 Welcome to the leaders mindset where we highlight incredible professionals like this episode with entrepreneur and community builder Dave Berlin Now we filmed this episode in April 2023 and a lot has changed I've rebranded my company and Dave has gone on to take on some additional roles in the community Where he's having an even bigger impact here in Las Vegas and beyond We wanted to bring you this episode anyway Because the lessons that Dave had for us were so powerful. We just couldn't help but share them with you Thanks for watching and enjoy the episode Welcome. I'm Jason Leduc founder of evil genius leadership consultants. We're here at cooperate at black fire Who has been kind enough to let us use a small corner of their space as a studio to do some interviews with some fascinating intriguing and impactful people in our Las Vegas entrepreneurial community and today I have with me Dave Berlin Who I don't even know how to describe you with a title Dave So why don't you tell us how you describe yourself when it comes to a title? It's changed a lot over the years, but mostly when people ask me what I do. I just say a lot a lot And and you do and I think I'm gonna try in the time We've got today to get into not just all of the things you do But why you and the teams you build around you are so impactful to our Many many different communities here in Las Vegas. So so before we get into that Let's talk about little Dave Growing up. Where did little Dave grow up? Yeah, I grew up in a small town outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma It's called prior and if you wanted to get really nerdy about it. It's called prior Creek I think the population is about four or five thousand. It might be More than that now, but I think there was like 90 or a hundred kids in our graduating class So that's where I grew up as a as a young little Dave that I actually did go by David back then And then I changed it when I got hit when you got hit I was gonna say there's gotta be a story behind that But clearly you got hit and now you are Dave Berlin and Dave David Berlin. Yeah Had his sights set on something broader grander higher Yeah, then prior Creek. Yeah What came next? you know I If I really went back that far and as soon as you as soon as I said prior prior Creek one thing that really stands out That's still very prominent in my life is the great thing They did have there was a skating rink and I had no idea How much music would be a part of my life now as a as a wedding DJ? But also it's you know everything that I do in the world of entertainment and DJing events That's what funds all my passion. So in almost every time I get behind the decks and do any kind of event There is a little nod back to Little David at the skating rink. So there that's a big piece of that, but I think as I learned More about the world. That's where I definitely knew that I I needed to Pack up and go somewhere else So did little David carry the boombox around with him because what if you don't know Dave? Dave pretty much brings his boombox Everywhere he goes and it's a lot of fun and it's a great conversation piece So the we're gonna go ahead and hit it right now The boombox and and everything that you've known about the boombox and for people that do know I have four actually Four boomboxes, but that was the very first one that I bought as an adult I bought right before I went on deployment for 9-eleven. So we were we left in August of 2001 when I was in the Marine Corps. Yeah, let's go back to that Yeah, let's let's get into the joining the Marine Corps and all that good stuff. Yeah That came much later in life. I mean that was that was one of those things I was at risk youth and for that it took me a while to really figure out what I wanted to do That was the when I went to the Marine Corps. That was the first plane ride of my whole life I'd never really went anywhere hadn't traveled, you know, everywhere we traveled was by car So that came much later in life. I was I say much later in life. I was 19 But that was really after I'd kind of exhausted everything to figure out where I fit I I'm a typical entrepreneur In that I'm a high school dropout. I didn't I didn't graduate high school So the Marine Corps was that solution for me to be part of something bigger than myself And also see the world in a way that I'd never seen it before now Now I have a question for you about you you mentioned be something bigger than myself And I think all of us who have served as veterans look back on our time and realize that was a great benefit Was that why you got into the Marine Corps? or Because in my case I got into the Air Force because I wanted to fly in planes and see the world and like all the All the wrong reasons to go do it But I stayed because was doing really impactful things and being part of something better than myself If I had to be really honest joining the Marine Corps was just a way to get out of Oklahoma I didn't know how much it would affect me until I got there until I became a part of that But but yeah, I think that would the initial way was just like I've got to do something different So I just had to get the heck out of town. That's awesome. Yeah So you've arrived at the Marine Corps Where'd you do boot camp? So I did boot camp in MCRD, San Diego. Okay, so West Coast Marine Hollywood Marine as some people colorfully put it and then from there I did all my time right there at Camp Pendleton so I was part of first battalion first Marines and What was interesting is I went in January 2000 So pre 9-11 and I got out post 9-11, but we happened to be on The 15th Mu at the time like I said, we had left that summer of 2001 Had no idea that what we were in for and I did I did a TED talk about this TEDx talk later about this in life It was actually my birthday September 10th. So I was in Darwin, Australia doing what any Just turned 21 year old Marine would be I've been to Darwin So I know what there is to do in Darwin, Australia and we were out partying and then we got called back to the ship and honestly, I thought everything was a I Thought it was a drill because that was our first International protocol on that on that deployment So I'm like really a drill on our first on our first protocol And then it was a very sobering experience when we got back to the boat and kind of saw everything that was going on And I had no idea how much everyone's live would change from that moment. Yeah. Yeah, it was a it was a big deal I remember the one thing I will never forget about that day. I was stationed in Boston and I will never forget how blue the sky was that day in Boston It was one of those perfectly clear fall days. Yeah, so so blue it kind of hurt your eyes Yeah, and that to my last day that is I will never forget that about 9-11. Wow All right. Well, that was heavy. Okay, so What did you take away from the Marine Corps? That helps you now with all of the many things you have going on now There's there's a couple things that that I think carry over into civilian life And that's that's a huge passion for me right is veteran transition One is organizational structure. I think there's a lot of organizations that can learn from the military and How to implement communication and leadership structure into their organizations? But more important than that and it's something that really has played a strong significant value in my life is Values and and really understanding how if you have a strong set of core values That can be be a magnet for people to come to you or but it can also repel people away That don't believe in the same things that you believe There's a lot of playful banter between all the military branches, but there's just an Unspeakable bond that normally happens whenever you have two Marines that connect for whatever reason so There's lots of that in every branch or every organization that people have been a part of But I think that's one of the biggest things that I still carry over and help people with in their organizations Yeah, the shared values we have we have our rivalries across the service We see that at veterans events here in town, but but when it's on it's on we all we all snap into it And and it goes and we make it work and and I agree. I think those those shared values Have been an essential part of military folks becoming great military entrepreneurs and helping build entrepreneurial communities here in Las Vegas and elsewhere So there was the Marine Corps What came next because you didn't go right even though you had an entrepreneurial mindset you didn't go right into entrepreneurship Yeah, I did what I think and just to be clear I was an infantry Marine so the skill sets that most infantry Marines generally look at are gonna be things like law enforcement Security and a lot of the people that I Served with did do, you know some high-level executive protection and law enforcement and things like that That wasn't throughout that I went at the first job I had out of the military was driving a ditch which and I was I was on a roustabout crew which is Basically, it's oil and gas industry, but I was like bottom of the Bottom of the rung, right? So I was just driving a ditch which digging a ditch for 10 miles And just every so often some engineer would point no over there and yeah No, every every like two hours. I'd have to get off and like knock these big teeth off of it Put new teeth on it It was it was up in a part of Oklahoma that was like really hard ground So I could only go like 15 feet an hour And it would be like oh you just got to go like two miles that way So that'd take me like a month But yeah, that was that was a really sobering experience because it was like I was part of this organization And now I'm sitting on a ditch which by myself, you know smarkin smoking marble reds just Kind of you didn't wait you did not take up smoking rough way. Did you right you went all the way on that all the way Haven't smoked in 15 years. Did you tear the filters off to smoke to hit them off? But no that was a really interesting experience because I had all this time to just sit and process This is way before I found audiobooks or anything like that So I would literally just sit there with nothing but this rattling noise and just time to think so Definitely a sobering experience as well, but I did have I did have a reason why I went back to Oklahoma There in in what's really unique, but I told you I was in a small town outside of Tulsa There's lots of small towns all across Oklahoma, but for whatever reason my small town There was a youth academy and it was a at-risk youth It's called Thunderbird Youth Academy and it's it's part of a National Guard Youth Challenge program I think they're in like 30 cities 30 states across the United States but Back then Tulsa was I'm sorry prior where I'm from was one of the first 10 programs back in 1993 and I heard about that place growing up like that's where I thought I was gonna have to go because I was kind of at-risk youth So there was something that made me want to go back and serve Those kids and and while I did it very selflessly there was a lot of selfish things that I gained from it because when I was talking to them I felt like I was kind of talking to my younger self But I felt like I could have more of an impact with those kids and so I did that for I was the best way to describe it Kind of the layman's term. I was a drill instructor for at-risk youth and a residential program. All the kids were high school dropouts So they were it was a voluntary role. So it was a very fine line between military and not military. So Coming from the Marine Corps, especially Marine Corps infantry, I will say they had to put like a little bit Like tighter leash on me that to rain you in a little bit rain me in a little bit But overall I was there for seven Seven years and I think there was like they gave me a certificate. It was like three thousand three hundred Three thousand three hundred kids had come through that program in my time there So I wrote all kinds of policies and stuff that helped every, you know, every Cycle get better and a lot of those practice practices are still used today As they've Expanded, you know, that's what I left there in 2010 yeah, so yeah help another is grow. Yeah helped you grow I'm set. I'm sensing a theme here. Yeah, 100% and like I said, it's like well, what would you you know? What advice would you give yourself? Like that's what I was doing is I was given those kids the playbook that I didn't feel like I Don't don't jump to the questions later But yeah, that was a phenomenal experience, but to be honest one thing I realized about that role is there wasn't a lot of Upward mobility You know, I got once I got into the supervisor world of that there was only five supervisors past that there was one one rank above that and then one rank rank above that and Then when I looked at the the whole like life plan, I was like is that it? and I don't want to say I had a nervous breakdown, but I definitely had I was questioning what my purpose was and the craziest jump was going from working on a ditch which to Be in a drill instructor for at-risk youth and then on my 30th birthday. I left that program And I became a wedding DJ and now here. We are 13 years later I've DJed 500 weddings all over the United States I've helped grow and scale wedding DJ businesses. I've consulted people in the wedding industry catering Venues all that stuff. I mean now that's just a whole different Whole different life whole different title. So the progression I'm gonna have a question here. I Promise that's coming infantry Ditch which oil and gas industry drill instructor for at-risk youth Wedding DJ. Yeah, how did we go from this path? To that so that actually I left out a title and I forget about this because it was a it was a hard time So for that seven years that I was at the youth Academy I had this really weird shift Where I worked for 40 or for like six years six of those seven years I worked on the the weekend shift and I ran the whole weekend shift. So I did two 16s and an eight That was my 40 hours in the state of Oklahoma. That's not a bad bad gig, right? It was wasn't a lot of money But 16 16 and 8 is a pretty good gig. It's a pretty it's it's pretty good, right? And the thing about that is like people were like, oh, yeah four days off. What are you gonna do? It's like, what am I gonna do? It's not like I'm just gonna go spend money So I actually worked the last four years at that youth Academy I worked a second job as a as a electrician and what I found in that in that role Was and this again This is before I got into like a lot of personal development that comes with the DJ business And I know we'll get to that but like I was just a worker bee Like when I ran the the youth Academy I was like the highest-ranking person on on the grounds normally in charge of like 200 kids But it was a very high stress high impact like every every time my my radio went off It was normally a fight or a kid wanting to quit. It was always the these crisis decisions What was beautiful about the electric thing was I had taken one class for that whenever I was in high school But it was a way that I could just go Release and just I did have my boombox from the Marine Corps I would play music and I would like, you know Get a whole crew pumped up and we would go wire houses or we'd wire Commercial residential whatever a lot of industrial stuff And it was just a place where I could listen to music and just think and get the job done And I didn't have to make any big decisions. It was like, hey, here's all the stuff You need to wire this job You got two days get it done and it was just paycheck But it the funny thing is to answer your question. It was it was networking There was a guy that was on our on our crew and he said dude You're so much fun and you have so much passion. You don't want to do this for the rest of your life He goes I have this friend. He owns a DJ business. You should go talk to him And when I went and met Jason Bailey, I had no idea what I was in in store for But that guy changed my life. He's the first person that like put a book in my hand and said and when I walked into their company culture DJ connection at the time was like the largest DJ business in the state of Oklahoma They dominated Tulsa, Oklahoma City and when I walked into the environment, it was like all these guys in suits But it was like all this fun crazy stuff hanging up all over the wall. Everybody's on the phone. Everybody's energetic There's people doing like, you know, big claps and all that stuff like during phone calls and I'm like, what is this place? And in short the poetic if this is entrepreneurship like this is the heart of it and that's where I just got hooked and Little would I know that everything that I learned from being a drill instructor from being in the Marine Corps I didn't understand how much that would carry over Into the wedding industry now. It's not a shot at like club DJs and stuff like that But you know, if I were a club DJ, I probably would have gotten fights because just when people come up like them You know, I like I like running the show. I like being organized I like doing that and it just that's one thing that comes in in handy for not only planning weddings But executing weddings and all that stuff It's like seeing the problem before it happens and just being ahead of it Well, and one of the cool things about being a wedding DJ When you're a club DJ You're a club DJ night in night out Different crowd, but all looking for the same thing when you're a wedding DJ Yeah, you are making the most important night of two people's lives. Yep the most special night They're ever gonna have yeah, that's there's a lot of a lot of satisfaction that can come with that besides the money Yeah And you know, I that's what the purpose was for a long time. It's like I get to be a part of this But now as I sit back and I look through all the photos and I see all the videos and like I look at What I have and how important that is for me I have a front-row seat to love every weekend and I get to see that's gonna be the title of your book Yeah front-row seat to love the second book. That'll be the title of the second book All right So let's talk about what you have going on now and you can take your pick because I know you got You got a lot of irons on the fire if you need a list or I guess you guys are watching you probably need a list You have a choice sound you're doing podcasts. You're doing coaching. You're involved with bunker labs You're involved with vets and tech you're involved with global entrepreneur week Take your pick start where you want what what is Dave working on now? So the this is normally the order that for right now as of this recording, right? Normally I start with bunker labs because that's one thing that I'm very passionate about even when I did the TED talk Which was in 2014 The TED talk was called Discharge to in charge right bringing the battlefield leadership to the boardroom and beyond I thought you would get more points for alliteration turns out. I only got like 2000 views whatever But I did it that was my first public talk At the time Entrepreneurship veteran entrepreneurship wasn't even a concept at least one that I had heard of or known about It came in 2016 two years later that I first got introduced to bunker labs There was a guy traveling around so when I learned about bunker labs and I learned that veteran entrepreneurship was a thing Man, I was addicted and I wanted it so bad and it just turns out that when I moved here a couple years later One of the first people I met we we launched a chapter here in las vegas bunker labs is In about 30 cities 30 communities around the united states Their focus is to help veterans and their spouses start and grow businesses So I love the the business aspect, but I also love the way they include Spouses, there's so many programs out there for veterans, but not so many for spouses and I think they've actually paved the way to You know help amplify or at least Other people now consider You know including spouses and stuff like that too So I'm the ambassador here But I've also Help with some programming and stuff like that and I've been a part of some of the stuff that happens across the united states That's one that I'm very passionate about and that's one that I love serving Um, so that's a voluntary role. Yep. I want to before we move on to something else because I'm so I'm so Captivated by your story as a drill instructor for as risk youth and you mentioned that One of the things you get called to do is when a kid wants to quit You'd be the one who they'd call To come talk to them. Yeah, and and I want to know What did you learn from that experience about trying to keep at-risk kids in this program? How does that help you? With entrepreneurs at bunker labs veteran entrepreneurs milspouse Entrepreneurs at bunker labs because their days as an entrepreneur sometimes you don't want to do it anymore. Yeah No, that's a great point Well, it was a very personal way that I did that I had I had kind of a retention speech Right, but I also there was a point in my life where I was going through some really hard adversities and stuff like that And I remember it's just like it's just this little miracle piece of paper that somebody gave me and it was this poem And the poem was called man in the glass and I'll probably paraphrase this you've probably seen memes on it and stuff like that, but Dale Wimbrough is the guy who wrote it and it's basically it's you It's the man in the glass is the man in the mirror. Yeah, and the whole preface of it is like, you know, you've cheated Um Nobody's verdict matters. Nobody's opinion matters Um, but you're gonna live a horrible life if you've cheated the man in the glass Then what I would do Is I would ask all the questions, right and try to understand where they were coming from Sometimes they got a letter from back home that upset them and they were just trying to make a very emotional decision But I would always have them in my office and I had that that poem hanging up And I would make that after I was done talking to him and I'd make him, you know Wait until their platoon sergeant would come back and get him I would have him turn around and face the wall just far enough away that it's not right in front of their face But I would make them face the wall until their platoon sergeant got there And then they'd all just kind of get distracted and then they'd look and they'd see that and I'd notice them kind of read it and I would say eight out of ten times They would turn back around request permission to speak Ballin and just request to go back and get back to work So I tried to put that perspective on on them and um, I just want to share this is a little bit of an offshoot, but it's really important because Years later when I was uh when I was growing the dj business I remember where I was at because it was in Tulsa I had opened up the first office down in Dallas And that was the biggest thing that I'd ever done at that time Like outside of the my days as the drill instructor and I was like trying to scale and duplicate that whole operation I was recruiting my own people. I was doing all that stuff And this is when facebook was kind of really getting Uh big was like 2011 right 2012 and I got a message from a kid And he said hey, my name is Justin. You probably don't remember me I was trying to quit one day and I read this poem that you had on your wall And he said I just wanted you to know that changed my life and now I'm in the air force I just I just picked up e4 And I'm starting to lead people and I think about that day every day And then I was it was just this big like It was this big aha for me and it's like I know that I needed to keep doing that in some way shape or form And that's where I just I kept reading. I kept learning. I kept trying to grow everything with way more integrity than just you know a list of a checklist of to-do items And calling that scale Right. I wanted I wanted everything that I've touched since then. I wanted it to have more meaning more purpose And for lack of a better term Getting customers in any business is important, but I think everybody should have two lines out the door It's a line of people that can't wait to buy what you have and a line of people that can't wait to be part of your team And and I try to bake that into everything that I do whether it be the voluntary stuff All the organizations and I think about that That note from that kid. It's what makes it comfortable circle. I love that and I love how Building a team is so important to you because I have observed you doing that On multiple fronts with all the things you're involved in in town So what is your approach to enrolling people in the vision you have for things like bunker labs for things like global Entrepreneur week for things like what we do in the tech community downtown What how do you get these folks to come along? How do you what do you do to get them to be that line out the door who want to be on dave berlin's team? So I stole this from one of the greatest mentors that I've never met Simon cynic Start with why I was very powerful for me. I have some crazy stories about how I'm connected to them I have met most of the people on his team for whatever reason. I've never talked to him but A lot of what he he wrote stuck with me. I've read all of his books But I used the framework of his basic understanding of why And it's too blank So that blank And a lot of times I can help people discover that in in a pretty easy You know half day thing that I can I can walk through with people But the one that has it's changed for me, right? If you asked me, I think I was on video Very similar to this in 2016 and I said my purpose is to inspire veterans So they're successful in their transition from service to civilian life And they can then inspire other veterans It's not that I don't care about that anymore, but when I really realize that community building Is what I'm I'm here for Right now the biggest why for me is to connect the people of our city So we can show the world who we really are And there's there's something that people that want to do that They gravitate so it starts with that And then it's having a clear path of how I believe we can do it And normally that comes through some type of an organization that's already done it I I do like to I say I'm a very Original thought person but sometimes to get the momentum that we need it's to do something that somebody's already done Right. So when you look at organizations like bunker labs that already had a framework and was in 29 cities before us right now We're and then there's now there's 30 and it's and it's easy to to plug into that system And do it same thing for global entrepreneurship week, you know, there in hundreds of communities all around the world I saw how powerful that was in tulsa And I wanted to bring that here because one thing about vegas is you've got this hodgepodge of all these unicorn Amazing people from all over But some of those people get here and they say why don't you have one million cups? Why don't they have disrupt hr? Why don't they have this? Why don't they have that and for the ones that I care about the most? I want to bring those here And then slowly I think we'll see more of those over time But that's that's how I get people excited But and sometimes that energy runs out right and sometimes people just get busy in the day to day But when we have stuff like a finish line for global entrepreneurship week I think we can get there. We proved that last year. So I think that's the best way is having a really strong reason why that's something that people can resonate with And they can still say, you know me too. I want to do yeah me I see that how can I help and and I've seen that happen Yeah, I've been part of that myself when we talked about vets in tech last year and you were clearly too busy To bring that to fruition and a couple of us jumped up and said we'll take this on because we think this is really important To be here. Thank you Dave for letting us know it exists. We've got it from here And and the best part about that and and again, thank you for that because I didn't even really have a full understanding of what that might do for our community But I see it more and more every day, especially where we're at in the in the global economy of of where we sit as vagus And and I see other folks picking up picking up some of the roles on global entrepreneur week and the other things We have going in town here and you've inspired them to do that. I think that's fantastic. All right Let's play a game I'm down. Let's play a game. Okay, so we call this game rapid response. Okay, and we have a little sub game to this This one is free response. Okay, so I'm going to ask you a question Open-ended question. You're going to tell me the first thing that pops into your mind. Okay, okay Dave berlin, this is rapid response free response category ready Begin A book everyone should read Gosh, there's so many of them. That's the hardest question to ask me Okay, we're waiting for an answer. Let's go with The infinite game by Simon Sinek. Good one. You're next vacation Oklahoma Are you asking me or telling me? That's the next travel I have and I'm counting that as a vacation. So Oklahoma I think we're gonna have to talk about what a vacation is. I know favorite sports team favorite sports team The vagus golden knights go knights go An important trend to watch right now A trend a trend tick tock. Okay A podcast you recommend There's two Okay Tell us the game by alex hermosi and you are the brand by mike kim. Oh good one Best pizza Andolini's worldwide Okay Someone we should all be paying attention to Oh Mike kim Okay, you are the brand good one Who are you gonna bet it all on to win the world series this year? Uh There's a world the world series always already happened, right? The last big is every year Okay I don't know sports. Well, and I definitely do not know that's okay. That's a baseball team. You did okay I'll give you a choice on this one either. Don't answer yet Either Your get psyched up song Or your walk on music song. Oh good good one You may have stolen that question, but it's okay. I stole all these questions No, uh, there's there's a song called champion by barns courtney. That's my that both walk out and pump up song All right, awesome Your biggest influence in life For like to me to you like person Whatever it is um If I say road house, that's a whole like separate thing Um, we'll come back and do that episode another time But yet road house the movie road house movie road house If if you are not aware of this if you are not aware of dave I believe you can still find this video Of dave gives a speech on the leadership principles at play in the movie road house I highly recommend it. Yep. I do too if you don't laugh five times. We can't be friends All right. Well, thank you for playing rapid response. Love it. Unfortunately you win nothing However, this was a lot of fun. So I love it Let's talk a little bit about the things that are going on here in las vegas. Let's start with our veterans community Yeah, what's great about our veterans community here in las vegas one thing I love about the veteran community here in las vegas is They have done a really good job at breaking those barriers of siloed groups Um, there's there's a few things that I see That are consistent across a lot of communities around the united states Um, so I'll I'll talk about the the big issue But how vegas is doing a really good job of it and this is where I lose some people and some people might get Pissed can I say pissed? It's the internet. Nobody cares. I think some people get pissed at this and when I say that not every veteran is Suicidal. Not every veteran is homeless. Not every veteran needs a job Or needs a free thing There are lots of veterans that are paving the way for for other veterans visually by Things like education entrepreneurship employment and the in some communities the it's a one-sided talk Now this is a little bit of kind of a deeper talk, but Um, I believe that there's two sides of of military transition and it's it's boiled down to post-traumatic stress Which unfortunately that ends and it ends very badly and then there's this conversation of post-traumatic growth And whichever dog you feed is going to get stronger So the more people stand around And talk about a number that impacts veterans and just focus on that number that number might go up Versus going down because it just it can create a really bad cycle So when I I bring all that up when I see the community of las vegas I feel like we have so many programs that are very visible So many organizations that aren't just trying to give free things away and they're not doing Stuff they're actually creating programs that are sustainable and that that promote sustainability Among other veterans through that visibility That's how we That's how we do this in my opinion. That's how we win the hearts and minds and that's how we keep people on the right track So what I love about vegas is there are programs like bunker labs. There are programs that are very visible like the Southern Nevada veteran chamber of commerce All these things that are and and even that even though that's a chamber that has it does a lot for businesses It does so much more than that right because they hit on some of those other pillars of education employment and things of that nature so I think What I think vegas really has the opportunity to model What they're doing and other cities can pick up on that. I mean I know sometimes it's hard to say but like at the time of this recording Like I have a big event that i'm doing in in oklahoma next month It is a little lopsided because a lot of like the reason why they brought me out was they're doing You know this uh the event about raising awareness for veteran suicide and I said I would love to come But only if I can do Another event too That's gonna shine a different spotlight Um and educate people about something they might not know about I love how you yes, handed them Yes, and I kind of want to do it my way. Yeah, that's awesome Both you and I are really passionate about not just our veterans community as veterans Not just our entrepreneur community as entrepreneurs, but the intersection of those And so I love how you brought that up but going to our entrepreneur community same question What's great about it? And what can we be doing to improve our entrepreneur community here in las vegas? Yeah, the the thing that I love about the entrepreneur community here is that it's still so early right I'm not the smartest person alive and I'm definitely not the smartest person in las vegas because I've only been here five years Uh by the way, I always joke and tell people like when I name all the stuff that I do they're like, oh my gosh How long have you been here? I'm like six months But no, I've been here. I've been here for five years and If I I think if we were trying to do some of the stuff that we're doing right now with global entrepreneurship week And all these other things if we were trying to do this pre-covid They would have thrown a thermal side of town Yeah Or drop us off in the lake or something because it just wasn't a priority for for las vegas The priority has always been entertainment Conferences and and it it always will be But COVID showed this community that they are not immune to being boarded up and shut down I've heard so many people talk about 2008 and compare them and it's like I I wasn't here in 2008 But they did not have the whole the whole strip boarded up So That's created what I say is an economic heart attack to this Ecosystem and now they're trying to to do their like cardio And and mix in vegetables and that's entrepreneurship and these other, you know springs of life And then what I what I love about this community is we're just getting started We've got more and more people moving here and that that can be a challenge But it's an opportunity because we're we're getting all these people that do come from ecosystems That are very diverse and and not no one's not everyone's right not everyone's wrong But some of these ideas that take shape Start to bring everybody together and I just see a lot of opportunity for us to band together And really do some some major major stuff Yeah, it's uh, yeah that marketplace of ideas It was going to be there's going to be some winners out of that I think 100 so you know I'm real big on strategy. I'm a big strategy big picture guy You have a million things going on yeah at a million miles an hour each How do you stay focused on the big picture and what is your strategy? For getting all the things because because I know you put I know you put the time in I know you start every day and turn the crank, but it's not you're not just putting out fires every day You've got a strategy to what you're doing. Yeah, what is that strategy get all this done? Well, I'll talk about the one for the the entrepreneurship stuff first like I I tried to Always have a clear intention at any table that I'm at whether it be a round table for the eco Ecosystem development or the city or any of those things. I always try to I try to listen first, but I walk into it knowing what's what's my goal My goal is to connect the people of the city so we can show the world who we really are And then a lot of times when I see this common thread of everything And I look at some of the other places that I've been that have already solved that problem How do I solve it for us? And this is where I'm at right now at the time of this recording Um, I've said it in a couple of city meetings and groups and stuff And now I try to like make that the punctuation on every on every round table or whatever And it's uh, you know instead of just the same. All right guys Good luck. See you next meeting. I say hey real quick Uh, just a little idea here. How about before we tear down another casino Or another building in this town, which we're we're going to continue to do But what if before we do that we strongly consider creating a focal point center for entrepreneurial research That is a magnet for all of the innovation There's other cities that have done this the one that bring, you know comes comes to mind first and foremost was Austin, texas when I went to Austin, texas For a bunker labs event right after our group call for for global entrepreneurship week I realized that the same people that run global entrepreneurship week in texas are the same people that run the capital factory Which the capital factory is an omni hotel two towers one tower is like all the innovation and all that stuff The other hotels ran like a hotel because there's always people coming there And i'm like we have that And if we can do that here in las vegas then And I make the joke because it stands out like if it was the The uh, the luxor right if we did that with the luxor that would now become an icon For entrepreneurial research. We get rid of the whole Food court and make it, you know, nevada's largest test kitchen. It's still a functional space But if it's on the skyline then that shows the world that we're serious about entrepreneurship Just like a legion stadium showed the world that we're serious about sports and now we have every major sport Coming to vegas and some of them are looking to headquarter here So if we can do that like that's that's the big vision solution and just keep talking around that idea until Until something like that, you know moves us forward that that would be a big step forward for us as a community So that's strategy But That's a little bit more of a long-term strategy That's okay because strategy should be long term right, you know, the big the big thing is how do you turn strategy Into action strategy to task as we would call it in the military, right? But if if you are just doing a bunch of tasks if you're only focused on the tasks Yes, they start to creep off into just task for task's sake and and you start going Is that really helping me do this thing? Yeah, so but I like that you're always focused on that and you are Not just focused on the outcome but on those big ideas Like the las vegas version Of the capital factory that could be Something that achieves the strategy and then there would be lots of little tasks that come along with that. Absolutely. So And again with all the crazy things you have I shouldn't say crazy because they're all they're all wonderful things But all the things you have going on You are you are getting really good at delegating a year ago. I wouldn't have said that to you But I've seen you get really good at delegating over the last year. What how what's your philosophy on delegating? I first of all, I appreciate that and as a very sincere apology to anyone who I have Drop the ball on because it has happened. I wish I could say that it's been a perfect road It hasn't there's been times that I've had to fight for my own economic survival And sometimes that means that I've said yes to something and I couldn't I couldn't do it Um But now I think the so where that delegation comes in is having an even more crystal clear vision of where I think we deserve to be And then saying here are some of the things that we need And what I've been fascinated by is that there's so many people that are willing to raise their hand Or they know the exact person That they can introduce me to that would love to step on board. So that's been one thing Uh one of the most challenging things that I see for for young especially veteran entrepreneurs because that's who comes through our cohorts Is a lot of times like we give them this platform in a stage when they graduate to say what do you need? And they'll say, you know, I just you know follower social media and just we'd love your support and it's like No, you need an introduction to the director of operations at mgm Because your product or service has to do with that like that's what you need to ask for And if you ask the right like for the right thing People raise their hand and be like, oh my gosh, you need to and I say that because there's been a lot of times where people have asked that And I've been introduced to those people and and when I meet somebody and this isn't an ego thing It's like I'm fascinated by how many people I met during global entrepreneurship week that were like are you Dave berlin? Four people have told me this week that i'm supposed to meet you and then they tell me why I'm surprised it was only four and i'm like here. Here's here's who you need to call. Here's where you need to go here's what you need to do And just amazing things starts to take shape from that. So that's fantastic So where is Dave berlin gonna be? Um 2025 2030 take your pick 2025 is coming up pretty quick. So take your pick but 2025 or 2030 Where is Dave berlin gonna be? Yeah 2025? It's funny that you mentioned that because I just started drafting this out the other day Um Unfortunately, I've had my head down for the last 20 years. I have not traveled internationally at all Since I was on deployment in uh 2001 2002 Um, I just hit the big season. Um as of this recording next month, which will be may Um, my son graduates high school and he's headed up to umanar University arena congratulations and that means empty nest. So for the first time I really started to look at and say what does that mean for me? Now I can say this Vegas will always be the global headquarters for me because it has such a global reach to everywhere There's always a piece of home back in oklahoma but um I I saw something and it just it caught my attention And then I just kind of followed that idea And it's like, you know, what would be fun is to take everything that I've learned in the world of dj'ing weddings and take that um on cruise lines And and I've been looking at the idea of getting certified as a yoga instructor for through a veteran program Uh that certifies veterans to learn how to yoga. That's my best bilingual I don't speak any other languages, but if I could be a dj or teach yoga I feel like I'd be pretty attractive on on some cruise lines to set sail um after I lock in some pretty strong strategic partnerships and things where I'm always going to have that entrepreneurial mindset But it could be a way that I can go and And take kind of everything that I've learned from more than 500 dance floors across the united states And pocket that on on some cruise lines for a minute Sounds like we need to build a succession strategy for for your companies before you go do that I bet we could I know we could So what are the challenges that you're going to have to overcome besides the succession strategy To be able to go do that? Well number one. I need to get a passport So that's Yeah, I don't have that because I haven't traveled in 20 years But no, um, there's there's a few things one is uh, you know, definitely a succession strategy makes sense because I think there's still going to be a part of me that is always going to want to serve other people That's it's it's a balance, right? So I can go do that and have a great time and make money and and probably not have to pay rent because I live on the boat or whatever But at the same time that's That's only going to go so far So it's really going to be a way to figure out what is the thing that I can be most Intentional about and really build a strong strong program there and I've got I've got a few ideas of what that might look like That's awesome. So you're clearly excited about a lot of things. That's one of the questions I usually ask is what are you excited about? But Dave Berlin is clearly excited about many many things But what I also like to ask our guests is what are you nervous about? What what keeps you up at night? Whether it's with the business with the other efforts you have going on? What? What makes you anxious? Yeah the The interesting thing there is The abundance of opportunity that I have Um, I think I've always Raised my hand for a lot of things Um, I see something that I I think I could be good at or something that I think is going to help other people And I raise my hand and sometimes I've I've done that too many times What's been interesting now is I have a lot of opportunities that are coming to me and where Normally, it's like if it's not if it doesn't have an entrepreneurial thing If it doesn't have community building if it doesn't have live events and it doesn't have veteran Like I'm not going to do it at all. But what's really interesting I'm starting to get some of these things that are like all of those Or two of those things that I really care about that are like Here's a perfect little package of something that you would be awesome at It's veterans and entrepreneurship or it's veterans and sales or whatever So it's actually it's where I'm nervous about it Is that if I say yes to anything else more than ever? I feel like it is saying no To something else and I have to be very careful In where I commit and spend my energy I I think that's a reasonable thing to to have a little anxiety about is What do I have to say no to so I can really give myself fully to To saying yes to things. Yep So besides Mike kim Who is a leader or someone in business that you really admire? There's there's two I didn't mention David Meltzer earlier He's been a phenomenal Mentor and coach for me this year I I raised my hand and jumped into his group coaching program And I have kind of a direct line where I can ask him some of the bigger harder questions that I don't feel I can I can't go to everyone with some of these questions He's been somebody who's phenomenal and what I love about him is he's very intentional about creating strong partnerships For people that don't know he is basically like I could say he's like the real life Jerry McGuire Like he was really big in the world of sports And he took some really big risks in that world That gave him a really strong reputation But he's really good about saying hey put yourself in the middle of every introduction like formally And I I'm glad I said yes because like I had already introduced him to like five really big people And now it's like I want to learn how to take that step and and put myself in the middle of some of brokering some of those deals So he's been phenomenal And then somebody that I just I haven't even started to talk about yet It's been kind of a secret project that was I felt like it was kind of like behind the curtain Breaking news breaking news There's a gentleman by the name of mike boush Who you said pizza earlier and I said andalini's Mike boush is one of the I say He's one of the top five people in the entire world of pizza right now He's keynote speaker at the big international pizza expo We started I've known him for several years because we met in the wedding industry. He wrote a book Called unsliced and he didn't just write a book. I mean he he had it published with like tucker max and all those guys He wanted to be right there at the same table as everybody else But his book Is all about the restaurant industry. He has five pizzerias three gelaterias two bagel shops He has a storefront that they own in the airport in tulsa. That's a slice house in a gelateria He has fine dining uh food truck and a full catering business And now he started going around kind of like a john tafford like the bar rescue guy And he's created the unsliced um restaurant system That he sees gaps and stuff like traction and eos that don't directly apply to that industry And we're working on this whole system. So we launched it at pizza expo this year I Took the role of integrator because I I wanted to learn how to build the website I know funnels. I know sales, but this is the first deadline that we had and we had it up and running by expo We had you know people into the group coaching program and we're already booking people one on one So i'm really fascinated to run with him Um, I get to sit at the table with a lot of great people like that But it's one of the first people i've got to work with in a long time that had projects and deadlines And profit and and all these things and it's just reignited That whole energy for me Um, and it's something that i'm working on a couple hours a week, but it keeps me Going and everything else. That's exciting. Yeah. All right before we get into the final couple questions Is there anything else you want us to know about dave berlin or anything you're working on? um One thing that I still have on many of my titles across social media Is podcast host. Um, I did do a podcast during covet. I was able to Pin down some of my favorite people that have inspired me some of the authors and speakers and mentors that I've worked with Over the years. I think I did about 25 episodes Um, it I put it on the shelf after live events and stuff started opening back up here I felt it was kind of hard to do both But with so many things that have come back full circle and so many incredible relationships that I've made It's time to fire that back up. So the dave means business podcast will be coming Uh to a Platform near you in the very future. Can't wait. We'll be looking for it. So tell us where everyone can reach you Yep Branding and all that stuff is always kind of in in Flow and and and being revised But you can always find me. I'm the only dave berlin on instagram. All the social media handles is just my name But also, uh, dave means business.com is a an easy link tree to some of the stuff that i'm working on right now awesome Is there anyone? Something or someone You have you are grateful for Yeah, um, I'll throw this back on mike kim because he taught me a three prompt Uh gratitude that you can use every day. That's not the same thing every day. It's a person in your life it's a Opportunity that you have and something that happened yesterday um, so as far as a person in my life um I've had this amazing incredible friend who has been Kind of a right hand person Always there helping out with all the projects and stuff. I've been doing for the last two years. Her name's sophia She's uh, sophia munro with daymaker productions. I think i've heard of her pretty remarkable Very grateful for her and finally if you could Give advice to young people or even go back in time And give some advice to young dave at any point along the way Do you have any advice for for young people or for young dave along the way? I do read Uh, one of those little simple things I found is If you want to understand the world read if you want to understand yourself, right? And um I can say this I the first book that I really read that ever like made sense to me I cheated on all my book reports Uh, it was just a I always cheated like I read uh, what was it? Sphere which was also a movie. I read Jurassic park, which was also a movie So But I didn't read my first book until I was 30 and it's when I joined the the dj company And that was you know 12 years ago and I can't breathe without books There's always something and if I I can't even imagine what I would be or where I would be If I was consuming books at that level when I was 14 15 16 years old even in the military like where my head space would be So now I can't that that's it Read a book or listen to a book. Some people when I say read books or don't read books. Listen to one. I don't care But just never stop learning Awesome. Well, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself I think our audience is really going to love what you've had to say today and what you've shared Thank you to cooperate at blackfire for letting us transform a little corner of their space into this fantastic studio Thank you to you guys for doing that transformation by the way And thank you all for joining us For some conversation with dave. I'm jason laduke from evil genius leadership consultants. The future is out there. Lead the way