Ep. 150 Dane Maxwell built $2 million companies by starting 16 businesses, and failing with 11

Published: Feb. 17, 2020, 2 a.m.

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He almost didn't think there was a place for him to belong anywhere, but business saved his life and gave him a sense of purpose and significance. That kind of belonging gave him endless fuel because he had never felt it before. He started 16 business and failed a lot, 11 times.

Each time he learned, figured out what worked and what didn't and has started 5 successful profitable businesses. He has gone on to create over 15 millionaires with his teachings. He specializes in helping underdogs start successful businesses. Dane also has a passion for singing and he is the author of the upcoming book Start From Zero.

Most passionate about

  • I\\u2019m extremely passionate about loving my customers. I\\u2019m always passionate about demonstratively and deeply listening and really striving to care and love the customers I\\u2019m working with, in all my businesses. It\\u2019s extremely profitable.
  • Listen to your customers in terms of the intention that you can hold people when you listen so deeply to them so you know their inner workings and thoughts, and so you can speak to them in a way that\\u2019s different from how they expect to be spoken to.
  • One of the fastest ways entrepreneurs can exponentially amplify their results by 10X or more is by determining whether they are unconsciously arrogant and by determining where they aren\\u2019t listening to their customers. Then they should start listening to them.
  • For example, one of my friends helps customers build their YouTube channels. Her customers said they wanted to make money right away on YouTube. My friend said, \\u201cNo, you don\\u2019t want to do that. It takes two years to make money on YouTube.\\u201d I told her that she wasn\\u2019t listening to her customers, who wanted fast results. Then she thought of a few creative ways in which she could help her customers. Imagine how her marketing would change if she offered her customers, \\u201cHow to make money your first 30 days on YouTube.\\u201d
  • It could lead to a whole new innovation, like a piano teacher who tells her student, \\u201cI\\u2019m going to teach you to play Bach and Mozart and all the great classics.\\u201d The kid says, \\u201dI don\\u2019t want to play classical music. I want to play the songs on the radio.\\u201d Of course, she says, \\u201cNo! That\\u2019s not how we do it.\\u201d But imagine what could happen if she offered her students, \\u201cHow to play all your favorite songs on the radio in 60 days.\\u201d It\\u2019s \\u201cgame over.\\u201d She wins the market.
  • That\\u2019s how you love: by listening to your customers. You start by looking for where you aren\\u2019t listening. I lost a lot of money by not listening to my customers.
  • Now I have a new process to help people break through entrepreneurial blocks and I offer a free five-day email course.

Dane\\u2019s career

  • I feel my eyes tearing \\u2026 I built $2 million companies and I did it by really listening and serving, and failing a lot ... and learning.
  • I don\\u2019t know if people realize how much experimentation is required to get something to work.
  • Today, starting entrepreneurs give up after their second idea! I didn\\u2019t really figure things out until I had done 16 ideas. Sixteen! Eleven failed and five succeeded.
  • Some people are phenomenal at the violin by age 12. They have to practice and such, but they just have it. For whatever reason, I just have great business acumen. I have great internal power recognition and intuition about how to go about business.
  • When I started, my back was against the wall. I had no money. I was in my parents\\u2019 basement. I was unemployed. I intuitively created a path by reading books and blogs. But I was also ignoring a lot of what I read. I built my first software company and products. I didn\\u2019t come up with the ideas, I didn\\u2019t write the code, I didn\\u2019t fund the development. I own the business. I\\u2019m an owner.
  • I got my knowledge from reading a ton of books and from failing. I\\u2019ve been doing a lot of stuff. Eleven ideas failed. They"