Blaze Your Own Trail - Episode 10: A Start Up Journey With Dan Mott

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

In this episode Dan talks about his entrepreneurship journey and what he does. Connect with Dan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-mott/ Website: https://www.six3media.com/ LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/six3media/ Million:One Newsletter: https://www.six3media.com/newsletter Million:One Podcast: https://anchor.fm/million-one Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, you'll learn all about Dan's journey into entrepreneurship. So I hope you enjoy it. And we'll chat with you after the episode. Hey, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest today. I have got Dan Mott. He is the founder of 6-3 Media, where he actually helps connect founders to write opportunities

through networking, referrals, and through partnerships. and I'm actually going to let Dan go ahead and tell you a little bit more about that and what he does. Awesome. Thanks, Jordan. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I mean, we kind of do, I like to say that we're in the people business. So there's kind of two main arms to the business. We work with people individually to connect them based on, you know, individual needs and, you know, pain points that they have. And what we try and do is connect people and inform partnerships. So, you know, essentially where someone is in the, you know, in the process of having to work with a B2B vendor and they don't really know where to look. They don't know who can help them or who the right fit is. You know, we sit down with them, we consult with them.

We put together a plan of action and then introduce them to the right people based on the partners that we have vetted in our network, which is great for those partners because, you know, they're able to get leads who are ready to buy, you know, when we're able to match them. And then kind of on the greater scale, you know, we are looking to build a community around entrepreneurship and stories through the million to one community. And, you know, we do a lot of similar stuff there where it's just telling stories. And I think that the biggest thing for us is really trying to show the dark side of entrepreneurship and really humanize it. And, you know,

talk about what it's like, why people got started, what pushed them over the edge. You know, why did you start your business? Why are you where you are today? Because I think, you know, you look at a lot of social media where people are, you know, renting Lamborghinis and then, you know, taking pictures on Instagram and saying, look, how successful I am when they have, you know, a negative balance in their bank account. So I kind of want to show, you know, the bad days and, you know, kind of where it all started off and, you know, how you get through it as an individual and how, as an entrepreneur, you don't have to be alone that, you know, you can lean on others for support and, you know, work together. So it's, it really kind of all ties together, you know,

in this community that, you know, it's just all based around relationships and connecting people and forming partnerships. Wow, that's awesome. Yeah. So it really sounds like it's definitely win-win marketing for everybody. Yeah, win-win-win. Yeah, that's right.

Win, win, win. Everybody wins, right? Referring people, connecting people, empowering people to get vulnerable, right? And share those stories that they're actually experiencing while they're happening. Yeah, because that, you know, what that does to me is it actually helps inspire other people that are in the trenches with them. And they know they're like, hey, you know what, Dan went through that. Goodness.

So I'm probably, I haven't seen it yet, but I probably will experience that sometime on my journey. Oh, yeah, it happens. I mean, like, I even went through it when I, you know, my entire career. It was like, you know, I always knew I wanted to get into entrepreneurship. I always knew I wanted to work for myself. and even going through my career, you know, you have bad days and you're like, I just don't want to do this. And, you know, obviously it's a lot harder, you know, when, you know, your time is kind of your, when you're your own boss and you have to manage yourself. But, you know, we all have our good days and we all have our bad days. So knowing that other people go through it, too, that you're not alone is really kind of, it really kind of helps to empower you and helps you kind of get through those bad times.

Absolutely. I definitely agree with that. So, so, Dan, let's, let's hear your. story a little bit about you, you know, and, and how you blazed your own trail. And before we get into that, really, what I want to know is, you know, what kind of kid were you? So how were you as a kid, like elementary, middle school, you know, were you an athlete? Were you more into the educational side? So what kind of kid were you? I think it was a little all over the place, but never really fully dedicated to any of it. So I played a bunch of sports, definitely. I did pretty well in school, but I never really kind of pushed myself to try, you know, hard. I even remember sitting at my college graduation and being like, you know, I could have done better here.

And, you know, I think in hindsight, too, it's just like I had so much free time back in college where it's like, you know, you know, I went to school for entrepreneurship. I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. So, you know, I definitely kind of regret not spending more time, more of my free time at that point in my life to kind of dedicate to it. but, you know, you kind of, you follow your own path and you, you end up where you end up. So I don't kind of regret any of it at the end of the day. A little bit of entrepreneurial spirit in my childhood, definitely. I used to go to a buddy's house and we would set up, you know, he lived on a busy road. So we'd literally just put like a picnic table out on his front yard.

And we would just sell random stuff like, you know, like creepy crawlers and like knickknacks for, you know, like we think we even would do lemonade sometimes and really random stuff. So, you know, from the beginning, I kind of always had it in my, you know, in my blood that I, you know, wanted to work for myself. That's awesome. Yeah, I actually sold baseball cards back in the day, you know, back when the kid, Ken Griffey Jr. You know, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. So that was my favorite player, you know, being from growing up in Portland and the Seattle area was a pretty cool time to be around. And, you know, in that time in the 90s,

It was booming, right? Like, you could, I could go buy a box, you know, and my great, I wouldn't buy it, and have any money, but my great grandmother would buy me, box, you know, this boxes of, you know, upper deck and Fleer and, you know, Don Russ and all these decks of these baseball cards. And I would just go through them and just find these cards. And it was so interesting, like, how much money you could make, you know, as a kid. As long as you knew the, and believe me, I was following the Beckett magazine.

You know, I like all of the pricing. And it's so funny when you think back to that. Like, you know, you mentioned you guys were just selling random stuff. Like that just tells you that that you have that, you know, entrepreneurial drive and that you want to market and sell and, you know, and things of that nature. So it is interesting to think about. Yeah. And it was stuff that people never even needed. Like creepy crawler.

I don't know if you remember those, but like it was like literally gel that you would put into a form. And then it was just like this little rubber like scorpion or, you know, random things with different. colors. And it's like, why would, people were just buying them out of the kindness at their heart, you know, like, hey, it's a nickel. Why not? Yeah, they're like, hey, this, at least this kid's trying, you know. They're supporting the spirit of it. So I appreciate all of those people. Thank you for spending that money. Absolutely. And so when did you, when did you know and, you know, what kind of happened that shifted you to say, you know, I want to be a founder of my own company? I think I always knew that I wanted to, well, I guess I shouldn't say that. Like when I was young, I used to pull stuff

apart and I always like used to tell myself I wanted to be an inventor. I don't, I wouldn't say that I'm an inventor today, but definitely a creator. You know, creating content is definitely a huge part of it, creating a business. You know, I like to kind of take ideas from my head and turn them into a reality. Went to school for entrepreneurship. I decided my major in my very first semester at college. So, so again, I kind of, I kind of knew from early on that I wanted to do it. had a lot of side hustles over the years and different things that I've tried and, you know, where I started my business about seven months ago. And I was working at a sales and marketing agency in the IT industry at the time. I had worked my way up from a entry-level

marketing position all the way up to creating the role of director of marketing for myself. I then took on an additional role of running a portion of the agency at that business. And I was At that point, I was like, hey, I'm kind of running my own business, but for someone else at this point. And I kind of wanted to, you know, prove that I could do it. And I was, you know, onboarding clients and managing relationships and, you know, running a, really running a business within a business. So got to a point where we had creative differences. And, you know, I was kind of getting pushed into a role that I didn't really want. And, you know, it was kind of time.

So, you know, we shook hands and went our separate ways. And at that point, I made sure that I had, you know, plenty of money saved up to kind of, you know, act as a cushion for, you know, God forbid, anything happened. And, you know, I had a good client right off the base, had known him for a little while. He kind of knew what I was doing, was very transparent with him. He knew I was, you know, leaving my company to go full time and start my own business. And, you know, it was kind of a great relationship because he, you know, he was very flexibility, he gave me the opportunity. And he was really kind of the foundation for me to really be able to launch. my own business. That's awesome. That is very, very cool. And so you shook hands, you parted ways, you walked out of the office. Who's the first person that you called? Oh, God, I don't even remember.

I think I might have even just sat in the, like, I think I took that time to myself. Because, like, I had already spoken to everyone that, you know, I wanted to tell. It was kind of a game, you know, it was part of the plan. Everyone knew beforehand. And I put in my two weeks, right? So I still had two more weeks worth of work. and I think I just took that time to be like, all right, I did it. You know, I committed to this.

And I kind of just, I don't think I even like listen to music or listen to a podcast on the way home. You know, it was like a half hour commute and I just kind of sat in that moment and relished in it and kind of like let it all crash over me and kind of settle in. And then I had, I had my two weeks left there to kind of, you know, close everything out and really kind of prepare for that moment. And then, yeah, that very next day, I was in it. And I'm in the home office where I'm currently sitting right.

now. That's awesome. That is awesome. And so once you made the decision, right, you already had somebody on deck or someone that was willing to start working with you. What did you do next? You know, what were your thoughts next? Was it, did you already have a website created or did you already, you know, start creating content on social platforms? You know, where did you kind of start? Oh, God, I was all over the place. I didn't really know where to start. You know, I had a lot of different experiences. I had been in B2B marketing.

I was running an agency. I was director of marketing there. So that was kind of the most natural fit. But, you know, I was more on the marketing side than I was sales. I had a little bit of sales background. But, you know, I really kind of struggled to find clients at first. And, you know, you kind of do the natural thing, right? It's like you tap into your network.

You start telling everyone you started your own business. And, you know, you see what kind of opportunities you can drum up and you start to work with people and you kind of, you know, find your own way and you start changing things. You learn what you do like and what you don't like and where you excel and how you can truly help people. And about a month, month and a half in, I ended up hiring a coach because I did. I needed to find more clients. I needed a more proactive approach. So I hired a coach. And, you know, we sat down and put a game plan together.

helped me build out a process for being able to proactively acquire clients, which to this day is kind of one of the foundational pieces of my business. And, you know, in that time, I kind of, you know, as I would kind of bring on new clients and I'd work with them in a certain capacity and I'd be like, hey, you know, this isn't really what I want to do, but I'd keep, you know, I'd obviously, you know, go through the project and then, you know, we'd either continue working together in a different capacity or, you know, part ways at that time. And I really, really, you know, do the project. And I really, you know, went through a lot of different iterations in the first couple months where I think I changed my business model about six times or so before finally landing on, you know, what six three media is today.

So it was definitely a lot of trying to find myself and trying to figure it out. And, you know, it's definitely a massive learning curve. And, you know, it's, I was so grateful to have hired my coach when I did so early on because what he did was allow me to have, to meet new people and set up conversations on a, you know, regularly on a weekly basis. And, you know, if I, you know, if I didn't have those conversations. If I couldn't validate, you know, the market, then I'd still be going through that process today. You know, I wouldn't be able to have gotten through that, that learning cycle so quickly and be able to land on a, you know, on a service that, that I actually enjoyed where, you know, all the pieces of my business feel like they, they come together and tell a nice

story and that I'm passionate about it and that I enjoy doing it. You know, that was kind of the reason that I went through that many changes was because I just, it didn't feel right. You know, it wasn't what I wanted to do. And it took some time to get there. That's great. And so for anyone out there that's listening, if you're a brand new entrepreneur, really what Dan was saying is find a coach, right? You know, you can't always do everything on your own. You know, I'm a firm believer in asking for help and collaboration. Dan, it sounds like, especially with the way that your business is operating and what you do, you're all about networking collaboration as well. And, you know, it's massive, right? It's just building these contextual relationships about what

you're passionate about. And like you said earlier, being able to share these stories with people, to me, that's where the real magic happens. Yeah, definitely. I think that's, you know, that's what it's all, that's where it really all tied together for me was just the story. And knowing that you don't have to do it alone, that it's okay to lean on people, that it's okay to, I mean, whether it's friends or family or it's people that you meet on the internet or coaches that you hire, like, don't be afraid to say that I don't know. And, you know, you're to figure it out. Everything is new. Everything's a challenge. Um, so when you kind of, you put yourself out there, you make yourself vulnerable and you lean on the support of others, it helps you go through

that learning process significantly faster. So I, um, the thing that really clicked for me is, is I've been daily journaling for over two years now. I do it every workday. First thing I do when I wake up, I come into my office and I, uh, I handwrite it in a journal. And, um, when I started my business, the day that I went full time, I was like, you know what, I'm going to start publishing these to the internet. And so I published them every single day on LinkedIn. I handwritten it in the morning. I go for my run. I go through my morning routine, a shower. I hit my desk. And that's the first thing I do is I type it up and post it to LinkedIn. And I mean, when I'm having good days, you know, obviously I talk about good things. But, you know, as we all know, we all have

crap days and we all have, you know, bad things that, you know, happened to us and we have to get through it. And, you know, I still had to write something in the morning. So that's what I would talk about. So I would share a lot of these bad things. I would share a lot of the, you know, the times that sucked and I was very transparent and not open and honest about it. And the feedback that I just started getting from people was just incredible. I mean, you know, people reaching out and being like, oh my God, thank you so much for sharing this. Like just to know that they weren't alone, that they weren't the only ones going through that, that, you know, hey, I have bad days too. You know, really kind of resonated with them. And it got to this point where I was like, this, this is amazing,

but it can't just be about me. Like, I know that other people are going through it too and I want to share that. So that was really where the seed for or the million to one community came from. It was like, I can share my story through my daily journal, but I want to share other people's stories too. and you know that's when I started interviewing people and I started asking them those tough questions and you know why did they start their business and you know what what challenges had they gone through what was holding them back and have they overcome them and you know kind of pulling out those stories and kind of sharing those those bad times is really kind of what the community is all about because it encourages people to connect with one another and like it's like hey I can relate to your

story and like let's just start a conversation and we can help each other out I can help each other on a bad day and oh you have this kind of connection and that you know like there the partnerships that form and the relationships that build through these mutual connections over these stories um is really what creates a lot of the opportunity and and helps us kind of progress uh you know through this journey of our own yeah and i and i completely agree with that because you know people do business with people that they like that they know that they trust 100% right and you know as you share stories and as you get vulnerable you know, that's when the magic really does happen because, you know, you know, you say something and I say,

wow, like, I remember when I was walking through that same mud puddle, you know, and it's like, hey, let me message you. Hey, man, thanks for sharing. That's awesome. That yeah, that happened to me a couple years ago. So, hey, you want to grab a virtual coffee, you know? And I mean, that's, that's, that's how it works, right? That's how collaborations work and networking happens. And, you know, you mentioned you started just, you know, listening to people's stories. And then I know we had talked previously and, and you're actually going to be launching a podcast. You want to tell the audience a little bit about that and,

you know, where they'll be able to find you once it, once it launches. And also, like, when are you planning to launch? Yeah. So,

I mean, it's been, I mean, even the newsletter is new itself. You know, we started late last year. It's, it's a biweekly newsletter.

I was interviewing people sitting down. You know, we would have amazing conversations. An hour, you know, an hour, hour and a half conversations. And, you know, then I would take, go back to, you know, come back to the desk, you know, later that day or the next day. And I'd start writing out their story and distill it

down into about a 10 minute read. And I was just like, there's, there's so much more that we're missing out here. And, you know, we went, we went through, actually yesterday, we launched the third edition of the Million to One newsletter. And, you know, I kind of towards the end of the year, coming into the new year, I said, you know, we're having these, I'm having these conversations anyway, it just doesn't make sense for me to not record them and not have that content, to not be able to share the stuff that gets missed in the newsletter. And yeah, so I mean, we actually just did the first interview as of yesterday, sat down with the gentleman, we had a recording, and it'll go into post-production now,

and we're probably about a week or two out before launching the first edition of that. So I'm going to start doing the podcasts are going to be weekly, and then the newsletters are going to stay on a biweekly, basically. And eventually what I want it to evolve into is the conversations, the podcast will be the one-on-one, the full in-depth conversation, everything from, you know, from A to Z with each individual person. And then what I want to do is I want to find all the consistencies and all the, you know, string all the stories together between multiple people and obviously the longer that we go, the more people that we connect with and talk with, the more of these connections that we can find.

Then start with the newsletter threading all these stories together. so that way it's not just, you know, like one podcast, one person, one newsletter, one person. And I think it'll really help to diversify and paint the picture from a different angle. That sounds like a great game plan for sure. And so what other social media sites are you on? You know, I know we met on LinkedIn. It's my, you know, preference as far as social media platforms is concerned. I create a ton of content on there.

You know, I'm active. I've got, you know, a tribe, if you're. will of people that I engage with on a consistent basis. And I'm continuously trying to find, you know, more people to connect with. I think, you know, the more people you know, the more info you can get and the more people that you can help out. And, you know, it's beneficial for everybody. So are you on any other social platforms?

I'm really all in on LinkedIn. I mean, I, you know, like, when I was director of marketing, the last agency I worked for, we tried to do a little bit of everything. We had a blog. We had a podcast. We were on every single social media. We were, you know, we had email campaigns. We had internal email. Like, we had so much stuff. And for a full team, it was just way too much for us to keep up with. So, you know, going into my own business, I said to myself, you know, I got to be very focused, very streamlined because I have to do client work. I have to do business development. I have to do sales. I have to do accounting. I have, there's so much I have to do as a business owner.

So, you know, I really tried to kind of streamline the process. So pretty much everything I do, is, you know, through LinkedIn. Same as you. I'm creating a lot of content, obviously, between, you know, the newsletter and the podcast now. I write my daily journals. So that's just part of my morning routine. I've done it for two years. That wasn't too big of a deal for me, but I'm publishing those every single day. And then I usually post on top of that. I do a lot of like one minute videos, which are just, you know, hashtag just a thought. It's just, you know, what's on my mind. I pull a lot of that from the conversations I have. Again, everything really kind of gets repurposed. You know, it's just

I go through my day and I learn new things and I try new things and I have great conversations and I distill that and turn it into content. So yeah, a lot of content, at least two posts on LinkedIn every single day. You know, then the newsletter and the podcast coming out and then yeah, that's that's kind of the focus for me. That's awesome. And so what's your favorite type of content? Is it that, you know, written a copy? Is it do many videos? Do you have a decent amount of articles? Like, what is your preference? I know you do a daily journal, so I'm going to assume that the copy is, but I figured I would ask. Yeah, I have, I think it's 175 articles published to LinkedIn at the moment. Yeah, I mean, writing is pretty big for me. And I think, you know, out of the three formats, there's, you know, there's video.

there's written, there's audio. I think written is very foundational to it. Even if you kind of, you know, even if you have audio content or video content that's kind of, you know, you shoot from the hip, there's still like kind of a lot of writing that goes into, whether it be like an intro or you kind of, you know, you're at least planning the strategy on what you're going to talk about

or the talking points or the calls to action, you know, within that content. So I think writing is pretty big for me, definitely. But I kind of just love all of it. I just love the creative process in general. I like to, I struggle a lot more with like creating, creating content, if that makes sense. Like really trying to come up with something. Whereas if you just, you know, like Gary B says it, like document, don't create, right? Like if you just take what you're naturally doing in your day-to-day activities and you apply it,

like that's why my daily journal is easy for me. I wake up and I just vomit what's on my mind. You know, my Just a Thought videos, same thing. Like, it's just like, it's what's on my mind. I just speak for a minute. You know, I keep a notepad and I say, like, here are the topics I want to talk about. Because if I have a good conversation, I'm like, oh, that was an awesome topic. I write it down and then, you know, leave a note for me to easily remember the next time I hop on video.

But, like, the newsletter can be a little bit painful. I always like to say that creating is like, you really, like, anytime you create, if you're an artist, if you make anything, you have to pour your blood, sweat, and tears into it. And like, it can literally be physically exhausting to create something, to, to, like, put yourself into your work. So it's, but it's, but it's like, it's, you're putting your love into it and it's a painful process, but it's so, it's beautiful. Like when it comes out and it's done, it's just like, it makes it so much more worth it

at the end of the day. And you're just like, wow, like, I can't believe I created that. Like, I know how much pain I went through to make that. and how hard it was and how much time and like how much mental capacity it took for me to make it. But I'm so glad that I did because it's it's something that I can that I can give to the world. Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure because I actually love the creative side and I actually equally love copy, video, you know, articles. You know, I love, I kind of love it all. You know, I enjoy doing all of them. So it makes it, it makes it a lot of fun because, you know, if,

If you can only do one, then makes it challenging with the others because you have to put a lot more effort and energy, I think, into it. Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, I've just always enjoyed, you know, trying to evoke thoughtful conversation, right? Like asking a question that's going to elicit a response from people is what I love, because for me, I actually much rather see tons of conversation and engagement over views. and likes and the vanity metrics like that, right? Because that's where you can truly see what the community is thinking about the content

that you created. And that's what makes it worthwhile. You know, like getting those messages from people or even just in the comments where they say, hey, wow, thank you so much. I needed this today or that inspired me. You know, like you were talking about earlier when people share those stories, it's just so meaningful and it makes you want to. to keep going every single day. Oh yeah, definitely. Even when it's tough, you know, like you,

like I said, when you have those crap days and you just, you just don't want to do it. It's funny. You can, you can kind of flip through and just read some of the stuff that you've done or like look back and say like have a conversation. Like that's one of the biggest things. Like me just going to have a conversation with someone is like the quickest thing to pull me out of a crap mood. You know, like whether it be like a coworker when I used, you know, at my old job, I would just like, I could sit in my desk and I could stew all day or I could literally just force myself to get up and go have a conversation with someone and that would kind of like knock me right back out of it. And same thing.

It's like I just have to go hop on message people, set up a phone call, hop on a phone call that's already scheduled, have that conversation. And boom, it just like pulls me right back out of that bad mood and just like puts me right back on the motivation train. Very cool. And so have you ever taken any personality assessments? I don't think so. Maybe like one of those BuzzFeed quizzes like a while ago, but that's about it. Okay, that's a question I like to ask. You know, I teach a six-month leadership program every year,

and it's predicated on the MBTI assessments, the Myers-Briggs type indicator. So I'm heavily involved with that for half of the year, so I'm always interested to see, you know, who has taken an assessment and then, you know, what people's viewpoints or thought processes are on that. But if you haven't taken one besides one on BuzzFeed, then you don't know yet.

You don't know what you don't know. Right. I have no clue. Yeah. And so, you know, emotional intelligence has been a topic, really for the past three or four years, it's been a hot topic, right? Yeah, definitely. You know, people say that it's more important to have high EQ over IQ in a lot of cases because EQ is what's going to help separate you from someone that people either want to work with or don't want to work with. And so what are your thoughts on EQ? and, you know, have you ever, you know, taken an EQ assessment to find out where you are and, you know,

what kind of helps you manage your emotions in different situations? No, but, yeah, I mean, I definitely, I definitely, you know, there's always room for improvement, right? I think, you know, I think that I definitely prioritize EQ over IQ. I'm a, like I said, you know, just through all this very transparent guy, I like to put myself out there. and connect with people. And, you know, I'm always to kind of willing to have that conversation be very transparent and, you know, get to know people and share, you know, compassion. And, you know, like you said, you know, it's really about a people game.

Like people don't do business with people with businesses. They do people. People do business with people. I think that's the biggest thing. So it's like it's always about the relationships. It's always about getting to know people and empathizing with them. I think that's just the biggest thing. So I've, you know, especially towards the beginning of my sales career where I would, you know,

I'd be really good at, you know, whatever it was we were talking about. And I would just talk circles around people and no one would ever want to do business with me because it was like, yeah, I knew what I was talking about. But I'm not helping you. I'm not helping you. I'm not connecting with you. I'm just doing the job for you. And, you know, that would kind of push people away.

And when I kind of, you know, as I learned as I grew, you know, I focused more on the relationship and just getting to know people, uncovering what the true pain point was and trying to genuinely help them solve that. And then that alone would make them want to do business with me because it's like, I helped them that far, then they knew that I could continue helping them to progress even further. People don't hire people to get a job done. They hire them to help them understand the problem and get through the problem and understand it so it doesn't come back up again. They don't want to be dependent on people, you know, to do it. They want to have a partnership and they want to know that, you know, we're creating something together. We're progressing forward

together. Yeah. And, you know, creating that framework, right, a foundation is super important because like you said, they don't want to have to deal with that same issue again. And, you know, and so it's more like you're partnering with them and shilling them and walking them through the processes together so that if it does arise again, right, they can actually address it on their own. Yeah. And I mean, I think, you know, they're certainly going to be willing, like, if it's something that they need to outser, right, like, I need to delegate stuff. Like, I know that I can't, I can't scale if I plan to do everything. So I know I need to hire people. I know that I need to outsource work as I grow. But I want to know that those people have my best interest in mind, that, you know, they're looking

to grow with me, that they're not just looking to collect a paycheck and do a job and, you know, check something off the box. I want to work with people who are going to take their own initiative and that they're going to collaborate with me and they're going to help me understand the problem, help me push through it, not just kind of, you know, get through it so that way they can keep collecting a paycheck. Absolutely. And so do you have any favorite quotes? Oh, God.

I don't have any favorite ones, but I used to do this thing where I would go through and I would like, take my, you know, how was I feeling that day? What did I need help on? What did I need work? What did I need to work on? And, you know, then I would go find quotes and I would write them down. So I actually have, I used to do this at my old job. So I actually have like a piece of paper.

And I'm big on like, I hate like just being wasteful. So I would take all like, I would walk around the office and I would collect all people's like scrap paper, stuff that they were just going to recycle, throw out. And I would rip it up into like little small pieces, you know, like post-it, size notes and stuff like that. So I have all these handwritten quotes and who they're attributed to on my desk. There's probably like 15 here in this pile that I have in my hand right now. And occasionally what I'll do is like, you know, same thing. It's like this is one of the exercises that I use to like help me, you know, help pull me out of a bad mood to help, you know,

help me get through some stuff. And I just kind of flip through them and I say, okay, you know, which one am I going to put on top so that way I can just like look over when I, you know, like when I look over at my plants or I look to grab my glass of water. They're sitting right there and the quote stares me at the face. So the one that I currently have on the top right now is nothing is an obstacle unless you say it is. And that's a quote from Wally Amos. That's awesome. Yeah. And that, I mean, that to me, that's, you know, it's all about your mindset, right? You know, business to me, you know, whether you're an employee or whether you're an entrepreneur, it really is a mindset game. You know, like we, we have.

have the choice of how we're going to respond and react to certain situations. And if we're choosing to just let things kind of, you know, go right over and not take it to heart, I mean, our day is probably going to look a little different, right, than if we, you know, held on to those things. So, so what are your thoughts on on business as it relates to mindset? I think mindset's everything, even outside of business. You know, the, the, the, the, The human body is, um, it's quite incredible. And really the only thing that holds is like, especially like if you look at sports, I know you've been done sports.

Um, I run every single morning. And I know that the days that it's harder is because of my mindset. It's because I'm in a crap mood or I had a bad day yesterday or I lost a client or, you know, whatever kind of went wrong, went wrong. And, um, the mind is usually the thing that, that shuts you down first, that you can, you have so much more willpower and, um, you can talk yourselves, you can talk. you can talk yourself out of things as easily as you can talk yourself into things. And this is one of the biggest things that I focus on when I talk to people for the

million to one community is why they start their businesses, what pushes them over the edge, what encourages them because a lot of people always say, I wish I had started sooner. And it's like, well, why didn't you? And when you dig into it deep enough, you find that a lot of people have something that pushes them over the edge, that's something that there's a catalyst that gets them to actually start, that they've been planning about it, that they've been thinking about it. The guy I talked to yesterday was like, I've got this massive folder on my desktop that is just, you know, a million-dollar ideas. And he's like, I never started any of them. And, you know, it's usually something that

pushes you over the edge. I mean, for, you know, I remember the biggest thing is like, I talked to someone who started a charity foundation and, you know, it was, it was for cancer. And the reason he did it was because his mother passed away from cancer. And it was, and I had asked him, you know, like, if that hadn't happened, you know, would you have started, would you have started this company? I'm just like, absolutely not. For me, it was, you know, I, I was, it was in a position where I was, you know, being put into a job that I didn't want to do. I wasn't passionate about what I was doing and I wasn't happy showing up to work. You know, and I had, you know, had I been in a cozy job, had I enjoyed that, I don't know if I would have left my job seven months ago. I probably would have

stayed there. And I think that, you know, it's, that that all goes back to that mindset. It's just like, what's, you know, what's, like, what's, what's going to push you, what's going to drive you. You know, you really, you're in control, but, but also your, your mind kind of like controls it at the same time. It's, it's that balance. It's finding, you know, like, what do I need to talk myself out of? What do I need to not talk myself out of? And staying in control of that is, is one of the biggest challenges. Yeah. And so, so what I'm really hearing is, it's, it's, self-awareness is huge, right? Being able to understand yourself, your emotions, how you're feeling.

And knowing if, you know, like, I actually don't like going to work today. You know, like I, you know, you kind of look at it and you, you, it sounds like you really realize that like this is not my best life. I feel like I am not excelling. I'm not growing. I'm not being able to do what I'm passionate about. And so that's, you know, when you started to take action and you knew it was time. Yeah.

But it's also too, like knowing, is it like, am I just having a bad day or is this, you know, like, how much is this coming up? How frequently is this happening? And is it always the same thing or is it for always the same reason? So it's very much so kind of like recognizing the patterns over a period of time as well. Because like I, that's where I, you know, make mistakes to like, like, this is something I still struggle with, you know, all the time. It's just like, is, you know, jumping to a conclusion too fast and, you know, making an assumption and, you know, realizing that there's a problem and knowing that I I need to solve it. But not taking enough time to analyze it or figure out really why that's happening, why I'm in that mood or why I feel that certain way and really being able to break it down. You know, because if you jump to conclusions and then all of a sudden you go back, like you've taken, you know, one step forward, but two steps back. That's absolutely right. And so, you know, where can people find your newsletter?

Newsletter, the best place to find it is on our website. So, sIx3media.com and then just backslash newsletter if you go to the homepage newsletters up in the top right. You can also check out the 6-3 media, again, S-I-X-3 Media LinkedIn page. We repurposed all the content from both the podcast and the newsletter, break it down and post stuff there. So you can kind of check out snippets. We're still working on this. You know, again, we're kind of in the early stage of this, so it'll get better over time. but that's kind of where you can find some of the content and then go back to the website,

register for the newsletter directly from there. And so you're seven months in. So congratulations again on the launch of your business. Thank you, sir. And where do you see yourself seven months from today? Seven months today. So I don't know exactly where in what point in time this is, but kind of where I see this going is that I have part of a big part of what I do is connect with people right so I had I had this guy

reach out to me this kid in university and you know he just he was like I know I want to start my business but I don't I don't I know I want to start a business but I don't know what I want to do you know I'm still in my second year of college I'm still trying to figure it out my dad wants me to do this but I don't know if that's what I want and you know we just sat down we had a conversation we started getting to know each other and um you know know, I asked him, I was like, hey, listen, I have this idea. Would you want to help me out? You know, would you want to help me build this company? I can't pay you anything. But if you are able to bring on new clients, I would split commission with you 50%. So he's kind of really an intern.

And, you know, we connect all the time. He's just so hungry, so driven. And I love the relationship that we have. You know, he's a young guy in college and he gets to, you know, I try and teach him every single thing that I know. So, you know, he's going through the process. and he's learning and, you know, as he continues to grow and as he continues to hone his skills and, you know, be able to actually sign some clients, he'll still make money out of it, which is great. And that's the easiest way for me to be able to scale this thing up. I only have so much time in a day so I can only talk to so many people, but the more people that I can train, the more people that I can bring into this and share my knowledge with them and

teach them how to connect and how to build relationships with people and how to form partnerships and how to make those introductions, it not only builds their own skills as individuals, but we're making more connections. We're helping more people get connected, and we're growing our referral network, and we're helping more partners by bringing them more business. So that's really how I see this thing scaling up,

is me really kind of just being a mentor and bringing on a lot of similar kind of intern roles and really being able to, you know, people who are in college have time, but who are hungry and, you know, who want to invest their time to learn, with me. And from here, I'd like to optimize the process with him individually and then go and start doing rounds, like bringing on like three guys, you know, helping them out, teaching them the ropes and

getting them trained up and then, you know, continue to expand from there and really kind of, you know, exponentially scale this entire model. That's awesome. Yeah. And like you said, that's that's a fantastic opportunity for somebody into college to get real firsthand experience and, seeing the behind the scenes of what entrepreneurship looks like. So I'm sure that that kid's going to be super excited, you know, especially when all said and done or who knows, maybe he's a big part of the company down the road, right?

Yeah, I'm continually impressed by, you know, what he's able to do. I feel like I turn around like within a week. And I'm like, I feel like I haven't trained him on anything. But I'm just like, here, you know, here's the baselines. Here's how I can get started. I just want him to get familiar.

You know, like he's investing his own time. I don't, you know, it's, it's his freedom. He's, it's his own role. Like, he's kind of, you know, entrepreneurial his own little career, you know, just by working through me. So, but it's like, he just, he just took to it right away. And he's like, he's like pinging me. And he was like, hey, I just booked a call. And I'm like, I didn't even teach you how to do that. Like, how did you do that? So it's a really cool feeling to be on the other side. And I think that, that, that was a big thing for me. You know, I say that, you know, one of the biggest things I kind of regret from college was that, you know, I didn't spend more time focusing on.

my entrepreneurial career that I didn't, you know, I had all this free time and I didn't capitalize on it. And I always, like, wish that I had a mentor that I always wish that I had someone to kind of train me and, you know, take me through this stuff. So, you know, like I can, I can retroactively do that, you know, by turning around and being able to help him. And hopefully as I figure this thing out, I can, I can do that with more people as well. And that's a cool way to look at it, right? It's like, you know, man, I think I missed out on these opportunities. And I don't want these people to miss out on them, right? Like, I don't want them to have to. go, you know, be in the position that I'm in. So, you know, that's really awesome. I think it's a

great initiative to be able to give back like that. And I think that they're really going to appreciate, you know, being a part of the journey of starting a business. So that's amazing. Awesome, man. Well, you know, this has been a fantastic conversation. And so is the best place for people to reach you besides your website? Is it LinkedIn? I know you said that is really where you spend most of your time? That's where I live. I always have LinkedIn open, whether it's on my phone or one of my various screens on my laptop. So yeah, definitely, you know, if you're interested in what we do, you can check out our website again, six3media.com. But really just come talk to me. I've got the same information right on my profile so you can learn all about our company, get the links, et cetera.

Come check out the million to one community and hear other people's stories, you know, get to get to connect with people. You can do so on your own through the community or you can come, you know, come to me and I'll introduce you to people who might be able to help you out. Or, you know, let's even chat ourselves. I'm always setting up calls with people, just 15-minute intros. I'd just like to get to know people, see how we can help, because you never know what's going to happen. Six months down the line, 12 months down the line or 12 years down the line.

So the more people you know, the more people you connect with, and the more people you try and help, I fully believe that it comes back to you. That's awesome, Dan. And I'm a big believer in reciprocity and being kind of, others in helping each other out, right? You know, there, there's enough out there for everyone to be successful, right? And I think the fact that your company is literally predicated on helping others, I have no doubt that seven months from the day, it's going to be highly successful. So, congratulations on the launch. For everyone that's listening, I'm going to make sure to post

all of Dan's social links in the show notes. So be sure to check that out. And I hope you all have an amazing day. Thank you so much for listening to that episode with Dan Mott. I have no doubt he is going to be successful with his business. What a journey he's been on so far. Hey, if you're not subscribed yet, do me a favor and subscribe. Also, make sure to tell your friends about the podcast. I would really, really appreciate the support. And I can't wait to share the next episode with you all soon. Have an amazing day.