Seth Werkheiser has spent the last ten years walking away from social media. If you ask him for his two cents, he’ll tell you that you should walk away as well. For more than a decade, Seth has been helping creative artists build community and teaching them how to engage more intentionally with their fans and followers. In the process, Seth has found a new way of looking at life, creativity, and connection.
When I first reached out to Seth about being on the pod, I was primarily curious about the ways in which he was creating community solely through an email list and his terrific Substack, Social Media Escape Club; and doing it all without having to spend unending hours on the wheels of Facebook, Instagram, and the like. To be honest, I was also secretly wondering if I too might be able to kick the social media habit.
Instead of chasing the dragon that is going viral, Seth has devoted his time to the people there right in front of him. Seth stresses one on one connections and true relationship building over the possibility of reaching a wide range of people for a split second. It’s great advice for everyday life, and not just for the creatives in the crowd.
Seth and I dive deeply into the idea of risk versus reward and the inherent lack of vulnerability in an online persona, as opposed to the nitty gritty building of real life, three dimensional connections. Seth also talks about his musical upbringing, and touches on the idea of creative bothering - a term that I have already fallen deeply in love with.
Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned in my chat with Seth was to, “trust my stuff” as the baseball guys would say. In leaving social media, Seth found a new respect for his own work and his own worth. Now, he is teaching other folks how to muster the courage to do the same.
Here is my chat with my new friend and an old soul we could all learn a lot from, Seth Werkheiser. I hope you dig it.
Cheers,Matty C
