the life of a digital marketer’s portfolio.Share on X

But I do need to continue to ensure that it’s aligned with everything else I’m up to. So, if we go down to fewer weekly episodes, you’ll know why.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks for tuning in – this has been Creativity Excitement Emotion.

There are more great episodes on the way, including some interviews, so stay tuned and stay subscribed.

I’ll see you in episode 55.

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. You can get sponsors. And if you're smart, you eventually dovetail your influence into a business, something that will have lasting value.

Chances are, especially in the case of models, will you have a career 10 years from now? Will you have a career 20 years from now?

There’s a lot of short-sightedness. And we tend to do that. Give undue praise to influencers who don't have much foresight as far as when their thing could end, why their thing could end, and what are they going to do after they're no longer able to do what they're doing right now, because they don't have the facility to do it, or they're not as young as they used to be.

I guess my point is approval seeking is so beneficial right now to people who are willing and able to do it. People who get a kick out of constantly seeking validation.

And there is a dark side to it, too. I honestly think some conditions have yet to be diagnosed as far as like constantly needing validation for everything. It's not a sustainable, workable thing in the real world. People aren't always going to like you.

This is the thing that I've been running into, right? You didn't do anything wrong. You were just going about living your life, and then suddenly people are like, “I don't like you, and here's why.” And they will come up with any reason. It doesn't even matter if it's remotely true, they'll just come up with a reason why they don't like you.

And an approval seeker would probably find a way. I mean, there's no use, and there's no need to feed trolls because ultimately, there are enough people in the world.

I think 25% are going to like you, 25% can be convinced to like you, 25% aren't going to like you, and 25% can be convinced not to like you. The ratio is always going to work out to something along those lines.

But I think an approval seeker is someone who would go above and beyond and try to get people to like them.

And I'm not here to judge, I'm not here to make that wrong. But I’m not much of an approval seeker, and I don't go on social media to try to get people's validation. Yeah, I've taken a few self-indulgent selfies and things like that, but I think pretty much everyone does that, right? That's not unique to me.

There are some downsides and upsides to everything. The upside to being an approval seeker in today's economy is that there are ways to capitalize on that. You might make for a great influencer, and you might be able to please a lot of people.

And then, really the downside… What is that doing to your mental health? Is it building your confidence in yourself and who you are? Do you have a sense of identity apart from how you look, how you show up, or how you present on social media?

And then if you're not much of an approval seeker, inevitably something will get left on the table, right? Again, I don't think there's any way to get along with everyone. I think we can at least come to an understanding where we're not fighting, but trying to get everyone to like you is a fool's errand.

Trying to get everyone to like you is a fool's errand.Share on X

So, the downside is you’re not going to pay much heed to people who don't like you. Even though you might be in a band with them, even though you might be living with them, even though they might be your business partners.

Ultimately, I think it's about being mindful of who you are. Are you an approval seeker? Are you more of an independent person? Do you fall somewhere between the two?

If you are an approval seeker, then is there something you could do with that? Right now, there are plenty of opportunities to potentially make cash on that as an influencer, or as a social media personality.

And if you're an independent, then what's the benefits of that? How could you use that to your advantage? It's not about worrying about what other people think so much as tending to you and yours, more than anything else.

Before you worry about what someone random on the internet said about your latest video, you first look at yourself, your family, your friends, your collaborators, the people who have a vested interest in you, and the people who care about you. That's where your energy would go.

What would that look like? And what would be the benefit of that?

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.Share on X

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, but it's a much bigger pool of decisions and options than they even realize. Even if they don't have huge financial resources to invest in the areas that they're thinking about changing.

Sometimes merely cutting expenses from things you no longer need will free up the finances to be able to do the things you want to do.

Understand that sometimes we put up with things because we're lazy. Sometimes we put up things because we're scared. Like “Oh, I'm scared of what the doctor's going to say and what they're going to have to do to me.”

And sometimes we put up with things that we must put up with. We have no choice and that's life. And there are things like that too. Don't get me wrong.

But if you start looking at your music career or your entrepreneurial endeavor and think about what you’ve been tolerating. What are some things that you've been tolerating to this point that you no longer want to?

Is it a bad gig that's not paying you properly? Is it a bad mate that's driving you crazy? What are some things? What are you putting up with that could be better? Because chances are it could be a lot better.

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, all I can say is “Good luck.” Good luck. If you make all your decisions about your team based on your feelings, you're going to mess it up good.