Most of us are trying to be like people we weren't wired to be like, and then sit around wondering why we’re not as successful as they are.

This is why I can’t help but cringe when I see an artist walk onstage at open mic night, wearing their singular influence on their sleeve. This phenomenon is the ugly twin of a cover band.

(“Okay, already. We know you like Bob!”)

Maybe that’s cruel. I know we all have to start somewhere, and I’m not down on newbies. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No one is without influence, and we are all derivative of something. The thing is…

Artistry comes from taking various ingredients to make your own soup. Expression comes from accepting and speaking your authentic truth.

It’s easy for an artist, a side hustler, or even an entrepreneur to bypass this process entirely, thinking they are shortcutting their path to success. But they are really shooting themselves in the foot. Maybe they’re not missing out on the success or the money (debatable), but they are almost certainly missing out on themselves.

It’s so often said that it’s about the journey and not the destination. I agree, because most of my achievements weren’t met with rousing fanfare. I had to be intentional about stopping and celebrating myself, because if I couldn’t show myself the way, who would follow?

Where are you trying to get to? If the destination is worthwhile, then surely the journey is too.

Sure, it would be nice to be rich, to be famous, to be as fit as a Spartan. Most people who want those things agree that the sooner they can get them, the better. Maximizing time and freedom is the goal.

But without the challenges, the obstacles, the character-building hardships, do you even have the container to hold all that you wish to create? Wouldn’t you just as quickly lose all you’ve gained if you weren’t properly equipped to handle it?

Morgan Freedman was 50 when he achieved his first Hollywood breakthrough. Abraham Lincoln was 52 when he was inaugurated as the 16th President. Colonel Sanders sold his “Secret Recipe” at 65.

Things don’t always happen on a preset timeline. Because it’s not about time as much as it is the connection you have with yourself.

So, the question is – who are you?

There is a you apart from programming, expectation, and comparison. Getting in touch with this you should be your greatest undertaking, because that’s what it actually means to value yourself.

I used to read books to learn how to be more successful or help other people. Now I read them because I enjoy them and I want to.

I used to follow other people’s methods because I thought they were smarter. And I met a lot of great people and received world-class training. But their processes didn’t work for me, and I gave them more than a fair shake. I don’t follow other people’s formulas anymore.

I used to compare. Look at where others were versus where I was. How much work I’d produced versus how much they produced. What I got and what they got. I don’t see the point anymore, because they’re not in my shoes, and I'm not in theirs.

I have fully embraced my journey. I no longer expect it to look like someone else’s.

Artists fail because they’re trying to duplicate someone else’s success, when that was never a possibility to begin with. It’s their authentic expression that’s wanted.

What ingredients go in your soup? What is the authentic truth you want to express? https://davidandrewwiebe.com/the-1-reason-artists-fail/




Hollywood is calling! 🌴 I am beyond excited to head to the Musicians Institute for Music Pro 26, and I want to bring some of you along with me.

This isn't just another music conference; it’s a masterclass in Creative Entrepreneurship featuring some of the biggest names in the game. Whether you're a gear head, a songwriter, or an independent artist looking for Creative Expansion, this event is built for you.


What’s happening at Music Pro 26?


✨ A keynote from guitar icon Steve Vai on the art of composition.


✨ Insights into the "unlimited distribution" model from the experts at DistroKid.


✨ A look at the legendary craftsmanship of Paul Reed Smith (Paul, if you're watching, I'm still waiting on my PRS! 😉).


✨ Deep dives into session work and hits with David Paich of Toto.


✨ ...and much more

The best part? I have a limited number of FREE badges to give away to my followers! 🎟️

If you can get yourself to Hollywood, I can help get you through the door. I can't cover your flight or your hotel, but I can get you into the room where it all happens.


HOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE BADGE:


Drop a comment below and tell me why you want to go!


Stay tuned as I’ll need to collect some quick details to get you registered with the event organizers.

Let’s make some moves in the music industry together. Like this post and share it with a musician friend who needs to be there! https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28253




Lately, I’ve been going live a bit extemporaneously, taking you behind the scenes of what I’m working on creatively. A lot of entrepreneurs have camera crews following them around, turning their day into content. I don’t have that (yet!), but this is my DIY version of that idea.

In this new video, I walk you through the real, messy process of designing a custom t-shirt I’ll be wearing at Music Pro '26 in Hollywood later this month—something that basically introduces who I am and what I do before I even say a word.


You’ll see:

- 🎬 Time-lapse from Session 1: Me trying a bunch of ideas that were way off from what I actually wanted (welcome to my neurospicy process).


- 💬 How Your Feedback Changed Everything: I missed some of the live comments at first (thanks, StreamYard…) but when I finally saw them, I realized the design was a bit too vanilla and not “peacocking” enough.


- ⭐ The Star That Changed the Design: A member of my Facebook group said, “Your brand needs a star.” I was skeptical… then I dropped a star into the design and immediately went, “Oh. That actually works.”


- 🧠 Photoshop Meltdowns & Scratch Disk Chaos: Session 2 got cut short thanks to Photoshop issues and me re-discovering scratch disk settings the hard way.


- 🤖 How I Actually Used AI: I didn’t have AI design the shirt. Instead, I fed it my design, asked questions, iterated three times, and refined it with AI as a creative partner.

The shirts are now ordered in a few different colors. If you’re coming to MusicPro26 at Musicians Institute (March 27–29), you’ll see me wearing one—and you won’t have to ask “So what do you do?” unless you really want to.


🎥 Watch the video to see:

- The full behind-the-scenes timelapse of both sessions


- How group feedback and tiny tweaks (like one star) can completely change a design


- Why I still love designing by hand in an AI world

👇 Your turn:


If you were designing a t-shirt that told people who you are before you opened your mouth, what would absolutely need to be on it? A symbol? A word? A color? An inside joke?

Drop it in the comments—I’d love to hear your ideas and maybe borrow some inspiration for future designs.

And if you’d like to see more behind-the-scenes content (like me awkwardly practicing piano for reasons I don’t fully understand), let me know below. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/my-music-pro-26-t-shirt/

Answering emails. Crushing to-do lists. Creating. Publishing. Showing up to every meeting. Being a good facilitator. Jumping on every opportunity. Demonstrating kindness. Helping others shine.

That was me.

But it wasn’t always for me. That’s the part that I think some people struggle to understand.

I often sacrificed myself for others. Because I believed in them when they didn’t believe in themselves. Because kindness to me is not a ruse – it’s exactly who I am.

But that person is gone. It’s not me anymore. And I’m probably more surprised than anyone.

In the last few months, and especially in January, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my past, all the people who didn’t show up for me when I needed them to, the betrayers who sabotaged me when it mattered most, the countless challenges that nearly took me out, and the loneliness I’ve felt on this journey…

(Okay, some of you reading this really don’t think I’ve gone through anything hard, but just in the last three years, I’ve gone through things that would make a grown adult go home crying to their mommy and never want to go outside again. Slices of my recent experiences here and here.)

But what matters is this – I let it all go. The people, the circumstances, the pain.

And someone was waiting for me on the other side – it was me. The real me. The me I’d forgotten. The me that you probably never got to meet. The me “they” never wanted me to remember.

But I remembered.

Which might make it sound like…

“So, you’re not a creative, kindness was a mask, and helping others shine was manipulation.” (This assumes that I got something out of it – I wouldn’t invest a single penny in that stock.)

And that’s not what I’m saying. I stand by what I did and who I was.

I’m still creative, I’m still kind, and if it made sense, I would still help another shine. These are not things you can take away from me.

What I’m saying is this:

From now on, it’s got to work for me too, not just for those I serve.

I can’t work for pennies on the dollar. I know my worth, and I’m unwilling to compromise.

I can’t give my time away to just anyone. Only to those who value the relationship.

I can’t work on projects just for the sake of it. Only projects that are aligned with my purpose.

From here on out, it’s not about productivity, quantity, or volume; it’s about alignment and purpose.

Have you ever had a moment where you finally “remembered” who you were before the world told you who to be? https://davidandrewwiebe.com/i-remembered-and-i-was-never-supposed-to/




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