Mastering Creative Business, Part 1: How to Consistently Expand Your Career w/ John Mike, Producer

Allen C. Paul: I know you say you want to level up in your creative career, but what does it really take? Are you really ready for the sacrifices? Are you really ready for the issues, for the commitment, for the struggle, for the self evaluation that you have to do to make it not just to a next level, but to the level that God is calling you to? As a creative, my friend, if you have ever wondered how those people who are seemingly at the top stay at the top and keep growing, then you need to listen to every single moment of this episode with my incredible friend and brother, but more importantly, someone who is leading by example, John Mike. He's a producer, a leader, mentor, but most importantly, he's someone that's walking the talk when it comes to being a God centered creative who wants to do all that God has called him to in every area of his life. Now, give me just a moment to welcome those of you who are new to God and gigs, and then we'll get right into this incredible discussion.

Speaker B: Artists, musicians and creatives of all kinds looking for help balancing your passion to create with your everyday life. Not sure if your faith can coexist with your profession? Welcome to a place where real artists discuss real life. You're listening to the God and Gig show. Visit Godandgigs.com for show notes, links and more information.

Allen C. Paul: Hello and welcome to our show. Thank you so much for making this podcast a part of your creative day. And if you are new to our show, thank you for giving us a chance. Let me tell you why you're in the right place at the right time. My name is Alan C. Paul. I'm a creative coach, author and musician, and guiding gigs. And the Guiding Gigs Show podcast and our community is all here to help you to transform your life from the inside out. We help you solve temporary creative problems with timeless spiritual principles. So if you're a high character, faith, focus, Christian background, creative, but you're not necessarily working just in ministry. You're somewhere in the intersection of arts, entertainment and ministry. Maybe you do one inside of a church, maybe you don't at all. But you still want to do this to the highest level possible. And you want to honor your God given values. This is where you need to be. You found your tribe. So make sure you subscribe to us, subscribe to our YouTube. Make sure you follow everything that we are doing. Not because we want followers and we want to blow up. It's because we're here to serve you. And my friend, speaking of serving, there's No better person I could bring to serve you this incredible level of information, inspiration and encouragement in the creative career that you are pursuing than this gentleman, John Mike. Now, I cannot read John Mike's entire bio. Just go into his websites and just try to keep up with a zillion things that John Mike is doing. And you'll see why he is one of our favorite people in the world. But I'll try to summarize it. John Mike is a Christian. He's a husband, he's a father and music producer. He serves as a director@gospelproducers.com. He's the CEO of Dynamics Music. He runs Creating Stems.com and he has been one of the leading authorities in gospel production, loop creation and musical technology for years. His YouTube videos and tutorials are watched by thousands of viewers who are eager to learn about the state of the art production techniques, new software and hardware. He is doing everything to help these creatives to create new music to be greater, being able to use the technology to be able to explore their creative gifts and to level up as what he calls musicpreneurs. So when I tell you John Mike is the authority that you want to hear from when it comes to building a creative business, building a creative life, oh, by the way, when he talks about his six kids that he's homeschooling along with his wife, uh, this is. Again just an absolute master. I can't even say how he does all this. He's going to tell you in this episode. But what's really cool about this episode, if you go back to episode 43, you can hear his backstory. We had him on the show back then and that was an incredible episode where you can hear all about how he got his start. Now you're going to hear where he is going and how he's building on the successes and how he's staying focused on the right things and always challenging himself and how you can do the same. But this episode was not big enough for all the information that he shared. So as I mentioned a little bit in the intro, we're going to break this up into two episodes. So this is part one that you're listening to now. We're going to get into entrepreneurship. We're going to get into building a brand. We're going to get into how to actually see yourself as the kind of person who deserves to level up as a musician, creative as an entrepreneur, and doing the right things to do. So what it really takes, he's going to share that with you. And then we're going to dig deeper into some other issues, which again, I cannot tell you how important it is that you listen to both of these episodes. But we're going to start with this part one. So without any further delay, let me introduce this incredible producer, musician, man of God, father and entrepreneur, john Mike.

Allen C. Paul: Ladies and gentlemen, it's only the best and the brightest and the most amazing creators that we bring back to the God and Gig Show podcast. And this man really almost helped originate this podcast back in 2019. We were only 40 so episodes in and I knew I had to get this young man, this talented. I saw him smile. If you're not watching YouTube, he's smiling right there. Because I want to make sure you all hear he's still young. And I wanted to get him in on the podcast because he really was an example of everything we try to do here in lifestyle, in building creatives, in technical aspects, but more importantly, in the lifestyle and the mentality of being an entrepreneur. He had to come back and we finally got him back. Now, 200 episodes later or so, he is back. John Mike. Welcome to the God and Gig show. How are you, my friend?

John Mike: Man, I'm amazing. 200 episodes, man.

Allen C. Paul: That's nuts. It really is nuts. And it either goes to show that I don't know how to take a hint or that his perseverance pays off. It's one of those two. But yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, you're right. Sometimes you have to be stick with things like you just said before we start recording. Don't mess with the working system. Um, and this system of talking to people like you. And you are right in the thick of it. You really have been a leader in this industry. A leader with helping musicians and creatives, not just in media, but really in just how to be a business person. How to see your entire life as.

Allen C. Paul: Something that you can bless other people.

Allen C. Paul: And really be the best at what you do. But some people are meeting you for the first time for some reason, so give them a little 32nd synopsis. I know it's impossible, but just tell them a little bit about who you are and then we're going to dig.

Allen C. Paul: Into some of this amazing stuff that you're sharing.

John Mike: Well, uh, I'm John Mike. I am a creative entrepreneur, uh, musician, engineer, mixing. I do all things music, uh, for the most part. Uh, I run a few online entities.

Allen C. Paul: I guess you can, yeah. I want to interrupt you and say a few.

Allen C. Paul: That's such an interesting phrase you just used.

John Mike: What is a creative entrepreneur?

Allen C. Paul: No, a few.

John Mike: A few. Oh, yeah, I run a few online entities. Uh, namely, um, well, I'm no longer actually doing Gospel Multi tracks. I actually stepped down from that business earlier this, earlier last year, uh, to pursue into these next ventures that I'm in. But right now, I'd say at Current, uh, if anybody knows my claim to fame, it's probably, uh, YouTube. I'm a YouTuber. John Mike. I am a producer. I did, uh, created and co founded, uh, Gospel Multitracks. And then, uh, I am also running gospelproducers.com. I have another site that I did creating stems.com. I'm an online educator. I'm just all over the place. It's kind of like I'm the Steve Harvey of gospel music or of musicians basically see me everywhere, just doing everything. But, uh, I have quite a few online, uh, platforms, uh, that I run. So that's kind of the long and short of everything that I okay.

Allen C. Paul: You have to forgive the visual of you saying Steve Harvey and me seeing you in the suit, everything you got, but also in the studio. But I love the fact that I was teasing you about the few, and that's what you just went into. And this is where I think we can go so many directions with this conversation. Obviously, I will tell them right now they need to go back to episode 43 because you told your entire story. That was one of the most inspiring. Honestly, it helped me keep going at that point. When you did episode 43 yes. When you told me about getting through being a piano teacher, your evolution from seeing that you were more than just a piano teacher, uh, just starting this business by going into the Craigslist and selling the gear. And I'm just telling you guys, go back. I think we actually did a repost of that episode again, just because I wanted people not to have to go all the way back, scrolling all the way back to the podcast archives.

John Mike: I need to go listen myself.

Allen C. Paul: No, you'll inspire yourself. Your story really does tell all of us that you can start from those basics, from the nothing, from the hey, God just gave me an idea, and you ran with it. And so you told that whole story. But now we're at the second chapter, I guess you could call it, right? Where you saw success through creating stems, you saw success through YouTube, and then since 2019, I guess this is going to be a tough question, but I'll try to help you frame it since that period of time when you were doing those particular entities before in 2019, 2020. Let's just put her out that area of time. If you had to pick one, what's been the biggest change in the last three years since we did that interview? Because you've made a lot of evolutions. But if I had to kind of hold your feet to the fire, which one has been the one that kind.

John Mike: Of overarches all of those gosh, man. All of them are very significant. I would probably say the biggest change has just been in my mindset, if I had to be broad about it, um, because I've had all of the different ventures that I've done. But the mindset change of really growing as an entrepreneur, growing as a business person has probably been the biggest significant change. If I go back if I had to go back and talk to 2019 John Mike, it would be a different conversation, uh, than what I would have. And I'm pretty sure five years from now, I'll be because that's five years ago. That almost now. 19 2021. 22. We're coming on five. If I had to go back five years and talk to that guy five years ago, it'd be a different conversation. And I'm pretty sure five years from now, I'll be talking to that John Mike and saying, like, a different conversation, because I think that's the biggest piece, uh, is the mindset shift of really understanding, um, who I am. And what my strengths are, what my strong points are, and learning to be comfortable leaning into those things and further developing those things out. I'd say that's probably the biggest shift that's happened in my life is just mindset. I shifted my mindset over the last five years, and now I'm thinking about things differently. I'm looking at things differently. Um, I'm, um, projecting different things over the next five years. The stuff that I was thinking about then, I'm, um, miles away from that stuff, and I'm thinking 10 miles ahead, you know what I mean? I'm realizing that what I was doing back then was preparing to run a five K. But then when I got into the race, I realized that it was a marathon and I wasn't prepared for it.

Allen C. Paul: Wow.

Allen C. Paul: The fact that you brought up running is hilarious because we could talk about health and fitness, because I've also seen you on that journey, too. That's a whole nother conversation I would love to get into later, but I'm trying to get into running. So you mentioned the five k thing. I just finished running this morning, and I did my little five K, and I was like, I felt pretty good about myself. Back in 2019, that guy would not have been able to run it at all. Like I would have been helping a puppy. And it's so funny that you said that you were preparing for something. Right. You were preparing for a certain level that you were at. You were at a level that most of us that are beginning, uh, were aspiring to back then. Right. We didn't have a lot of people that are listening right now, watching. They're still trying to get to where you were. And yet you're saying you had to shift at that point. Like, we would have seen that as success. Hey, just coast. You got it. Just keep doing what you're doing. Don't mess with the working system. And yet you said there needs to be a change. And now you are an educator. You're former piano teacher, now an educator in tech, an educator in all things music. Why do you think that's hard to do? Why is it hard to say, hey, I've reached a certain level, and yet I still have to grow? Because I feel like, again, same thing. I realize I reached a certain level, and yet it never gets easier to say, yes, now we got to flip it. Why do you think, uh, even as.

Allen C. Paul: A teacher, why is that the thing.

Allen C. Paul: That'S so hard to kind of relearn that lesson every time it comes around?

John Mike: Good, uh, question. Uh, I think because we get stuck at the ceiling, we can't see past that. And that's always the biggest challenge that, uh, stops people from progressing. Uh, it's funny that you said that. I was having a conversation, um, with a friend of mine, uh, the other day, and something similar to that question came up. And, uh, we were talking about building business and we was talking about then. And I told him, I said, where I'm at now is the culmination of ten years worth of work. To see where I've developed that is a culmination of ten years of lessons learned, uh, over the course of many failures and over many successes and many half successes, uh, that I landed at the place that I'm in now. But I told him, I said, if you're trying to really build something, if you're really trying to grow something, then, uh, you need to look to be in it for the long haul. Um, you got to look to be in it for because we were talking about the type of business that he was running. I said, Man, I said, yeah, I need the next decade of your life. That's what it's going to take to build this. That's what it's going to take to grow. And so sometimes we can't see past the ceiling. We have that space of where we look at success as being thinking that once I get here, then I am successful. I have arrived, I have made it. And there's a really, uh, dope influence. Our wife's name is, uh, Alex Hermosi. And Alex hermosi said it like this. He said, you never actually arrive. He said, you just become the smallest member of a new club because, um, he makes $100 million a year. This guy is an ultra wealthy entrepreneur. And he said when he made his first hundred thousand, he thought, man, I can just get to a million. I'm going to be good. He got to a million. And he said, uh, man, now that I'm a millionaire, I'm talking with people and meeting people that have $10 million. He says, So I need at least ten. When I get to ten, I think I'm going to be at that successful space. So he got the 10 million and he instantly said, man, now, uh, I'm having conversations with people that have $100 million net worth. And then, so he said, I got to get there. You keep moving to Goldports until he gets to $100 million. And now he's saying, Dog on it, man, I'm having conversations with billionaires now. And so he said, you never actually arrive. You just become the smallest member of a new club. But what happens with a lot of people to kind of really back to further deep into your question, uh, a lot of us can't see past the ceiling. We fixate on a certain point and we think that that is the point of success. And that honestly undefines, if that's a word. It's not really a word, but it actually undoes what the definition of success is. Because success means that it's moving. Succession is a moving, uh, up. It's a constant moving. So success is not a point, it's not a destination. And you probably have heard this before. It's a journey. And the journey ends at death. There is no point that you stop succeeding, or you should aim to stop succeeding. There is no destination point that you can put in your maps on your phone to success. That's going to give you the GPS coordinates to that. There's no area code for success. You just have to keep pushing. Uh, and as you get into your journey and as you build, you'll constantly, um, be figuring out what the next move is, what the next step is. But, uh, the last point I'll give on this is where I was going with that conversation with that young man that I was having and about him giving the next ten years. And this will maybe give you a little bit deeper insight into my level of thinking on things. It takes about ten years to really build something. That's my philosophy on things. This is where I'm at right now, where my thinking is. It might change five years from now, but where I'm at currently at the ten year mark of really digging in as a creative entrepreneur, this is where I see it at. Uh, it takes about four years to learn something, to really learn a skill. Now you'll get proficient. Proficiency is different from the learning of a skill. Like when you can say that you learned a skill. I'm proficient with a hammer. I can pick up a hammer and hammer in the nail and put up a frame or whatever, but I'm far from knowing everything I need to know to be a carpenter. But I'm proficient with a hammer. I'm proficient with a screwdriver. But I'm not a tool, man. I'm not a handyman, I'm not an electrician. So we become proficient in things, uh, just by way of just researching, learning, and using said tools and things. But it takes four years in something to really learn it, to really become what it is that you're looking at. So if you're a video editor and you just start getting on YouTube now and learning how to edit video, learning how to do those things, well, right now you may have become proficient at a set of skills, but give it four years of really learning. And you're not just working on YouTube videos. You might be working on films. You see what I'm saying? So there's a space of knowledge, of getting the knowledge on something. That's why you go to college for four years. That's why high school is four years. It takes that long to learn a skill. Now here's where I'm going to keep pushing it. So four years to learn that skill. It takes another two years to make that into a business, to become a, uh, master of that skill. I should say I'll back up and say that it takes about two years to become a master of that skill. That's why the master's program after you come out of college is another two years because it takes another two years to become a master at something. So let's go back to musicians and creators because we're talking a lot to musicians and stuff. Four years of learning to get your degree in music and stuff. You get the knowledge, you learn how to be a musician, but you're not a master yet. You're not a Corey, Henry. You're not a Stevie Wonder. You're not a, uh, Robert Glasper. These people that have mastered the skill, you know what I mean? And so from mastery, though, uh, even after mastery, it takes an additional two years out of that to learn how to scale that into a business. No, turn that into a business and it takes another two years to learn how to scale that. So there's your ten year period. You got learning the skill, perfecting the skill, making the skill into a business and then scaling the skill. Here's the thing that talks into what are you in? What stops people? A lot of people stop at the learning. Think about all of the musicians and people that are fine with just learning the skill. They just learn how to play. You learn how to play bass, you learn how to play guitar. You learn how to play drums. You play for your church, you gig on the weekends. But you're far from a master. And some people are content with just learning that skill and they never press past that, you know what I mean? So then you have like the Corey Henry's and the Stevie Wonders and the Robert glaspers and the great musicians of our time that learned how to master that skill. And they're known for being masters in that place, in that space. And they get notoriety and attention and celebrity for being masters of those skills. But they still haven't turned it into a business yet. You see what I'm saying? So that's why some great musicians, great producers, great creatives, die broke, die empty, because they never moved beyond the mastery of that skill. They mastered it and they thought they arrived and they stopped there and they never progressed to actually make it into a business, provide for their family that could provide at, uh, a greater level for them and leave something behind for their children. So some people stop there at mastery and they're good at mastery, but then there's another level of people, they go and they start turning into a business and they figure out how to make a living doing that thing. And some people get stuck there because they don't know the next level, which is scale, you know what I mean? So that's my ten years gap. That's where I'm at right now, in that space. And I know I could keep developing that out but I think I've beat a dead horse in that standpoint.

Allen C. Paul: No, not at all. What I love about what you just shared about the four years, I mean, that's number one. I never heard that. And this makes so much sense. How have I been in education my entire life? And they got my own degrees and never realized that? That's a perfect analogy for how you have to build a skill. But the key thing that you said is the skill of the music versus the skill of the business. And I know your newest, I guess, rebrand, I guess you could say, the project and the platform that you're building really just feels to me like an outgrowth of that. But it kind of goes back to that thing, uh, that you just said. And I wanted to ask you the question you kind of already answered it is that there's two separate skill sets. There's the skill set of making the.

Allen C. Paul: Thing, the music or the creative thing.

Allen C. Paul: Or whatever, and then there's skill set of building or marketing or promoting or sharing the thing. Right. And so people like me, who I've always said for years, that's why you came on even one of my courses and helped me when I was trying to figure out the live streaming thing, because I'm like, man, all I want to do is play this piano. I don't want to deal with all this other stuff. Right. So I was unwilling at that point while I was willing, but I didn't know what to learn until I just got somebody like you and other people, and I put myself in the seat of a student. But I feel like the reason that you're seemingly doubling down on the education piece is because of what you just said. There's so many musicians and creatives who know how to do the thing the first four years, but then we get stuck at the two years of mastery. Or more importantly, the next four years of how do I now monetize create.

Allen C. Paul: Build a business, scale it.

Allen C. Paul: That's where most of us get stuck. Because I think you deal with a.

Allen C. Paul: Lot of talented people in your life.

Allen C. Paul: That just was that where the passion is. That where the rebrand and the doubling down came from, because you've been doing this for a while, but it seems like now you're doubling down on that.

John Mike: Yeah, I'm doubling down because there's another level after scale that I haven't got to. That's where I'm at right now.

Allen C. Paul: Okay?

John Mike: Learning, mastering, building it into a business, and then scaling it ten years. It takes another two years to learn how to teach it okay. And share it and disseminate it and help other people in it. And that's the space that I'm in now, is because at the heart of everything, I'm a teacher. Here's where we can go back to 2019. John um mike and we still have that in common, is that all in all, I'm still that piano teacher from Jackson, Tennessee. I'm still that teacher. I'm still that guy that the twinkle pops in my eye when I see somebody pick up on something that I'm disseminating to them, that I'm teaching to them, that they got it, the bub went off, and now they can go from playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to playing how great is our God? To playing, uh, giant, uh, steps. You know what I mean? It's the joy of that. So that's the level that a lot of people stop at as well. There's always places where people get stuck at like I said, they get stuck at learning, or they get stuck at mastery, uh, or they get stuck at business, or they get stuck at scale. And then there's people that get stuck at scale after they've scaled it. They never go back and teach it. You don't see Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, multi billionaire, coming back teaching people how he built Amazon. He's not doing those things. So he's stuck at scale. He's stuck at scale.

Allen C. Paul: He's happy. Never thought of Jeff bezos being stuck. But I guess if you say it like that, this is a great conversation, because I think it does. You said at the beginning, I want to go back and make sure they rewind to that part about success and the fact that you really made it more about a, uh, verb succeeding. Right. Succession. We said succession. That m usually it up, because it is about, okay, is there progression, and are you trying to progress, and where.

Allen C. Paul: Are you trying to progress to?

Allen C. Paul: And I think a lot of us, again, I think that goalpost does move, but it's almost like we move it into different games. It's like we don't know which game we want to play and to continue to move toward that thing. And so, uh, another example would be Bill Gates. It felt like Bill Gates turned into philanthropy, right. But it almost felt like a lot of people started making fun of him, and it was like, oh, was he really trying to save the Earth? Or is that he got farmland, he's owning all this. And so it was almost like, even in his branding, or whatever you want to call it, it wasn't clear to us that this is where your natural progression lies. Even though you got all the money in the world, it seemed like there was a difference in the purpose behind his progression. Right. Even though, again, success. How can you get more successful than one of the richest people in the world? So it's interesting that you say that for creatives and those of us yeah, maybe what you become clear on is, hey, this is where I'm progressing to. This is where I see my life leading. And maybe I think some of us that are still kind of trailing behind and kind of feeling stuck is that we don't want. To make that decision like yeah, no matter what, I'm headed in this direction.

Allen C. Paul: For the next twelve years.

Allen C. Paul: And I think that commitment is a tough one because yeah, we're afraid if we get to the end of the rainbow and it ain't what we're looking for, we're scared to take those first two steps because we're scared of the last one. Yeah.

John Mike: And uh, again, going back to the very first question you asked me about what's the biggest shift and the biggest shift is the mindset. I'm going to go back to that as that still being the biggest shift because I had an idea what success was and where I plotted it as a point on the map, you know what I mean?

Allen C. Paul: Yeah.

John Mike: And it's nothing wrong with setting goals. I'm not saying not to set goals, I'm not saying not to put that. But when you uh, expose yourself to the goal as the finality, as the final point, then that's where you start feeling stuck and you stop looking at how far you came in your journey. If you're moving, you're succeeding. And then by definition you're successful. Success is anything that's moving. It's anybody that's moving. It doesn't matter if you made a dollar today or if you made 100,000, if you made one more dollar today than you made yesterday, you are succeeding. And so the point is we get affixiated on these far out things which we should, we should aspire yeah, you have long term goals, but we feel stuck when we start to examine the chasm between where the one dollars is and the $100,000 is. And then you feel stuck because you see yourself as not moving. And so it's a false dichotomy almost, uh, of it because you're actually succeeding. But you have to keep perspective. Where was I ten years ago? Ten years ago I was broke, busted and disgusted as they say in church. I was broke, I was on food stamps, I had six babies in the house trying to figure out how I was going to feed them. And then you examine that based off of where you are now. So if you feel stuck, the first thing to do is to look at where you are now versus where you were. And the place that you are stuck in right now might actually be the place that you need to be stuck in at the moment. Because you're stuck in a place that's way ahead of where you were before. You know what I mean? Because stuck today is different from stuck five years ago. There's some things that I feel like I'm stuck in right now. I'll keep it quite honest. There are some areas of my business, some areas of my life I still feel stuck. But where I'm able to examine the movement and the growth. Because we want to microwave, society wants us to get there right away.

Allen C. Paul: Yeah. We don't give any chance for development.

John Mike: It's a journey. It's not a point of interest that you're trying to get to. If my stopping point was making $100,000, I would have stopped five years ago. Uh, if that was my main place of trying to get to. If that was my main goal, like I got to make one hundred K, I would have just stopped and I'd be stuck at 100,000. You know what I mean? So you can't espouse yourself to those things. You have to keep moving for your own self. Moving the goal post and understanding the chasm between where you were, where you are now and where you're going. It's so many different analogy, other analogies. I can give around that. But that's the premise. It's just keeping it moving no matter what. Uh, my dad had a saying, I love saying this. I've said this at least three times this week to three different people. But my dad had an old saying. He said, Son, you've heard this, but I'm going to tell you what my dad would say. Because my dad had a way of saying stuff and then adding stuff to it, adding stuff to it. Uh, that was just take it to another level to make it make more sense. He say, Son, ain't no use crying over spill milk. But then he would say, Get a mop and clean it up. The milk is on the floor.

Allen C. Paul: Crying over is not going to cry over.

John Mike: Get them up and clean it up. Then he say another saying that he would say, this is just for some comedy. Uh, it's not relative to anything we're going to be talking about. But, uh, he say, Boy, I brought you in this world.

Allen C. Paul: Oh, yeah, I take you out.

John Mike: But that's what he said. But it don't make me no difference because I'll make another one to look just like you. I'll call him John, too. We don't keep going until we get this right.

Allen C. Paul: Oh my gosh.

John Mike: Uh, it's those things like that. You got to keep moving. You got to keep progressing. Uh, don't allow yourself, if I can say it this way, to get stuck. Don't allow yourself to get stuck. You're in control of that narrative in your own mind.

Allen C. Paul: Yeah, I was going to say that perspective. I love what you just said. It's like people say, like, you are where you prayed for 510 years ago and what you're complaining about now is that you prayed four or five years ago and so on. It's so true. And the thing, John Mike, I, uh, love about the perspective piece and the mindset shift is that it reminds us that that success that you're looking for, that new website, the YouTube, isn't the whole it's not the goal, not the whole picture. Uh, and I was going to ask you next is really it seems to me that you are also in a different place in your personal, not just your business development, because that's clearly developed.

Allen C. Paul: But also, how do you enjoy success?

Allen C. Paul: Because here's the other thing. We see the hustle and grime mentality. Even your shirt has that little hustle under the humble there, right? Yeah, I caught that humble hustle. Nice graphic work, as usual. But there are some people that are falling off that train because we see the people that are burning out.

Allen C. Paul: My friend, I am absolutely floored.

Allen C. Paul: And we did have to cut it off there.

Allen C. Paul: We wanted to keep going, but we realized that this episode was not going to be enough to share everything that John Mike had to share with us. It was just too much. And we decided, instead of trying to throw it all at you, this master class of entrepreneurship, of creative growth, of how to trust God, how to level up, how to put people around you that will force you to go up those four levels I'm telling you, that was worth the cost of admission, which was free for you. And it could be a million dollar masterclass as far as I'm concerned because of the wisdom in those words. But John Mike has more to share. So what we're doing in this episode.

Allen C. Paul: Which I don't think I've ever done.

Allen C. Paul: Before, is splitting it up into two. So if you're listening before it's come.

Allen C. Paul: Out, you got to wait a week.

Allen C. Paul: But if you're listening afterward, you simply need to go to part two and find the next section of this interview with John Mike, which, if it's not just as impactful, it may be more impactful to your creative life. But before you do that, go ahead, follow John Mike, uh, on all the.

Allen C. Paul: Socials we talked about.

Allen C. Paul: He is putting out so much stuff, from his gospel producers.com site to creating stems, to everything he is doing in the, uh, entrepreneurial space to help musicians and creatives. His musicpreneurs, Facebook group, I'm telling you, he's all over the place. So I'm not going to try to name them all. Just go follow all the links in the show notes, make sure you follow and stay connected with John Mike because you will grow as a creative. I have grown as a creative. And by the way, if you also want to hear the backstory of what John Mike has done, remember, you could.

Allen C. Paul: Also go back to one of his.

Allen C. Paul: First interviews with us way back at episode 43. Scroll back a little bit in your podcast app and you will find episode 43, where he shared everything about his beginnings, and that is even more inspiring.

Allen C. Paul: So I'm telling you, we cannot get.

Allen C. Paul: Enough John Mike in this platform because he is really leading the way for God and gigs and so many of us that are following in the footsteps of people who have done it already so well. But I'm going to go ahead and let this episode go for now so you can get to the next one, whether that's part two or episode 43 or one of our other 250 or so episodes that are just here for you. So until next time, my friend, continue to become the creative that you were created to be. God bless and I'll see you next episode.

Speaker B: Thanks for joining us here at the God and Gig Show. Please leave us a review on itunes like our Facebook page, or visit godandgigs.com and tell us what you thought of this show. We'll be back soon. In the meantime, go create something amazing.