Welcome to invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. Join the podcast mogul Phil Better as he interviews successful entrepreneurs that

entrepreneurs. You're locked into another riveting episode of Invest in Yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Ruth and Ials feel better. And today we've got a guest who's not just a coach, but a living testament to the bold power of transformation. In 2016, our guest faced a challenging turn of events, a mistake that cost them over $80,000 and dismantled their marketing company. But in a face in the face of adversity, they chose a path less traveled and then fast forward 8 months after that, they're striding confidently onto a stage earning a cool 10 k for their first professional speaking gig. Today, our guest is on a mission to guide entrepreneurs through a journey of bold transformation, helping them expand their income, become powerful leaders, and savor life to the fullest. If you're craving a taste of living life unlimited, you're in for a treat.

Without further ado, let's welcome the man who set who turned setbacks into stepping stones, coach Dan Gordon. Dan, it's an absolute pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much for being here.

Bill and you who are listening right now, congratulations for stepping up, for hitting it hard, and for staring into the fire, staring into the things that you don't wanna look at because that's where the answers are. And I really dig what you're doing, Phil, because, clearly, that's what your show is all about. I love it.

It is. It is. We wanna get down to nitty gritties, how you started investing yourself, how you became an entrepreneur. It's it's these types of conversations that just, like, light a fire up under me. So without further ado, I'm gonna do with the first question, Dan. Why? Why did you become an entrepreneur? What was it that just burnt your soul to become one of the many crazies out there?

I am functionally unhirable. You know, in the, in the few jobs that I've had, I was called a loose cannon. I was called unpredictable. I was called a rule breaker. Right? All all these things. And, you know, and I never set out to be that. Like, I didn't wake up in the morning and go, hey, screw authority. Yeah.

Like, I'm gonna show like, it just like, I just did something. I just did the things that I knew was right that would produce results, and it just didn't occur to to me that doing so would damage people's egos, would step on their, you know, would would demolish the tiny little castle that they lived in. I was just doing great work. You were just doing great work and apparently being punished for

it by being a rule breaker, a rebel without a cause. So when did you decide, hey, let's go into this world of entrepreneurship. Like, was there a specific moment, an event that just preceded it or were you always an entrepreneur, like always starting little side hustles in that?

Yeah. I was, I was working at an ad agency in Saint Louis, Missouri, and I was cutting mat boards for a presentation that people were doing. You know, this is in the olden days when you'd print something out and adhere it to a board and show it to the, you know, to the client and go, how about this? And I was cutting this map board, and I knew it was just so beneath me. And I just, like, this is this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. And literally, the next day, I walked into the owner's office and said, I just I just don't think I'm right for this place. And he said, What are you gonna do? And I'm like, you know, I'm not quite sure. But, you know, if I stay here much longer, you know, things are gonna get bad. And and that was the beginning.

And so I just I started out being a graphic designer. And, and and doing that. And I look, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how to sell. I had no idea how to get clients. I just knew that there was a better life waiting for me. And that better life was doing things on my own and doing things in the way that I thought they were best. And look, it has been just torturous.