It's December 24th as I record this—Christmas Eve for those who celebrate. Whatever you celebrate (or don't), I hope you have an amazing holiday season. Eat all the delicious food. Get together with people you love. Have a great time.

Here's wishing you a fantastic holiday season.

As you've probably figured out, these behind-the-scenes videos are just vlogs. A chance for me to be a little more unfiltered and raw.

I hope you've enjoyed the video series so far. There's more to come, but there will be a short break in content for the holidays.

Here's where to find more: Bookmark davidandrewwiebe.com. Join my Facebook group, Spark Infinity. Subscribe to the Creativity Excitement Emotion podcast (I'm reviving it!).

What's been happening with this video series? I've been documenting the results of creating these videos—videos where I virtually never introduce myself and never give a call to action (except maybe to ask for comments). So what am I getting out of it?

I document that in the Indie Career Formula Newsletter. In the December issue, there's something called Leadership Lab Bootcamp, Part 1. That's the documentation of the video series I've been creating. There's going to be a Part 2. And depending on how long this goes, there will be Part 3 and Part 4. Because there are 90 video ideas, and I've only put out about 20 so far. That means there's still 70 more to go.

People have been connecting with them. I've been getting comments. They've been enjoying these videos. So there's a good reason to continue on.

I'm taking a short break for the holidays to reflect. I feel like that's the most important work you could be doing during the holidays.

More content to come. See you in the New Year.

In this video, I share what's been happening with this video series, why I'm taking a short break for the holidays, and what's coming in 2026. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28081

Are you hoping against hope that the Spotify thing is going to work out for you?

Look at all the news stories. All the musician coaches. All the people pushing Spotify. It's got to be a good thing, right?

If you've been an artist for any length of time, you know payouts for streaming royalties are dismal. Maybe you've seen a little improvement year over year, depending on how your listenership has increased. But you can't possibly believe this is someday going to work out for you—that you're going to make a living wage from streaming royalties.

It's crazy to me that people spend so much time and energy on this. Even at conferences, musicians flock to the sessions about Spotify and ignore the ones about music entrepreneurship—which is where they should be going.

As artists, we are entrepreneurs. That's just a fact of life. That's the way things are now.

I can point you to so many opportunities that are far better than Spotify. If you just replace all that time and energy you're putting into Spotify—into creating products, into creating offers that people want—for the same amount of time and energy and money and resources, you're probably going to be making a much higher income.

Don't get me wrong. Spotify can be a great promotional tool. I'm not saying it's a complete bust for listeners or even artists. But the delusion has permeated the industry. No wonder the industry is so enthusiastic about it. They benefit from Spotify. Not you.

The bottom line: there are things you could be working on that are far more productive—both in terms of your overall satisfaction and fulfillment, as well as your income.

Maybe you just want to continue putting your faith in things that don't work. Maybe that's the way we've been conditioned—that believing in something is its own reward, and that's all we should ever expect to get out of it.

But there are other roads you can take. If you took the same amount of time, money, and energy you're putting into Spotify and put it somewhere else, it would dramatically change your results.

To become a successful independent artist, you must approach things from a different angle.

In this post (and video), I share why hoping Spotify will work out for you is a delusion—and what you should be doing instead. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28076

Why you need multiple teachers over a lifetime, not just one system.

Have you taken a lot of courses? Stuck to a personal development program for 5, 10, even 20 years?

Here's what I've noticed: people resist reverting back to their old ways. When they do, they make themselves wrong. They make themselves the enemy.

"There must be something wrong with me. It's not the program's fault. It's not the coach's fault. It's my fault. I'm not tying in tight enough. I'm not doing the work."

That's not how I've gotten to where I am.

I'm not someone who enjoys staying stuck. I give things time—maybe 3 years, maybe 5. But beyond that, if I'm not seeing progress, I'm not going to blame myself. I'm also not going to blame the program. The program was fine. I got what I got out of it. But I'm also going to say, "It might be time for something new."

So ask yourself: are you okay with being stuck? You can tie in tighter to the program. You can be more vigilant. But you're probably still going to revert back to those behaviors, feelings, and thoughts you don't like.

It's sometimes been said you can only ride one horse to the finish line. But the finish line is 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years into the future. Maybe longer. So you need more than one horse. One horse gets you to the first finish line. You need another horse for the next finish line. And so on.

The problem? You think you're not doing the system well enough. "If I just did it better, harder, with more vigilance, I'll get where I want to go." But if you've been at this for 5, 10 years, stop and ask yourself: "Is that the case? Or do I need a fresh perspective?"

You're not discarding what you've learned. You're not discarding the distinctions of the program. You're not discarding the hard work you've done. By allowing yourself to reevaluate, you're giving yourself compassion. You're loving yourself. If you're just trying to work the program harder, you're not loving yourself at all. You're hating yourself. You're saying, "The program's not working because I'm not working." You're placing the blame on yourself.

It would be convenient if one coach, one teacher, one system got you everything you ever wanted. And some people have had that experience. But how many teachers and coaches and programs did they go through before getting to that point? You don't know the journey that got them there.

I remember struggling with a concept on the guitar. I wanted to solo across the entire fretboard. But I kept getting stuck in a little box. I kept reading different articles. I took advice from different teachers. I watched different videos. Then one day, I read an article by Eric Johnson. Finally, I made the connection. "Aha, that's it." I unlocked that ability. I could solo. I could play leads across the entire fretboard.

Different teachers specialize in different things. Hearing things from their perspective could be helpful to you. To this point, you've been counting on one teacher to explain it to you. They've explained it the same way 10, 20, 30 times. It's not landing. That means one teacher can't take you over the finish line. You have to be open to looking for additional resources, additional coaches, additional teachers.

If you're done being uncomfortable, if you're done living in purgatory, if you're done repeating the same year over and over, find another coach. Find another program. Find another course. Be open-minded. Be teachable. Be willing. Be open to learning and seeing things from a different perspective.

It might not even be new material, but it'll be explained differently. You'll have a connection that makes sense. You'll have a breakthrough you're not getting right now.

In this post (and video), I share why you need multiple teachers over a lifetime, not just one system. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28071

"You're a loser if you don't build this business."

That's what I was told. In private coaching sessions. Shouted from stages at conferences.

I was young, ambitious, looking for freedom. So I bought it wholesale.

Following that advice for five years nearly cost me my identity.

The advice wasn't just about business tactics—it was about behavioral modification. In network marketing, I was told I had to fit a mold, talk a certain way, dress a certain way, only associate with winners, focus on duplication, not on questioning the system. I was told my independence—what makes me uniquely creative—was the weakness that would keep me broke.

If I wanted the homes, the cars, the watches, the suits? I had to sacrifice myself.

So I tried. I became the good soldier. I did what I was told. I even listened when they said I shouldn't sponsor certain people because they weren't at my level. I was told I was too high quality to waste time on the wrong recruits.

But it was inevitable. I started to feel miserable. My confidence didn't grow—it shrank. My business didn't explode—it stayed stagnant. I felt like a fraud.

Despite showing up and putting in the effort, I couldn't grow my business. I was building a model that made me a cog in the machine, but I was wired to be the architect of my life.

The turning point came when I realized: the people giving this advice didn't care about my freedom. They cared about their duplication. Their business. They weren't teaching me how to be an entrepreneur. They were teaching me how to become a high-performing follower.

If I tried to win their game, I would lose myself in the process. For an independent, that's the ultimate failure: losing yourself.

Here's the hard truth I learned: Expert advice is only useful if it aligns with your core values. If you have to modify your behavior, if you have to become something you aren't wired to be, they're not mentors. They're mechanics trying to replace a part in the engine.

I know what it means to be an independent. We're weird. We're unique. We're misfits. We need freedom and autonomy. But these aren't your bugs. They're your competitive advantage.

I finally stopped trying to fit in and dedicated myself to creating a strategy around my independence. That's when everything shifted. I didn't get rich overnight. But I got my soul back. And eventually, the money followed.

I'm not a loser for leaving that business. Why should I pay undue loyalty to things that don't serve me?

The world doesn't need more duplicate cogs. It needs more independents brave enough to go their own way and build their own systems.

In this post (and video), I share the expert advice I followed that nearly sent me in the wrong direction—and what happened when I finally stopped listening. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28067




How do you evaluate expert advice without losing yourself?

It's tough. You need a framework.

Ask yourself these six questions:

Does it align with your core values? My core values: autonomy, integrity, freedom. If someone told me, "Work 80 hours a week for $40,000 a year," I'd have questions.

Does it respect your unique wiring and personality? So much advice assumes anybody could do this, everybody should be doing this. But some people will be miserable doing what experts recommend. I'm creative. I do my best work alone—practicing guitar, producing music, writing, making art. If an opportunity requires me to be out all the time at clubs, bars, parties, networking events? That's not me.

Is it a tool or a complete system? A technique might get you the date (or contract, or opportunity). But three dates in, you're in a relationship—and all the things that worked to get attention have nothing to do with the new situation. A tool is nice. But most businesses use a variety of tools, not just one. A complete system gives you the steps, the exact process, the frameworks, the templates.

Does the advice make you more dependent, or does it empower your independence? Does this advice make me more dependent on the person giving it? Do I have to buy additional coaching, their book, their course, the next course? Or does it empower me to hit the target on my own?

Does the advice have a clear, measurable outcome you can define? What is the advice designed to help you achieve? And more importantly, is this something the expert says you should want, or is it something you want? "Build an email list" is clear. "Become a thought leader" is nebulous.

Does it encourage evolution, or is it just dogma? Does your teacher set you up to surpass them, or are they the gatekeeper to more knowledge you need to purchase to get where you want to go?

As an independent creative, your intuition is one of your greatest assets. Use people's advice as wisdom, not as gospel. Separate the wheat from the chaff. Take what works. Leave what doesn't.

We could all become the clone of our favorite guru if we tried. But that's not the goal. What's most powerful? You being your most authentic, genuine self.

In this post (and video), I share how to evaluate expert advice without losing yourself. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28064




How do you rebuild your confidence after a major disappointment?

You may go through some disappointing experiences in your artistic ventures, business ventures, or whatever else you might be pursuing. And those experiences can be disappointing—sometimes maybe even low-key traumatic.

More often than not, there are people involved. Clients. Partners. Relationships you've built up with vendors. Perhaps you've given your word to complete certain tasks or made promises to customers. And there's usually some messiness that comes along with having to pull the plug, step away, pivot, or decide to do things differently.

I certainly experienced disappointment in my network marketing efforts. It wasn't just that I lost my business. I lost my faith. I lost the girl. And my financial situation really wasn't in a great place at the time. I remember spending that summer quite depressed. And I really think it was more than just circumstantial.

But as I said in an earlier video, I hadn't given up on myself. I hadn't given up on my ultimate success or my dreams. So what was my choice? The only choice, difficult as it was, was to keep going and to figure out a new vehicle and a new way of achieving my dreams.

Here's what helped me rebuild my confidence: I started searching for things on YouTube. I think one of the things I searched up was "how to live as a super sensitive person," or something along those lines. I was very surprised to find some of the materials that ended up lifting me out of some depression. I purchased Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. It actually wasn't very good, but I didn't notice how bad it was because of how I was feeling.

One of the things that certainly helped me regain my confidence was having conversations with other people who had gone through similar situations. They'd been in similar businesses or similar training systems. They had very similar experiences with their upline mentors. And they'd come out on the other side, making certain decisions about their lives. Having those conversations with others who shared those experiences really helped me separate the wheat from the chaff—the stuff that was going to continue to be useful to me versus the stuff that maybe did more to hurt than help me.

Something that I had started doing quite intentionally before ultimately choosing to leave network marketing was writing my first book, The New Music Industry. That turned out to be a great decision because I had a project that I could turn to, that I could focus on, that I could pour myself into. Even though I pretty much knew the book wasn't going to act as a replacement for the business I just left, I also knew that I would probably end up moving a lot of copies. And I did.

There are different ways of navigating difficult situations like this. You might benefit from therapy. You might benefit from meditation, journaling, or reflection. Just know that there are different approaches.

Even though you might feel down, even though you might feel depressed, even though it really might suck to have to go through all that and process it and feel like maybe you wasted years of your life on something you ended up choosing not to do—there's a lot of good that can come out of it too. It's just a matter of choosing to work through it to find the golden nuggets.

In this post (and video), I share how I rebuilt my confidence after network marketing disappointment—and what helped me move forward. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28059




"You'd be a total loser if you give up on yourself."

That's what they tell you in network marketing. "This is the best business ever." "You'd be an idiot to quit."

And clearly, this is coming from people who believe what they're saying. But here's the thing: the business pretty much works with or without you—especially if you're at a low pin level. It works on attrition. They know a certain number of people are going to leave after a certain point. They can predict when that's going to happen. The business really does work on a whole bunch of people buying products every month and doing nothing else in their businesses.

So are you a loser if you quit? Are you a loser if you give up on yourself?

Here's the thing: I never gave up on my dreams. I may have said, "This business isn't right for me." I may have said, "This other opportunity wasn't right for me either." But that doesn't mean I gave up on myself. I didn't. And I didn't give up on my dreams either.

There's usually a little bit of processing and adjusting that happens after you let go of something, or you pivot, or you decide to quit. But if you've got an entrepreneurial spirit in you—if you're someone who wants to accomplish something, if you're ambitious on any level—you're going to come to the same conclusion I did.

I looked around and said, "Well, I'm still alive. My heart's still beating in my chest. And I've still got dreams. There are still things I want to accomplish."

So what's my alternative? There are no alternatives. I'm not going to stop striving towards my dreams. So what are the alternatives? There are none. I'm going to get my feet under me. I'm going to get back up. And I'm going to get to work. I might do it through another vehicle. I might try another way. I might seek another model. But the bottom line? My dreams are alive. They're not dead. I haven't given up on myself. And I haven't given up on my dreams. So the only option—there is no alternative—the only option is to keep going.

At the end of the day, some opportunities are right for certain people. You basically just never know when the popcorn is going to pop. People pop at different times. They're ready to go, or they're not ready to go.

Don't worry about where you're at today. Simply look to the future to know what you want and allow yourself to become the person who can create that future.

In this post (and video), I share why you're not a loser if you don't join the "best business model ever"—and why the only option is to keep going. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28053