Today's interview is my guest, Dan Bennett, the Antipreneur and Founder of 1 Minute Media!   After hitting a low point in his life, what in the world happened when he went into the woods? What does resilient mean to Dan? How did adding these 2 allow him to emerge with clarity and direction in this next chapter of his entrepreneurial journey?  In today's interview, we dive into:

1. Dan's origin story.
2. His journey and process to reinvent himself after 2020 pandemic wiped out his business
3. Into the woods: key takeaways and micro-epiphanies from re-evaluating his life up until that point
4. How saying no became a currency for him to spend and invest in his own business.
5. What the word 'resolve' means to him
6. His advice for entrepreneurs feeling stuck in their career or business

Show Notes

[1:42] - Quote: “I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.” - Henry David Thoreau shared by Neil Perry in movie, Dead Poets Society.

[2:06] - Welcome to episode 18 of the Boom Vision podcast! I'm happy to share today's interview with Dan Bennet. Dan is a friend and fellow member of SPI Pro that we're both part of, where entrepreneurs and solopreneurs come together in a like-minded community.

I'm excited to have Dan join us today because you'll get to hear his own hero's journey going through life as an entrepreneur.

[2:33] Dan Bennett was born and raised in the gritty city of Flint, MI.
He is the Founder of 1 Minute Media, a company that empowers individuals to tell their stories with great video through coursework and private community membership.
He is also a digital media freelancer who offers direct consultation for companies as well as decades of experience in video production, video editing, motion graphics, sound design, graphic design and digital content development.
Dan’s personal brand uses the moniker “The #Antipreneur” which encompasses his Podcast (The #Antipreneur Show) His YouTube Channel (TheAntipreneur) and all his social media platforms (@ImTheAntipreneur) + (twitter is @realantipreneur)

So without further ado, here's Dan Bennett!:

[3:56] - Dan's origin story.

• (DB) From engineering school, musician, graphic design, to audio/video editing. 
•  

[9:35] - (BY) Do you feel that your background in engineering, has any part of those elements helped prepare you in the subsequent chapters of what you're going through?

 [9:50] (DB) 1,000% 2 things came from that engineering background:

1. Structure, framework and systems. The rigidness of engineering helped me create a system of SOP, training and 
2. What I learned through my own entrepreneur journey, that left and right brain don't play well together. Got really good in switching in between them (analytical and creative sides).

 [11:20] -  (BY) That switch from left to right brain, I'd love to hear your thoughts, did that happen in the last 5 years? What's happened in the last 5 years, from the previous company to what you're up to now.

(DB) Lots of change happened in the past 5 years (divorce, moving to different city, etc.).

2020, lost everything, started over, had to shut down my business, bankruptcy. The Great Band Aid Rip, lost everything in the span of 8 days. 2020 was the beginning of this new current chapter. 

[14:59] - (BY) When you were going through that band aid phase, having to reinvent yourself, you shared before about going into the woods, can you tell me that process and journey?

(DB) It was very much looking for a life raft, semi-drowning and trying to grab anything that I can help me stay afloat cuz I was really tired of treading water.

I had closed down my office, shutting the doors. My partner Jax, a chef, also lost everything in 2020. We're sitting at home, looking at each other and 2 beautiful things happened:

1) I looked at her and looked at myself in her eyes and said: We are way too talented to be this broken/this broke.

2) I made a decision to take a month off from life. I have to regroup and find myself.

Jax: Where are you going to take the trailer? My partner Jax went to Outdoorsy, rented a trailer for Dan for 10 days, so he can go wherever you have to go to find himself. Went to his old boss's campground with the trailer rental.

Took a white board, a book, and an iPad and just went into the woods

[19:07] (BY)  First of all, got to acknowledge your partner, that's a solid thing for her to do, knowing what you need at that time. What book did you bring? And what came out of that physical and mental oasis?

(DB) Atomic Habits by James Clear. It changed my life because of where I was and it was just so primed to be what I needed at that time.

I went knowing it was going to be painful, I might leave without any answers.

A friend shared this framework. I put my life on a timeline, then I took specific parts and zoomed in on it. Took 4-6 year chapters. Zoom in and write everything that happened that time frame. Then took picture of the white board. Had many micro-epiphanies.

[24:12] (DB) One micro epiphany I had in always being an emphatic person and feeling people's pain. I would say internally: Someone else's 90% capacity and anxiety and overwhelm, can be my 10%. From here on out, you better look at people and say that first. To be more empathetic.

[26:05] - (BY)  What was the best things in those chapters when you zoomed in, but also what were the lessons you needed to learn? In doing those steps, thoroughly and intentionally, what were the 2-3 takeaways?

(DB) Took a lot of notes and went over them. One of them was: Each chapter fed into the next. The last 5.5 years, I accidently ended up in this agency model. That wasn't what he wanted to do. He started with story development, but lead to this agency model.

[29:14] - (DB) I realized I had this mantra: I said out load a lot: You know, my vision is to make just enough revenue where I can hire really talented and cool people that can have a job at my company, and really love it instead of using their talents for some corporate that doesn't really care about much.

I realized I achieved this mantra. I realized I need to say bigger stuff because I said something really tiny. If I really want to change people's lives, it needs to be bigger than that.

[32:03] - (BY) Those crossroads of opportunity, do you listen to your mind or listen to your heart? That is a tough decision to make. After making that decision, what actually transpired, either different opportunities or different energy come into your life?

[33:54] - (DB) Saying no became a currency that I can then spend to taking my business where I want it to go. Saying no became a currency to spend and invest in my own business.

[35:02] - (DB) I'm sitting in this camper trailer by myself, one side of my brain is saying: you know Dan, you should put yourself out there more. What this meant was: take advantage of things you normally wouldn't.

Story: Noah Kagan of AppSumo, YouTube channel.

[43:10] - (BY) Few takeaways I just want to say from what you shared:

1. That small act of clicking subscribe was such a monumental step. You got to be able to eat what you want to dish out. 
2. That fact that you had an open and curious mindset, led to you being able to take advantage of when opportunities does come by your way, knowing when to take it or not to.

[46:11] - (BY) Before this interview, this word came up and I'd love to get your thoughts on it: Resolve. What does Resolve means to you, if at all?

[46:34] - (DB) What came to me was coming back home, centering. Centering and being home within yourself is where the power comes from. I physically went out into the woods but I didn't leave myself.

DB shares story of resilience from 12 people in his life.

[52:51] - (BY) Speaking of help, what would be one or two advice you can share in our audience, if someone might be feeling stuck, or stuck with growing cuz they are in survival mode, what can you share?

(DB) Story of reaching out to his colleagues and peers. He wanted to know what people thought of me, and what my superpower before. 10 people said something I never heard before in my life. It imprinted in my soul that will never leave. Dan, your voice and your demeanor brings calmness and trust into me. 

Dan's Advice: Whatever it is you're trying to do, say it out loud to people. Talk about it. It's the closest thing to magic that I've ever found in my journey.

[59:00] - (BY) I heard this from my wife, where she heard from her nutrition class that she was taking: "When you're nervous focus on service."

[1:03:02] - (DB) I love how you just put that because mindset isn't just the state of your mind, but how you use it. 

[1:07:00] - (BY) What is one thing you would tell yourself if you had an ability to travel back 10 years ago and share with your younger self? 

(DB): Your heart mixed with your talent is bigger than the stuff you're doing right now. It's so much bigger than this, so don't get caught up on how dire it kind of feels to do these small fry type of things, you'll do bigger stuff one day.

[1:09:06] - (BY) Where can our listeners find you?

Dan's information:

• Social Links
  https://DanHasLinks.com
• Antipreneur Website
  https://ImTheAntipreneur.com
• 1 Minute Media Website
  https://1minmedia.com
• Video Quiz
  https://quiz.video

[1:13:42] - Wow, I hope you all enjoyed listening to Dan's journey as much as I did! There's so many good stories and nuggets I got from today's chat with Dan. The top 3 takeaways I got are:

1. Your words have power. Are you reaching for the Empire State Building or are you reaching for the stars?  I know confidence is gained and built one step at a time, but if you find yourself achieving the steps you've declared out loud, exercise your imagination and start thinking bigger.
2. You got to eat what you want to dish out. When Dan wanted to create his own YouTube channel to help entrepreneurs look and sound good on camera. that small step he took in subscribing into another person's YouTube channel activated a chain of events that opened up more opportunities. He listened to his brain saying you should put yourself out there more, by taking advantage of things you normally wouldn't. 
3. Whatever it is you're trying to do, say it out loud to people. Talk about it. Don't let your ideas just stay in your mind. If your intent is to serve others, don't let your negative SOS or ego get in your way of sharing what you're up to. It definitely helps to surround yourself in soil that support and empowers you, as your sharing what you trying to do out loud.