Marisa Shadrick (00:00):
Hello everyone, Marisa here, and I am back with a guest. This person I consider a friend. And guess what? We met on LinkedIn

Dan Cumberland (00:12):
I love it.

Marisa Shadrick (00:13):
We've been chatting on LinkedIn on the back end, and one thing led to another, and then we bumped into each other. And then recently I found out about something that he was doing, and so I messaged him and here we are. I wanna bring to you Dan Cumberland, and I'm gonna let him introduce himself and he's got some exciting news for us today. Hi, Dan.

Dan Cumberland (00:33):
Hi. Thank you so much for having me. It's just such a thrill to be, to be with you here today. Uh, just really love that we've gotten to connect. It's just so fun when social media like makes real, real connections like this.

Marisa Shadrick (00:47):
Yes absolutely. Thanks

Dan Cumberland (00:48):
So much for having me on the show. I mean, just to, to begin to introduce myself, uh, I, I am a serial entrepreneur. I'm a three-time, um, SaaS, software as a service founder. Right now, my time is split between a couple different projects. The first, um, the one that we'll, I know we want get to, which is, is VideoSnap. It is a content repurposing tool for taking long form speech based content and making short form video that's viral ready. So getting your content into the algorithms for TikTok, uh, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, those kinds of places where, um, where you can find new, a new audience and grow your audience. So that's one piece. I also have a podcast in business called The Meaning Movement, where I help entrepreneurs realign their business and their life. Uh, really the focused on giving entrepreneurs the insights that, that we need to recalibrate our work, work-life balances balance, um, to find the energy and motivation that we need to, to keep going.

Dan Cumberland (01:48):
Uh, a lot of entrepreneurs, we start to, uh, start our journey to, to make more money, to have more freedom, to have less stress, and then end up in with none of those things, you know, in, in a bit of a, uh, a prison of our own making, giving our time to a life we don't love in order to gain a future that may never come. And so, um, yeah, I'm really passionate about helping entrepreneurs enjoy the journey. And, um, I have an accelerator program that I'm launching in January, just right around around that called Bootstrap Without Burnout. So that's another piece. Yeah. And then kind of connected to both of those, uh, has opened some doors with the team that I launched VideoSnap with. It's a development team called NineTwoThree.co. Recently just joined their team as a product strategist, so helping people like myself build cool things like we built together. So, if anyone listening is interested in software and building software, I would love to talk to them about, um, about building stuff. So that's how I, yeah, that's my work life. Outside of work. I have three kids and I live in Seattle. And, I like to, I like to run and be fit and hang out with my family.

Marisa Shadrick (02:59):
How cool is that? I love it. I visited Seattle a while back. My daughter and I would go on these mom and daughter trips and yeah. And Seattle was one of them. It's beautiful.

Dan Cumberland (03:09):
Beautiful. Yes. It's so beautiful. It's just, right now at the time of this recording, uh, the salmon are spawning, which I have this, like, it was a magical, I would almost call it an out-of-body experience. Went to a park about a mile from my house, and there's some streams there, and there were these massive fish flopping their way up, these little tiny streams. And it was just an incredible experience. And I've lived here for like 12 years and I've never actually seen it right there. And it's right. And it's been, it's, it's, I feel like there's a, there's a metaphor or in, in here somewhere about like how there's something right outside of our awareness that is so powerful that you, you just need the eyes to see it. And so it is a beautiful place to live.

Marisa Shadrick (03:52):
That's awesome. So, um, I'm curious, I'm curious to, to see what goes on in the mind of a serial entrepreneur. What got you started in that? Were you the type of kid Yeah. That loved doing different projects and like inventing things and stuff? I mean, what, what led you to this? I'm just curious.

Dan Cumberland (04:09):
I love that. That's such a great question. I love that you go all the way back to, to childhood I was, I think of myself as, in my, my younger years as, uh, creative, um, especially going into junior high, high school, was really interested in, uh, in, in music. Um, I, I mean, had lots of ambitions around doing a lot of different things. I remember once when I was in junior high, someone asked me what I wanted to do, and I, I, I told 'em I wanted to, to, uh, you know, uh, I wanted to recreate dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park and also like, be an astronaut and like do a bunch of other things. It's like, so I've always had this like, desire to, to have a lot of things going on. Um, and that translated into, you know, into high school and college, like always had just things that I was, that I was trying, there was things,

Marisa Shadrick (04:58):
There wasn't one. You had a list, you had a list.

Dan Cumberland (05:00):
There's always, there's always a list. There's always a list. Yeah. But I started my, um, I started my career in, so went to college for ministry, uh, went to Bible school, uh, did a, did a degree in, in ministry and music, um, and was a youth pastor for, for five years. And, um, and that was a really complex and challenging time of life. But out of that, I just, I really found this that, that I have a lot of energy around, around questions of, of meaning and purpose. And really, I really believe like helping, helping, uh, people, uh, live the human experience in the way that, that I think we're intended to, I believe. Yeah, I believe we're, we're intended to. Um, and so went to, went on after, was in that, that role for five years, went to grad school to study around those ideas, did an interdisciplinary degree that was part psychology, part theology, part culture.

Dan Cumberland (05:51):
Um, and really in that program is when I, maybe it's just I gained the permission to, to say like, I just like to have a lot of things going on, and that's okay. And maybe that's actually for myself even, you know, as I'm studying these ideas around vocation and meaning and purpose, like maybe that actually is some of my work in the world. It's just to let myself like, make stuff. Um, yeah. So coming out of that program, um, I'd started, started The Meaning Movement. Um, I, at that time was also a photographer, and so that was a, a bit of what I was doing, and that's just led me down a path of different, different doors have opened, um, different experiences. Uh, and a lot of it honestly has come through, come through people. I, I find that all the good things in life, all the good things in my life come through relationships and come through partnerships. And so, um, yes, it's kinda a reoccurring or reoccurring theme. So that's the, the short-ish, uh, answer to that question of what, what got me here?

Marisa Shadrick (06:46):
Yeah. And I can see that because we were able to connect on LinkedIn and people say, well, you can't really connect on social media and everything else, but yes, there was something in your content that kind of resonated with me, and I thought this person is aligned with my values and stuff. It's almost like I could say, are you a Christian? I know you're a Christian.

Dan Cumberland (07:05):
Are you uhhuh, Uhhuh? It's true. It's true. And I am, yes,

Marisa Shadrick (07:09):
Yes,

Dan Cumberland (07:09):
That's right. You've got the eyes to see it. I don't talk about it a lot, but it's, it's the framework that I used

Marisa Shadrick (07:14):
To, to see the world. It's within the text. You could just tell by the words people are saying and their passion and everything else. And so I'm glad we had a chance to connect. So this, it's The Meaning Movement, is that what it's called?

Dan Cumberland (07:26):
The Meaning Movement. Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick (07:28):
The Meaning Movement. Yeah. That sounds fascinating because it's true. We need to enjoy life today. Maybe it's, we've got goals for tomorrow, but enjoy everything today because today is what we really have, right? Yes. We don't have to totally talk to yet. Yes. And, uh, and I, I came to a realization that if we worry too much about regrets, we're looking in the past too much, and we need to look to today. So tell me more what inspired The Meaning Movement?

Dan Cumberland (07:55):
Yeah. It really came out of that experience in, in grad school and, and wanting to, a lot of the, the people who were in my program was looking at how they were, you know, a lot of people with passion for, for helping, you know, helping professions, a lot of them going on to do, to do social work. A lot of them going on to become therapists and, and do private practice, and all of it's, you know, just really good and really important, like caring, you know, caring work, right? That, that, that the world needs. But so much of it was one, one-to-one, and I wanted to find a way, how can I help more people than just in a one-to-one basis? And so that's, that's really part of what started me down this path towards The Meaning Movement. I like knew I had this energy around, you know, the human experience and helping, in inviting people to, to, to find meaning in the, in, in their lives and in the things they do and, and realign how we're, we're the places we're putting effort in order to, to get more enjoyment and more satisfaction, build more meaningful lives out of it.

Dan Cumberland (08:51):
So I, I knew that I had that energy, but I didn't know what to do with it. So I thought, okay, I could do this as a, you know, as a therapist, I could do this maybe as a career counselor or something like this. Um, but decided ultimately, like I think I, because of this realization that I'm, I think I'm an entrepreneur at heart, and, um, and so I should just, I just need to make it up as I go. And that's what started, started the Meaning Movement.

Marisa Shadrick (09:14):
Yeah. Is it a type of like, um, helping people go through a journey of self-discovery? Maybe go a little deeper.

Dan Cumberland (09:22):
Yeah. Yeah. And so, so that's where when I first started The Meaning Movement, it was very focused on like career and career decisions, right? In recent years, I mean, really even in this year, have refocused that more directly towards entrepreneurs, because I just saw this, this need where there's this gap between the lives that we want to be living and the realities of, of running our business. And I've seen too many, um, entrepreneurs burn out along the way. And even myself earlier this year, a big part of this, this journey for me was going into 2022, at the beginning of the year, I lost my, my grandmother. Uh, all within a couple months I lost my grandmother. My, accountant, had cancer and, passed away, a business partner, on good terms. But she decided to step away from, from one of the ventures.

Dan Cumberland (10:09):
Um, and she was a, a core business partner and all of this, you know, and at the same time, one of our ventures was, one of my ventures was really doing really poorly. And so I had to like, reevaluate all, like, everything just felt like it was kind of falling apart around me, and left me in this space where it just was a bit of a wake up call. Like, okay, if all of this that I've been working on just crumbled right now, what would I, what would I have left? And, and kind of maybe reevaluate that. Like, I think for, for the last couple of years, I love everything that I'm doing, but I feel like I've been so focused on that destination to get that, that I was, was moving towards that I'd lost sight of like the day to day of what I'm doing right now and what I have like in the, in this present moment.

Dan Cumberland (10:51):
Yeah. And maybe ask the question like, is this really the life that I wanna be living? And are these the most important things for me to be building right now? I have three kids that's so good. Every every minute that I'm spending working is, is time away from them. And we only get one shot at this, you know, at their childhood, at our lives. And so, it for me is, really a product of my own, my own process of like, I've had to kind of take a dose of my own Meaning Movement medicine Yeah. And come back to the drawing board and say, okay, I think I need to rebuild here. So then went through a process of, of, um, setting goals, of doing a bit of a, a gap analysis of, of like, one of the, one of the most powerful questions I think you could ask yourself is if you had to live the last 90 days on repeat, how happy would you be?

Dan Cumberland (11:38):
And, um, I want to always be able to say that Sure. You know, not, life cannot be all just, you know, sunshine and roses and rainbows. Um, but I want to be able to say, I would be having fun. I would, I would be enjoying and building a meaningful life if it, if all I had was the last 90 days over and over and over. I think a lot of people, at least you know, my own life, were so focused on the future, so focused on getting to that next thing over the next mountain Yeah. That we forget that life is what's happening right now along the way.

Marisa Shadrick (12:10):
Yeah. Do you think that this is, uh, some people are more susceptible to this than others? Because I have worked in the past in ministry for like 30 years. There's a lot of people in ministry, in leadership that are visionaries. And I worked for nonprofit organizations too, and whenever I knew they were, uh, visionary, I thought, oh boy, I put my seatbelt on. Because there were constantly with new ideas, and we haven't even finished one thing, and they're on to the next thing. Yes. Oh my goodness. It's like I used to have to like, talk 'em down a little bit and say, okay, what about this first project before we get onto, you think it's, it's, it's more a certain type of person, or is this something you see across the board regardless of their personality, regardless of gender is just something across the board?

Dan Cumberland (12:54):
Yes. I think that it is. That's a really great question. I do think that visionaries, um, and I, I think I would put myself in that category. We have our own set of unique struggles, of, you know, perfectionism, of, of disappointment. That, you know, when, that the vision isn't everything when it comes to fruition. It's not everything that you, you hope and imagine all, all of those things. But I do think across the board, just business is hard. Yeah. And I think that's really where this comes from, is that, that business is hard. You have to make sacrifices to, to be successful. And often then we end up sacrificing too much in certain ways in order to, to find success. And on top of that, you layer on top of that all the different identities that you have to wear as a, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, it's like you have to reinvent yourself every six months to stay relevant and to keep your business moving.

Dan Cumberland (13:46):
You're, you know, you sit in every seat, you know, you're a jack of all trades. So you're always having to, to become that next iteration of yourself. And I think that some of the fun of it, I get like, giddy about, like, just how much of the human experience can be encapsulated in the, the entrepreneurial journey. I think it's a really interesting lens to look at the human experience. Um, but you layer on top of that, all of that identity stuff. Then there's the identity of, of, you know, of a being a parent and a husband and, you know, a friend and all these different identities that we have to move through throughout, you know, throughout our lives. And it can be really hard to navigate all of that space. And there's not a lot of people talking about that aspect of entrepreneurship. Yes. And that's what I'm trying to invite people to,

Marisa Shadrick (14:30):
And thank you for being so honest and candid about your own journey. And also that it is difficult. There's too many people saying, it's so easy while they're talking from a beach or something,

Dan Cumberland (14:43):
Yes, yes.

Marisa Shadrick (14:45):
They're only working two hours a week, you know, and yes, they're soaking in the sunshine , and then people get this, this false impression that there must be something wrong with me because there, there is, it can lead to a wonderful, fulfilling life. Yes, a hundred percent without a doubt. But there is, there, there are responsibilities and there are things that you have to do. And it's not easy, like you said. So thank you for being honest. Yes, thank you. And letting everybody know that, because like, yes, I tell people that, you know, it's, it's better with community. It's better when we have certain, uh, boundaries, it's better to do that. But it's, it's not an, uh, an easy path. It's not something just because we're at home and we flip on a computer. It's like instant, you know? And it's quick and easy. So thank you for being honest.

Dan Cumberland (15:31):
Absolutely. Yeah. Well, and I think, you know, you hear that the gurus quote unquote talking about how easy it, how easy it is, or how, you know, whatever the, the thing is that they've, they've invented that solves all the problems. And the reason it sounds so easy is because they're, they're trying to get you to buy it. Right? Uh, and so if they're telling you that it's easy, then you should, that should be a warning light that, that, that goes on. And the other narrative is the opposite. And I think it's like this, the Gary Vaynerchuk narrative of like, you just gotta outwork the next person. You just gotta outhustle them. And the one who works the hardest wins. And, you know, I think that neither, you know, neither are telling the truth. Well, I mean, sure, you can outhustle the next person.

Dan Cumberland (16:12):
Um, but that's not the only path to success. And what I wanna invite people to is that the, the journey itself is, is the, the goal. And yes, you want to be setting yourself up for a, a future that, that you enjoy, but you need to do it in a way that is, you know, personally and, um, personally fulfilling. There are four areas for my research, four areas where we experience meaning in work. This applies to people who have jobs, or those of us who are entrepreneurs. And, um, I think it's a really helpful lens that I'd love to just offer listeners who are thinking about how you're spending your time and how to get more of that fulfillment and that joy out of your day-to-day. They are, they all start with peace, because I, I used to be a pastor, so they have to, it has to be, you know, alliterative

Marisa Shadrick (16:59):
I love a alliteration.

Dan Cumberland (17:00):
It's the, it's the people. , it's the process. , it's the product, and then it's the profit. And I'm I to work shopping these words a little bit, but, but let me just go through them one at a time. The people are the people that you work you with alongside for . It could be your employees, it could be your, your staff. It could be, um, your, your co-conspirators, collaborators, whatever, whatever it might be. But it's the people that, that you're engaging with you know, on your day-to-day, week-to-week basis. And a lot of meaning can come just from that aspect of your work. So for some people who are working conventional jobs, and they might not love anything about their company, but they love their coworkers, that can be a really meaningful experience for them. And they could love that, love that job because of those people.

Dan Cumberland (17:42):
Yeah. The process is the day-to-day of actually doing the work, you know, as a, as a copywriter, it's like, it's writing, right? Like hopefully you love to write if you're if you're a copywriter, but also if you're, if you're a developer or as an entrepreneur, the creative act of making things up as you go and figuring things out of learning all of those things. So it's the, the, the just day-to-day process of, of doing, doing your job, doing your work, then the, um, the product, and this is really easy. I think it'll make sense to you as a someone who's, you know, worked it in, in the nonprofit world, like the impact of the thing that you're making. You know, it can be a literal product or a software product, uh, but it also can be like an impact of, of what you're doing on people's lives and, and on the world around you solving the problems of, of people.

Dan Cumberland (18:28):
Yeah. And so you could have, have, uh, experienced a lot of meaning just from being a part of an organization that's making good, doing good in the world. And then finally, profit and profit isn't just money. It is that, but it's also just how does it benefit you lifestyle, other, other, you know, ancillary benefits of the work that you do, how the work comes back to, to feed you, literally and, and figuratively. And so with those four ideas in mind, it can be a really helpful framework to think about. If, if you wanna increase your sense of, of meaning, increase your sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in your work, take a look at all four of those one at a time and ask, you know, where are there gaps? And where are, where are you finding are, where are you currently finding the most fulfillment? And where are there gaps that you could maybe rearrange how you're spending your time, refocus your energy and find more fulfillment, um, along the way.

Marisa Shadrick (19:20):
Yeah. That's good. That's so good. How old are your kids? I'm curious.

Dan Cumberland (19:24):
Yeah, they are seven, four, and two.

Marisa Shadrick (19:26):
Oh see, they're so adorable. And then when they grow up, they come back with other kids. So we have grandkids then. So we wanna still have the margin to be able to enjoy them. It doesn't end when they grow up either. Yes,

Dan Cumberland (19:39):
Yes, yes, yes.

Marisa Shadrick (19:41):
Just heads up there,

Dan Cumberland (19:43):
It. Well, and they grow up so fast. I just can't even believe it. I can't even believe it. Yeah. I know my two year old's like talking in like full sentences and like, Aw, feels like she's growing like a weed. And it's just, it's just crazy. And like it's, we just have to, I, I always tell them that they have to stop growing, uh, yeah. And so I'm gonna have to stop feeding them. And then they,

Marisa Shadrick (20:01):
They don't, because you don't wanna miss any part of it. I did see these pictures on LinkedIn, so adorable. Yes. So I saw you, what was it, you were carving pumpkins with a tool or something?

Dan Cumberland (20:11):
Yes, With a jigsaw. With a jigsaw. I always hated carving pumpkins. And then I reremember I realized I could probably do this with a jigsaw, and my life was so much easier and so much more enjoyable, so, yeah.

Marisa Shadrick (20:21):
Yes. It's so good. It's good. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked here, but I, I wanted to know about this new tool that you released. I'm really intrigued. So I would love for you to just start talking about this through your new Yes. New project. What is it?

Dan Cumberland (20:35):
Yes, it is called VideoSnap. It's, you can see it at videosnap.io. So it's a content repurposing tool that will take long form speech based content, which can be either video or audio. So you could think of an interview like this, a Ted talk, a speech, a sermon, or just a training or a webinar. And it could be, again, the audio from it or the, the video, um, the video with the audio on it you, and then allows you to quickly repurpose that content, really surface the gold moments, the really good aha moments that happen in that content and make short form videos out of, out of that for social. The really is kind of a scratch your own itch problem. I have a podcast and would, you know, have these long form conversations, but then discoverability is really low with on podcasts.

Dan Cumberland (21:23):
So I wanted to figure out how can I get my content in front of more listeners and find, be found by them. But the problem is people aren't, you know, if you share a whole podcast on, you know, Facebook or LinkedIn, people aren't gonna, they're not there to listen to that. They're not there to watch, you know, some long piece. They just want like a little, a little something, but to look at and, and a little something to think about as they're going through, you know, between the other tasks throughout their day. So you have to package your content in the right way so that people will engage with it in the places where they're already spending time. Platforms also are all moving towards short form video with TikTok, with YouTube shorts recent as a recent addition to YouTube and Facebook, you have your stories right at the top, which are all, you know, 10 to 15 second little clips.

Dan Cumberland (22:08):
So all the platforms are moving this way. So I wanted to find a way to get my content into the platform. So the way that VideoSnap works, you upload your full length piece, so it could be like a 45 minute, uh, video interview like this, and then it transcribes it for you. So you can quickly go back through it and find the moment that you wanna grab and pull out. Oh, nice. Just highlight the text from that moment. Could be, you know, just a paragraph or something, 10, 15, 30 seconds, whatever it is, you highlight that text and hit a button and the, the software will grab the corresponding piece from that source. So it'll take that, you know, 30 seconds outta that original clip. And then it breaks it into moments, puts transcription on the video. And then if it's a video first it'll start with the, the source of the person talking, talking to the camera.

Dan Cumberland (22:58):
And then it cuts to B-roll that the software sources using ai, it finds B-roll to go behind the text, to, to fill out the, uh, the, the video and tell the story in even more in an even more engaging way. So if we're talking about, um, well I could be telling a story about going to see the salmon at the park by my house, and then, so the first clip might be me talking, but just my face on the screen. And then it would cut to a video of some fish or maybe of a park. And, um, it would just a way to make the, the video more engaging than just having me talk for 30 seconds, but to have more visuals to support what I'm saying. Wow. Wow. So, and then in the software, you can make all kinds of different changes. You can trade out the video for other video if you want something else, you can change the styles and, um, make a bunch of different customizations. And then in just a few minutes you go from start, you know, upload your piece to having a YouTube short or TikTok ready video, um, in just a few minutes.

Marisa Shadrick (23:56):
That is amazing. So, okay, let me see if I can wrap my head around this, because before I would have to take a video and I'd have to kind of watch the video and kind of go across with a little button to see what section, then play it and listen to it. Yep. And Yep. But this, you actually have a transcript. Yes. So I can, I can highlight a section. Correct. Can you break up that section or do I select the section that I want to repurpose?

Dan Cumberland (24:21):
Yeah. So you select the whole section that you want, and then just hit a button and that's it.

Marisa Shadrick (24:26):
You hit a button. Button, yes. And then it has stock video. Yes. Cause B-roll. Explain what B-roll is in case somebody doesn't know

Dan Cumberland (24:32):
What that is. Yeah. B-roll. You can think of a stock, A stock video. It, the, the term B-roll comes from, you could think of it like in, if you're watching an interview like on, you know, uh, 90 min, what's that? What, 60 minutes? You know, what are those, what are those? One of those, one of those, those news shows, right? There usually would be two cameras and there'd be one where the person is facing and then one from the side. Um, so often that the side camera's called B roll or other kind of supporting imagery to tell the story of, you know, of whatever the people people are talking about. So you see it all the time. People as you're like watching the news as someone's a reporter's holding the mic, that's the main camera. And then anything else that they're putting in there while they're, they're talking, that's all that, that's considered B-roll. So this is, stock footage is another, another way to think of it. So it's not footage of me, or it's not footage that you are supplying, but it comes from a library of, footage that's, that's out there and available. It has the right rights so that you can, um, use them in your, in your,

Marisa Shadrick (25:26):
So that makes it more engaging. Cause that's, that's a copy principle. You don't wanna eliminate the element of surprise. Yes. Because when something becomes typical, like seeing that done that it's like, yes, it's, the element of surprise is lost. So by this. Yes. Even though it's a short little clip, you keep 'em on the toes cause something's changing.

Dan Cumberland (25:44):
It's a hundred percent right. Yes. Wow. And that's like what the, what, that's why short form video does so well. Right. People are, are in their feed. They're just looking for that next kind of dopamine hit. You know, that next little bit of excitement of like, Ooh, that's cool. That's neat. Yeah. So even within your clip, the more you can just keep the visuals engaging, the better it's going to do. And the algorithm, the more engaging people are gonna be. Which all, you know, and I'm, I'm not a big fan of, you know, like, I mean, social media has some good, right? We, we connected on social, social media. I don't want people to be spending their entire lives on social media, but if people are spending time on social media, I wanna find ways to capture their intention and, and do good in the world by helping them with my material. And so, yeah. So that's kind of the, you know, how I, how I think about what we're doing there is, is repackaging the good, the gold that we're already producing and then putting it in a place where it can be found by more people.

Marisa Shadrick (26:35):
Wow. And is it close caption too? Does it have close caption on there?

Dan Cumberland (26:39):
The the transcription? Yeah, the transcription's right on screen? Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick (26:42):
Oh, okay. Got you. So it's right on the screen as well. Yeah. So you can, with a push of the button, what different sizes can you create? Like any size, like whether it's Yeah,

Dan Cumberland (26:52):
Yeah. You, it, it's, it supports all the, the sizes, um, that the already is, everything is pre size for social media. So you can choose if you want vertical, square, or horizontal, whatever your preference is, depending which platform, you know, and, and really you know, what your aesthetic is and which platform you wanna use.

Marisa Shadrick (27:09):
Wonderful. This sounds like perfect because then yes, if you wanted to further down in the text this, there's another section, you could do the same thing, you can highlight and do the same thing. So for one

Dan Cumberland (27:20):
Yes. Exactly. One

Marisa Shadrick (27:21):
Podcast or one long length piece of content, you can do this four or five times in one piece of content. Yes.

Dan Cumberland (27:27):
Yes you can Extra. Yeah. Exact. And that's exactly what we, what my team does, we upload my podcast and then outta that podcast, our goal is to have, you know, three to five really great shorts that we pull out. And so we'll put it in there, we'll grab one and then we'll produce that. We'll grab another, produce that and grab another and produce that.

Marisa Shadrick (27:44):
This is amazing cause uh, not that long ago it was done manually.

Dan Cumberland (27:48):
Yes. So exactly.

Marisa Shadrick (27:50):
It was horrible It was horrible. Yeah. Because my son loves video production and he said years ago, this is what you need to do before Shorts was a thing, but, um, it was, it was a lot of work on the backend Yes. To do that. It is a lot of work. So Yeah. But that makes it so much easier. So that's something that, is that a subscription model then that people can get on?

Dan Cumberland (28:09):
It is a subscription? Yeah. Yeah. The subscription at this time, the base subscription is $20 a month, which is, For most podcasts. My show we released, um, two episodes a week and we're on that, we're on that plan. And it, um, it, and if you're an agency or a podcast, production studio, you know, you have multiple podcasts, you're creating a lot of content. We have, um, higher, higher plans that can give you, give you more, more videos. But all measured in, in the number of videos really the number of minutes of production that you make. Right.

Marisa Shadrick (28:42):
That makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. That is, uh, I can't believe how the time has flown. I could keep on talking cause there's, you're so interesting because you have so many ideas. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. In any event, uh, this is fantastic. So I'm, I'm curious cause I need to ask this question cause I always ask guests this. Yes. In your journey with all these, I mean, you're a serial entrepreneur, you know? Yes. Um, you've got this new product now in your journey. Was there a season or a time in your entrepreneurial journey that, and I know you shared a little bit earlier, but something that you had to really, um, wrestle with and get to the other side that perhaps you could inspire other entrepreneurs as well? Yes. Yes. Something that you took away from it.

Dan Cumberland (29:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there was that moment earlier, but another kind of related, um, that came up as you're, you're asking this was, I, I I think that the emotional journey of entrepreneurship, I think it's something that we don't, don't talk enough about I feel like we have these problems that they start as business problems. And I think of it as, uh, like the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But inverted . And so we solve the business problem first, and then it's easy to think that that problem is done, but sometimes just because it's personal, sometimes because of, you know, other things that happen, like it can, these, these issues that we face, the the experiences we have can take residents in us, in, in ways that like take some time to process and can change the way we think about ourselves.

Dan Cumberland (30:16):
And, um, I, early on when, when starting The Meaning Movement, I launched a course that was, uh, it was called the Calling course. Um, that was, I had, so it was a very loaded time in my life. Um, and just some bullet points related to that. I was our, our oldest son who's, he's seven, so seven years ago he was about to be born. I got, I got really sick and was hospitalized, was in the hospital for, um, for almost a month. And then in between the time I got outta the hospital and when my son was born, there was like a two week window, which at which point I launched this course, I'd been working on this course for months. Um, and for me it was like, you know, we, we were starting a family and we needed to a bigger house and all of these things that I was like, this course is gonna solve all of these things for me.

Dan Cumberland (31:05):
Um, and so I had, and I built out, I think I just bought into this, we were talking about like the, the gurus, uh, yeah. Story that it was gonna be so easy, um, that, you know, I had, I had, you know, x number of people on my, on my email list and all these examples of all these other people have built these amazing courses and made, you know, you know, tens of thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Um, and so I just thought like that's what would happen. Um, and, you know, long story short, I'm sure listeners know where this is going. Um, it didn't, it didn't go that well. it wasn't an object failure. I had a few sales, um, but I was just so devastated at the Yeah. Just that gap between where I, the result I thought I would have and, um, what actually happened.

Dan Cumberland (31:48):
And over time, I, I, you know, kept trying with that course, trying to, to reposition it ultimately. Um, and just, this is just recently within the last, um, the last month, um, decided to shut, shut the doors and, um, well I'll keep supporting it, but not, not no longer continue to sell it, um, in order. And that was for a long time, it was, it was the main profit engine of The Meaning Movement. . And all along the way, it sold some, but never converted. Great. Um, and had made this decision to sunset the Calling course without really even knowing what was to come. Though I'm now, you know, starting this, starting this accelerator. So some of this has come into focus. Right. But I really had to wrestle with like, um, some of the personal feelings of failure of, um, of like feeling like I, every time would go through a launch, every time I would make a new, build a new sales page, a new sales sequence, I'd put all this work into it.

Dan Cumberland (32:46):
And with that, that course in particular, it was just like, and then the conversions would still be not that great. Um, and I just keep, it felt like I just kept, kept getting up to bat. And then the pitcher would, um, what's it called when you get hit by the ball? I'd get instead of, getting a chance to swing, the I'd get hit, you know? Yeah. And then I have to get up again and then get up again. And the, you do that over time and it, you start to develop what feels like some scar tissue that makes it harder for you to perform as well, you know? Yeah. Um, and so I had to go through and I'm, I feel like I'm still in a little bit of this, but like a, a, a process of like really letting myself, like, feel like the regret and, and the disappointment and the sadness and even like, frustration of everything that didn't work with that course.

Dan Cumberland (33:39):
Yes. In order to make space for Yes. New things, new things to emerge. Yes. And I think that's one example from my own life, but even like right before we got, we got on this interview was talking with a friend who had a really hard, he's coming out a really, really hard season in his business and a very similar, um, he's had a very similar experience where he took care of the business problems. And again, I think it's that the, the inverted Maslow's hierarchy of needs, he took care of all those base level problems. Right. But it trickles down into his, his, uh, his opinion of himself and how he thinks about himself and how he shows up in relationships because of this business relationship that went south. And so I, I guess my, my invitation here to folks is, is that I think that there's, a category for, uh, business, I, I would wanna call it like business trauma, business pain, business challenge.

Dan Cumberland (34:31):
Yeah. Um, that needs to be named and, and attended to. Yeah. And that, that there is a, we, it's an emotional lift to be entrepreneurs, to be, to be, you know, and even outside of entrepreneurship, just to, just to do your work. Yeah. But the, but like, yes, it is just business, but also we are humans, which means that it can't ever only be business. And so in my own life, that's what that process has been like for me. And I hope in, in that people can hear an invitation to let themselves feel and process a lot of those feelings that might be coming up. And if they have those kinds of feelings about themselves as a result of how things have gone, um, poorly or well, I don't know, um, with their business like that, that's a very normal, a normal experience that, um Yes. Is really important to give space for.

Marisa Shadrick (35:21):
Absolutely. They're not alone. Cause yes, a lot of people go through that, but they're not willing to talk about those things. Yes, yes. But they're not alone. And it is a process and like you said, allowing ourselves to grieve that , you know, it takes time and recognize that in retrospect, we might figure out what it was that happened. Yes. But like you were saying, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the market changes too. Yes. Because even you and I, what we were interested in three years ago may not be what we're interested now. Yes. Because we've grown and we're ready for something else. So the market changes, which is why new leads is so important. Yes. Thank you though for being so honest, and I hope people can walk away knowing that they're not alone and it's not them, it's just part of the process of having an online business. So, um, just to hang in there and just to hold onto hope and the reason why they got started doing what they're doing.

Dan Cumberland (36:15):
Yes. Totally

Marisa Shadrick (36:16):
Absolutely. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me, Dan, what do you do when, I think I know the answer, but I still wanna hear it. When you're not working, when you're not like, thinking of something new. Totally. What, so something you love to do?

Dan Cumberland (36:29):
I love that question. Well, I mean, feel like I'm always thinking and thinking, but that's also, it is also fun. Um, but I love to spend time with my family. Um, I love to, um, I love to run. Um, that's kind of my, my, yeah. Where I go to get mental space is to just get out, get out and, and go, go for a run. like to ride bikes with my family, hang out with my kids. Nice. I like to make stuff, I've been baking some bread recently doing stuff like that.

Marisa Shadrick (36:59):
Yeah. Carving pumpkins,

Dan Cumberland (37:01):
Carving pumpkins. I mean, really, it's just doing whatever, whatever the kids wanna do and whatever would be fun for them is really how I spend most of my time.

Marisa Shadrick (37:08):
That's fun. You sound like such a fun dad,

Dan Cumberland (37:11):
Aw, I hope so. I'm doing my best .

Marisa Shadrick (37:15):
So I would love for people, um, especially if they wanna get in touch with you. Um, yes. Just, and, and I could put as many links as needed. Cause I know you have multiple things that you do.

Dan Cumberland (37:25):
Yes, I do. I do.

Marisa Shadrick (37:26):
Yeah. But, uh, how's the best way to get in contact? Yeah. If somebody's listening to you and they say, I really wanna get in contact with you.

Dan Cumberland (37:32):
I love it. I love it. I'll give a few options if that's okay. Okay. Yeah. Um, if you're, you know, you're listening to a podcast, I have a podcast called The Meaning Movement that's for our entrepreneurs, all about these things that I, I have been talking about. If you're, um, content creating content and interested in VideoSnap, you can just go to videosnap.io. And as I think I mentioned at the, at the top of, uh, the show, I've started, um, doing some product strategy work with NineTwoThree.co. Who is the team that I've built VideoSnap with. Um, so you can find them at ninetwothree.co. Um, or just reach out to me through any of those, those things. My website's, themeaningmovement.com also, I'll, it'd be great to have a link to my, my LinkedIn. I, I'm really, I try to be active there, and that's how we connected. So you can always reach out to me on LinkedIn, say, Hey, I heard you on Marisa's show, and that'd be super fun too. So Yeah. I, I try to be available wherever, wherever you can find me.

Marisa Shadrick (38:21):
Yeah, absolutely. And I think as entrepreneurs, because we know what it's like to have that business trauma, I think that's why we tend to huddle together as friends.

Dan Cumberland (38:31):
Yes. We need it.

Marisa Shadrick (38:32):
Because we understand, we understand the journey and the challenges.

Dan Cumberland (38:36):
You need camaraderie

Marisa Shadrick (38:37):
Yes, absolutely. So if any of you wanna connect with Dan, uh, please do so because he understands the journey, and obviously you can tell that he has a lot of knowledge in a lot of different areas. So I would just encourage you to connect with Dan. You probably, if you connect on LinkedIn, you'll probably see me posting comments on his, on his post.

Dan Cumberland (38:57):
Yes, Love it. You know, one, one more thing, I guess I, I should have, I, one more invite, I should, um, uh, send along is that I have an assessment that I'm working on related to all of this business and lifestyle alignment called Bootstrap Without Burnout. You can find that at themeaningmovement.com/start. So if you'd like to get some feedback on how you are doing, basically how, how are, how are you doing, how is your trajectory? And, and if you're heading towards burnout and to get a score around that, um, that's what I'm, I'm building there. So, um, hopefully by the time this goes live, you'd be able to, to jump in that as well.

Marisa Shadrick (39:32):
Awesome. Thank you so much, Dan. You've been so generous with all the content. I know the listeners are gonna love it. And thank you so much for being on the show.

Dan Cumberland (39:41):
Thanks so much for having me. It's been so fun. Really appreciate the work that you do. Thanks so much.

Marisa Shadrick (39:47):
All righty. Take care everyone. Bye-Bye.