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Welcome creatives! These are discussions, thoughts, case studies, interviews, and lessons about how our creativity relates to life. The host, Mr Benja, is a former video game programmer / designer for Rockstar Games, Sony Santa Monica, The 3DO Company, and others, as well as a fine artist. -- Be sure to check out the website for more.
Joe Rogan, The podcaster, comedian, mixed
martial arts enthusiast, And general
pain in the neck for a lot of people
and conspiracy theorist And general
topic of discussion has just cleared
a, What people are calling a 250000000
dollar deal with Spotify, the reigning
podcast Distribution app out there.
This is big news for podcasters.
We thought that the hundred million
dollar deal a couple years ago was big.
Now we've got a 250000000 dollar
deal, and it's nonexclusive.
Gonna be getting into a little bit of
my thoughts on that, what it means,
what I'm I'm learning what I understand
of Joe Rogan, and I know a lot of you
wanna know what I think about Joe Rogan.
A lot of people seem to be very
interested in my thoughts on things.
I tend to try to remain a gray
Jedi on a lot of matters, but I
will let you know what I think.
Ins and outs about what I think on But,
anyway, Joe Rogan, 250000000 dollar deal.
That's what we're gonna be discussing
today on creativity threads life.
Almost almost called out
the name of the old podcast.
This is Creativity Threads Life.
We are in our twenties in the
episodes here, so We've already
surpassed most literally 99 or
98 percent of podcast out there.
We've already surpassed most
of those by hitting this mark.
Thank you for all of those of you
who listened, those of you who have
supported, those of you who have
joined the community on circle.
I do not have a Patreon.
I have a circle.
So those of you who joined that
circle, thank you very much.
We are getting getting some action
and some headway there moving forward.
Um, wanna thank you all for those
on threads who have commented,
made suggestions, reposted, And
and generally supported there.
I wanna thank my Instagram family.
Hopefully, if I say positive
things about Instagram, it won't
Disconnect me like it did last time.
I think I picked up my phone and
something was running in the background
on Instagram and decided that it should
log me out It killed my stream, so
apologies to those who missed that stream.
But, anyway, today's topic Is Joe
Rogan and the 250000000 dollar deal?
That's not all about the deal, but
that's what we're gonna start with.
So in case you don't know, I'll
even back it up a little bit.
Joe Rogan was paid he's
a podcaster, by the way.
I assume most of you know
who he is just by name alone.
But Joe Rogan was paid 100000000 dollars
a couple years ago for exclusive rights
to his Sitting in a room talking.
This deal was big, shook up the industry.
Everybody found out
what Spotify was up to.
Everybody started learning how serious
this whole podcast game was, and
they decided to Take it exclusive.
Now what what did that exclusivity mean?
Well, basically, the podcasts
were there and nowhere else.
So if you want to listen to Joe Rogan,
You had to go to Spotify to listen to it.
You had to download the app, maybe
become a paying member, listen to
all their ads, But you you had to go
to Spotify if you want to do that.
A lot of people were
like, well, screw that.
I'm not going over to Spotify
just to listen to Joe Rogan.
Like, fine.
A lot of people were like, screw that.
I'm already on Spotify, and I'm
gonna leave because of Joe Rogan.
Neil Young, I think, um, he he
he said put down the ultimatum
if you're Joe Rogan's on Spotify.
Joe Rogan and Neil Young can't
be on Spotify at the same time.
We're not exactly sure how
he meant that ultimatum.
He said some wild things in the past,
so We're pretty sure that was just an
ultimatum and a stance on who he who he
was, but it could have meant other things.
And, yeah, a lot of people were
very upset with Joe Rogan for the
conspiracies, the the lies, The racism,
the allegations of these things.
I'm not making a stance on whether you
should be listening to Joe Rogan or not.
We'll get into that in a second.
He's currently over 2000 episodes
in, so definitely not going away.
But this exclusive deal set
up Spotify in a weird way.
It they they took Joe Rogan in and
a lot of other they got they started
buying up podcast companies and media
companies and then shutting them down.
They they really didn't figure
a way to monetize them properly.
And they just pick them apart, took
them for their separate individual
pieces, integrated them into the
Spotify Universe, and then they're
continuing about their business.
That's 1 of the ways that these
types of corporations work.
They buy a business.
That does not mean that they
want to continue the business.
That may mean that they want to
get rid of it by absorbing it,
and they may crap it out later,
which is what happens sometimes.
Anyway, hundred million dollar
deal to get him exclusive.
Now then this then you start
to wonder, well, wait a minute.
How does he have a 250000000
dollar deal, which is what the
Wall Street Journal was reporting?
Numbers could vary by 10, 20000000,
give or take, Or maybe in less
than that, uh, more than that even.
But they offer them this
250000000 dollar deal.
So now we've gone from a hundred million
dollar deal to 250000000 dollar deal.
Thing about this 250000000 dollar
deal is that it's nonexclusive.
So you're thinking to
yourself, well, wait a minute.
Why would you go nonexclusive and
pay more money as part of the deal?
Well, I was wondering about this too,
and, uh, I started looking into it.
And I think DJ Akademiks, who also
was paid a lot of money by Spotify,
They paid him that much money to
basically put his property out
there with their distribution.
So now that they had him exclusive
and everybody's still clamoring over
Joe Rogan and the The excitement for
his podcast has only gotten bigger.
Now you have a situation
where wait a minute.
Now that we've gotten pretty much
everybody who likes Joe Rogan onto our
podcast, now that we've pretty much
got everybody who likes Joe Rogan onto
our All the people who didn't check
out Spotify before, all the people who
weren't listening to podcast and who
were just listening to music or whatever,
They've dropped their other players.
If you look around, if you're on
Google and you share a podcast, you're
pretty much sharing through Spotify.
That's kind of the default standard.
Let's share it through Spotify just
to make sure it hits everybody.
If you're on Apple, you may
share your Apple Podcast link.
But for most people, it's just like, f.
You wanna hit the most people, just
share the Spotify link to everybody.
So, basically, they have everybody
who they wanted to get On Spotify,
from these couple years of getting
Joe Rogan exclusive and everybody else
exclusive that they wanted to get,
They've got them into the into the
ecosystem, and they've onboarded them.
That's 1 of the biggest problems
with a lot of businesses, getting
people to onboard, Get on the train.
Start using the the technology or
the platform or Just get into the
whole ecosystem that they have.
The first thing they wanna
do is get you onboarded.
So now that you have all these
people onboarded, it's like, okay.
Now we we have them on our platform.
Who else can we get?
Well, we could start Talking to the
people who wouldn't have listened to
Joe Rogan on Spotify, and we can start
talking to them outside of Spotify.
So that means they're they can start
putting their podcast everywhere else.
But with owning the distribution,
The way that Spotify is holding on
to it, owning the distribution, they
can now push that distribution out Or
push that product out, that podcast,
that information, and whatever else.
There there could be many
parts of the deal that we don't
know about, um, appearances.
It could be, you know, scheduled
licensing of certain aspects of the show,
certain shows in particular, All kinds
of ways that they could be leveraging
and using this deal with Joe Rogan.
So we're not quite sure what that is.
Joe Rogan hasn't made Much
information public on it, and he
tends to keep quiet on the Spotify
deal except to say that he's happy.
He should be.
He's got this big studio in Austin now.
He pretty much does his own thing.
But now that they can control the
distribution, they can send out Joe Rogan
podcast with certain ads to certain areas.
So now that they control the the
podcast and they have him on the
platform, now they can say, okay.
We have this.
We built up the ramparts.
We've gotten the moat.
We've gotten the castle
walls built up together.
Now we can start reaching out
and getting more listeners In
touch with our ads, in touch with
our influence through Joe Rogan.
And that is worth apparently
around 250000000 dollars.
So it's a big money game here.
But I don't I don't put this out
here to just talk about the deal.
Um, as you know, this
is a creative podcast.
We talk about creativity and
how it threads through life.
And there are quite a
few lessons to learn.
I actually have Actually, I have 9
things that I learned from Joe Rogan
that I'm gonna get to in a minute.
Maybe And you're probably sitting
up there saying, oh, great.
This is awesome.
I love Joe Rogan.
Or you're saying, This is terrible.
I hate Joe Rogan.
Why are you even talking about Joe Rogan?
I don't know why I'm listening to you.
If you listen to Joe Rogan, I hate you.
Seems to be There seems to be a very
polarizing viewpoint on Joe Rogan.
So let let me just let me
address that right now.
So I brought up Joe Rogan to somebody.
I didn't actually bring it up.
I Was just, uh, walking, and I had I
didn't have my headphones in, my earbuds.
So I just had Joe Rogan
Playing audio in my pocket.
I was just kinda listening
to him talk to mister Beast.
And mister Beast is a famous
YouTuber, Billion billion views.
He's got all these people following him.
He does these crazy shenanigans
and stunts on his YouTube page.
Very intelligent person about the
Development of YouTube videos.
So I was listening to what he had to
say about productivity, creating YouTube
videos, being out there in mass media,
The new economy of being an influencer,
producer on your own, etcetera.
So I was listening to the mister
Beech, Joe Rogan discussion because
they're 2 intelligent people, and Joe
Rogan has a very good way of getting
to getting information out of people.
And this is mister beast,
so I wanna listen to it.
Somebody I knew stopped me.
And because I was just
with some people at times.
Somebody stopped me and said And
said, you're listening to Joe Rogan?
And I got really upset and,
like, frown their face and just
didn't like the whole vibe.
I said, alright.
Why?
Well, alright.
Why why did you ask
the question like that?
Well, Joe Rogan's a liar, misogynist,
racist, con artist, Conspiracy theorist,
spreads misinformation, musclehead.
I just don't like him.
I said, okay.
Hold on a sec.
What don't you like about him?
And they repeated that same list.
So not that I'm defending him because
I'm gonna remain gray Jedi here.
I don't typically care what you think
about what I ingest or anything.
But the key phrase that I tuned in on was
when she said, You listen to Jo Rogan.
And I said yes.
But I think her version of listen to
was different than my version of to.
And this is where things got a
little interesting for me in my head.
So when someone says they
listen to somebody, what does
that mean to you exactly?
Like, does it mean, like,
you listen to your parents or
you listen to the preacher?
Or do you just listen to the weather
report to get the information?
What do you mean listen to?
Because their their version of
listen to seem to imply that I stand
by everything Joe Rogan says, Or
I look to Joe Rogan for guidance.
Or I just like him, so There
must be something wrong with me.
I don't tend to do that.
I don't think that way.
I will listen to preachers
and not be a Christian.
I will listen to Atheist and
not necessarily believe that
there isn't a higher power.
I will listen to people who start fights
And cause problems and not want to
cause fights or start problems myself.
I try to go hear what people are
saying for not indoctrination,
but to know what they're saying.
I don't know a way to put that
without sounding like like, if I
say I wanna hear what somebody has
to say, That even sounds like I'm
trying to back them or go about them.
And that's not what I'm doing.
A friend called me 1 of my
friends was at my place.
Right?
And, um, we were we were
in the same place together.
And And I was flipping through the
stations, and I stopped on Sean Hannity.
Sean Hannity, right wing guy.
Sean Hannity started talking
noise blah blah blah.
Something about right wing and
whatever, Fox News kind of business.
Fox News kind of stuff.
Fox Business is actually
pretty solid on their business.
They're they may not have their
facts together in the news side,
but their business side May not be
morally correct, but they're pretty
solid on the business reporting.
Anyway, so I turned to Handy.
I was like, This is interesting.
Person's like, why are
you watching Kennedy?
Da da da da.
I'm like, well, he was
talking about x y and z.
So I replied.
I wanted to hear what you had
to say or something like that.
Person turns to me, I'm like, oh, dude.
Listen.
I love Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson's great.
Hey, man.
And started going in on this, I'm
so glad you're right wing rant.
And I'm thinking, no.
I think a lot of their
positions are horrible.
I don't agree with much
of what they have to say.
I think their stance is bad
for a lot of what's going on.
I don't think Fox News is the place to
be getting your moral compass aligned.
Uh, this is I I just I'm not on
that side of the fence in general.
And they were, like, taken
aback, like, oh, 0, wait.
Wait.
Hold on a second.
Why were you watching,
You know, handy then.
I'm I wanted to talk about my dude, we
live in a area of nuance, but you're
not being nuanced in this Discussion.
So do I quote unquote listen to Joe Rogan?
Um, I need to I need to set
this up a little bit before
I go into the rest of this.
That's why I'm doing So do I,
quote, unquote, listen to Joe Rogan?
No.
Do I, quote, unquote, Try to
hear what he has to say because I
think it's beneficial to humanity.
No.
Do I tune in to Joe Rogan for the
information that it may provide at times?
Yes.
Why?
Because I don't care what people think.
Because I don't care what you
may What stances you may have?
I am able to walk into a An
establishment and separate myself
from what the establishment does.
A lot of people think that's
not a way good way to live life.
That's fine.
Do I think he's racist?
I know I'm posting this
in Black History Month.
I was gonna post my Luke Cage discussion
at this time, but Joe Rogan was on my
mind, and I already had some notes ready
for that, so I decided to start with this.
But do I think he's a racist?
He has extremely problematic views on
race, and I've met people like I was
raised in North Florida, South Georgia.
I know about all the problems in Forsyth
County, and I've had a knife pulled on
me for racial reasons in in high school.
Actually, I was in middle
school at the time.
I've had many things said to me,
around me, about me, behind my back,
racially, that are extremely problematic.
And, yes, Joe Rogan does
fit under that umbrella.
Intentional or not?
And I I assume it's not intentional.
Intentional.
I assume it's not like the Hardcore
racism that people are always
worried about with the with hearing
about stories from the south.
Is that any better better than the
left wing soft core racism or whatever?
I'm not totally sure.
But he's here nonetheless,
um, doing his thing.
So the problematic kind of racism Listen.
Um, there's no need to Say the n
word as many times as he's done.
I can understand the use of the word in
trying to get to a certain understanding,
But I still don't rock with them.
When I say I understand it, I mean, I
I can look at a chart and say, okay.
I see how you started here.
Go through a flowchart, and I see
how you ended up at the other side.
That's what I mean when
I say I understand it.
Not saying that I'm understanding of it.
I feel like I'm doing too many
little caveats here about this,
and I'm not just calling him out.
Whatever.
As I said, I tend to
not do that with people.
I tend not to go around labeling or broad
brushing or getting bent out of shape.
I think we've got a little
bit too much of that going on.
Do I think his views could be improved?
Definitely.
Do I think he listens to a lot of people
that are on the unfortunate side of race?
Most definitely.
Do I think he needs some education?
Obviously, he has access to it, so he see
prefers to see things the way he wants to.
Whatever.
If we had a discussion,
I'd be sure to bring it up.
Anyway, do I think he's a misogynist?
Actually, Actually, I don't know.
Do I think he's a conspiracy theorist?
Absolutely.
Do I think he's a liar?
At this point, yeah, but
this is not a journalist.
And this this is the part of the
Part of the pill to swallow if you're
listening to a comedian whose primary
whose primary outlet is entertainment
and Loosening boundaries in general.
That's what a lot of the comedic
stance is for, to loosen boundaries
and Discuss things, not necessarily
that it's right or wrong.
You know?
Is he transphobic?
These aren't questions I am going
to really sit back and answer.
You're not gonna try to pin me in
a corner on answering any of those.
I can say, yes.
I would have said this instead.
I would have done that differently.
But I used to do stand up comedy.
I did it for For 3 years straight
and on and off for several
years before and after that.
Why did I, uh, why did
I do stand up comedy?
Um, I'm funny as hell.
That's why.
Anyway, so I say all that to say
that these are nuanced times, and
we're getting into a little bit of a
Polarizing state of affairs, and that
is 1 of the reasons why he's paid
this 250000000 dollars in a deal.
That's 1 of the reasons why
he's been the top podcaster for
almost 5 years globally in a row.
Because there are things that he's saying
that Because nobody else will or will put
it out in this way that we get so Enamored
by these extremes, like, oh my gosh.
If this person isn't right, this other
person must be completely correct.
I just think that's a bad
way to go about things.
Anyway, um, that's a bit on why
he got the 250000000 dollar deal.
But I said there were 10
things I've learned from him.
Uh, 9 things.
I said there were 10, but I didn't like
the the the tenth, so I exit off the list.
And these are these are from
a creative point of view.
And without worrying about Whether
you like him or not, there are
things you can learn from him.
In fact and I also wanna put
this little bit in there.
You should be learning from the wolves.
You should be learning
things from your enemies.
You should not be trying
to be like your enemies.
But if your enemy or if you're the
person you don't like or dislike
or even don't care about is doing
something that is Interesting.
You may want to go ahead and take that
part of it and leave that person alone.
Take the good From not not even the good.
Let me not say that.
You wanna take from somebody
what can benefit you in a way
that works to your advantage.
Like, there are certain people's
styles of chess that I don't like.
And I'm saying chess because I
was playing last night, and I
saw somebody's particular style.
And I said, you know what?
I can learn something from that.
And I learned from this person's poor
ways of playing how to capitalize that and
use That style of play to my advantage.
There are people who I There's music
that I don't listen to from certain
musicians, but I I know that, oh my
gosh, they're doing a certain thing.
I don't even like that music, But I can
learn something musically and socially
from what these people are doing.
You remember the the Spice Girls?
Everybody was Big on them and they were
selling all these millions of albums,
going on tour, selling out stadiums,
and people were like, oh my god.
Who is listening to all
these Spice Girls albums?
Uh, I was.
I bought 1 of them.
That may come as a shocking surprise, but
I listened to 1 of the Spice Girls albums.
I was Holy crap.
If they're doing something on this
level, I need to at least creatively
understand what they're doing.
So you should always check out the wolves.
Just that's just 1 creative a
creative thing you should do.
And don't just dismiss it as, You know?
Oh, they're just blah, or I can't
understand how anybody could
you don't have to understand it.
Looking into it is what I'm concerned
about with you as a creative.
I think we get we can get much further
as a society if we try to learn from each
other instead of destroying each other.
I think we can get a lot
farther by saying, hey.
Listen.
This guy's a complete jerk,
But he figured something out.
Let's see if we can recreate
that without the jerk part of it.
And that's 1 way to To take somebody
trying to take somebody out is a
often a losing formula Cause there
are many people who are gonna say,
hey, what's wrong with Joe Rogan?
And that's gonna cause
people to go listen to him.
It's that law of attraction thing.
You're talking about it.
It's gonna increase it.
I'm talking about it here because
it's big in the news, and I have some
creative lessons I wanna give to you.
So while I'm I wanna keep my time here,
so let me go ahead and get into that.
If you have any questions on
learning from wolves, I may do a
whole podcast on how to learn learn
from the wolves without becoming 1.
Feel I've been around several my
life, and I'm still a pretty good guy.
So as a creative, you're gonna
come across a lot of Lot of
issues and a lot of things.
And I can tell you that Joe Rogan has,
like him or not, accomplished a lot.
And I'm gonna give him accolades for
that, for what he's accomplished, what
he's done, how he was able to build
up from where he's where he's gone.
He's done it in a much more I mean,
you talk about people who came
up in the past for some nonsense.
We could talk about the Howard Sterns,
the the Ben Shapiros, the who else?
Yeah.
I mean, I spoke about Hannity and
my God, Alex Jones, some of these
people who have come up on some
nonsense over the years And some
have been platformed by Joe Rogan.
Totally understand that.
If you want a better platform for
better things, Here's some lessons
you can do to take from Joe Rogan
and apply it to your own creativity.
Shout out to everybody
in the chat, by the way.
Let's get started.
Number 1.
Number 1 way to learn
create I don't even know.
I should call this list.
9 things I learned from Rogan.
No.
That doesn't sound right.
Alright.
I'll name it later.
We'll put it up.
But these are 9 things that you can
use from Joe Rogan's experience.
Number 1, Surround
yourself with your people.
Cat Williams blasted Joe Rogan
for this, but Joe Rogan actually
surrounds himself with his people,
and that provides a little bit of a
buffer and automatic support group.
It provides better visibility.
It provides, uh, a defense
mechanism And a way to market
your product more effectively.
If you have your people around
you, they're gonna help support.
They're gonna repost.
They're going to blog.
They're gonna come to your defense.
They're going to you can get
on somebody else's podcast
or somebody else's platform.
So without going into all
the names or Maybe the 6 that
Cat Williams talked about.
There are plenty of people that
came up with with Joe Rogan and
in that same bubble, And it's like
that rising tide lifts all boats.
Well, you know, Joe Rogan was that
tide tidal wave, and He lifted up
and brought the others with him,
and it's it's a whole ecosystem.
So if you've got creative people
around you that you rock with, that
you vibe with, that you have a certain
rapport with, bring them up too.
Have them host on your podcast.
Put them out there as well.
Repost their content.
Share their content, engage
with what they're doing.
Just check up check up
on them once in a while.
Like, hey.
I like what you're doing, Theo.
Boom.
Keep doing your thing.
And, you know, you go check
out Theo and what he's doing.
Also see us on the Show
versus Business podcast.
Or you can go check out somebody
like, uh, Sugar Sugar Gamers And
Keisha Howard, check out what
she's doing with her whole crew.
Check out, uh, let's see, Liberty Madison,
what she's doing with her whole thing.
Shout out to, uh, Patrick Kiki junior.
Shout out to him and, you know,
putting together a great comics branch.
Shout out to All your people around you.
Shout out to the PodSquadron and,
um, you know, The Geekish Network.
You know, these are the people that
I work with and I've platformed.
I put on my podcast.
I've had around me, um, who I've worked
with, talked to, discussed things with.
That's assessment 1.
Surround yourself with your people.
And it's not like you're you're trying to
leave your people behind or you're trying
to, On the other end, siphon from them.
But, you know, you people
work better in groups.
They say if you wanna go fast, go solo.
If you wanna go far, bring friends.
So you can do a little bit of both.
At times, you go solo, then come
back and get your friends, and then
you guys do something together.
That's how it should be, this kind
of moving ecosystem of people.
So that was number 1, surround
yourself with your people.
Number 2, go with what you know.
A lot of people will tell you, hey.
Here's the you know, if especially if
you're coming from the marketing side
of things and people in marketing will
tell you, oh, you need to focus on this
or Oh, this is a hot topic right now.
Oh, this is where the people are gonna be.
Oh, follow the puck.
You need to know where the puck
is going and they'll quote Wayne
Wayne Gretzky and Find out where the
money is, but go with what you know.
At some point, if you're going to really
be doing this thing, whatever creative
thing it is, it's gonna take a lot of
energy, a lot of practice, a lot of work,
a lot of dedication, a lot of study,
research, and it shouldn't be a problem.
It should be fun.
So go with what you know.
I don't just mean know in terms
of the technical sense, but when
you know something and you're in
there, you're passionate about it.
I'm not saying rely solely on your passion
because that's there's dangerous advice
there too, but go with what you know.
If you know how to juggle and You've
been doing juggling for a while.
Hey.
Maybe throw up a throw up a TikTok
or a live or Facebook reel Or
whatever of you juggling while you're
talking about your thing because
you're going with what you know.
And people get ashamed of what they know
a lot of times because It may seem weird
to them to put out something that's
so personal, but it's what you know.
It's your passion, your
vibe, your point of view.
You know who you are.
If you grew up in North Florida,
South Georgia like I did,
then you can talk about it.
You can talk about Forsyth County.
You can talk about Rick or Ty.
You can talk about being at the same
vinyl vinyl fever that T Pain was at.
I can talk about these things
because that's what happened.
I know them.
So you talk about what you know,
what you've experienced, what you've
been through, what you've studied,
what special perspectives you have.
Go with what you know.
And that's what Joe Rogan did.
He went with comedy.
He went with weird gross out Kind
of humor, and that ended him up
on this program called Fear Factor
where people were eating bugs.
They were being drenched in nasty fluids.
Uh, it was a whole thing.
Uh, they were afraid of heights,
and They put them up on these poles.
There were all kinds of weird antics
that fit the Joe Rogan mold at the time.
And now he continues that by talking
about aliens, weird Technologies
and weird human beings and
disgusting things here and there.
He still he still leans into that.
He's going with what he knows.
As I said, stand up comedian, so
he brings comics on because he
can talk about that confidently.
He knows physical fitness
and The MMA lifestyle.
So he talks about that.
He can talk about that confidently.
Go with what you know.
If you're not in aliens, conspiracies,
MMA, stand up comedy, then you
might not wanna get on A podcast
might can start talking about that.
You might not wanna get on
Instagram and talk about that.
Just because Joe Rogan did it,
well, what it what can you do?
What what do you know of, And
what do you have expertise with?
Number 3, be comfortable with
discomfort and sacrifice.
This is a hard 1 because everybody's
out to be comfortable now.
I think we've taken a little bit too far.
We've gotten a little bit too into
the comfortable mode where We have
to have our Amazon right away.
In fact, I don't think I should
I think I I should've left
Amazon Unfulfilled this year.
I shouldn't have re upped this year
because I got a little too convenient
with some things, and I got a
little too lax with some things.
But Sometimes Amazon comes in during
the clutch, and you can get things for
next day or the same day sometimes.
Sometimes that was necessary,
and I didn't wanna pay for it
or pay too much extra for it.
Prime Video was also there, but
now they're charging for that.
So I was getting a little comfortable,
and maybe I should have dropped
Amazon this year, but I didn't
because I was too comfortable.
I think we've gotten a little
too comfortable with just
how the way things are.
And I think what people don't realize is
how much of your comfort is subsidized
by large corporations and large
powerful forces getting what they want.
Your comfort comes at The
expense of being your comfort
is being subsidized, basically.
And I don't think people know how much of
that comes at the expense of these large
companies pushing their weight around.
Like, they're paying extra money
So you can get comfortable.
And by getting comfortable, they're
getting you into their ecosystem
much in the same way Spotify did.
Now now once they've staked their
claim and they've gotten you
comfortable, then they can start
controlling you because they know
you don't wanna be uncomfortable.
And if you're uncomfortable with leaving
Facebook, if you're uncomfortable with
leaving x, if you're uncomfortable with
leaving Amazon, then they've got you.
But to do any type of creative growth, you
need to be comfortable with discomfort.
You need to be willing to
go outside in the rain.
Yes.
It's still raining here in Los Angeles.
You need to be uncomfortable with
not having all of your food options.
You need to be uncomfortable with
what's served up sometimes because
it's the only thing available.
That will teach you how to be resourceful.
That will teach you how to
continue in the face of hardship.
That will teach you how to get
along, and it will also make
you look for better options.
Let's say there's something
you always have, your car.
And you know what?
Just jump on the bus 1 day.
You've forgotten what it's like to jump
on the bus, just jump on the bus 1 day.
I've done it.
It's interesting.
It's not like a big accomplishment
riding the bus, but 1 day
I was like, you know what?
Let me get on this bus, see where it
goes, See what the bus life is like.
And it made made me think about what
was going on in my life at the time.
And this actual situation was I
didn't I parked somewhere, and I
didn't wanna lose my parking space.
Once again, if anybody knows about LA
parking, it's kinda like the weather.
You know, it's always hot.
It's always no parking.
I hopped on a bus and
was like, you know what?
Let me walk down this this
way and see where this can
take me, see how far I can go.
And intentionally and maybe we shouldn't
even frame it as discomfort and sacrifice.
Maybe you should start framing
it as refining What you can do.
What you're good at.
You know, they always Obviously,
you're not putting too much on.
But if you're sculpting with clay
or some other substance, You're
putting on and you're taking away.
We gotta keep on taking away to make
sure that we're not getting bloated
and bogged down with a lot of crap.
So, yeah, you gotta get used to
the discomfort and the sacrifice.
Number 4, you gotta learn
how to stand up and fight.
Uh, 1 thing Joe Rogan
is is a, uh, combatant.
He does like to fight.
It's interesting.
There there are people who just like
to fight in certain areas of their
life, and there are people who don't.
Some people like to fight on
their own terms, but Don't
like to fight on other terms.
I honestly get really annoyed when I
have to fight with people who don't have
as much education on a subject, Even
if it's just reading a few articles.
If I say, hey.
I heard Joe Rogan got a
250000000 dollar deal.
And they're like, No.
He didn't.
How do you say that?
How do you know?
What are you talking about?
It's like, dude, Wall
Street Journal reported.
Dude, how do you know?
I was like, uh, I don't even feel like
arguing with these people sometimes.
Like, I don't even feel like
arguing on a lot of topics.
Nevertheless, here I am on a podcast.
So I will I will jump in the
arena sometimes and it's not
just on uneducated things.
It's physical fighting.
It's are you going to Are you
gonna stake your claim at a job?
Someone jumps in front of you Repeatedly,
are you gonna say something about it?
Are you gonna fight for
your position in in traffic?
A friend of mine came up to LA 1 time and
was really freaking out over the traffic.
Like, oh my god.
They won't let me in.
I was like, hey.
This is LA.
No 1 lets you in.
You gotta jump in.
And this person was so Set.
Like, what?
Why do I have to jump in?
Why can't they just let me in?
I turn on my blinkers.
Like, hey, man.
Blinkers are maybe maybe 1 in 5
people ever use their blinkers
in their life Down here.
I didn't even I didn't even bother trying
to compare what was going on here with
something that happens in, like, New York.
I've driven in New York before.
That's kinda wild.
No 1 lets you in there.
You gotta curse, honk
your horn, Cut people off.
It's it's wild.
But, yeah, you gotta be
ready to stand up and fight.
And how do you do that?
Start fights.
I know that sounds crazy, but get
into situations where you're not just
being pushed around by the waters.
You're not just being
blown around by the wind.
By fight, I don't necessarily
mean try to hurt somebody.
I don't necessarily mean
upset yourself, Engage in the
negative, bowl somebody over.
I don't mean bullying or any of that.
But if something is being a certain way
and you have to put your own influence
out there to make it another way, a lot of
times you're gonna introduce the concept
of fighting for what you think is right.
Gotta have that you
gotta have that practice.
So standing up and fighting for yourself.
And, yes, I realized Joe Rogan
does both of those in terms of
stand up and physical combat.
That was the point.
Number 5, be a leader and take risk.
So when I say you know, a lot of
people, they call themselves leads.
They call themselves, you know,
I'm a leader of this, and a
lot of times they are leaders.
They're just bosses.
They're just being bossy
people, Throwing out commands
and not really leading the way.
Now what does it mean to lead,
and what does it mean to boss?
What does it mean to have a
position of power, and what does
it mean to actually be a leader?
I wanna make this distinction because
a lot of people think that because they
have a mouthpiece, because they're they
have a position at some job, Uh, because
they have money, because they have some
access to information or something that
somebody else does that they're a leader,
or because they have a large following
on Instagram that they're a leader.
That does not necessarily
make you a leader.
That just means you have a lot
of quote, unquote followers.
You're not necessarily
leading anybody anywhere.
You may just be talking.
To be a leader, You have to say, hey.
Listen.
I have a direction I'm going in.
It's over there.
I'm going to lead, be out in the
front, and go in that direction.
And the things that come
up, I may fight them.
I may evade them.
I may innovate, but I
will go in this direction.
I'm taking These people and these
ideas with me, and I'm going to
defend these people and these ideas.
That's what leaders do.
Shout out to Optimus Prime.
Shout out to Duke from GI Joe.
Shout out to Lion o.
Yes.
These are my eighties cartoon references.
Shout out to, uh, let me try to
think of a more recent reference.
Shout out to the kids in stranger
things who are leading themselves
through all kinds of strange things.
Yeah.
Shout out to, uh, Iron Man and Tony
Stark for leading the Avengers.
Even with their differences.
To be a leader, you have to go
through and do these do these
tasks that nobody else will do.
You have to be out there, out front.
Leading from behind is not what you want.
You have to be a leader
and actually take risk.
You'll notice all leaders have have
failed at a lot of things, and people will
call you out and, well, you failed here.
You messed up here.
You didn't do this right.
I know.
I'm a leader.
That's what happens.
When you're out front,
you're gonna mess things up.
But the point is you're out front and
you're taking them to a better place
then they would have gone otherwise.
If they would have only taken
3 steps on their own and you
take them 10 steps And then they
complain about taking 2 steps back.
It's like, hey.
Listen.
We went 10 steps forward.
Yeah.
But what about these 2 steps back?
Hey.
Hey.
Sorry about that.
I'm a leader.
Would have only gotten
3 steps on your own.
I took you 8 steps forward.
Uh, please leave your
complaints in the complaint box.
I'm sorry, and I empathize.
Obviously, you don't
wanna bully anybody over.
You don't wanna bully.
Covered that before.
But to be a leader and take risks,
that's another thing I've learned.
Or another example I'll take from Rogan.
Number 6, be entertaining.
Joe Rogan is an entertainer, And let's
not forget that just an entertainer brings
out the entertaining side of things.
A lot for a lot of creatives,
I see them creating things and
they're not trying to entertain.
You know, you can educate,
Enlighten and entertain.
A lot of marketers are looking for
1 of these 3 or all of these 3.
But I think in today's climate,
in today's Economy of attention.
Entertaining is a very,
very valuable skill.
Can you just get on and have people
listen to you because they're
entertained by what you say?
Are you reading from a dictionary?
Yes.
Okay.
Then that's boring.
I'm not very entertained.
You may be the most important
podcast around, but if you're just
reading and boring, I'm sorry.
It's gonna be hard to follow along.
I know media literacy, people
need to be able to read the media.
People need to be able
to understand Messaging.
People need to be able to understand
how to break down financial
reports, news articles, Scientific
findings, academic papers, etcetera.
In any of those situations,
being entertaining is Good.
Also, when you learn how to be
entertaining, you learn how to see
when you're being led astray by
people who are talking nonsense
and just happen to be entertaining.
At some point, while you're listening
to Joe Rogan and being entertained,
you should stop and say, hey.
Wait a minute.
This is more entertaining
than it is correct.
Let me double check these facts.
Let me call out Joe Rogan for
Misleading or his guest for misleading.
Because that does happen sometimes.
You're like, wait a minute.
What the hell was that?
Alright.
This is entertainment.
Gotta remember that.
But being entertaining
can get you very far.
So that's why I always bring that up, and
I was raised on video games and cartoons,
so I know the power of entertainment.
I try to put out something
that's entertaining as well as
informative on the Creative side.
Honestly, I'd rather just sit back
and really talk a lot about the core
essence of Creativity, but you need
a rapper for that kind of stuff.
Otherwise, you're boring and you end
up at the bottom of the podcast charts.
Uh, I don't wanna do that.
Number 7, conquer yourself inside and out.
So to a creative lesson here is
learning how to conquer yourself.
Take what you already have in your
personal being and conquer it.
Anythings that are pushing you around,
your habits, your lifestyle choices,
your thoughts, Your mannerisms, the
way you are, can you conquer that?
Many people Kind of shrug their shoulders
and say, well, I can't do anything
about that because this is how I am.
Well, I was raised this way.
Well, you can't expect me to
moment in time, and that's fine.
Look.
Are you able to actually conquer yourself?
On the inside and out.
So when I say on the inside and
out, a lot of people try to conquer
their external, and which is fine.
They wanna conquer the way
they're perceived on the outside.
They wanna like, Hey, I'm
gonna do this every day.
I have the discipline.
I'm always gonna Look like
I'm appearing a certain way.
I'm always going to say
the right things outside.
That's fine.
That's great, and that's lovely
and dandy, but It's on the outside.
Now if you're just working on the inside
and letting your outside be neglected,
then you've got a problem there too.
So you can't just sit around
thinking, well, you know, I'm
I'm perfect on the inside.
I know what's going on in my heart.
You can't tell me this.
You have to have an external component
to it As a creative, because if
you're creating anything and no 1
sees it, then are you really creating
anything or you're just going through
a process of mental masturbation?
You have to be able to do both.
You have to consider the external,
the outside, and the internal,
and you have to be able to conquer
both of those with yourself.
I have to think about what
I say before I say it.
This is 1 of the reasons why as
an introvert, I get headaches.
Because if I spend too much time talking
to people and trying to phrase what I'm
thinking about, then I get a headache.
On the other hand, if I don't do that
and I just start saying stuff, then
people will write me off as weird.
My thoughts are all over the place.
Um, they may I've been called mean,
heartless bastard, and that's because
I have random thoughts come up that
don't seem like they're empathizing with
anybody because I'm a true introvert
thinking about introvert things.
Not that I don't care about you.
I love and care for all of you deeply,
But I'm probably not getting a lot
of benefit from our interactions.
I have a lot of good interactions
with a lot of good people, but
it's not where I get my energy.
It's tiring for me.
Unless, of course, you know, we're we're
talking on certain topics that Work with
me or Vibe with my internal compass.
I don't know how to put it.
I'm not like anti people, but I'm
definitely an introvert, Where I'll find
some topics and I'll go off and study it
for a couple days and be like, holy crap.
This is great.
And they're like, oh my gosh.
You went away for a week.
What happened?
I worked were you alone?
I'm like, well, yeah.
I was just Going away for
a week and do my thing.
Oh my gosh.
What's wrong with you?
And then they wanna put you in a
institution somewhere because you're
happy being alone with your thoughts.
Sorry.
That is me.
But, yes, conquer your inside and out,
and you should always be working on both.
Another thing I learned from Joe actually,
I might I might change this list up.
Alright.
I'll put that 1 there.
Release your inhibitions.
If you're creative, the best part of
what you create, and I mentioned this
a little bit in the go with what you
know, but if you're a creative and you're
creating things, the back a little bit
because our pure unfettered selves don't
generally go over well with people.
We have to figure out
a way to translate it.
But instead of translating, try
to figure out how you can release
more of your inhibitions And then
try to repair any damage that
may have caused after the fact.
Like the old, you know, the old
address says, you know, seek
forgiveness, not permission.
Of course, there are bounds to that and
you wanna Make sure that you're being
considerate, compassionate, etcetera.
And you don't wanna go off the rails.
Just become completely
unhinged, talking nonsense.
But release some of these inhibitions.
There are a lot of governors in
our bodies that hold us back.
If you know the word governor, it's
not not like the politician type of
person, but a mechanism that holds
holds you back for your own safety.
And when anything holds you back for
your own safety, there's a certain
range that you can get into that
allows you to Play in the red zone.
It's like the red zone
exists because you can do it.
You can get that far, But you don't
need to be there all the time.
You know, when you're When you climb
up a ladder and it starts to get really
high, you're starting to get into your
own yellow zone then your own red zone,
and you start to have this inhibitions,
These inhibition, then you need to
find a way to release those somehow.
Capture them, practice them.
You know, if you don't just
say, oh, I'm afraid of heights.
Hey, man.
Uh, climb up a ladder and climb
up a ladder every day and start
practicing going up a little higher.
Maybe 1 day you can start cleaning
out your own, uh, roof gutters,
your rain gutters on your roof.
Maybe you can start
taking a glass elevator.
I know there's 1 hotel
that had a glass elevator.
It freaked people out, so
there were 2 sets of elevators.
1 that weren't on the outside of
the building and ones that were
on the, you know, covered up.
So, you know, you can go take the covered
up elevator all you want because it's
quote unquote, you don't like heights.
But if you want to release your
inhibitions, you need to start
practicing taking that glass elevator.
Maybe take it up 2 floors,
See how that freaks you out?
Then get off and take the elevator up.
Whole point is it's practice.
You gotta expand yourself, Gotta grow a
little more and release your inhibitions.
And I think 1 of the things that is so
interesting and at the same time, What
gets him in trouble on his podcast a
lot is the whole releasing inhibitions.
If you know the comedian circle, the
comedian way of doing things, what they
tend to do is speak thoughts out loud
Without inhibition, even if they don't
totally understand their own thoughts,
they're trying to Put something out
there and understand it a little more.
Artists, when you're doing your sketches,
Sometimes you just take different swings
with your brush, different strokes with
your pen, different canvases, different
Types of materials, different paints,
different combinations, And you're
releasing them out into the world to
see what people say, to get a reaction.
It's not necessarily to get a
rise out of people, but you need
to start pushing those boundaries
to release your inhibitions.
Why were you held back by this thing?
Why were you afraid to go for forward?
Why are you only comfortable doing this?
Maybe afraid is not the right
word, but why do you Only feel
so comfortable engaging in the
small little circle of things.
Isn't your circle a little bigger?
Relieve some of those inhibitions.
Afraid of standing up and speaking
on you know, speaking out.
Try it in small arenas.
I was afraid of speaking out at
1 point, and that is actually the
reason why I got into stand up comedy.
I like speaking, but I thought
it took far too much work.
I thought it took far too much practice,
far too much Foresight and prep time.
I was like, this is this is terrible.
It's not that I'm bad at public speaking.
It's just that it takes so much work.
Why did it Why does this
make me so uncomfortable?
Why does it take so much work?
I know what I'll do.
I'll study stand up comedy.
I started studying stand up
comedy, and then I met a friend,
and I'm like, I can be funny too.
Shout out to John Myle.
So I started doing stand up comedy,
And it became natural to me just to
speak things a certain way, to always
make things seem a little bit humorous
so I could Connect with people better.
People who knew me from years and
years ago were like, my gosh, you
used to be such a, like, yeah, no.
I was just communicating, but now I've
released my inhibitions and learned how
to get a little better with what I say.
So now when I say these things, they
aren't as inflammatory because that's
not my purpose to inflame anybody.
I'm releasing inhibitions to get better
creative to get better creative output.
That's what I mean to say.
Alright.
And finally, finding a way to get paid
for doing what you love and what you
like and where your passion steers you.
This is all very interesting.
Just talking about Joe Rogan by
being him being, you know, this This
character, this muscle head, this,
you know, jokester, and what does
he know about he's like, hey, man.
Yeah.
People are gonna come after you,
rightfully so in a lot of cases.
But if it's something you like
to do, You can get paid for it.
This dude has gotten paid basically
by doing what he likes to do his
entire life, talking to who he likes
to talk to, Not being held down by
any platform, going on roadshows, just
doing what he likes to do, Not held
back by any type of, you know, gate.
And if he wanted to make more
money, He actually could.
I mean, think about it.
For all this time, the number 1
podcast in the world globally, We're
talking 8 to 11000000 views, listens
on his podcast on a closed platform.
If you go to YouTube, even the clips, the
small clips that he's doing and putting
out on YouTube, Not the whole show.
Even those rack up millions of views.
So this tells you something.
You can get paid for what you love to do.
You just have to figure
out a way to work it.
Now a lot of people say, hey.
I can't get paid for, You
know, what I'm good at.
I can't get paid directly for
for this thing that I love to do.
I love to bake cookies, but
no one's paying me for it.
It's like, hey.
Listen, sometimes you have to
do I shouldn't say have to do.
Sometimes you'll find it beneficial
and enjoyable to do the prep work
that allows you to do the good work.
I used to hate when people
told me this as a kid.
Like, well, hey.
You do this so you can do
what you really like to do.
And I was so frustrated.
Why can't you just do
what I really like to do?
But when I started viewing the the part
of the process, the build up to what I
like to do as part of the process, then I
started molding and adjusting that process
to where it was fun for me the entire way.
And it's it to me, it's almost like I
enjoy going to the gas station before
a a road trip because I got to hear the
little ding Early in the morning, I got
to get some snacks from the gas station.
I got to talk to people.
I got to check my tires and The, you
know, the smell of the the tires as I'm
checking the air on them and filling
them up, that whole vibe started to
become exciting to me because it was
part of my interpretation of a trip.
I'm creating a road trip for myself.
I got to talk to people.
I got to get new snacks.
I would buy a whole I would get a
whole bunch of new music, make a
whole bunch of new music playlist.
I like to make music playlist.
I like to travel.
I like to do all these things, and I was
getting hung up on this idea of, uh, gotta
get the car fixed, gotta go to the gas
station, gotta go to the grocery store.
I started to make all of that
a fun part of the process.
Once I attached that, the the better
I did that prep work, The better my
experience was for the thing that I like
to do, and I started connecting them,
then I started understanding, okay.
It's not about Swallowing a bunch
of nonsense so I can get to where
I want to be is that I can make all
of this part of what I want to be.
If there's a job that's on your
way to being what you want to be,
you can adjust that job to be very
exciting, very entertaining, and
actually enjoyable instead of just
sitting there wasting your time.
Like, I know I like to use the example of
of Grant Cardone when he was talking about
working at McDonald's, how he hated the
job, but there was another person there
Who loved the job because he wanted to
own franchise restaurants in the future.
And I was thinking, oh my gosh.
If I can start to frame everything I
do As a not just a means to an end,
but everything I do as part of my
end goal, then that makes The end
goal, the journey, the prep work, the
process, the destination, the goal
setting, all of it works together,
And I start to learn to love it.
And that's getting paid
to do what I enjoy doing.
So figuring out a way to make everything
part of what you enjoy doing is
going to move you closer and closer.
And I know we want the destination
right off the bat, But getting
closer and closer to the destination
should be enjoyable as well.
In fact, part of this podcast, a lot of
you realize, I'm just doing the audio.
I'm sitting here live streaming
because I want the I want the
process to get there to be enjoyable.
So instead of being hung up and upset
about the fact that I have to go live,
set up the camera and the lights,
which I don't like doing, I really
don't, I wanted to start with, hey.
You know what?
Instead of not doing it at all, let me
just get this set up with the audio.
Maybe it's a little janky appearing in
just an audio form With this, you know,
with this Joe Rogan face here, maybe
that just appears a little bit annoying.
But guess what?
We're here to make it happen
and do it anything going on.
Uh, Yeah.
This is actually live.
Somebody asked me if
this is actually live.
Yeah.
Totally live.
But they've left right now.
So, You know, I hadn't thought about that.
Somebody asked me, is this actually live?
Yes.
I do post these live.
I didn't get around to
that comment in time.
I was, like, 5 minutes late for that.
But, yes, it is live.
I'm gonna respond to this person.
I wonder are are there a lot
of people going on live And
just you know, you can do this.
You can post your content and just
have it run as if it were live,
but then not actually be live.
That's a problem.
I don't know if there's a way that you
can get rid of those people or or not.
But, Yes.
This is live, and I do
this most weeknights.
There is no no after show today because
this 1 ran right up to the hour mark.
Ran past the hour mark, but thank
you all for listening to this 1.
And, hey, that's just a
Let me do a recap here.
Listen.
Don't care if you like Joe Rogan or not.
There are things you can learn from
all the wolves and all the people,
um, whether you like them or not.
And Joe Rogan is the
best podcaster out there.
And to say that I didn't try to learn
from what he's doing would be False.
That would be incorrect of me.
So what are the 9 things
that I learned from Rogan?
Surround yourself with your people.
Number 1.
Number 2, go with what you know.
Number 3, be comfortable with
discomfort and sacrifice.
Number 4, learn how to stand up and fight.
Number 5, be a leader and take risks.
Number 6, be entertaining.
Number 7, conquer yourself
on the inside and out.
Number 8, release your inhibitions.
And number 9, find a way to
get paid to do what you love.
That is going to be it for this Episode?
I wanna call them episodes.
Sure.
I'll call them episodes.
That's gonna be it for this episode of
Creativity Threads Life, The podcast
where I talk about how creativity goes
in and out of all parts of our life
and can make us a better people, Can
make us better make a better world,
make a better life for yourself.
Um, I do this most weeknights.
I'm gonna try to get back to
around to that 6 30 PM Pacific
time, See how that goes?
I'm gonna community is up, by the way.
If you haven't heard the ad or
you haven't Seeing it somewhere
else, my community is up.
It is not a Patreon.
Is it a circle?
Definitely appreciate you checking
that out if you if you will.
You can go to creativity
threads life dot com.
Get the link there or
check out the show notes.
I'm gonna start putting in all all
the show notes where you can, uh,
Check out the circle community.
Also, thank you for those who've joined
this joined the creative study lounge.
It's not just a community there for
listening to the podcast, but we also
talk about all manner of creative topics.
So if you got any topics for me,
by the way, I do take priority
from the community, but feel free
to put something in the comments.
Let me know what you're thinking.
As always, follow, like, subscribe,
check me out on Apple, and
that's gonna do it for this one.
Peace.