In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Grammy‑producer, engineer, and author David Rutenberg. The conversation opens with a sponsor plug for Authors Unite and a brief Spanish greeting. Rutenberg shares his guiding mantra, “Deeds, not words,” explaining that delivering on promises has sustained his 40‑year career across twelve roles in music and entertainment. He emphasizes the elementary yet powerful principle of simply showing up—being on time, prepared, efficient, and caring—as a differentiator in a field plagued by unprofessionalism. Rutenberg advises business professionals to lose their ego and constantly anticipate customers’ needs by visualizing the question “What will it do for me?” on a card taped to the client’s forehead. When asked what he would tell his younger self, he recounts a lesson from Peter Gabriel about not being overly clever and letting actions speak louder than words. He defines happiness as contributing to others, recommending a nightly self‑check: did you help someone, make the world better, and cause no harm? Rutenberg cites Harry Browne’s How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World as his most influential book, highlighting its lesson on self‑advocacy without harming others. His second favorite quote, “No ego, no self, no problem,” reflects his belief that shedding ego eliminates conflict. The episode concludes with Rutenberg’s contact information—his website, Amazon, Audible, Udemy profiles, and a phone line for consultations—followed by a closing Anchor promotion.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have David Rutenberg with us. He's a Grammy producer, engineer, and author. So welcome to the show, David.
Thank you so much, Tyler, for having me. I really appreciate it.
Of course, I appreciate you coming on, and it's pretty cool. We actually just found out that we're basically neighbors, so that is also cool. So we'll dive in. The first one I have for you, David, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Thank you. Again, thanks for the opportunity to speak with you, Tyler, and your listeners. I'm a new fan of yours, and I'm really pumped to be here with you now. As to the best story from my life, this is a tough choice. While authoring my new Amazon bestseller, The Music Career You Don't Have Yet, I go into detail about many stories relating to, if you can believe it, 12 careers that I've had in the music and entertainment industry. And a commonality and an underlying valuable message, to use your language, uh, that binds all these stories together, um, including my successes and sometimes some honest-to-goodness whopping-size failures, comes down to a 3-word message: deeds, not words. Put simply, Deeds, not words means don't talk, don't pose, don't jive, don't speak so much. Just deliver on your promises. Do what you say you're going to do. Heck, overdeliver on your promises. I know that in all of my stories, in my work, it's been the through line that's kept me employed for more than 40 years. And I realize this isn't a detailed story. Maybe it's more of a punchline. But in the end, for me, All these stories come down to deeds, not words.
I love that. And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So the most valuable piece of information that I can offer is to— I know this is going to sound almost elementary, but simply to show up. In fact, you might and your listeners might know about Woody Allen, the great American comedian, author, film director. He puts it best. He says that 90% of success in life is just showing up. And as it applies to my expertise and my industry, by showing up, I mean showing up on time, showing up prepared, showing up and being efficient, friendly, and flexible. Look, there are tons of people practicing in the music and entertainment industry. The reason I'm still at it after all these years and expanding beyond being a music producer, an engineer, composer, lecturer, mentor, and now bestselling author is because so many of my competitors are too laid back. They're freaking winging it. They're wasting their clients' time and money. And honestly, many of them, they're just not nice. And certainly they're not willing to listen to what will make their customers happy. While the music and entertainment industries have certainly seen better days, it's precisely other people's unprofessionalism that makes it so much easier for caring people to show up and succeed. So The hallmark of my expertise is to do just that. Show up, listen, care, and get it done.
And it might tie in with the next one, but what is your best piece of overall business advice and not industry specific?
Sure. In this industry filled with so many posers and divas and everything that you see on TV, the best piece of business advice I can give is to lose your ego, and always anticipate your customer's needs by putting yourself in their shoes. And here's a perfect example. 30 years ago, I took a sales seminar while I was living in San Francisco, and our instructor taught us to always picture our customer with a 3x5 card taped to their forehead with the question, "What will it do for me?" written in bold, screaming 80-point type. So whenever I'm mentoring a customer who wants to acquire a music career, if I'm mixing a record or mastering a track in the studio, I'm always thinking, if I were my customer, what the heck would I want it to do for me? What's in their best interest? Not my best interest, but what will it do for them? And by listening to what they want, by anticipating what they need, and when I let loose of my own personal bias, everything— and Tyler, I mean Everything always falls into place.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
That's easy. I tell myself not to be so clever. And by clever, I mean as in cunning and slick. Look, I was hailed as a wunderkind as a youngster throughout my education and my early careers, and I used many talents to my customers and my advantage, but often portraying myself as a quick-witted, crafty, and artful dodger, if you will. I learned from a very famous client that this was not necessary. He had a favorite quote that went something like this: "The cream always rises to the top." And he told me that I was trying so hard and I didn't need to be so boisterous. That client was Peter Gabriel. And after regarding his advice, I toned everything down and I let my actions speak louder than anything else. And you know what? It worked. And it brought me back to deeds, not words. Don't talk so much. Just do what you're good at. Wow.
And I just have to chime in. Peter Gabriel is one of my favorite musicians. So that is so cool that you—
Yeah, it was—
Oh, wow.
One of the nicest guys, comes from one of the greatest families, a complete artist, but also just a humanitarian and a gentle man.
Man, I'm gonna jam to some of him later today. Um, well, cool. Leading into our next one, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
This one's incredibly simple for me, at least. Happiness stems from contributing to others first, foremost, and always. Um, in other words, if I can make their world a better place by helping them, happiness will always follow. And this is at the center literally of everything that I do. Why? Well, you know, I'm blessed that I can utilize musical talents and writing talents that bring me joy, but by putting other people's desires first, whether it's their songs or, or their compositions or their desire to get into this very tough industry, I'm beyond grateful that I can mentor them into careers. It's mind-boggling to me that I get to work with Grammy-nominated artists and produce their records, and my happiness hinges on doing great work for other people and helping them because, quite frankly, when I was coming up, I had pivotal people in my life do the same for me. And the truth is, I instruct my protégés to do the exact same thing in their lives when they achieve success. Specifically, at the end of the day, what I do and what I instruct them to do is to look in the mirror before you go to bed at night and ask yourself, one, did you help someone? 2, did you make the world a bit better? And 3, did you do no harm to anyone or anything? And I figure if you can ask this and answer it to the benefit of other people, not just yourself, your career will blossom, as will your happiness.
And what is the best book that you've read, and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, as an author, I typically— and an engineer, I've got about 4 to 5 books going on my nightstand at any one time. So I learned from all of them, and it's difficult to select one, but you gave me the assignment to try to pick one. And after thinking about it, I thought back to a book that I read 30 years ago by Harry Browne. The title was How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, and it was suggested to me by my employer at the time. Now, I am not at all in agreement with the author's political beliefs, but I do believe that in order to make a difference in the world, each of us needs to be competent in advocating for ourselves. And the author guides the reader through a strategy similar to my 10-step career guide for the music and entertainment industry. And that is this: both books teach the reader this number one thing: how to systematically cast aside those shackles that keep you from achieving happiness without having to do so at other people's expenses. And as you've probably figured out by now, I give myself, my readers, and my clients the freedom and happiness by putting their objectives and needs first, not mine. In the final analysis, this risk-reward and return to me is immense. But most importantly, my clients are satisfied and delighted because they know how to speak up for themselves in order to get what it is they want.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Well, we already delved into "Deeds, not words." So for this question, I'll pick my second favorite quote, and that is, uh, "No ego, No self, no problem. Now, why is that my favorite? Well, picture this. I once had a great music instructor. He was actually a conductor who believed that when you were performing your instrument, you were either part of the solution or part of the problem. And since I don't ever want to be part of anyone else's problem, I've learned to remain quiet. Although I'm talking my head off today. Be still. And remove all ego and self when I work for others. So this saying is my favorite because when I drop the ego, when I drop the self, it works. There's no problem and it builds happiness for everyone involved.
I love it, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Well, that's easy. You can certainly look me up David Rutenberg, R-U-T-T-E-N-B-E-R-G, at davidrutenberg.com. You can find me on amazon.com, Audible, Udemy. Heck, I even make myself available for people who want online consultation. They can reach me at 415-723-0562. And I just wanted to thank you again, Tyler. It's been awesome hanging with you, and I really appreciate the opportunity today.
You too, man. I had a blast as well, and we'll talk with you soon.
Can't wait. Thanks, sir.
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