"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




Let me tell you something: if you're planning to get into network marketing, you should rent out your brain to your mentors. That's how the business works. Ask them about everything. Changes in your life. Spending money. Travel plans. Everything should be brought to your mentors and filtered through them. That's how you grow your business in network marketing—by working with your mentors and listening to what they tell you to do.

But here's the problem: If you have any counter intentions—if you aren't actually looking to build the business, if you're still poking around, going, "I'm not too sure this is for me"—then there are definitely some dangers in renting out your brain to mentors.

Bottom line? They're gonna make a lot of decisions on your behalf. Including financial decisions. And they're not necessarily thinking what's going to be best for you, how they can support your passions, how they can support your personal goals. They're thinking in terms of how to support you on a business level.

That means if you have other priorities, those must be communicated to your mentors. And they may advise you to drop those priorities—or, in some rare instances, support you in them. But either way, if you happen to have other priorities and network marketing isn't really your main thing—and you haven't communicated this—then seeking advice from your upline mentors could actually be a hazard to you.

I realized this for myself as I was starting to go through some financial difficulties. In my experience with network marketing, I went through financial difficulties two or three times. And it was really around the third time that it finally hit me: If I continue to prioritize what my mentors are telling me to prioritize, I'm just gonna continue to go further into debt. Broke. Possibly unable to buy another car. Things weren't gonna turn out well for me if I just kept renting my brain out to my mentors.

At the end of the day, you still have to make the decisions. You have to make a decision that's in alignment with you. That feels right to you. That feels good to you. Others can give you counsel. You can ask for advice, strategies, tactics, and techniques. And that may not necessarily be a bad thing. You are going to get some feedback that will prove useful.

But you shouldn't expect anything that isn't fully in alignment with you to work out in the real world. And that's the danger of renting out your brain to your mentors.

In this post (and video), I share why renting out your brain to mentors works in network marketing—and when it becomes dangerous. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/the-danger-of-renting-out-your-brain-to-mentors/

I spent 5 years in network marketing. And honestly? I was excited about every aspect of it.

The business. The compensation plan. The products. The people—because they were ambitious, chasing financial freedom, and actually living personal development.

The company I joined had a world-class training system. I got exposed to books, CDs, MP3s, training from upline mentors who'd achieved higher levels in the business. That's where I learned the core fundamentals of business. I'd had some business experience before, but what I got through network marketing? I couldn't find anywhere else.

I learned how to legitimize a business, how to work daily towards your dreams, the cashflow quadrant—fundamentals that still sit at the foundation of everything I do today.

So there were a lot of positives. Including new business ideas. I even invested in a company because I had an idea and found people already doing what I wanted to do. That investment didn't exactly work out. But I don't regret taking a chance. If I had to do it over, I probably would've started out of my basement and kept it simple—less overhead, fewer people, fewer tools.

But there was a cost to doing it. For a good while, I was convinced this was the right business model for me. I liked the products. I wanted to stretch myself, talk to more people, get out of my comfort zone, build relationships, have financial freedom. I wanted the home. The car. The watch.

So I really started doing the work. I wasn't perfect at it. I wasn't necessarily great at it. But I got to the point where I was talking to one person per day. Then two or three. Then five or more people in a day.

My business didn't grow much at all, though. And I didn't sponsor anyone.

That experience still gave me valuable things—things that still influence the way I think about personal development, business, and life today. But I probably stayed in the business for too long. I was starting to feel discouraged long before I actually quit.

Seems like I always find a reason why I shouldn't leave in many situations. But in network marketing specifically, the odds were just stacked against me. And there was no way to make a graceful exit.

I'm not here to tell you I lost my shirt in network marketing. A lot of people tell that story. That's not my story. Yeah, I kind of had to start over financially. But it wasn't just because of the business. And I don't really blame the business.

I think the business model's fine. I think it works perfectly for some people. But again, it was something that didn't quite fit for me. Just like teaching guitar—which looked amazing, which I thought might be a dream job—I learned pretty quickly it wasn't quite right.

In this post (and video), I share what 5 years in network marketing taught me about business—and what it cost me. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/what-5-years-in-network-marketing-taught-me-about-business-and-what-it-cost-me/

I taught guitar for over 10 years. And I hated it.

It should have been a dream job. I got paid to play music. I connected with other musicians. I could practice or write between students. But teaching guitar one-on-one, 30 to 40 students a week? It felt like a grind.

Meanwhile, I knew teachers handling 60, 70, even 80 students a week—and they loved it. They'd been doing it for 10, 20, 30 years.

That's when I realized: The problem wasn't me. It was the vehicle.

Here's what creatives often don't realize: You could be doing something you're great at. Something in your field. Something you're getting paid for. And you think, "I should be grateful. Maybe I just need to push through, and the hate will turn into love."

But that's how we justify things as creatives. We stay loyal far longer than we should.

So how do you know if your vehicle is wrong?

Here are 5 signs: (1) You dread it. (2) It doesn't give you leverage. (3) You feel trapped by someone else's rules. (4) You're constantly in survival mode. (5) You can't see a future that excites you.

If you resonate with three out of five of those? Chances are you're not in the right vehicle right now.

So, what do you do next? You don't need to burn it all down tomorrow. I didn't. But it's good to examine what parts were good, what parts you enjoyed, what didn't work, and what you'd change. And then explore other formats. If one-on-one isn't working, try one-to-many. Teach groups. Hold workshops. Create courses. Sell something online.

Teaching guitar wasn't a waste. It gave me an income. It allowed me to sustain my music career. It funded other experiments. It gave me skills I still use today. But did it cost me years of energy, income, and clarity? Perhaps.

Here's what I learned: You don't owe anything that degree of loyalty. Yes, leave things on good terms. But you're doing yourself a disservice if you stay in something too long that drains you.

In this post (and video), I share how to tell if your creative work vehicle is wrong for you—and what to do next. https://davidandrewwiebe.com/?p=28043