[00:00:00] Dennis: I was so attracted to the comfort and the safety and the security of this biweekly paycheck. And the benefits and everything that comes with that. I was so risk averse. I decided I wouldn't. And then at the age of 43, the decision was made for me, for the first time in my life, I was laid off.
[00:00:20] Aneta: We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life, but what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breath depth and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian Kuzma and join me weekly as I interview guests who made changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention. Gratitude and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.
Welcome back to the Live The Width of Your Life podcast. My guest this week is Dennis Gielin, and he spent over 20 years in different corporate leadership roles in different industries. And then at the age of 43, he found himself laid off for the very first time in his life. He was disgruntled, and determined, and he decided that he was finally going to take a chance on himself and become a solopreneur.
And since then he has found tremendous success. Building a successful consulting business Zero In. He also helps businesses become more customer-centric and innovative. He's written four business books, including the bestsellers, The Zero In Formula and The Accidental Solopreneur, he has online courses.
He's built a network on LinkedIn of over 14, 000 connections. He's been on over 70 podcasts. He's a speaker. He does workshops and conferences, and he cares about helping others who are looking to take a chance on themselves. We spoke a lot about just this idea of the corporate world and how sometimes we feel like it's less risky to work there until the day when it is not your decision that you have to leave.
And we also talked about time as a freedom that is the ultimate form of wealth. We also talked about how most successful people could be traced back to a happy accident and various other things. I enjoyed our conversation and I think you will as well. Take a listen.
Dennis, it is so nice to meet you and I'm so excited to have you here on the show today.
[00:02:29] Dennis: Yeah. Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here.
[00:02:31] Aneta: Yeah. I was just sharing before we hit record, you and I just spent a little bit of time talking and I said, wow, I'm so excited to dive into your story because it's so inspiring.
And so for those that don't know a little bit about your background, I would love for you to talk about how you made the transition from being in corporate for many decades and maybe a little bit about that. And then at the age of 43 deciding, okay, you know what, I think I'm ready to do something different and take a chance on myself and become a solopreneur.
[00:03:10] Dennis: Yeah. So up until the age of 43, I would say I was the typical long-term corporate employee and I was a great employee, very dedicated, very hardworking, and always worked my way up into a senior management position wherever I was, whichever company I was at. And I kind of got lulled into that safety, that comfort, that security.
And it probably wasn't until my late 30s that I kind of started thinking, boy, is this it? There's got to be more to living your best potential than just getting into this job, hitting a certain spot, and then just kind of coasting, which is what I was doing. But I never did anything with that.
I had these thoughts, I had these feelings of what would it be like to bet on yourself to do your own thing. And I always kind of had this feeling like I should be, but I was so attracted to the comfort and the safety and the security of this biweekly paycheck. And the benefits and everything that comes with that I was so risk averse. I decided I wouldn't.
And then at the age of 43, the decision was made for me, for the first time in my life, I was laid off. At first, this was a huge shock, a risk-averse person, very used to the structure, the repetition, this is what you do Monday to Friday, nine to five. Suddenly it was like, I should probably just jump back in and find another corporate job.
That was my first instinct, but then eventually those lingering thoughts started coming more to the forefront and it was like, wait a minute, maybe now's the time. So that's when I finally decided with all kinds of encouragement and support and love from my wife to, yeah, I'm going to go for it and bet on myself.
[00:05:05] Aneta: Yeah. It's so interesting. You use the word safety and risk-averse. I remember using the same words for myself and I was working in corporate for so long and thinking the same things, but the safety notion is not true because if we don't make the decision for ourselves on our timing in your case, and in many cases for many people, it can be made for us.
And then you find yourself in the spot, still thinking those thoughts, but now with a timeline. So did you have ample timeline to decide that you were going to do something for yourself? Was there a little bit of cushion from your company?
[00:05:40] Dennis: Yeah. Luckily I did get a pretty good severance package and my wife had a pretty good high-paying job. So I was in a comfortable enough position to go for, which is good because I was starting completely from scratch. I didn't know what I didn't know. When I first started, I was quite naive and just thought, well, this will be easy.
I've got 20-plus years of corporate experience. I'll just announce to the world, hey, I'm a consultant. Now I'll spin up a website and then I'll just sit back and watch all the clients come flowing in and then reality sets in.
And I was like, oh, that's not how it works. I have to learn a ton about branding, marketing, and sales, and how to package and price my services and all the stuff I was never exposed to in my corporate career because I was always on the operation side of the business. I was never on the sales and marketing side. So that was all new to me. Luckily, yes, I did have a cushion and it did take me a full year to get things going properly.
[00:06:41] Aneta: Yeah. What were some of your goals for year one when you decided, okay, I'm going to do this, I'm going to start a consultancy business? What were some of your, maybe like, I don't know if you had specific financial goals, were you looking to replace your salary right away? Or did you have some other sort of milestones to say, okay, I do this? I'm on the right track.
[00:07:02] Dennis: My initial goals were probably, unrealistic, not knowing what I didn't know. I was like, okay, well this I can make unlimited, potential and I can take on all these clients. And I did set goals for myself. We were told to do that, but the ones I set were okay, with no experience and no background, maybe those were a little too high.
The realistic goal that I did stick to, and this one came from my wife, was to give it a full year, doesn't matter how it's going, whether it's going well or not going well, stick it out for a full 12 months and see if you're building momentum, is there the potential there for you to replace your corporate income or exceed it. You won't know that in the first three months.
You won't know that in the first six months after 12 months. You'll have a pretty good idea. So my first goal was to stick it out for 12 months, which was a hard one because there were many times when I was tempted. I saw that job opening come up. Maybe I should apply for that. There's that safety and comfort again, and there are many days when things aren't going well.
Clients aren't responding to me. Maybe I'll jump back in. So that was a goal. And then obviously after that 12 months, do I see this potential? Am I getting clients? Am I figuring things out? And I would say the first six to nine, nine to 12 months, it was probably no. But in those last few months, it was like, okay.
Things are starting to click now. It's starting to work. I do see this. I am on a pace now to replace that income. So I had to really scale it down and just get focused on one year. And is that potential there? Am I on track to do that?
[00:08:44] Aneta: Yeah, and we always set the financial goals because when you're used to receiving a paycheck every two weeks, that's one of the goals.
But what were some of the other things you were looking for to see whether entrepreneurship was something you wanted to do long-term versus going back and having a job?
[00:09:01] Dennis: It's funny you ask that because it wasn't a goal of mine, but it became a realization and a goal afterward, which was holy smokes. I didn't intend for this to happen, but I've grown more personally through this.
Then, in the previous 43 years of my life, I am now forcing myself outside my comfort zone. I'm learning skills that I never learned before. I'm an introvert. I'm now networking with people. I'm learning how to sell myself and I'm coming out of my shell.
So all of a sudden there were these personal growth goals personal development was happening and it's funny I started to fall more in love with the journey than any of these goals or milestones. And I thought this is what people mean when they say, if you love what you do, it makes it easier, and fall in love with the journey, and fall in love with the process.
I started to enjoy the learning and it became a bit of a game for me. How do I get even better at networking? How do I even do better than I did last week at presenting my offer or different things? And that was something that I thrived on.
[00:10:14] Aneta: I love that you said that because my experience is the same there's so much growth and potential. When you're a newbie again, when you get to look at things with fresh eyes, when you have to rely on yourself to make decisions and you don't have to go through a committee of 20 other people to approve it.
So tell me about your relationship with time, because one of the things I remember that was a challenge for me was not feeling like I had to sit at my desk for 10 hours a day working nonstop. Did you struggle with that? Or did you find your way somehow to a place where you had a little bit more time freedom and freedom to do other things as well?
[00:10:53] Dennis: It was a huge struggle in the beginning. Huge struggle, especially because you're coming from such a structured environment. In the corporate world, it's like, this is what you do Monday to Friday, nine to five. This is when you have your meetings. This is when your reports are due. This is when you do your quarterly updates. This is when you do your strategy, it's all mapped out for you, and you know how you're spending your time. Suddenly, I'm looking at an empty calendar. It's up to me.
[00:11:18] Aneta: Is it crazy?
[00:11:19] Dennis: Yes. And you're like, how do I fill this in properly? And then, in the beginning, I was mixing up being busy with being productive. It was like, wow, I just spent eight hours on my business. Wow, that was a very productive day. Well, was it?
Was I focusing on the right things? Was I using that time wisely or was I just busy? So eventually I had to learn what activities should I be doing. They are going to move the lever the most and be the most productive. And now that starts to free up my time for less busy work and more time with my wife, time with family, and leisure time. So that was a learning and growing process for sure.
[00:12:04] Aneta: Yeah. Did you learn that in year one or did it take longer to ease on to that?
[00:12:08] Dennis: I'd say I'm still learning it, but it's getting better. In year one, I was so focused on trying to figure out what differentiates me, that was a huge learning thing for me because when I left corporate, I decided I was going to start my own management consulting company.
And I was going to work for medium-sized businesses and I was going to come in as a consultant and I was going to help them with all these different parts of their business. Great. So do a million other people. So who specifically do I help? What specific challenge do I help solve? Why me? What's different about me?
What's different about that? Consume so much of my time figuring that all out testing that and honing that down into something right. Something that resonated with something unique. It took a long time to get there. That was probably the main focus of my time for that whole first year.
[00:13:07] Aneta: So tell us a little bit about your business now. How many years ago did you start your business and how has it evolved from that year one?
[00:13:16] Dennis: Yeah, so much evolution. So I was laid off in late August, or early September of 2018. So it's been five and a half years now. When I first started, I thought, okay, I'm just going to announce myself as a business consultant.
Very generic, and very vague. What do you need? I'll help you. And I quickly found, well, that doesn't resonate with anybody. You have to kind of pick a niche. So I thought, okay, I'm going to do leadership consulting. Great. There are still 6 million leadership consultants out there. What specific problem in leadership?
So I played around with a bunch of stuff there and found, yeah, that's probably not my niche. My background was in software development. I have a computer science degree. I started as a software developer and worked my way into different management positions. I have quite a strong background in innovation.
And in customer centricity, because I was the director of professional services for a software company where we were all focused on the client, what their needs are, how we tailor our software to them. So I eventually landed that, I can combine customer centricity and innovation, put those two concepts together, and build a framework around how do you make your business more customer-centric and innovative.
My company is called zero in. I called this the zero in the formula. I started using it with companies and that was hitting the mark. That took me like that first year to narrow in on that. So this is late 2019. Things are humming along. I'm doing all this consulting. Then I still had to figure out, well, how do I sell my services?
Am I coming in and Being a hands-on consultant, working with you in your business on large projects? Am I coming in more as an advisor, where I just advise you for a couple of days and set you up? What does this look like? So what I landed on after testing all kinds of stuff was workshops. I love doing workshops, half-day, full-day, two-day workshops where I come in.
I work with your leadership team on these concepts. I set you up for success. I give you all kinds of stuff to implement. And then I kind of leave and you go implement the stuff that I've talked about. So this was working. This was great. I had all these workshops lined up. I'm working with all these companies and then early 2020 COVID hits.
Well, in-person workshops suddenly are not in vogue anymore. And yes, the conventional wisdom is just to do it virtually, but you got to remember everybody was freaking out. What does this mean? What does COVID mean for our business? They were not like, Hey, let's sign up for an online workshop. That's going to take two days of our time.
They were like, we need to go into survival mode. So a lot of my business was put on hold. So that's where I pivoted and said, okay one of the things that I'm kind of envious of other consultants is they have a really good book behind their name. I've got all this material. Now I've worked with all these companies.
I've developed this zero-in formula. So I wrote the book, the zero in Formula 2020. Well, the timing couldn't have been more perfect because the book comes out later that year when COVID is starting to lift a little bit and people are more open again to taking on different types of consulting work.
Well, it was perfect. I'm all of a sudden, I'm a guest on all these podcasts. My book is out there in front of everybody. I'm exposed to all these other companies now. So obviously the consulting takes back off, but that's when another kind of accidental twist comes along. Because I was journaling my journey, mostly on LinkedIn.
Hey, here's here I am. I was laid off. I'm trying my hand at starting this business. Here's what's working. Here's what's not working. Hey, here's what I'm learning about writing a book. I started to build this following. These people were kind of enjoying reading about what I was doing and how I was doing it.
I intended to draw up more consulting clients. What unintentionally happened was I got a lot of people saying, hey, can I pick your brain for a minute? I want to write a book. I want to start my own consulting company. I'm like, okay. A little bit frustrated because I'm trying to get businesses to reach out to me instead and get individuals.
But then finally the light bulb goes off. And I was like, hey, I've amassed enough experience and knowledge now. I can coach other people on how to do this. So then I wrote another book called The Accidental Solopreneur. That's this one where I write here's everything I've learned about starting your own business.
This one's a business parable. So it's written in like a fiction story format. I start offering coaching calls. I started creating courses for people who want to know how to write a book and how to start their own company. Now, all of a sudden, I've got all these different clients and revenue streams with so much evolution.
None of that was planned from the beginning, but it's more of just paying attention to what people are asking and what the market is showing you and then evolving your business to fit into that.
[00:18:35] Aneta: Yeah, I love they use the word pivot and also it takes a level of presence and mindfulness to be able to read some of the signs around you and to say, wow, this might be an opportunity for me to leverage what I have to serve and to create some additional revenue streams. Where do you find that most of your marketing and your sales happen today?
[00:18:56] Dennis: So now I pretty much focus all of my marketing on the coaching side. For Zero In the management consulting, I've had enough companies. Now I get referrals and I don't even have to market that. But then for the platform, it's mostly LinkedIn. That's my main platform. So I'm on there. I'm sharing tips. I'm sharing strategies. I'm sharing, here are mistakes that I've made that you should avoid. Different things on there. And I've spun up a newsletter as well.
So that just now creates another stream for people to find me. Typically, they find me on LinkedIn. Then they sign up for my newsletter. They discover I've written a book. They read the book. He's got a course. They take the course. Maybe they want more help. They book a coaching call with me, but LinkedIn is kind of the main platform that people discover me on.
[00:19:49] Aneta: Yeah. It has taken off too. I know that for a while people have been talking about LinkedIn becoming the next platform and I have seen the evolution of it. You have a lot of followers. I think I read in your bio, it's like 14, 000 followers. So how have you grown your followership? Do you think it's just by being consistent or what were some of the tips of someone who is looking to expand their network there?
[00:20:10] Dennis: Yeah, a few things. In the beginning, there was a ton of outreach. So I was reaching out to a lot of people, but I was very intentional about who I was reaching out to connect with. Not just anybody. It's okay. Who are other people maybe who are betting on themselves? Coaches, consultants, and freelancers, they're going to resonate with my message.
I'm going to resonate with theirs and then engage a ton. So there are probably 100 different people that I regularly look for their posts and engage on them regularly. And by engage, I mean, I put a thoughtful comment on their post and most people just human nature, if you're doing that long enough, they're going to return the favor.
So now you think about it, there are 50 to 100 people that are regularly looking for my posts. Engaging on them. Well, the algorithm likes that. Hey, this post is getting all kinds of engagement. It starts to show it to more people, just snowballs. And now more people start engaging more people start following.
I'm at the point now. I think I checked this morning. I'm at like 15, 400. And it's, it's all inbound. I don't even really send out connection requests anymore. It's just, 40 to 50 people a day are finding me and following me or sending connection requests. But it took a long time to get to that point and it took a lot of engaging, thoughtful, engaging with the right people to get there.
[00:21:36] Aneta: Yeah. So did you always want to write a book or did it become an opportunity that you saw once you were already in the business?
[00:21:44] Dennis: Yeah. Never crossed my mind. Never emptied myself as a writer.
[00:21:49] Aneta: Wasn't on your bucket list.
[00:21:51] Dennis: Nope. And then I discovered through writing on LinkedIn, hey, I kind of like writing., I kind of like learning about writing. I like learning how to get better as a writer. At that point, I'd written so many different posts on LinkedIn about what I was doing and how I was doing it, and about this Zero-In formula. I got all this material. Boy, it'd be cool to kind of put that into a book format.
And I love learning. I love a challenge. So I wonder what it's like to write a good book. So that became this thing that I could focus on, this thing that I could, again, learn and get better at. The Zero In Formula is a pure business book, nonfiction. So I reached out to a good nonfiction editor and learned from her. She edited my book and gave me all kinds of tips and learning and I thought, wow, this is amazing, I'm soaking it up.
So then when I wrote The Accidental Solopreneur, I was kind of like, all right, been there, done that, just wrote a business book, I'm going to try a fiction one. I love a really good fictional business book. I don't know if you've read anything by Patrick Lencioni or the E Myth is another one.
[00:23:00] Aneta: Yeah. E Myth and also High Defunctions on a Team. High Defunctions, yeah. And also 5 AM Club, I think by Robin Schwarmas. Another good one. Yeah. Yep. That was a great one too.
[00:23:10] Dennis: So I was like, I'm going to try that. A new challenge. So I found myself a different editor. This one was somebody who specializes in business fiction, learned a ton from him, and had him edit my book.
And yeah, so in both cases, it was never in the plans. It was never something I set out to do, but kind of, wow, fell in love with the idea of it through writing on LinkedIn.
[00:23:35] Aneta: Yeah, I love that so much. Did you publish yourself or did you work with anyone? Did you self-publish?
[00:23:41] Dennis: I did self-publish. I reached out and talked to all kinds of different authors. I thought, okay, I'm not just gonna try and figure this all out on my own. There are all kinds of people who have published really good books and I had made so many connections at this point, I reached out and some of them were published authors who had several best-selling books.
Some of them were self-published and after talking to all these people, almost all of them, even the published authors said to me, if I had to do it all over again, I would just self-publish. Because publishers nowadays don't serve the same purpose that they did 30 years ago. Like before the internet, before Amazon, you physically had to go into a bookstore and buy a book.
Well, now most people order it off Amazon, like it or not that's where most books are bought and sold now. Well, you don't need a publisher to hit upload on your manuscript. Like, that's right. It's pretty easy to upload your book. You need a good editor. You want the book to read. Well, you need a good graphics designer.
People do judge a book by its cover. It's got to be formatted well, but you can hire freelance people to do that. And now you're not giving away all those commissions to a publisher who doesn't even market your book still marketing is still up to the author, right? So all of them kind of to a tee said go the self-publishing route.
You've got a pretty good audience on social media, that's going to help. Here's a bunch of tips on how to market your book. One of the best people I talked to was David Chilton He's the author of a book called The Wealthy Barber Canadian Guy. It has sold. I think over 10 million copies.
Great guy to talk to. He's a dragon on the show Dragon's Den here in Canada. It's a similar to shark tank. Real good marketing mind and he gave me all these tips. I just reached out to him one day I had no connection with him and sent him an email the next thing. I know my phone's ringing and it's David Chilton, hey, I saw your email. Let's chat. It was like, you got to be kidding me. So he gave me all these tips about book marketing. So then I was off to the races and that's what helped my first book get out there.
[00:25:58] Aneta: Wow. What are some of the tips that you can share with people that are thinking about writing a book, or maybe they wrote a book and they've decided based on this conversation and others that they should self-publish?
What are the things, maybe a couple of tips that you learned that were helpful for you with your launch of the book? As you said, it is up to the author for us to do all the work.
[00:26:18] Dennis: First of all, I would say marketing starts long before your book comes out. The mistake a lot of authors make is their heads down, while they're writing their book.
And then when it's all done, now they have this announcement. Hey, guess what? I just wrote a new book. Well, there's been no anticipation built, so you want to start talking about your book when you're writing it, start dropping some hints about what you're writing, and what you're learning, and build up some anticipation, ask questions about what people might want to see in the book, stuff like that.
So you're kind of bringing them along for the journey, but then that's just some people who might buy it. The other big piece you want to do is start reaching out to people who would be influential. That other people might go, oh, they have that book. I want that book. So reach out to people who are speakers or influential people around the same topic that your books are on and start to create a bit of a connection with them.
These could be people with hundreds of thousands or millions of followers on social media, but start slow. Start engaging on their content. More and more, they're going to take notice. Eventually, reach out and introduce yourself. Don't ask anything. Compliment them. Tell them you like their content.
You're starting to build a bit of a connection here. Remember, you're writing a book. This takes a while. So, you've got some time. And then, eventually, in your conversation, maybe weeks, months down the road, Oh, by the way, I'm writing a book on this topic. I'd love to send you a copy when it's done.
Can I get your address? Well, if you ask a hundred different people that, and even twenty of them say yes, that's twenty influential people now that you're going to be sending a signed copy of your book. Chances are if they're active on social media. They're going to post about it. They're going to be a, there's going to be a picture of them with your book saying, hey, I just got this signed copy of Dennis's book.
What a great read. Well, 20 influential people promoting your book is going to do way more than you have a post saying, hey, please buy my book. And then it grows from there these are just a few of the tips that I learned along the way that helped.
[00:28:31] Aneta: It's so good. And I love the tip of do it before it's even finished because you're right, you need that runway. And even afterward, some people I feel write their books and then they stop promoting them. So soon after it's out there. And so sometimes it's just continuing to stick with it and maintain and share. So what are some of the things that people, if they were maybe curious about your programs, so you talked about the programs that you have, what are some of the things that they could expect to find within the program? Is it a group program or is it like self based?
[00:29:00] Dennis: I have two online courses and those are self-based. You just buy it. It's, it's a video with templates and workbooks. One is the solo printer playbook. So that one kind of takes you through all the stuff I had to learn. How do you brand yourself?
What is your niche? What is your message? What is the unique problem that you solve? What is your unique solution? How do you package and price your offering? I kind of take you through all that and it's different for. Who you are and what you do. So there's all these templates and all these workbooks to do it.
And then it's okay. Great. You've got that figured out. How do you build an audience? How do you create multiple revenue streams now? What does that look like? How do you automate some of this stuff? So it kind of takes you through this journey of everything I had to learn in the first few years of my business condensed down into like this 90-minute video course with all these templates.
So you can now action the stuff and do it yourself. So that's the solopreneur playbook. And then very similar, I've got a course called The Author's Playbook. Similar types of things, but a 90-minute video course and all kinds of templates and workbooks. And it just takes you through here's everything I've learned about the writing process.
How do you figure out who your book is for and why they should read it how do you structure your book and how do you make sure it flows from chapter to chapter? How do you get into a good writing habit? What does good writing look like?
So everything I learned about writing and then editing. Okay, what are the different types of editing? What editing can you do yourself? When should you be looking for an editor? What type of editor? How did I find my editor? Here's the link if you want to work with my editor. So all these different resources.
And then publishing a book. Here are all the different ways you can publish. Here's the pros and cons. If you want to self-publish, here's what I did. Here's the back end of my Amazon. So you can see exactly how I upload and what it looks like. And then marketing. So a bunch of the different tips we talked about here and a ton more, here's all the stuff I've learned about marketing a book, how to get on podcasts, how to get articles written about your book, how to get it out there. How do you leverage your book? So that's the author's playbook.
Those two are both just 75 dollars, here you go. There's a download of everything I've learned. And then if you want to work directly with me you can book a one-on-one coaching call. That's then completely up to you. Do you want to talk about book writing?
Do you want to talk about your business? As long as you give me enough information ahead of time that I can prepare, I'll come on. We have a one-hour together where I'll work with you and give you a structured plan on how to implement what you're doing.
[00:31:36] Aneta: I love that. I love the clarity that you have right now around who you serve and the simple ways that you're able to do this. So how did you find your editor? Because my story was really funny. Did you, was it a referral or did you go to Upwork or some other site to find an editor?
[00:31:53] Dennis: I went to Reedsy, R E E D S Y, so it's kind of a Fiverr site specifically for editors. So, they've got a profile on there, they can list the work they've done, here's the testimonials, here's all the different books.
So what I did was I specifically searched for editors that specialized in the type of book I was writing. Reached out to I think five or six of them and had video calls with them because I wanted to get a feel for what would it be like to work with this person. And then selected, the editor that I went with, but I want to hear your story. It's got me intrigued now. What was your story?
[00:32:30] Aneta: Well, I wanted to get my book out in a specific amount of time I'd finished it. And I was like, okay, the next step is editor. And I went to Upwork, which is similar to like a Fiverr and there were so many editors, but I literally like closed my eyes, and said a little prayer.
And I was like, okay, I just need a couple of profiles that I should look like. I cannot look at like 20, 000 and I found a few, and I messaged a couple of people and I resonated, I think with one person, his name is George. And I said, let's do a zoom. I need to see you eyeball to eyeball. We need to have this conversation.
And he's helped me be published, helped me edit the first book. And then we did a journal together last year and I'll continue to work with him. He's fantastic, but it was just so interesting how you can make a connection with someone in a place where you just don't know, you don't have a relationship with someone.
So if somebody wants to write a book I always tell him there is a way to find a good editor. There are ways to find a good illustrator. There are ways to find really good talent all over the world because it's changed so much. Like you said, it's changed and we have the opportunity to connect with people. But I love that you also kind of went blindly into a site and you're like, okay, I'm sure I'll find someone here. It's like,
[00:33:44] Dennis: It took me a while. I had to narrow it down and talk to a lot of people. And some of them were like, wow, you look like you have the credentials, but after speaking with you, I don't know if we're a good fit that way.
[00:33:55] Aneta: And it does matter. It's so important to have that good chemistry with your editor. Because it's an interesting process because they're working on your words and what you're birthing into the world. So it is a very important relationship.
What's next for you, Dennis? Because you've done so many amazing things in a very short amount of time. I can tell you're so passionate about the people that you work with. What else are you able to share in terms of any new goals that you have or any new things that you're working on with your business?
[00:34:24] Dennis: Yeah. So you kind of asked me earlier, do I work with people in a group coaching program? That's the one thing I want to do that I haven't done yet. But the reason I haven't is because I'm still kind of juggling, I do Zero In consulting with businesses. Well, that's, what I kind of consider my nine-to-five job.
Now I do that during business hours. I typically coach people in the evenings or whenever I don't have consulting. Those two combined take up most of my time. So I've never really sat down and said, well, how would I carve out the proper time and dedication and focus to do a group coaching program? I'd have to drop something else.
So I've been contemplating, okay, do I ramp down zero in? And focus more just on helping other people start their businesses and write their books, maybe. And I was close to doing that late last year. And then, all of a sudden, another opportunity landed in my lap. Somebody reached out to me, somebody that I've known for a long time.
They've built a very lucrative business over the past 30, to 40 years. They're ready to retire. And they said I'd like you to buy it. And I was like, oh, never thought of that. It would be, it's still a one-person business, all kinds of great clients, customers already, all kinds of recurring revenue there, but it would be something I would have to learn.
So I've committed to working with him in his business for a few months coming up just to see if can do it like this. Is this something I would enjoy? Could I excel at it? Could I grow it? Would I be doing his existing customers a good service? And if the answer is yes, then we'll talk about what would it look like for me to buy it.
And if I do, that's probably going to be a couple of years of really getting my head into how do I automate this and grow this and then free up some more time to maybe go back and do a group coaching program. If I decide not to buy his business, then it's okay. Now I'm putting my focus towards a group coaching program.
[00:36:33] Aneta: So as you look back And why did it think about what are you most proud of? Everything that you've done since you left your organization in 2018, sometimes we don't spend a lot of time celebrating how far we've come, but what are you most proud of?
[00:36:47] Dennis: The personal growth for sure. I used to be so risk-averse, and so stuck in my comfort zone. If I look back now at Dennis from six years ago, I probably wouldn't even recognize the guy. Because I'm a completely different person now in a good way, whereas now it's kind of like, that seems new and different and scary. I'm going to lean into that. Whereas I was the complete opposite before. I was like, where do I run and hide? That seems scary.
[00:37:18] Aneta: I liked that. I was just saying last week to friends that I want to replace the word comfort with curiosity. Because I think that comfort is probably not the goal. Especially like from a life's journey and it's okay to be comfortable, but staying stuck in comfort isn't necessarily the goal.
So I ask all my guests, the final question, which is around the title of the podcast and you've shared so much already, but what does it mean to you to live the width of your life?
[00:37:49] Dennis: I think we all have so much potential, that we don't give ourselves credit for and we've talked a lot here about comfort zones and I think that is our natural state.
I think our brains are wired for comfort, probably a predatory versus whatever thing where we're kind of wired to be safe but there's so much more to that. And if we can rewire our brains a little bit, even just to say, what if. What if I took a calculated risk? What if I mitigated the risk a little bit and still just took some action and went for it?
You'll notice that things start to expand. Your luck surface area starts to expand. Your opportunities start to expand. And the width of your life starts to completely expand.
[00:38:38] Aneta: Yeah, that's beautiful. Any final words that you want to leave the audience, anything that if anyone's listening and they're like, you know what, maybe I want to take a chance on myself as well. Any final words for them?
[00:38:51] Dennis: Yeah. If I can do it, an introverted, risk-averse, safe, comfortable person can take that leap and figure it out. I'm sure you can too.
[00:39:04] Aneta: Thank you so much, Dennis. I enjoyed our time together and wish you continued continued success.
[00:39:11] Dennis: Awesome. Thanks so much for having me.
[00:39:12] Aneta: Are you ready to awaken to limitless possibilities? If you want to celebrate victories and embrace your life's endless possibilities, then join me in a vibrant community of soul-driven women in Limitless, an eight-week transformative group coaching program that's designed to unleash your true potential and awaken your soul's purpose.
The program starts on April 17th. It's for eight weeks. We will meet weekly and talk about topics tied to your true self, to nurturing your mind, body, and spirit to rediscovering your passion and purpose. Letting go of limiting beliefs and fears to redefining what your ideal life looks like, embracing your worthiness, and starting to take aligned action.
Stepping into your power and embracing your limitless possibilities, you will gain clarity on your vision, your purpose, and your passion. You will have alignment to your values. You'll release and let go of your inner critic and limiting beliefs, create more peace, find that balance of masculine and feminine energy, and create the action plans to create the life you love.
And most importantly, you will have a new community of soul-driven women who are on the same journey as you. All the details are on anetakuzma.Com/limitless. The link is in the show notes, and I would love for you to be part of this group, if it doesn't resonate with you, but you know, someone else who could benefit from this, please share this podcast with them and share the link with them. Thank you so much for being part of my community.