(3 min read)
“Be weird. Be random. Be who you are…
Because you never know who would love the person you hide.” — C.S Lewis
The Incredibly Weird Story of Fish56Octagon
Stuck in a Box
Fish was existing in a corporate marketing job.
He loved dance music—hit the clubs at 15, and even had his stag do (bachelor party) at Creamfields festival.
He obsessively collected vinyl for decades and naturally thought that in his forties his DJ dreams were dead.
Society had him boxed in.
He started a TikTok account about his passion for cars but grew bored.
Embrace the Weirdness
Then eight months ago he pivoted.
He threw on his dressing gown, grabbed a bowl of dry Weetabix, and blasted his favourite EDM tracks every morning on TikTok.
He was dancing in his living room in his dressing gown eating his breakfast.
That is weird!
Beautifully fucking weird.
A Wild Ride to Success
Boom!
TikTok loved it. Instagram followed.
Fish’s weirdness went viral.
He racked up over 1 million followers so far.
He was signed to one of the biggest DJ agencies. Promoters from the biggest festivals in the world flocked to book him.
Fish rocked three shows at Glastonbury and closed the main tent at Creamfields.
The tents he played in were so busy that they were locked down due to over-capacity.
At 44, he’d never DJ-ed professionally, but now?
He’s selling over fifteen thousand tickets on his UK headline tour.
He quit his corporate gig and is a full-time professional DJ.
He performed at the same festivals he went to as a middle-aged raver just last year.
He’s flying across the globe.
I understand the financial mechanics of the music business well.
He‘s already making six figures with smart management, he’s on track for seven figures.
And all because he embraced his weirdness, and shared it with the world!
You’re Not Alone:
Fish56 is not an isolated case.
The creator economy is currently valued at 75 billion dollars annually. Goldman Sachs is predicting it will rise to nearly half a trillion-dollar industry.
This includes artists, musicians, digital marketers, authors, creators, coaches + digital products etc. This includes artists, musicians, digital marketers, authors, creators, coaches + digital products etc.
Most people think they must be perfect to achieve success.
While that was partly true in the past, today's world values authenticity instead.
So, although it may seem counterintuitive, the secret to success lies in embracing and sharing our imperfections.
Our authenticity — our weirdness — is like a magnet that draws others into our creative and business projects.
No one could have predicted Fish’s meteoric rise to DJ fame — especially him!
Fish56 simply played the music he loved every morning on TikTok in his dressing gown while eating breakfast.
8 months later he’s a superstar DJ.
And all because he didn’t conform, he embraced his weirdness.
Polls Results
Last week’s poll (from both Substack accounts) showed that 82% believe hiding their authenticity (weirdness) limits their potential.
We’re weird!
It’s our authentic selves.
It’s our creative authenticity.
Origin of “Weird” — The word comes from the Old English "Wyrd," meaning fate or destiny.
Our weirdness is our potential.
The trouble is we were brought up in a society that shamed us for being weird.
So we hid it. We buried our unconventional potential deep inside of us.
We’re supposed to embrace and share our weirdness. We’re supposed to be quirky MOFO’s and stand out.
The sooner we accept our weirdness, the sooner we can accept ourselves.
Our weird animated landing page is now live.
It’s not for everyone. It completely disregards the current minimalism trend.
It’s weird — beautifully weird, but we’re biased, of course.
Check it out if you’re curious.