Brett Newski refers to himself as a “DIY musician,” touring across the world and playing any venue that will have him. He’s opened for huge bands like The Violent Femmes, and he’s played basement parties in Japan for seven people.
(Full disclosure, I help him with his SEO sometimes).
His music tends to be self-aware; he utilizes humor while also expressing his own personal anxieties and insecurities. He’s also heavily influenced by 90s alternative music (the first album he ever purchased with his own money was by Barenaked Ladies).
To express himself beyond music, he began drawing little cartoons and doodles about dealing with anxiety and mental health over the past three years while touring. And when he started posting them online, to his surprise, “the response was warmer than anticipated.”
He turned those doodles into a self-published book, It’s Hard to be a Person: Defeating Anxiety, Surviving the World, and Having More Fun released with a CD of new music (including a song featuring Stephen Page of, yes, Barenaked Ladies). Originally conceived as a “fun thing for the merch table,” it’s nearly sold out and has racked up positive reviews from the press.
It’s easy to feel like you should focus on one “strength” or medium in your career—that you should be knowledgeable about many things, and an expert at one. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t express yourself in different ways by experimenting with telling your story in different mediums.
Writing this, I hoped to leave you with something to take away and apply to your personal and professional life. But what if I wanted to share those insights in an article? Or a LinkedIn Post? Or, if I dare, a TikTok?
That’s what Newski did with his book. Instead of “sticking to music” Brett took the themes of his music and applied them to a different medium. He experimented with his thoughts on mental health and anxiety by creating some doodles. And when they clearly resonated with others, he found a way to tell his own personal story in a new way, while still centering it around his expertise in music.
You don’t have to limit yourself to being “expert” in one area, field, or medium. You can let yourself experiment. Who knows, you might find a new way to deliver your message. Or you might just have a little fun.
Jeff GoodSmith Writes Here 