The Heart of Business
"The Heart of Business" podcast, hosted by Mo Fathelbab, is an authentic and insightful exploration of the human side of leadership and professional growth. Through candid conversations with accomplished business leaders, thought leaders, and peer group facilitators, Mo will delve deep into the personal journeys, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped their careers. Mo Fathelbab's skillful and empathetic approach creates a safe space for guests to share their truths and vulnerabilities, revealing the emotional and often unseen dimensions of success in the corporate world. Each episode offers listeners a chance to glean practical wisdom, heartfelt advice, and a profound understanding of the intricate interplay between leadership, authenticity, and personal growth.
The "Heart of Business" is the official podcast of International Facilitators Organization, LLC and hosted by IFO's founder and CEO, Mo Fathelbab. To learn more, please visit www.internationalfacilitatorsorganization.com.
The Heart of Business
Dan Heuertz: Finding the Light IN the Tunnel
In this powerful episode, Dan Heuertz takes us on a journey through decades of entrepreneurial highs and lows—from launching his first bar in college to building and exiting businesses in the restaurant and hotel industries. Along the way, he shares the critical lessons that shaped him, including how a paper route taught him the power of consistency and how intuition helped him navigate shifting market demands.
A 25-year member of Entrepreneurs Organization, Dan opens up about the profound impact of forum—a peer group experience he calls “sacred.” He reveals how these confidential, trusted relationships helped him survive the darkest moments of his career, including betrayal by a close business partner. For Dan, forum has been a space for raw vulnerability, deep connection, and powerful growth.
Today, he channels his experience into his work as an EOS implementer, helping leadership teams clarify their vision and execute with purpose. He’s also launched a new venture with his son publishing “skinny books” that help entrepreneurs distill and share their hard-earned wisdom.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking community, clarity, and courage in their business journey.
If you’re an entrepreneur searching for connection, explore the power of peer groups like EO forum. You don’t have to grow alone.
Please visit www.internationalfacilitatorsorganization.com to learn more about Mo Fathelbab and International Facilitators Organization (IFO), a leading provider of facilitators and related group facilitation services, providing training, certification, marketing services, education, and community for peer group facilitators at all stages of their career.
Welcome to the Heart of Business podcast sponsored by International Facilitators Organization. I'm your host, mo Fatalbab, president of IFO, and today our guest is Dan Heiritz, lifelong entrepreneur, who helps entrepreneurs really get what they want. Dan, welcome to the show. Hey, mo, thanks for having me. So, dan, how long ago did we meet? Let's just go back in time for our audience here for a minute.
Speaker 2:I think it has to be 25 years ago. It's somewhere in that ballpark, yeah absolutely Amazing.
Speaker 1:And at that time you had just joined EO, the Entrepreneurs Organization.
Speaker 2:Well, back then they had a Y in front of it.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's when it was still young. Yeah, it was still young.
Speaker 2:We definitely aged since then.
Speaker 1:Got it, got it. Well, that's when I worked there. There was a Y in front of it. So, Dan, let's start with your entrepreneurial journey. What was your first business? What was your first gig? You know a lot of the entrepreneurs we talked to who have grown and sold big companies started out with something simple like a paper route or something. What was your initial?
Speaker 2:seed. So count me as one of those initial paper boys. You know, looking back, it's a lot of lessons there, but man, it was brutal. You're a kid that does not want to get up early every morning, but you had to get up. It really taught me one thing that I still talk about today is you got to show up because the paper's not getting delivered unless you show up. But I tell you also, I often look back and think of all the innovations that have propelled things over life and for me, nothing more important than the moped. So think about it. You're a paper boy pedaling your bike around and getting a good workout in every day, but all of a sudden the invention of the moped comes along. You can be 14 years old and I could deliver. In small town, iowa Lamar's Iowa, where I grew up, I could deliver both the Des Moines Register and the Sioux City Journal. Both double in revenue and income or profit.
Speaker 2:All because of the moped For me for half the effort. But my first real business when I was a sophomore in college at Iowa State University in Ames. Sophomore in college at Iowa State University in Ames, iowa, I opened a bar with a friend of mine and it was literally one of those things let's open a bar. It was not well thought out. I had no clue what it took to run a business. Matter of fact, when we opened, we opened as a non-alcoholic bar. Wow, what was happening? The drinking age was 19 in Iowa at that time and it was just changing to 21. We're like look at how many students won't have any place to go because they can't get into bars anymore. Well, that'd be great. But all they did was went to off-campus parties and drank. So they didn't want to go to a bar where you couldn't drink. They wanted to still do what you do in college and we were doing so poorly I mean terrible and our bills kept stacking up. We had no way to pay them.
Speaker 2:I pretty much planned on how I was going to disappear and just pretend like it never happened. That was my whole plan. But what happened is about three weeks before the end of the semester, the bar right across the street from me which was always busy, and I'd sit there at night where I'd be working and nobody was in my place and I go. You know why? You know why do they have all the business, all the business. And I said, well, the obvious thing is they have a liquor license. So I actually went and got a beer only license because I couldn't even afford beer and hard liquor. Yeah, I got beer and wine coolers. That's back in the Bartles and James day when you could, oh yeah, a lot of wine coolers.
Speaker 2:And I remember, after getting the liquor license, some good fortune came my way, which was that bar across the street that caught serving too many minors, because the minors are trying to get in bars like at an all time rate.
Speaker 2:But the age just changed and the police were trying to make a statement, so they got closed right before the end of the semester and all of a sudden I was packed, busy, slammed and a customer would give me a $20 bill. This is totally illegal. But I would take the 20, run a block and a half up to a convenience store and buy like a 12 pack of Coors Light, run back, grab a next 20. I'd go up there and get some Miller Lite or whatever it might be, and that's how I started cashflow in my business. I love it. One of my great life lessons was man, did you learn the value of one customer? Because it was literally them putting, giving you the 20, you running up, you serving it to them, and I literally saw cash flow and how that worked from one customer in real time because it was playing out right in front of me.
Speaker 1:What a great story. What a great story. So how long did you have that business?
Speaker 2:So I kept it until a couple of years after I graduated from Iowa State. So we opened the first place, we opened a second place, opened a third place and we had also a liquor store as well, called the Keg Shop, and we became you know. For generations of Iowa State students those bars became part of their Iowa State experience and I didn't realize at the time how significant you're woven in people's lives, because college is college. You get to choose what you want to do and the fun you want to have and the people you want to be with. And I was right in the middle of all that.
Speaker 1:That is a great story and every college kid's dream, no less. So back to those bars. What are the names of those bars? For those listeners who might still remember They'll remember.
Speaker 2:So the first one is called Underwear. It's in the basement, it's like where we at. The second one, which is probably our most well-known, is called People's Bar and Grill. We took over at People's Drugstore so we didn't know what else to call it, so we called it People's Bar and Grill and everyone knew where People's Drugstore was. And then we had some good fortune to kind of deal with some guys that had a place called Lumpy's, which was like a dive bar, and we took their concept over and integrated in with all the rest of what we were doing. And then the last place we had was a place called the Keg Shop, and I believe this is true. At least this is a story I tell everyone. At one time we sold more Meister Brau Light than any place in the United States of America. Wow, that was our claim to fame.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. So I love your story so far, dan. What a great story. So what happened next? You sold the bars.
Speaker 2:Sold to my partner, my original partner. He kept them going for about 15 years after that. So I got the enjoyment of coming back and acting like I was a part of it, even though I wasn't, and I got into the restaurant business and in Chicago. So I moved from Ames, iowa to Chicago, out in the suburbs, and we got into the slugfest of restaurants. We were, thankfully successful. We opened up a series of independent so like high concept, so really good design with the quality of the food, so the upper tier restaurants, not the we all know the difference once we've been to a good restaurant and all the others so we were good restaurants. That put me in a pretty rare space that you could actually, you know, hold your own in a city like Chicago, which is a well-acclaimed restaurant city.
Speaker 2:Man, the life lessons from that, though the value of being on the right corner versus the wrong corner oh yeah, foot traffic patterns all of a sudden became really important. Demographics and psychographics, I mean. We learned we had to obsess, and I have one thing that I learned early on we were opening up. I think it was like number eight. We had 10 of our own independent restaurants. We were opening up. I think it was number eight, and as we were walking through the town and we were dining in the town like on a Monday, a Wednesday, a Friday, just to get a feel for everything and the chef partner said, sure, a lot of Buick's in this town. And what I learned later was that Buick's meant they kept their money close and they didn't spend it on fancy cars or going out for dinner during the week. They would go out on the weekends, but they were held their money tight in that community and the leading indicator there was the fact that they were all driving Buicks and not Lexus or Mercedes.
Speaker 1:That is, that is amazing. So which business was your EO qualifying business and at what point in that journey did you join EO?
Speaker 2:So EO qualifying was in the restaurant business, particularly one restaurant that I had in a town called Palatine, which is where I live, called Mia Cucina, and it was a great source of pride for me and my family. We had all of our family celebrations there and weddings there and just everything. So it was great to be part of the community. But also for our family it was so important and you know this guy, you'll get a chuckle out of it once I tell you this story but I was friends with Mike Maddock, who went to Iowa State with me. We were two guys that happened to be bartending next to each other. That's how we first met each other.
Speaker 1:Are you serious? I did not know that.
Speaker 2:Total happenstance. Yeah, he moves back to Chicago, where he's from. I moved to Chicago, we keep in touch, yeah. And he goes to an EO recruiting event. He gets out of the recruiting event. His mind is on fire. I mean, it just lit up. It's like he's going on and on. I barely can contain him. And I'm just on the phone with him and his line at the end was you got to join, I'm joining, you got to join this organization. If you don't, you're a dumbass. Wow.
Speaker 1:And I was like well, I don't want to be a dumbass. So of course I'm joining. I've never used that sales tactic before.
Speaker 2:You should try it sometime.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, what a great story. So you join EO and you join a forum. Tell us what that's like. So you join EO and you join a forum. Yeah, Tell us what that's like. So, for those that first of all don't even know what a forum is, what's that like from your perspective? And I'm also interested, Dan, in what is the forum effect from your purview? What's been the effect of forum on your life, your business, your family, if any?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. That's a believe it or not. That's a really deep question, because there's it's been such an important part of my life. You know, to me forum is sacred, it's special. It's helped me find the light in dark times, has made some lifelong friends that I cannot live without. It's been frustrating at times when people didn't put in what I put in. I mean, it's just such a beautiful, sometimes complex thing, but I'll tell you what it's led to is everything's been better because of it Better father, better husband, certainly better at business. I think I learned no, I don't even think I know I learned emotional intelligence through it and how to lean in Vulnerability. Oh my goodness. That can't be stated enough.
Speaker 1:But I often look at forum as.
Speaker 2:You know, if you could, so many ways I can go with this. But I look at Forum as the people that love you so much to tell you the truth, even when it's hard and you can bring anything to them, they're not going to judge you and they're just going to be there for you, not for your business, not for anything else, and I just think that's super special. And my other friends that aren't a part of EO, or even YPO for that matter, are still just like. It almost doesn't make sense to them in a way, because I speak about it very eloquently and very. You know just how fulfilling and meaningful it has been to me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So I'm going to ask you a question to ponder for a minute and then we'll come back to it. But you mentioned some dark times and forum helping you through those dark times and I'd love if you could share an example. But while you're thinking about that, how long have you been in your forum? How many forums have you joined?
Speaker 2:So I've been in two, one for about a year and the other one for about 23 years. I've been in 25 years, yeah, and the second forum, which we call VERUS, v-e-r-u-s VERUS. What I learned very quickly from the other one, that I was only in for that short period of time, was that I didn't find it had a lot of purpose. They were just people that kind of came together and I quickly gathered that it was up to us to figure it out. And so when that disbanded and we formed the other one, it was really clear that it was going to be up to me, and particularly this other person, deb Venable, who her and I've been in it the whole time together and we've been extremely intentional about who we recruit. We don't just accept members. We're really serious about the constitution. We're serious about our meetings being prepped.
Speaker 2:Remember, back to being a paper boy how you show up. Yeah, you got to freaking show up. You guys don't or don't come? Yeah, don't come because you got to show up. I need you to show up the right way every time. You know we obsess with fit, and fit means a lot of things to us, but we're physically very active.
Speaker 2:You have to have a fit part of that. When we go on retreat, it's not uncommon for us to do very physical things, hiking in particular, um, but fit in a way that you are prepared to work on yourself as hard as I'm going to work on myself which I don't think anyone pushes themselves harder than me to continually improve and you, you need to have a level of fitness to be able to do that year after year after year, because my experience with other forms are like, yeah, it's cool and it lasts and they get, it's wonderful for a period of time, but then it kind of tapers off after time and I'm like, right, when we get to that peak and I can feel us starting to round off and I'm ascending again, all right, and we've gone through this and we're on our third time where we've kind of peaked and started just getting a little too comfortable. And we're right now, right now, going for our third time, we are ascending time we are ascending.
Speaker 1:So I love that you brought up the word comfortable because, as you were talking about the hikes and being fit, I remember you know one of the things we did in my forum in one of the early retreats we did some rock climbing, we did some whitewater kayaking and that stuff was scary when you never did it before For sure. You know, part of the metaphor for us, and in my own form, is what's uncomfortable, let's go do it. What's uncomfortable, let's figure out how to say it or how to share it, Because for us, otherwise, what are we doing if we're not dealing with the stuff that otherwise we don't get a chance to? I wonder your thoughts about the importance of that and getting out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 2:Well, I wasn't using those words, but that's exactly what I mean with everything I've been trying to describe. If part of doing the work and showing up that is jumping in as we know the 5% which is uncomfortable is jumping in as we know, the 5% which is uncomfortable, and think about it If you're the one who's presenting or has the issue and you're presenting in that 5%, you know, for me, the other, the obligation and I mean that word intentionally of the rest of the forum members is to get in that same 5% with them, because then we experience it together and if we're experiencing that together, I think we're serving the person that was presenting or had the issue. I think we're serving them well and that's what I want when I'm that one that's in need and that's how I think we should show up for them when they're in need.
Speaker 1:I love that. So I know what 5% is. You know what 5% is. We need to give credit to our friend, todd Smart, who came up with the concept of really codifying what this 5% experience is. Can you speak to that for our audience that's not aware? Sure, of really codifying what this 5%.
Speaker 2:Experience is Can you speak to that for our audience that's not aware? Sure, so 5%. Well, here I'll go. Maybe I'll get to the 5%. So if you think of most conversations, they're general and they're surface and not too many people get below the surface. Now let's even take your friends.
Speaker 1:So your friends are probably getting below the surface some of the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah Right, so if that's depth, maybe your best friend you're, you're probably the most, maybe the closest to a 5% relationship with that one or two people in your life. Now you're in the 5% with your forum, so that means we're completely vulnerable and open to having a discussion that's in that space that you may not even talk to your best friend about, or your spouse, or, frankly, you may not have anyone else to turn to, except for these select people that are in your forum. And that's why it's 5%, because I'm going to be that open, that vulnerable and I'm going to go for it with them to the 5%, and that's pretty rare error to be in.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely so, dan, I love that. I want to go back to your beginnings of your entrepreneurial journey and the seeds of what might have gotten you interested. Was there an entrepreneurial history in your family?
Speaker 2:So the answer is yes and I never thought of it growing up. I never thought of being an entrepreneur and it was, like I said before it, just kind of let's do it, you know, and just kind of jumped in without thinking about it. Said before it just kind of let's do it, you know, and just kind of jumped in without thinking about it. My father was a farmer and then in the trucking business. He had his own trucking business. It wasn't easy. It was a big struggle, perseverance for sure on his part to survive and ultimately thrive. But it was. It was a tough, tough road.
Speaker 2:My grandfather, archie so in Lamar's Iowa there's a steakhouse called Archie's Wayside Inn which is pretty well known and very quote unquote famous in that area.
Speaker 2:I'm super proud of it.
Speaker 2:But I never knew my grandfather from my, my, my mother's father, although he might've been the most successful entrepreneur that was around me, but I had no relationship with him and that's due to a bunch of circumstances.
Speaker 2:But I think the best I can contribute it to is my uncle Ed and my aunt Sue who own this super small little cafe in a small town in Iowa called Kingsley Iowa Ed's Cafe, and I just saw that they got to do their own thing and the freedom it brought them and they were doing things that other people couldn't do because they were running their own thing. And that's the best I can relate it back to in terms of who inspired me. And then after that, it's always been a series of mentors, and I've known for a long time that I'm better when I have someone that I can collaborate with in a very meaningful way, in a special relationship way, in a very meaningful way, in a special relationship way, and in the beginning it was accidental but then very intentional, that the mentors have served me very, very well over many, many years.
Speaker 1:Amen to that. I certainly have many mentors that have had a big, big impact on my life. Yeah, so good, so good, absolutely so. It's not lost on me, though, that your family businesses a few of them were in the hospitality restaurant area, and that's where you end up. How funny, how about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And when did you get out of the restaurant business, or are you still in it?
Speaker 2:No, out for quite a while, no, out for quite a while, moved on from restaurants, got into third-party management where we manage other people's assets hotels, golf courses, country clubs, things like that. After we exited that business, actually at a pretty big inflection point, I was trying to decide what to do and in that business I ran Rockefeller Habits, vern Harnish, who you know well, and Gazelles, and I thought about being, which is now called Scaling Up, a Scaling Up coach. And a couple of friends of mine one previously mentioned, todd Smart, and another friend of mine, renee Boer, were both early adapters of EOS. Well, in my other businesses I couldn't help it.
Speaker 2:I always had an operating system, either which for a long time was Rockefeller Habit, or I cobbled it together myself. It's the only way I could keep it organized and I couldn't keep it in my head. I had to have it written down. So I always had frameworks and operating systems and you know all due respect to all that Vern has done. But when I looked at Gazelle's, which I knew very well because I'd ran it so long, I looked at EOS and man, I fell in love with the EOS tools. They had all these tools that just, oh, that helps here, here and for known issues that I knew, you know, companies face, and that tipped me towards EOS and I'm very happy that I went that direction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how long have you been an EOS coach now? Is that what they're called EOS coaches or implementers?
Speaker 2:Implementers, yeah, implementers, yeah. Just a word that people can't remember. So that's why I think Gino chose that word. Yeah, but no, I've been an implementer for nine years. I do have a. Still, the entrepreneurial bug is part of me. I'm very much have some other businesses. I have a really great startup with my son right now, which is going well, and what's that?
Speaker 1:What kind of business is it with your son? So?
Speaker 2:yeah, a year just turned a year old. We are writing what we call skinny books, so small books, usually under 70 pages. We want you to be able to read the book in one sitting. Usually, I think the average read time is like 38 minutes. So they're and we're only targeting entrepreneurs and our promise to them is if you want to get a book done, we'll get it done for you in 90 days and you won't write a word.
Speaker 2:Oh, so what we figured out is this. I'm going to call it an interview technique. So an interview technique. But yet a book has to be A, b, c, right, there's a logic to it. It has to flow. But when we speak, we say so, say we're interviewing you, we need A because we need that content out of you. So we ask very certain questions, but when we talk, we drop nuggets and insight, because when we talk, we just ad lib. Well, we're taking all those nuggets and ad libbing and incorporating it into the book. But the interviewer has been trained. Where they can go A, let them lib, drop some nuggets, go to b, ask the right questions, they drop a few more nuggets is back and forth and, oh my god, this beautiful book comes out. Oh, I love it congratulations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Like what's it like working with your son so he's a entrepreneur and and I figured out and I think maybe I learned this because of all the mentors I had is that I want to keep being his dad yeah, not necessarily his business partner and we're clearly business partners and we take that very seriously but when he has an issue or is stuck, my job is to go get him connected with someone, like some of the people we mentioned Mike Maddock or Todd Smart or a hundred other EOers that we know that probably are better at answering the question than me anyway.
Speaker 2:And the good thing about Ben, my son, is that he shows up prepared, he has good questions, he absorbs it, he does it, he follows up with them, says thank you, please, all the simple things too. Takes after his father. Well, I think he's probably a few steps more than a few steps ahead of me, but he it's been rewarding when other people say come back and say you know, I'd help him even if he wasn't your son. He's because he's he's, he's prepared, he's ready to go, he wants, he's eager to learn. So that's been, that's been great. I'm really happy. I kind of chose that way to have our relationship develop. I guess in that manner.
Speaker 1:I love it. So you were rattling off businesses and I interrupted you. Please continue.
Speaker 2:So I just exited a business that I also had. I did some hotel development so we built ground up hotels in the state of Iowa. Niche was small hotels in small towns and we had a really good run. Last couple of years were a little bit harder to make money and so we just exited, about 30 days ago, the last property. So very happy about that. It's always nice to free your mind and cash a big check at the same time. So those are good things and I'm just in the early innings of this idea I've had for quite some time and I was just in strategic coach, my strategic coach coach session last week. I presented to my cohort some of the ideas and they've been helping more through it. So I'm probably about, truthfully, about six months away from really saying to the world I'm going to do this, but I now taking very meaningful steps towards making this idea reality. So more on that to come.
Speaker 1:More on that to come. You'll have to come back on the show and we'll help you promote this idea, because I'm sure it's going to be amazing. It's going to be all for the benefit of entrepreneurs. Love it, love it. Back to your EOS work and being a coach who helps entrepreneurs be their best and achieve what they want. Really get what they want. Yeah, really get what they want, yeah, yeah. So what are two or three of your I guess secret sauces that help you, help them in such a way? I know you've got some magic. I'd love to just learn from it and share it with our audience.
Speaker 2:Um, well, I'll tell you the thing that has served me well, always. Well, I would imagine this would be true with you as well. But actually being a real entrepreneur and getting your butt kicked as much as an entrepreneur gets their butt kicked, uh, and yet have the successes too, you know. So that roller coaster ride, if you want to call it that I don't know if there's really any replacing that when you're in the room and you can say let me share an experience with you that really happened, that's just so valuable and goes so far, that's that's one I I know serves me well. Um, but here I'll. I'll answer it like this I I wrote a book a skinny book, by the way, um, and it was called noisy head, and the reason for the book, or the title, noisy head, was, throughout being entrepreneur, I would get all this noise in my head of which way to go and ruminate.
Speaker 2:Things would go through my head over and over and over again, and it was noisy. And so I worked with a coach. Actually, although I'm a coach, if you're a good coach, you can be coached.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I came up with this exercise, which is in the book, and it is about you know, what are you really great at? And doing the exercise. I'll summarize it because it's a kind of a long process, but I realized that I'm a facilitator. I love facilitating. Put me in front of the room with you know, five to probably, not more than 20, too big a room, I lose the intimacy of it. So five to 15. And that is just a. That's your jam, that's just fun for me.
Speaker 2:A teacher, I can teach to a point. I don't like to over teach, but I do like to teach frameworks and thinking models for people to think through. I do like coaching. So particularly this is what I'm seeing because I'm on the sideline, I'm not in the game like they are, so I see and hear it different than they do and I've really learned to value that mindset and how valuable that is to them. So first I had to recognize it myself that it's valuable for it to be valuable to them, because I'll ask them a question they're not asking themselves, just because I'm seeing and hearing it different than they are.
Speaker 2:But I also know, uniquely to me, that there's two other things that I am, which is, I'm a framer. I create frameworks. When we're talking, even right now, it's hard for me not to start creating little frameworks of our discussion. I just am always processing things through a framework and if I could somehow take a video of what's in my brain, it's, I gather the information with this over here and this over here just kind of all drops into its right place and I'm just exchanging things in and out of the framework. That, whatever framework I'm working through, just how it works uniquely for me. So I call myself a framer. I don't know if that makes, if that's a title, but that makes me to me, and I learned this when I was in strategic coach as well.
Speaker 2:But they have this concept if you're a simplifier or you're a multiplier and the best part of the exercise is you got to choose one. So, looking at the same exact same situation, same scenario. If you look at it and say, wow, if I just get in there and simplify it and work through this a little bit more, look at all that can happen. Yeah, that's a simplifier. A multiplier looks at the exact same situation, says, wow, all I need to do is this, this and this, and I'm going to multiply it. So which are you? I am definitely a multiplier.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay and I realized so I have the unique ability. So my, my Colby is a five, four, six, four and that's all in the middle band of Colby and which means I'm unique. I was actually a naturally born facilitator. When people want to go high and visionary, because I'm in that middle band, I can go there. When they want to go low, I can go low, although I can't stay there too long because that will eat up my energy, but I can go there. I can hang there for a period of time and when I talked to the people at Colby they said, yeah, natural facilitator, and you're meant to do one thing and that's what you're doing in the world. So I love it. Yeah, thank you for that framework.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and it's interesting, right, you've scaled, you're a multiplier, you scaled to multiple bars, you scaled to multiple restaurants. There you go. Yeah, and it's interesting, right, you've scaled, you're a multiplier, you scaled to multiple bars, you scaled to multiple restaurants. But I'm assuming you've also used that metaphor, that framework, to help your clients. Can you share an example of that?
Speaker 2:And I'd even say this you need to what the Colby people are telling me so I can go high and low. I asked them can I actually simplify to multiply? Because I'm a multiplier? And they're like you can't, because that's how your natural, your colby score is, that's how you're wired. I was like I do that. I simplify, help my clients get rid of complexity, which is then gets them unstuck, which helps them multiply and move forward. Yeah, that is if you want to pull this whole conversation together about what makes me unique, it's that.
Speaker 1:So a specific example that you could share with us on that.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, Hard question. I know, yeah, I know, I got to think through it a little bit. I have one example. I hope it answers the question. Two business partners equal 50-50, which we all know. Don't do that, but we all do that.
Speaker 2:To say they were not getting along would be an understatement. Including one day at a session I was at where they're in the check-in, the easiest part of the day, because it's just check in however you want, you know, answer a few questions. And then one went to the other one and I didn't know what they were fighting on the way in to the session and one MF-ered the other one at the check-in. Oh, and one MF-ered the other one at the check-in. So simplify, okay, what are we doing here? Because we're not having this fight in front of the leadership team. Matter of fact, we're going to remove you too and we're going to go for a walk. My office is about a block from a park. I told the leadership team hang tight. I don't know how this is going to play out, but obviously there's a bigger situation we need to deal with. And I said I don't know when I'll be back Walked down.
Speaker 2:We simplified and said what's really going on. Here's the issue, basically, we decided that it's time for them to separate, and both of them have multiplied in ways they would never imagine by not being partners together. Hugely successful exits on one person's part and the other one's getting close, but fulfillment, happiness for those people. So a little bit of being able to have handle that super intense, super rare situation just be thrown at you and slowing it down enough so we can have the conversation. Simplify then, how? What are we going to do about it? But we're going to just use the language we've been using. We're multiplying, actually by separating, and we're going to be better off without each other. Um, which was tough, I mean, that's not easy.
Speaker 1:That's not easy having been through it a couple of times. That's not easy. Having been through it a couple of times, it's not easy. So how did you keep it on the guardrails? So one of them clearly lost his cool and was going down a path of bad things to say that perhaps are irrecoverable. How did you get them to actually listen to one another and pay attention to what's being said?
Speaker 2:So the session before that, I I did recognize that they were talking past each other and the tension was starting to enter the room and I would even go like, okay, what's going on here? You know, and I generally like each of them individually together Not so much Pretty good guys, you weren't meant to be together. They just weren't meant to be together. You know, I believe this to be true. But, you know, I really believe that they trusted me and that they knew that I was not had no agenda. I was not trying had no agenda. I was not trying to be self-serving or serve one over the other. Hey, we're just three guys here and it's only the three of us that are going to figure this out. So that was some of the language I was using over in the park. I had a legal pad and a pen and that's all we had. Yeah, a picnic table, beautiful, and we just just mano to mano.
Speaker 1:They were just looking each other in the eye and let's get this thing figured out yeah, well, I could see they were lucky to have the right guy in the room, uh, at the right time. So that's, that's, that's wonderful. So, dan, back to back to the seed. I planted with you a few minutes ago about the dark spot that your forum might have helped you with, that you'd be willing to share with us. Have you thought of what you'd like to share?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have two of them. They're like tied in my brain, but I'll go with this one because I think it not only reflects the value of what form did for me in one of the darkest times I had, but it also ties in one of my mentors as well. So I had this is when I had my hotel development business a gentleman that joined forces with me. We weren't business partners but we were treating everything as equals and including sharing of profits and things like that. I owned 100% of the company. He ran about 90% of the company, but it was his thing to run and I really enjoyed the relationship. He was coming off a pretty dark time himself. He needed some help. I was happy to extend my hand. I've been there many times myself and always appreciated when others did that for me.
Speaker 2:I didn't quite know the whole story and recognize now that he was not 100% upfront with me and, matter of fact, in some cases so uncomfortable to say it, but lied to me. And this gentleman who I had a lot of light for, maybe even love for and trust, or maybe even love for and trust stole money from me and significant amounts, and not only for me. But we had investors and we're stewards of their money and we take that stuff seriously. To me it's real simple how you do it. You have somebody else's money, then you just account for it to the penny and you don't want to have a penny discrepancy. That's just the simplest way to do it. Yeah, and just live up to that. You never have to worry beyond that, because just what it is. Yeah, so a lot of lying, a lot of deception. Yeah, so a lot of lying, a lot of deception.
Speaker 2:And you know, eventually I found out. The accountants found out and told me and I confronted him, went dark on me and I didn't speak to him for five years. We're about 30 days away from opening the hotel. Millions of dollars going out the door to contractors blew up all the accounting and the redundant backup, so I had zero visibility to what was going on and I'm in the deepest, darkest hole I've ever been in my life. So here's here's. Here's Dan's two worlds gliding. My EOS practice is going like this taking off big momentum jumps month on, month on month. My hotel development business was going really great and all of a sudden it's like somebody just flipped the light off. Completely dark, no idea what's going on, and yet a hundred people knock on the door pay me, pay me, pay me, pay me um, how did you get through it and how did your form help you?
Speaker 1:what? What a horrible situation. It was horrible.
Speaker 2:So I went to. It was actually right before retreat. This happened and I called them. I said, hey, I need emergency meeting. Here's what's going on. We did a little phone call thing and they're like holy buckets. You know, next week's retreat, come to retreat. I said I don't know if I can go to retreat because this thing was just crashing on me. But I also knew I needed to get something figured out. So I figured it. Even if I went for a day, I would have been. It would have been well worth it. So here's what happened. We're I'm I'm giving the whole rundown of what's going on and I'm going to drop an F-bomb here in a little bit. But it was genuinely what happened. It's a genuine F-bomb. Yeah, it's a genuine F-bomb.
Speaker 2:So I'm presenting I mean, it's jaw-dropping. They're getting emotional for me because they see how tangled up in knots I am. And one of them says don't worry, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm like OK, whatever, you know, just an expression, no big deal. So then we keep going on. They're doing experience shares or trying to help me out. Second person Don don't worry, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm like it's starting to irk me a little bit and then we keep going like an hour and a half into this whole thing I'm presenting, definitely trying to get my head around what to do next. So, yeah, third person says, don't worry, there's light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm like fuck you to my four mates who I love and I might be a little dramatic right now, but it was a moment where I was like, are you kidding me? I need light in the tunnel, which is a future book I'm working on about the situation, by the way.
Speaker 2:But what I needed most then for them not to tell me it was going to be okay. I needed them in the tunnel with me. They which I 100% believe them, you know thought they're doing the right thing and trying to embrace me and say it's going to be okay, which I needed that too, frankly. But that's not what I really needed. Yeah, and what I really needed was I I'm I don't know what to do, how to do this, I can't. I don't have a point of reference. There's no playbook. End of story. Keep in here with me. It was actually the best thing that happened to me. They helped me and served me in a way that they didn't know that I didn't know. But it was exactly what I needed, because it where I was trying to bury my head in the sand and hope it would just all go away. It made me realize I'm the only one that can solve this. I'm the only one that can truly put an end to this. So we get done with retreat.
Speaker 2:I already talked to my mentor, steve Perlman, about this and I tell the same thing. I even told him the story about don't worry, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm like, steve, I need you to get in the tunnel with me. And he says to me at breakfast and he goes you need to go there and face it head on. So this is a small town in Iowa, about four hours from where I live, and I remember just instantly knee jerks, I'm not going there because I'm still scared. Yeah, I'm terrified. I can't imagine going there. And I have this visual of 100 tradesmen lined up Where's my check, where's my check, where's my check? And we've got no money left. So we're in all kinds of world of hurt.
Speaker 2:I go back to my office and I'm not kidding you, I'm right where I am now and I probably good 30, 40 minutes of falling my guts out and and it was what I needed, because I just needed to hit bottom I have a whiteboard right over here and I just went to town on the whiteboard about how I'm going to start doing things. Then it hit me what Steve Perlman said to me, which was you need to go there and face them in person. I called up Steve very busy guy, runs a multi hundred million dollar company and I said so I should go there. And he goes. You should go there. They're going to believe you. Tell them the truth. Just you, be you and if you need me I'll go with you. It's all I needed. I literally cleared the calendar, went there, cleared the calendar, went there, took slings and arrows and punches in the nose and the gut and blindsided punches I didn't even know were coming. I was getting all of it.
Speaker 2:I said it, these people, our investors, dining room tables at dinner and explained to him the situation. They asked me to leave their home. Yeah, I had a meeting with all my investors. There's one sweet lady, 78 years old, stands up in the middle of while I'm talking, walks across the room with their finger. I trusted you and walked out. Oh, oh, that's nice. I'm at her dinner table, just one at a time. 64 people and or entities said yes to a deal to try to make this the best it could be for everyone. Everyone took a punch in the nose. Everyone, me included.
Speaker 2:I took the biggest punch yeah and that's what we just sold about a month ago. What a beautiful story. Light in the tunnel. I had to find the light. It was so dark. Think about it. Light at the end of the tunnel when you're in it. The light was the fact my foreign mates were telling me we love you, it's going to be be okay, we're going to help you. My mentor, steve Perlman, saying go there. The fact that they actually let me the good natured people of Iowa would let me at their dinner table and try to explain it the best I could, when nothing was making sense, including 100, I don't knows. That was all light. That was all light and that got me through that very dark tunnel.
Speaker 1:Wow, dan, what a great story, what an honor and what a pleasure to have had this conversation with you. And I'm sorry it's taken this long to have this conversation with you, because I've known you for a long, long time and, my gosh, what a pleasure. Thank you so much and with that I'd like to thank our audience and, as a reminder, please give us a review, because your reviews have a real impact on podcast visibility. Lastly, you could see all our episodes at our website internationalfacilitatorsorganizationcom. Thank you for watching and listening and have a wonderful day.
