How To Create A Business That Stays Forever by Dan Miller | Build For Ages | Avi Arya

I'm Dan Miller. I grew up on a farm, so I was exposed to a lot of different things that set in me. The entrepreneurial spirit. I've never had a real job. I've never had a job where I got a paycheck because I've always just seen ideas around every bush and I've just operated on those. So I've followed those areas of interest in various businesses. But for the last 25 years, I've been an author, speaker, coach in this space and helping people really figure out how has God uniquely gifted me and what can that look like in terms of meaningful, purposeful and profitable work on Monday morning? Put some really great qualifiers in there to have a more meaningful journey because a lot of people simply look for the income potential. There's a whole lot of ways to make money. The only way it's going to be meaningful and purposeful as well as profitable is to first look inward.

My name is Avi Arya, father of two girls, six dogs, husband to a superwoman, a streetcar racer turned hotelier, now social media marketer and founder of the Internet Moguls of the World Family Digital Marketing School. Over to you.

All right. I'm Dan Miller. I grew up on a farm, so I was exposed to a lot of different things that set in in me. The entrepreneurial spirit. I've never had a real job. I've never had a job where I got a paycheck because I've always just seen ideas around every bush and I've just operated on those. So I've followed those areas of interest in various businesses. But for the last 25 years, I've been an author, speaker, coach in this space of helping people really figure out how has God uniquely gifted me and what can that look like in terms of meaningful, purposeful and profitable work on Monday morning?

Nice. I love that how that leads to meaningful, profitable work on a Monday morning. Meaningful and profitable. You need both?

Yes.

Awesome. Great. My next question, Dan, is like I said, this school has an audience of teenagers, their parents and grandparents. Now, today's teenagers, they say an apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. But apples, I feel, always try to do something different and say, I want to go further from the tree. I want to do something different. So the entire family that is watching your interview right now, and especially during these times when people are anxious, fearful, stressed to be. And I'm looking as a, I'm looking to find a business that I can do to be able to support my family. What are the two, three things I should ask myself, because in a way, there is a reset. I may be being laid off of my job. Maybe my business went under, it's a reset, and now I can do something which is. Which is more me, more uniquely me, like you said. So what would be your advice to people who are wanting to restart now? What are the two, three questions they should ask themselves to now have a more authentic journey, more meaningful life than before?

Well, you put some really great qualifiers in there to have a more meaningful journey because a lot of people simply look for the income potential. There's a whole lot of ways to make money, but the only way it's going to be meaningful and purposeful as well as profitable is to first look inward. 85% of the process of having a confidence of proper direction in your business or career is from looking inward. What is unique about you? Your skills and abilities, Your personality tendencies, how you relate to other people, Your values, dreams and passions. How do you manage? How do you sell? How do you persuade? The more you know about yourself, the more confidence you can have about making the right choice when it comes to a business. So too many people get a band Aid cure. They see somebody who's really knocking it out of the park on Amazon. Well, I'm going to do that. But if that doesn't really connect with your heart and your soul, you'll burn out. There are too many, too many unexpected things when doing something on your own. And if you're going to be in it for the long haul, it has to come from a passion. So that's the 85%. Then 15% is all right. Knowing what I know about myself doesn't matter if you're introverted, extroverted, if you like old people, young people, ideas more than people. No right or wrong on any of that. But the more you know about yourself, the more you can create a clear focus and then say, okay, here's a business idea, then embraces what I know about myself. And you walk into that and it feels like you've come home.

Wow. I love that. I love that. Over to you.

Okay, so my first question is, where did you get the idea and the concept of your book 48 days to what you love and to get your dream life.

Yeah. You know, I'd love to tell you that I sat down and came up with this perfect business idea, but it didn't happen that way at all. I'm being an entrepreneur. I had a lot of different businesses I was in, you know, car sales and motorhome rentals and health and fitness center and direct sales, a lot of things. And it was when I was, well, it was 25 years ago, the church that we were going to ask if I would teach a class. My academic background is in clinical psychology. They asked if I would teach a class helping people through these inevitable, relentless career transitions that we're all faced with, often unexpected and unwelcome. And I said sure. So I taught the class. And Raya, I thought I would have, you know, the 22 year old who just lost their job at Burger King asking me how to get another job. We had some of those. We had the 18 year olds who were wondering what to major in college. But you know, what I had more than Anything were the 45 year olds. Physicians, attorneys, dentists, pastors, engineers, accountants who are saying, everybody thinks I'm doing okay and I am, but I don't think this is it. I think there's something more. And it was in the avalanche. We had people. I started with a little group and it just grew and grew and grew. We outgrew the room, we outgrew the time. I moved it to a Monday night rather than Sunday and it became just a community event. But you know, we had people from other churches, other states that would come for that. And I was blown away at what I was seeing. And then people were saying, and I was just creating content a step ahead of the people who came each week. Then I had people say, I have a son in law who's been without work for three months. I want him to hear what you just told us. What do you have that I can give him? And I didn't have anything. And so I finally put together a little three ring binder. Not because I saw it as a profitable business venture at all, just to serve the people who were asking for it. Then I went to Mark Victor Hansen conference in Los Angeles and heard him talk about how he sold chicken soup for the soul. I came back and in the next 18 months I sold over $2 million worth of a three ring binder that had two cassettes in it back in those days. Two cassettes. And so my business evolved around me more than me strategically saying, this is what I want to do. I've always been catching up with what people are asking for as my business developed. So I did develop products that then and after I sold, you know, millions of dollars worth of that three ring binder, then I had publishers knocking on my door. I never went to see a publisher, I never sent out a proposal, but I had publishers knocking on my Door saying, we want to publish. We see what you're doing. So then I put put it into a hardback version 20 years ago and then have other books that have come along. But I've really been catching up. I mean, it challenges me to stay ahead in terms of having a strategic business plan because I'm trying to catch up with what the market is asking for. So that has evolved into writing, speaking, coaching, and our online communities, masterminds, the things that we do have all been in response to what people have been asking for. Some of them almost feel bad sharing that because it doesn't sound like a real strategic business approach, but it just has exploded around me and continues to do so.

But like they say, having your ears to the ground is what you had. You listened to the people, you gave them what they're looking for, and in exchange, the success happened.

Yes, yes. That's so critical. You know, a lot of people try to create something out of thin air, then just force it on people. Wow. If you listen to what people are asking for, it's really easy to create products and services that serve them well.

Awesome.

They willingly give you their dollars in exchange.

Nice. I love that. So, you know, when it comes to a, you know, in today's day and age, you. A message from you on. Over the years, there are many marketers have done very well and all of that, you have featured on every list of being everybody's best friend. Because I've heard from Social Media Mastery World to here and there, wherever you go, people like you, people love you. And you're also in those lists and you've been on those lists forever. Every time there's a new list, there are new faces, but you're always there. How does somebody start a business and stay, make it happen that it becomes forever. What is your secret to being evergreen and always being relevant?

Well, I love your question and you really alluded to the answer in that is because of how I value relationships. I have nurtured those relationships with Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas and Tim Ferriss and Michael Stelzner and all the people that you and I know in common. I've nurtured those relationships. So when I come up with an idea, I share it with them and get their feedback and they do with me. But here's what happens a lot. We see people who get into this space and they have a book or a course and it really does well. And all of a sudden they're inaccessible. You can no longer get in touch with them. The people who help Them that helped them get there. You can't get an email response, you can't get a phone call taken. I don't want to be that person. I don't ever want to ignore the people who are where I was 30 years ago and the people who have fueled my success to get to where I am. So in as much as like, Pat Flynn does an amazing job of talking about raving fans, right? Yeah. You have this pyramid and at the bottom are people you're reaching on social media or whatever. Sure. You know, I don't answer everybody that responds at that level, but the raving fans, they get my attention. They get a lot of my attention. So the reason I stay on those list as you described, is simply that I don't think it's because I'm smarter, because I have brand new ideas. I mean, my value in, in the world has changed over time, as an example. But I'm really underlining this with. It's because I have maintained really strong relationships with a lot of people that has continued to open doors for me. But here's an example. I mean, there are a lot of. I mean, I talk about the workplace and about digital marketing and how to get more blog subscribers and all that, but there's a whole lot of people out there who are a lot smarter than I in those spaces. Technology changes so fast. And while the things you can do today are amazing and how to use video effectively on YouTube, there's a whole lot of people way smarter than I am. But there are also things in my life that people identify me as having that other people don't. As an example, my wife and I have been married for 52 years. She's the best friend I have in the world. And a lot of young entrepreneurs are reaching out to us, not saying how can I scale my business, but they're saying, how can I live the life that I see you living? Okay, that really warms my heart, but that only comes from years of living that life. So my, my value has, has changed over time. I don't try to be the expert in some of those things that I was really promoting even 10 years ago. But today I have some unique value that I can bring the community that I think does have value for teenage entrepreneurs. I love teenage entrepreneurs and others just starting out, coming along the way, as you know, I mean, a lot of what we see, and you described it in your journey, we see somebody who is chasing their business success and all of a sudden their personal success is suffering.

Right.

And so people are saying how can I avoid that? How can I? I have people that come and say, I thought it was a choice. I thought it was a binary choice. Either I grow my business or I have a successful family. I'm like, you got to be kidding me. That's horrible to think that those are an opposition. I want you to have both. You're. Here's how to do that.

Fantastic, fantastic. Value system, relationships and making your message relevant to today's audience. That is fantastic because I don't think anybody else I know, especially on our list and on our. The COVID of. I don't know if I sent you the COVID of the book, how it's going to come out. And on that, I don't think there's anybody who's, you know, who's I. This was my. One of my favorite questions. I wanted to know how are you everywhere? And. And with the support of everyone, because everyone we spoke to, they were like, oh, yeah, you must get him. He's amazing. So you definitely have a lot of people in the industry who really talk very fondly of you. So thank you for teaching us that.

My next question, just one more quick thing, for whatever it's worth, is that you also don't hear me criticizing others. If they do things differently than I do, that's fine. But you don't hear me demeaning those out there in social media. You know, I'm not involved in the political disputes that are going on right now. I just don't think it serves us well. So I don't expend my energy there, but I think it keeps me immune from a lot of criticism that may be drawn otherwise as well.

Right.

I'm sorry, Raya, go ahead.

No, no, no, no problem. My next question is, you talk a lot about teenage entrepreneurs, and for any teenage entrepreneurs watching this, how do you find the right audience to serve? Firstly, who is the audience you serve, and how do teenagers like myself find the right audience to serve?

I think it's being real clear in what it is you have of value. I am much more interested in pulling people than in pushing things out to them. So if I really know, and I love the space that I'm in, helping people find that authentic fit, or what your talents, your skills, your unique zone of genius is, and then what that can look like in terms of a business that's going to fit you, because I'm known for that, it draws people in. I don't have to go looking for people to push my message on. It draws people in. And I think the same is true. How old are you, Raya?

14.

14, okay. I think the same thing is true there. I have a daughter who is 14 who lives in Woodland Park, Colorado and they have a farmer's market. She is amazing at doing face painting and henna.

Right.

She crushes it. I mean in recent Saturday it was raining and everybody else left from 10:30 to 4:00 clock in the afternoon. She stayed in her little tent. She made $422 and she has friends of hers. You don't have a part time job working at the pizza shop. They don't make that in a month. They're like, how can you. It's because she found a unique skill she had and simply people fans share the word, share the word for her. So it's be real clear what it is. You have a value. Don't get that flipped and just trying to come up with something where you can get money from people. It doesn't work. Find something that you already care about, that you're passionate about and the world will find you. Because they want to hook their wagon to somebody who's passionate about what they're doing.

I like that they want to hook their wagon. Nice. Raya, you want to tell, you want to tell him about your project?

Sure. So I've started a YouTube channel recently about self love and kind of my whole YouTube channel is around self love because personally when I was little I dealt with bullying myself and I know that's a lot very common thing in high school. So for anyone going through that my videos are around the subject of self love, around the subject of trying to find who you are. And, and yeah, I just started recently. Would you have any advice?

And she also lost almost about 25 pounds in the process of rediscovering her no. 10 kilos. That's about 25 pounds. So and so and her. So now she on her channel she talks about health tips and all of that. So I think that's what she wanted to that now she's doing what her journey in two years back she said I come to the office, I understand digital marketing. I know can I start a digital marketing channel? And we thought maybe digital marketing is not what people would want to learn from you. Why don't you share your journey? And I think she went deep in understood what her journey was and that's what she came up with.

Yeah, I love that. And I think that opens the door for an amazing opportunity for you telling your own story, just sharing it as it unfolds. But then right behind that is the opportunity to give other people, you know, seven tips for this. Or here's a nutrition program that can help you be as healthy as I am. Here's an exercise routine. And it opens the door for digital marketing for those little products that somebody may pay $3 for. And you start seeing a revenue stream from that when you're doing something that you're really passionate about. I mean, I tell people, I see a lot of people who are trying to follow an academic path to success. And so they see, you know, I'm going to be an attorney, I'm going to be a dentist, I'm going to be a computer programmer. And I tell them, I would rather help you grow dandelions if that's what you're excited about, than to try to help you be a computer programmer. Because we know there are jobs there. If it's something that really is from your heart, just share your story. Don't try to figure out too quickly how to monetize that. I'm guilty of that. As a grandpa, when my kids are doing something they really enjoy and I immediately think about, gee, Etsy, you know, the things we can do to create a little store and replicate this and monetize. I want them to enjoy it. I have to allow them the space to enjoy it. I have one granddaughter right now who co wrote a book with my wife when she was 8 years old. What if it were possible? So they have a book together. It's beautifully done and she's done other things. She's done designs on Redbubble and some other things. But right now she is fanatic about studying reptiles. She has five snakes in her room. She's studying them. So it has nothing to do with the business idea at this point. Right now she's just enjoying the process and I need to stay out of it and encourage her in just learning about it. But she's also positioning herself to be like a Jack Hannah where she understands reptiles and animals so well that she's doing presentations and writing books and all of that that can come, but it'll truly be from the joy that she gets and just doing it right now, as you can do with your YouTube channel.

Do the parents stay in the same house as the snakes? I'm just kidding because I'm petrified of skits.

They are full time travelers. They travel full time in a fifth wheel. They have a 240 square foot travel trailer with snakes, a dog and two cats.

Wow. Wow. That's the story in itself.

Yeah.

Awesome, Dan. Very nicely you explained to us, do not. I like what you said. I don't want to push products. I want to pull people towards me. And if I have a passion and I have something that can change people's lives, the world will find you. I love what you said there. Then you taught us on how to find that, how to stay relevant, how to add value. My next question is around people say, fine, I've got some clarity. Dan, I see your book and Your product says 48 days to when I'm selling and engineering my product, do I have to have a definitive outcome on the title of the COVID of the digital product so that people know exactly what to expect off the bat? Because most people get this part wrong.

Well, they do. And they tend to be one more in a sea of sameness. So here's an example. I am still known primarily as a career coach. So if you Google career coach, you're going to get 13, 14 million sites. I'm in there somewhere. I'm sure I have no idea where. And I don't care. Because you put in 48 days. I own that. Yes, I not through fancy SEO, but because that distinguishes me. All those career coaches out there that say, look, we'll look at what your skills are, we'll look at what your personality traits are, we'll figure out a job direction and over time you can move into that. So what? I got tired of working with people who said, my life really stinks. I hate what I'm doing. I've been here for 12 years. You know, I hate what I'm doing. We would map out a plan of action and a year later I'd run into them and they hadn't done anything. I thought, how is that possible? So that there has to be a timeline so there's a sense of urgency so you can move to closure. And when I put 48 days in there, it was like I threw gasoline on my business because people lined up saying, you mean I really can change my life in 48 days? And my answer then as now is yes, you can, if you create a plan and act on it. So when I work with somebody, be that a somebody with a DDS after their name, we work on a 48 day model. If on day 49 they're still doing what they were doing originally, that's fine. I'll still love them and be their friend. But I'm moving on because I work with people who take action in that defined period of time that. So it is important to have something that distinguishes you from everybody. Else. Otherwise you have no leverage, you have no traction. You just won more of many.

Nice. We have a small program called 33 days to becoming a Video Influencer. And I just get so much validation from your, from your thing saying that we are on the right track by putting that out there. Because what we teach is videos. And just because I love talking on videos and my whole journey, I never had millions of followers, but I've always had a very successful business based on the few people who knew me because I did videos for, from as early as 2000. So that's what I teach people. And it's surprising even today for me to see people who are otherwise very confident in whatever they do are petrified of videos, of putting themselves out there. What will people say? How would I be judged? And you know what? I need to lose weight. I need to maybe shave this beard. I need to cut my hair. They keep putting off sharing their brilliance with the world. So what you said just gave me a validation of that we are on the right track.

Good.

Okay, so my next question is one that my sister usually asked, but she could not be here with us today. But we use the term Internet mogul a lot. And dad's company's Internet moguls. But for this book, Internet moguls means someone who can use the Internet to grow their business success successfully, can reach their goals and reach their goals of success for themselves. Like success is something different to everybody else. But at the same time, they can also spend time with their family and create a successful family quality time and kind of keep that work life balance. What would your definition of an Internet mogul be?

Wow. It's certainly what you're defining there. I was raised in a farm, so everything done had a direct correlation to time and effort. That really puts a limit on what you can do. If you're only doing things that create linear income where you do it once and get paid once, there's an immediate ceiling to what you can accomplish. So even people like dentists and attorneys, they are paid very well, but their income model is exactly the same. And as the teenager who works at McDonald's, they get. They do their work and get paid one time. That's very. That would be very limiting to me. I love the fact that I still live on property. Probably saw a tractor drive by the window a little bit. My yard guys are working here today. But I still love the land. But the connection that we have to be able to be online and the potential to do something once and get paid 10,000 times is astoundingly different model than that farm life that I grew up on. I still value that, love those people. But I've seen too much. And so an Internet mobile allows me to be on my property. 10 acres just outside of. Just south of Nashville, Tennessee. 10 acres here. We have nature trails. I have zipline, my grandkids. We have waterfalls on our property here.

Oh, my God.

And I can stay right here and still have an incredibly successful business without having. I don't have any in. My commute in the morning has no red lights because I walk to this converted barn on our property that we call the sanctuary. I walk 300 yards from my house back here. That wasn't possible 40 years ago. People wouldn't have dreamed. That's what it. That's what it allows us today, an Internet mogul, we have that opportunity to create any kind of lifestyle we want. I don't value time on airplanes and in hotels. I do very little travel. This crisis that we're in has not affected. Yeah, I had, you know, I had a handful of speaking engagements, universities and things like that that were canceled, but it really hasn't affected me overall at all. Because as an Internet mogul, I'm not restricted by the kind of things that normally limit a person's possibilities.

That is fantastic. Thank you for saying that. That's exactly our message, that today you can do so much and use that finite commodity called time to do whatever you want. And we live in a beautiful place in Vancouver overlooking the mountains and the ocean from where we are. But I've always wanted to have 10 acres and a farm, and now I've just added waterfall to my bucket list. Then, for people who are, like I said, Internet moguls of the world of family Digital marketing school, you gave us very good insights on how teenagers should think about their business and how they're adding value to the marketplace. You spoke to people who are 45 on how we should position our offer and add value to the marketplace. Now let's shift towards the grandparents, the people who are above 55 and saying, you know what? I can't do tech, so therefore, it's over for me. I mean, I can't. How do these people come back, you know, into their own and share their brilliance with the world? What can they do to stay relevant and make money? More importantly, especially in today's day and.

Time, you know, it's really not very complicated. The basic underlying principle is if you stop learning, you're going to fall behind, and it doesn't matter if you're 14 years old or 44 or 74. So there's really no excuse in today's environment to stop learning. If you have, it's been a choice. And that choice is going to cost you. It's going to cost you in terms of opportunity that you have. It's going to cost you in terms of connection with your grandchildren. Yeah, we use Zoom and FaceTime enormously.

Right.

Because, because I don't have any grandkids that lived in geographic proximity to me. It doesn't matter. We connect with them every day wherever they are. So I, so I feel bad for those people who are 55, 65, or whatever age they happen to be. But if they aren't relevant, it's not that complicated to learn how to use Zoom, to learn how to send an email or to do a YouTube video. It's not complex. It's not like you have to spend two years, you know, getting your master's degree. You just have to be intentional about your desire. And your desire may not be to increase your business opportunity. It may be to stay connected with your children and grandchildren. That ought to be enough motivation to do that.

Sure.

If I tell people, you know, the day I stop learning, the day I stop being coached, when I stop learning, dig a hole and push me in. I have no value to anybody. So I don't want to demean anybody in that space. It really is a simple choice to stay relevant.

And when it comes to business opportunities, can you shed some light on that? I'm about 55 or 60 years old and we talk about online courses and somebody talks about starting a YouTube channel and sharing my message because I may be 55, 60, and seen the world a little longer than most people. Can I share my experience, put them into bite sized video lessons and teach people, maybe become an online tutor, coach, write a book like Dan Miller.

Well, if you want to do those things, you can, but at the same time, you, you don't have to do those things as part of your business. We have a lady who just completed our coaching mastery program. She's not an extrovert. She's not going to be the next, you know, Donald Trump. She wants to coach people. She has one single marketing tool. She has a 25 minute presentation that she does for the Rotary Club, other civic groups like that. She stays booked at least once a week. She gets out. She never fails to get new clients as a result of doing that. She doesn't have a big online presence. She's not building an email list of 20,000 people. She's just doing that one thing and doing it very, very, very, very well. So it's still a choice if you want to get into the online space. I mean, I encourage people to experiment with, like FBA fulfilled by Amazon. I mean, it's a very simple process of arbitrage where you can go to yard sales on the weekend and you specialize in silver goods for the kitchen or whatever. So you become knowledgeable in something you recognize when it's selling low, you position it online, not a big deal, and sell it and get money. So experiment with it to get yourself up to speed, to be more knowledgeable. Don't see it as such a big hurdle, but see it as a matter of staying relevant in your community, in your family, even if you aren't going to use it in business.

Got it. That makes a lot of sense. Dan, what would be the three big dreams that you're still working on or want to work on?

Well, I'm planning the next 25 years.

Sure.

I'm part of. Part of Strategic Coach with Dan Sullivan. You familiar with that?

Absolutely.

Toronto. Okay. I'm part of that. You know, Dan talks about that when your past is bigger than your future, you're in trouble. You've essentially told your body, hey, I don't need you anymore. We can start shutting down. I never want to reach that point where my past is bigger than my future. I love writing. There's nothing I enjoy more than writing. But my next book, which I'm so thrilled about, for every Sunday morning I get up and write a piece that I call Sabbath Musings. I send it out to nobody but members of my personal mastermind. So 30 people, they're the only ones that get it. But it comes from a deeper place within me than anything I've ever written. You know, 48 days. Wisdom meets passion rather than. Those things are tactical, strategic things that you can use. These things are much more spiritual, philosophical. And everybody says who sees it, says it's the best writing I've ever done. I'm now compiling those into what will be this. This is going to be. Now, this is just an example, but it's going to be done exactly like this. Five by seven, simulated leather, gold edge pages, bookmark. It feels heavy. Now, that's almost counterintuitive when we're in the digital marketing world because I can put the content online. It doesn't cost anything for production. No, I'm going to produce something that it feels like it's substantial when you have it in your Hand. So it's almost retro in that. Because of that and because of the enthusiasm I am already seeing for that in the marketplace, I. I'm now looking at content in the public domain that I'm going to reproduce in the same way in a book that really feels like you have something sacred, something significant in your hand. There's a book that P.T. barnum did on getting rich that is phenomenal in the public domain. So I'm going to be producing books like that in these next 10, 15 years. I mean, that's a big one. We just purchased a home in Florida that was a long term dream. I love it here in Franklin, where we are in Nashville. My wife is energized by the water. The sun restores her. And so I thought, you know, I can do what I do anywhere, as much as I love it here. We just bought a gorgeous home, golf club right on the beach in Venice, Florida. That was a big check mark to get that, to get that in place. And now we're decorating. I mean, she's like a 16 year old. We're buying furniture together and, you know, talking to landscapers and all these things that'll keep us energized for the next 20 years in doing that. And then the other thing that the third thing really would be the legacy that I have with my grandchildren. I take that very seriously. How they're gonna, not only how they're gonna remember me, but what I equipped them to do to make the world a better place. Not just how to get a paycheck, how can you do what your heart is calling you to do, but do it in a way that's so effective that it'll make the world a better place. And we're real involved. I have one son who's very involved in a space program. So he hangs out with astronauts and all that, but he sees space as the next future for the United States. We'll be going to space and setting up. How can we set up cultures that are better than what we've done on Earth? I love those conversations. So the conversations I'm having with my children and grandchildren is a really big part of this next season of life for me.

I love that. I love that. This was fantastic. I've got two more questions. We've got six minutes. We completely respect the time that we asked for. You know, I understand legacy and I respect legacy, but I see a lot of youngsters on the Internet being forced to work towards a legacy. Say I want to leave behind a legacy. And therefore they're working maybe without drilling deep within themselves and understanding who they are and working on a legacy. There is a fine line sometimes between doing something for the ego to say, this is what I built. I want the world to remember me for this. And the world doesn't remember anybody. People come and go. It's just a finite moments, the heartfelt moments that some people remember. So how should all three generations understand what a legacy is? Because I see legacy going towards the ego route nowadays.

Oh, my. You are so perfectly positioned. Understand the negative implications of what you just asked because we are so attuned in our space to bigger, bigger, bigger. I mean, everybody brags about their Instagram followers, the number of people they have on Facebook, you know, their email. And the bigger numbers, you know, the more important you are. Wow. I've got the guy who does my yard work right here is an absolute artist in what he does in keeping my place. Absolutely beautiful. He probably has about 20 customers. He's not going to write any books. He's not going to be doing digital marketing. He's not going to be on YouTube. His legacy is going to be a few people like me who love and appreciate his work.

Right, right.

I don't demean him for that. I don't tell him that's not enough. That's a full use. And that this is what I have to be careful with with my grandchildren so that we don't just look at things that allow them to scale. I mean, some things. I mean, how does the love for your daughter scale? It's a stupid concept. It doesn't even fit the terminology. Doesn't fit.

Right.

So when we talk about legacy, there are some people whose sphere of influence is small in that the ripple effect of their life, well lived, will last forever.

Thank you for saying that. Thank you for validating that. And thank you for. To me, to me as well, and also to the listeners that it's okay to be, you know, to have us small circle of influence and do whatever you want to do with your life.

Oh, do it with excellence. Hold your head high. Absolutely.

Okay, my last question before is, you know, we pray a lot and we believe in the higher power. Everybody in the family has a different higher power that they, you know, look up to. And so you do your best and then do find time for communion. Connect. And, you know, when you connect and when you do connect, have a conversation and then only then call it a day. What is the role of prayer in your life, Dan?

Wow. There is nothing I could identify that has added to My success more than how I treat the first two hours of my day. That's a stage. One of my books is titled the Rudder of the Day, and it speaks to that. I get out of bed and slip into another room where I drop in the floor, do some yoga exercises, things that help my back, things that I know really help me. Then I go into my favorite chair, and I spend the next 30 minutes in prayer meditation. I use Muse, which is the headband that tracks my brain waves, so that I really go into a deep meditation. Love that. But then I use things like the Daily Stoic from Ryan Holiday and things like the Bible scripture, things from the Stoics, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, people like that, to just fill my brain with positive, pure, clean information. Then I go and I hit the treadmill. I'm on the treadmill from 48 to 60 minutes. That's my range, depending on the podcast that I'm listening to. So this morning, I listened to Oprah's Super Soul Sunday, where her guest was Deepak Chopra.

Nice title.

Was Everything is Spiritual. It was phenomenal at that point. Then I jump in a shower, right, you're ready for it. That's the first two hours of the day. I don't look at email. I don't grab my phone. I don't turn a TV on the we have a newspaper. None of that. Do I want a part of the first two hours of my day at that point? I am so centered, so grounded, so ready to go spiritually, psychologically, anything can happen in the day, and I'm ready for it. But that's the most important part of my day is that.

Lovely. I love that. Thank you. That brings us to the complete hour. We made the most of it. Dan, thank you very much. Like I said, God has been kind and my blessings of my parents and support of the community. I've been able to build two, three decent businesses. And after the pandemic, I've restructured everything, almost cut it down to half so that I can now stay home and spend time with my family. So for me, it's a new beginning completely, to some extent. I used to take almost 40 to 60 flights a year till two months ago, till four months ago. And so we were working on this Internet moguls of the world, this building the school and building my video training academy, and because the agency was doing very well and all of that. So this pandemic we see as a blessing because everything changed. I'm back home. We set up a home office, and we that's what we want to do. I'm going to aspire to have a waterfall someday. But till then we're going to be building our school together. And you know, we have. When the pandemic hit, my hotels immediately had to shut down for four months. And they still shut down in India, the agency went down by 80% in revenue. So we were doing webinars to teach people how to do video marketing once a week. And I made a promise to on Facebook to my audience. 52 weeks, 52 webinars. And since COVID happened, we had no other income or revenue stream. We still had a large army to take care of. So we did 75 webinars in 75 days. And we took care of all our bills and everything. And in the process we built an email subscriber following of 143,000 people who loved the community that we created of the topic was called no fear, no anxiety, the beat Covid together and then we spoke about various things. So that built a community in 75 days. And these 143 people now want to work with us buy they want to know when the school is launching, what is the price for the school, how many people can join in and all of that. So some good things have happened. And in this new excitement of my life, you know, I know it's almost like a restart. And I'm loving myself starting up again because we all love starting up and especially with my new co founders. And during these times, help is very, I won't say difficult because God has always been kind and sent the right people at the right time. But sometimes it's difficult to ask for help. So many thoughts happening during these times. When amazing gentlemen like yourselves lend a hand of support to our new venture. It means a lot to us. So I wanted to say thank you once again from the bottom of my heart.

You're welcome. Enjoyed. Been a delight spending time with you guys. Raya Best too. As you develop this, I'll be eager to see this whole project come to life.