In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Marius Dancea, founder of IS3, a company that provides indoor digital screens and radio advertising for commercial, residential, and organizational properties. The conversation begins with a personal story about a senior student at Northeastern Illinois University who faced a financial barrier to graduation. Dancea initiated a GoFundMe campaign, leveraged a local TV production opportunity, and secured additional donations, ultimately enabling the student to graduate. He then explains IS3’s mission to fill the gap left by the shift to cloud‑based marketing by delivering localized, ground‑level visual and audio content that connects businesses and communities. Dancea shares broad business advice—always go the extra mile for customers and tenants—followed by personal guidance for his younger self: maximize development while youthful energy is available. He discusses his view of happiness as rooted in helping others rise, cites the Bible as his most influential book, and highlights his favorite quote, “The more you help others, the more you help yourself.” The episode concludes with contact information for IS3 (is‑3.org, LinkedIn, and email). The sponsor read for Flipboard is also included.
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All right, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner, and today's sponsor is Flipboard. Flipboard curates the world's stories so you can be smarter in your work, life, and play. Choose from thousands of topics to personalize Flipboard and get the latest stories from the best publishers and experts delivered to you 24/7. So You can get started now at flipboard.com. And now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Marius Dancia with us, and IS3 provides commercial and residential properties, businesses, and organizations development services including innovative visual and audio indoor marketing channels that reach local, national, and international international markets. All of their host locations have indoor digital screens and IS3 radio that connects, informs, encourages, inspires, honors, and motivates individuals and businesses to succeed and grow together. So welcome to the show, man.
Thank you very much, Tyler, for having me. I really, really appreciate it.
Of course, man, we're grateful to have you on. So the first one we got for you today is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
That's a great question. One of the best stories, I believe, is when I was teaching at Northeastern Illinois University and we were in our— I was teaching seniors. We were in our last class before graduation and a senior comes up to me and tells me, I can't graduate this semester. I ran out of all my loans and I won't be able to make it. And it was her last class before graduating. I said, "No way, Dad, that can't be done. We have to somehow pull together." And although I didn't have all the resources to give her the money for myself, we developed a GoFundMe page. And then I said, "You know, guys, I'm gonna be the first one to put the money in there." And I put an X amount of money in there. And as soon as I put in the money, half an hour later, I get a phone call from our secretary saying, "Dr. Dancia, that—" Someone called from Chicago PD Show, which is the show that is on Channel 5, I believe, that they want to do a production in front of the property that you have on 24th Place in Little Village in Chicago. And I said, oh, that's great. Then I contacted Phil from the show, and he tells me, listen, we want to run a wire by your property in the back there and use your location. We want to give you $300 for this. And I said, look. I said, "Phil, that's great because the money that you're giving me will go directly to the student that we're planning to help out." And when he heard about the story, he said, "You know, I'll give you $1,000 instead of $300." That money did go to the GoFundMe page. We were able to gather the rest of the money and she did graduate that semester. And that's a story that I think is gonna resonate with her and also with the whole class and myself because sometimes you just have to have faith that you're going to get it done no matter if it doesn't seem like it's possible.
And then what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Great, well, that's a great question. What I'm finding is that there is a need to connect, to motivate, to inspire, and in a way touch the local market. And I mean when the Internet came, everything went up to the cloud, but we forgot about the ground in more ways than one. And what we're doing is we are filling in that void. We found a niche or a need in the local market and that connects the properties, businesses, and organizations together.
And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
I think the best piece of advice is always go the extra mile. Do more than expected for the customer or client or tenant. Also, try to, even if it's suggested by any stretch of means of imagination to be possible to do, have it done and go the extra mile. It does pay off.
And then if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Well, that's— there's so much to say there, but I would say do the most you can when you're young. Do the most you can, do the most development you can, do just as much as you can while you have the youth, while you have energy, while you have the motivation. And that doesn't mean that as you go older you can't acquire all of those, but it's just better to Do as much as you can while you can while you're young.
And then kind of going down a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Well, the key to happiness to me is helping others rise. And that is in any way possible. The more you help others, I believe that you are helping yourself. And I think that the money is not the key to happiness. It is a tool that we use to get things, but the key to happiness is doing meaningful things and helping others. Rise.
And then what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, the best thing, the best book is the Bible, and the number one thing that I've learned from that is that God uses broken people to heal others. And thank God that I have the grace to do that and opportunity and the, the, the, the, not only the, the resources but also the, the motivation to do so that I would love to help others in the long run as much as I can. And that's what I've learned from that.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
Well, my favorite quote is, "The more you help others, the more you help yourself." Even if you're having a bad day, if you are helping someone else, you automatically forget about your bad day and it starts, makes your day even better by not thinking about it. So there's, the more you help others and one one way or another, you are helping yourself.
I agree. Well, thank you for coming on, man. The last one I got for you is, where can our audience best find you online?
Great. I believe the best to find me is is-3.org and also on LinkedIn as well. And those two places are the best. My email is M-D-A-N-C-E-A at is-3.org. Perfect, man. Thanks again for coming on. Thank you, Tyler. I really, really appreciate this.
