Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm your host, Sheila Slick,
and today I have a special guest. Hi, I'm Brent
Lindstrom, like -minded arts. After decades...
As a general contractor, Brent put together a
10 -year plan that helped him reposition himself
into the uncertain artistic world of becoming
an independent writer and filmmaker. With a strong
background in finance, he was able to use those
10 years to go from earning $45 ,000 a year to
learning how to become a master storyteller and
become financially stable. to focus entirely
on his writing and filmmaking career. Tell me
about that pivotal moment that led you to realize
that you wanted to trade blueprints for storyboards,
Brent. All right, so I don't know if this is
how other people's stories go, but when I was
younger, I wanted to make movies. But my dreams
were kind of squashed because I was told that
that is not something that our family does. We
don't have those kind of connections. As I got
older and I was in the construction field, I
felt like I wasn't making enough money for my
family, so I wanted a side job. My side job took
me to writing because I wanted to stay at home
and be with the family rather than... going looking
outside the home for extra work because already
I was working probably 60 50 to 60 hours a week
outside the home in my construction job and my
wife was starting to miss me so I wanted to do
something I could be close to her with and writing
felt like hey this is the place to go because
self -publishing is becoming a thing and why
not give it a try I could maybe make some extra
money it didn't work out quite as I had planned.
So I kept at it. But the more I did it, the more
I realized that I really still love this storytelling
gig. I got really addicted to it and I want to
do this full time in the future. And so that's
when I decided, you know what, I'm going to find
a way to leave the construction field and move
into storytelling. And that's kind of where it
all started. Well, I share your passion for storytelling.
When I began this very same podcast, it was to
share other people's stories because hearing
other people's stories have actually led me to
take action and perhaps take a new direction
at one point in my life. So I can't wait to hear
about how you build stories. What were some of
the lessons learned for anyone out there that's
listening that perhaps is stuck in a $45 ,000
a year job where they don't feel that they are
at their potential or they want something more?
What would you tell them? So when I was there,
I had also just gotten out of college. I actually
went to school, got a finance degree and my MBA.
The artistic side to the side, just if you're
trying to get out of a job or improve your situation
from a job that maybe you don't feel like you're
making enough money in, I think that learning
a good financial backing is important. So for
me, I had the book knowledge and things from
school, but... I still needed to find a practical
way to elevate my income. The book publishing,
the self -book publishing at that time was not
making me any money at all. In fact, it was costing
me money because I still had to hire editors.
I had to hire book cover designers. It still
took time and effort to do these things. And
then there was the marketing on top of that.
And those first few books weren't all that good
because your first few books, you're still learning
the craft. I think for anybody who wants to improve
their situation, it's important to understand
money, to understand finance. Because I was making,
like I said, $45 ,000 a year, but I had this
goal. I wanted to be a millionaire by the time
I was 25. And at $45 ,000 a year, that's not
going to happen. Especially if you're married,
you're starting a family. There's just too many
expenses that come in there. And so learning
about money, learning about how to make more
of it, learning how to invest it and still on
top of that, saving it so that you can invest
in do that practically because and there's really
no get rich quick scheme out there that if you're
thinking there is, it's. probably a lie and it's
probably going to rob you somehow. So just getting
that financial backing, I think, is incredibly
important. And that's that's one of the things
that I try to help my personal audience with
is because I've had people come and ask me for
mentorship things. You know, they're like, hey,
how did you make it work for you? Can we can
we learn a little bit from you so we can do this
on our end also? And and so that's when I started
my YouTube and podcast things just to help people
along that journey also. You kind of just blew
my mind when you used the words finance and MBA
to storytelling and creative, because in my mind,
right, like you're either a numbers person or
a creative writer. So that's a very fascinating
intersection. Have any of your books been about
finance? No, not necessarily. I mean, most of
my books, I do keep a... realistic approach as
to how money works in there. So I've got one
book that I've just finished, which is going
to be coming out in the spring. It's part of
a new series, kind of a fantasy noir. But in
that one, the whole money system is completely
different. So while it doesn't follow the standard
financial things of our day, it follows kind
of a fantasy version of that. But I still like
to keep... in mind the rules of money, how money
works. So you get this realistic feel that this
world is actually lived in. So yeah, the money,
the financial end of it, I haven't written any
books that just deal specifically with finance.
Because I mean, I'm a fiction writer, but money
is part of our everyday lives. It's hard to completely
separate that out. So as long as you're not...
being too unrealistic about how money works in
your books. I think it's, you know, I guess it
helps to know how it works, but it's not terribly
important for the story itself. So you're a fiction
writer. So that's why perhaps you're not writing
finance 101 how -to books, right, in the nonfiction
world. So what are the key elements in a fiction
novel? I've never written one, but if I wanted
to write one, what is that story? line or that
blueprint look like? Oh, boy. So it really depends
because story, especially fiction stories, fall
into different categories. They call them genres.
And every genre has its own format. And so a
mystery would have a certain format, certain
beats that you should really be hitting, while
a sci -fi novel would have a completely different
set of beats that you're trying to hit. or categorize
into a type of a three -act structure. And you
can learn about that. There's so many references
to what a three -act structure is and how to
follow that. But the actual beats that go into
this are different from genre to genre. There's
a book out there called The Hero's Journey. that
focuses on one particular genre of fiction and
you can see that kind of a story in probably
75 to 80 percent of movies out there it's kind
of this guy going on a journey or this girl going
on a journey they don't want to do it at first
but then they make a resolution to go out and
do it then they have kind of this middle section
where it's fun and games it's kind of like and
and They meet obstacle after obstacle till eventually
get to this dark night of the soul. And then
and then they get this climax resolved. But but
that's one type of story in the fiction realm.
Whereas if you go to maybe, say, a sci fi novel,
you're trying to tell a story that is explaining
more like a state of being like a government
society like this is. imagining what our world
would be like. And so it's a lot more imaginative.
It's a lot more of a social statement, as it
were. And so, yeah, it depends on the genre,
but it's helpful to study genre if you're going
to be moving into that kind of a fiction, basically.
I mean, romance is going to be completely different
from both of those. So the first step is to define
the genre and then find the structure within
it. So the hero's journey, I think that's what
Disney builds a lot of their stories in. And
I've also heard that concept in marketing, right?
Where you're putting the character through a
series of actual steps. So at the end. the audience
right can connect with them and say I've been
in that position and something has to happen
or create that tension so that at the end they
rise up like the hero exactly because we're all
on a journey and it's really easy for people
to relate to a journey styled story they can
put themselves in that situation and so that
that's why that is one of the most popular styles
of genre out there. So yeah, you're absolutely
right. And it's great for origin stories. If
you're telling a, you know, a memoir story, how
you built this business or whatever, the hero's
journey is a really good template for that because
you can start out with, yes, I was a poor guy
making $45 ,000 a year living in a ghetto and
trying to raise a family. And then I fell in
love with books. So then I made my books the
I mean, you can kind of see this as my story,
you know, and then I and so I worked really hard
for 10 years to try to get my books, my skill
in writing books good and try to get myself in
a financial position. And then finally I made
the leap and now I have this career kind of a
thing. So, yeah, it's the hero's journey is really
great for fiction and nonfiction also. Yeah.
Well. You're inspiring me right now because with
the podcast, I actually built an AI tool, which
I'd love to hear your take on AI, where I'm able
to turn these conversations into a book because
I think, you know, it's the same message, but
it's getting rewritten and preserved or shared
in different formats. I think there's a lot of
disruption right now with the AI. I'm okay if
you're like, oh, no, I'm totally against AI.
But I also think, you know, at what point does
someone understand that technology is only going
to continue evolving, right? We have all this
AI out there. I don't even know, like, if a video
was created just by AI. Like, I'm doubting myself
every time I'm seeing the content. Because I'm
seeing a lot of things that will shock you, right?
That shock and awe to keep you watching so that
they can make money on the clicks. So what's
your take on AI in today's day and age? So I've
been up and down on AI a lot. I think it's that
way for a lot of people. The thing about AI and
really any technology is when it first comes
out, it's a little disruptive. And this is true
for everything. We went from film to digital
and that got a lot of people worried and there
were diehards. Oh, we got to stick with film.
We can't sell out and go to digital. And then
you've got all these really amazing tools that
help you create. amazing visual effects in movies
before the AI came around. And now we've got
AI and it just opens the field so much more.
So people like me, I'm pretty much a one -man
show. I write my own stories. I film my own stories.
And I probably have 20 different AI subscriptions.
And as I go through them, I look at the places
where they... add value. And I look at the places
where they don't really add value. And it takes
a little bit of experimentation. But the more
you get into this AI thing, the more you realize
that AI is not the end all be all. It's another
tool that we have to help tell our own stories.
And the thing about AI is. If you rely completely
on AI to tell your story, the story is going
to be garbage. What you need to do is you need
to have your story. You need to have the vision,
the creative dream, and then use the AI to augment
that or to help you improve that. So for me,
I might use the AI, maybe not so much to write
my book, but I'll use it to help edit it. Where
yours is taking like a... And now make sure I
got this right. Yours is to take a series of
podcasts or interviews and turn those into a
book. Is that right? Correct. So it'll remove
the ums, ums and ups, you know, all these awkward
moments. And then it will analyze it and rewrite
it as a narrative. So it's telling it like a
story and it'll quote you on certain aspects
of it. But if you want to hear the full conversation,
then you can listen to the episode. Yeah, and
I've listened to a couple of your episodes and
kind of gotten an idea for that. And I think
that's an incredible use of AI, because if you
look at it, who's actually telling the story?
Is it the AI or is it you? It's you, right? It's
us right now. This is your story. It's whoever
is being interviewed is. that interview is being
translated into a book format. And so it's still
your story. The AI is just a tool to help you
turn it into something that, something more physical,
something that's not just some interview. So
yeah, it's... That's the thing about AI, in my
opinion. Is AI going to stay? Yes, it's going
to stay. Is it going to help us? Yes, it's going
to tear down barriers. It's going to create a
lot of, they call it AI slop out there, which
is just people thinking that they can go on,
and I've created some of this myself, where you
just use AI, you make a quick video, or you make
a quick document or something, and you say, all
right, turning it all over to AI. And it's so
obvious, so transparent. But where AI helps is...
If you can tell a story and you can't tell that
it was done by AI, this is the same thing with
any visual or special effects in the movies.
If you're watching it and you can't see it in
there, you know it was done right because almost
every movie out there has a lot of VFX in it.
And most of it, you can't really tell what they
did to it to make it that way. And AI is the
same way. If you can use the AI as that tool...
it will make your process a lot easier. And using
it in the right ways, it's just going to help
you tell a better story. So I don't look at AI
as terribly threatening, except in the instance
that it... It does create more content out there,
which makes it harder for creatives to get noticed
because there's just so much more to choose from.
And it will pull eyeballs away from you. But
that's something that's been happening for years
and years. The advent of self -publishing did
that. The advent of digital media has done that.
It's just one of those things that you deal with
and you have to learn how to market yourself
appropriately and tell the best story that you
can. I love it. So I had learned a term when
I was in college. It was called suspension of
disbelief. And if I'm watching a movie and I
lose that, then I no longer enjoy the movie.
And so with AI, I feel that way. If it's used
in a creative, good quality way, then it's not.
making me lose that. And I'm still interested
or even fascinated by the output. So speaking
of fascination, your background is mesmerizing.
And I don't normally share video, but if I could
describe it, I'm seeing an explosion of... Color
creativity, you have yellows, which is bright
and hope and you have blues and turquoise and
you've got film reels and swirls. Do you do that
kind of artwork? So what you're seeing behind
me is a backdrop that I had custom made using
AI. And then I then I had it printed out on a
backdrop for me and I use this for a lot of my
YouTube content. But. I just really enjoy that
fun, bubbly feeling. My focus when I'm making
stories, my company is called Light -Minded Arts,
and I... want to create clean, uplifting fiction.
And it's not preachy. It's not anything that,
you know, you're going to watch and be like,
oh, brother, he's telling me that I need to be
like, you know, it's not anything like that.
I just want to create fun content for people
who maybe their value set is maybe. A little
bit different. You know, I personally don't like
watching a lot of rated R type content. And so
I like keeping the sexual content out of things.
I like keeping the profanity out of my stories.
And just having a clean, happy, bubbly vibe around
me is something that I value. Well, you definitely
have that vibe. Just staring at it. I want to
focus on you, but you've got this beautiful background.
I'm like, gosh, if I could have artwork that
looks that beautiful. Maybe it's a little too
distracting. Maybe I need to tone it down a little
then. No, no, no. Take it as a compliment, not
as distracting. If anything, I'm like, gosh,
that would make like a beautiful book cover.
I wonder if he makes book covers because that's
the one part of the whole book publishing that,
you know, it's different to speak or to read
and write where you have your fortes to now have
to switch your hat and focus on the visual aspect
of. that book cover, which is very, very important.
So I want to hear more about your business. And
it doesn't sound like you're going to answer
yes, but I'm assuming that at one point in this
journey, when you transition, there was a moment
where you thought, I might have made a huge mistake.
And if the answer is yes, which one mistake comes
to the top of your head? Okay, so I will admit
that there's been multiple mistakes along my
journey, and I felt like it's the journey that
I'm going to be taking, so I'm not really saying
that I feel like this was the wrong thing to
do. But along the way, there has been moments
where I've questioned it, and mostly if I couldn't
make the kind of financial... foundation that
I wanted to, to make the creative side possible,
then that would have been a clear red flag to
me that I'm not ready to jump into this because
those first few years while you're moving into
the creative field is not easy. When everybody's
stealing the attention from all sorts of areas,
it's really hard to get noticed and you may not
be profitable for those first few years. So I
needed my financial backing to be solid first.
And then But yeah, there were mistakes that I
made along the way. And some of them were in
my investing. So I learned to invest in real
estate, the stock market, futures, options, angel
investing. I just learned all of that and saved
every penny I could to put into that. And there
were times where I would have an investment and
it would completely blow up on me because I was
learning how to do it and I did it wrong. And
then it's like, wow, all my money's gone. What
am I going to do now? And then there were other
times where I started a business with family
and friends. And I thought at that point I had
the business stuff figured out by now and the
business went poof. And I lost I mean, I lost
a lot of money in that venture. And so there's
been times where things have happened like that.
But I'd say. Even that one, that one cost me
about half a million dollars at the time. And
that wasn't probably my worst failure. My biggest
one was probably only a $3 ,000 failure. And
it was an essential thing that I needed to go
through, but it's an interesting story. So I
felt that I had learned as much on storytelling,
especially the filmmaking aspect, as I could.
Without actually putting things into practice,
because I've been reading lots of books, been
putting myself basically through my own version
of film school. And so I thought, time to make
a short film and try out some of the techniques
I've been learning. So without telling my wife,
I went and bought a camera and a microphone.
And I spent about $3 ,000 on this. And we were
living very frugally. She was doing all that
she could to support me. And I felt so incredibly
guilty. I mean, I had imposter syndrome. I had,
is this really necessary? Can I make this really
work? And why didn't I ask my wife for permission
to do this? And, you know, maybe for some people,
$3 ,000 isn't that much. I mean, compared to
the half a million dollars I had not... that
I had lost on that other venture. It's like,
what's the big deal? But I have such a good relationship
with my wife that it almost felt like I was keeping
a dirty secret from her. And I felt so guilty
for weeks. And finally, I confessed to her. It
was really no big deal to her. But at the time,
that was probably my biggest fail, my biggest
thing that weighed on my conscience about this
whole venture. So open communication is how you
moved forward. Yeah, it was. And, and after that,
I haven't had to look back. I mean, she's always
been so supportive of me. But yeah, I mean, part
of going into a creative field or anything that
affects you, especially your financial footing
is going to affect your whole family. And when
you're married, you have a partnership. And it's
important to keep everything together to Yeah.
have that open communication because really,
if it weren't for my wife, I don't think I'd
be able to do what I'm doing today. That's beautiful.
So let's talk about your business, what you're
doing today. Tell me about your movies, your
books. All right. So today, this has been the
year of transition. So I stepped away from my
construction job. I still go in maybe once or
twice a week. But for the most part, I focus
mostly on writing my books and creating some
content to help mentor other people along the
way. But I spend a lot of time writing my books.
I've also had two surgeries this year, so I've
been bedridden a lot. So it's been a great time
to focus on writing. And so I spend a lot of
time doing that. And I've also picked up a property
near where I live where I am building a film
studio. And that one's going through the permitting
process right now at the cities. And when that's
done, I'm going to have about a 9 ,500 square
foot film studio. It's going to be there mostly
for my content, but it's also going to be there
for other creatives when I'm not using it. And
it's going to have... state -of -the -art things.
It's going to have AI integrations. It's going
to have a lot of things that help filmmakers,
people who want to make commercials. It's going
to help people who just want to do podcasting
or YouTube things. So it's going to have a lot
going on in there. And I'm really looking forward
to that leap because I've got a lot of stories,
not just books, but screenplays that I've been
writing that I can start. filming once that gets
going. But until then, I'm writing my books and
I'm publishing those. And I've got one that just
came out this year called One for the Money,
Two for the Soul. And I've got another one called
Hard Boiled Cabbage, which is a fantasy noir
mystery type thing, which is coming out in March.
And so, yeah, it's a fun, creative journey. And
it's what I've always wanted to do. And you married
the two right now that you. just said this studio
you're putting those construction skills and
you're turning your passion and you're combining
the two and it just sounds like a state of the
art because you're going to integrate all of
these technologies and it also sounds almost
like an incubator someone that wants to you know
explore how to get into this creator economy
or Yeah, yeah. Because I mean, we've got two
colleges that are within half an hour of where
I live, and both of them have a film school in
them. And so I look forward to bringing in creatives
from there. I really want to be able to provide
some low cost, even free services to some of
them for their school projects while they're
working on that. And I'm even incorporating some
of the real estate investing knowledge that I
have to fund the thing. My property that I'm
building the studio on is not just going to have
my studio. It's going to have other commercial
buildings on it. And the income from those is
going to basically fund the studio so that if
my studio doesn't actually make money, I can
still keep the studio. So does the studio have
a name? It's going to be the Studio at Light
-Minded Arts. Absolutely love that. And will
it be? Kind of like a co -working space, which
has been a pretty popular model. Just thinking
out loud, because if it's creatives, they may
not want a full time office. But if they can
rent out that space on a monthly basis or, you
know, certain rooms, I'm sure you're going to
have a podcast room and a film room and so forth.
Yeah. And right now it's a little bit fluid.
I'm going to probably change things as they go.
But the idea right now is that. There will be
some co -working space in there with computers
set up already that have all of the film editing
tools on there that somebody would need so they
don't have to go out and get an Adobe subscription
or anything like that. It'll have AI tools that
they can use and access there, but it'll also
have... the integration so they can create a
world there, cast it up onto a giant 36 -foot
-long LED backdrop screen, and they can go film
themselves in whatever place in the world they
basically want or out of this world. And there'll
be other ones with, you know, the white backdrops,
the green screens, whatever we need there. But
yeah, it'll be open for people like that. And
I also want to have it be... almost a social
hub where if a creative or maybe someone making
a commercial or film comes and they say, I want
to make this film here, do you know any gaffers?
Do you know any grips? Anybody who can help me
make this? And I can pull up a list and say,
here's some of the people who come here often
who would love to work on your project and can...
Maybe I don't charge them to come do certain
things and they don't charge them to do things.
Kind of just a big network of people who want
to work together to help each other's dreams
come true. And when you're first starting out,
it's so hard to make a dime that your budgets
get really out of control if you're not careful.
And so having a place where they can develop
some of that experience and knowledge at a low
-risk environment, it's a dream of mine. I mean,
I've used... free help before and getting other
people to help with other creative projects it's
just something that you you have the like in
the construction field you get two concrete contractors
right and one of them comes and looks at one's
job and says i hate that concrete job i can't
believe you hired that guy the other guy says
Why did you ever hire that guy? Look how bad
his concrete... They're always fighting each
other and competing against each other. But in
the creative world, it's so symbiotic. Everybody
in the creative world seems to want to be helping
each other. Yes, maybe my book is competing with
your book for eyeballs, but there's this weird
dichotomy where as creatives, if you mention
that you're an artist or writer or anything,
it seems like everybody wants to help each other.
And that's a really fun aspect of the artistic
community. So my last question is, imagine your
life is a film, and I'm inspired by all the film
behind you and the studio talk. And you can take
a second if you don't have it at the top of your
head. But what would be the title for this chapter
of your life? I think this chapter would be titled
Retelling. Maybe not retelling, retailing, if
that makes sense. Play on words. So like I said,
how I'm building that studio, but with other
retail sites located there to help support it.
I am in the middle of building retail units to
support my actual film studio. So I'd call it
retailing. Well, I love it. And I love your story
of transformation. It's almost its own hero's
journey. It's a really fun journey. And there's
not a boring day right now. Well, this interview
hasn't been boring and neither has the artwork
behind you nor all your future plans. So congratulations
on all of these milestones that you're reaching.
I have really enjoyed our conversation. I will
leave all of the links in the description. It
sounds like you have a lot of books and a lot
of films. So I'm hoping you have a website I
can send them to where they can check out all
the different work. Yeah, yeah. So if you want
to visit me, so there's a couple things. You
can visit my YouTube channel. It's just Light
-Minded Arts. You'll find it there. That's kind
of where I'm more of helping mentor people in
the creative industry. But if you want to come
visit my website and learn more about my stories,
my books, different things like that, it is www
.lightmindedarts .com. And if you go there, there's
a contact page where you can fill out and mention
your podcast here. And I will actually email
you a free copy of my latest novel, One for the
Money, Two for the Soul. I love that. Well, thank
you so much for joining me today. Well, thanks
for having me. It's been a pleasure talking with
you. And thank you all for tuning in to another
episode of Milestone Moments in Business and
Leadership. Until next time.