Why a Trust Fund Can Be a DISADVANTAGE
Growth Mindset
November 19, 2020
“If you have all the money in the world but you’re not healthy, you won’t be happy. If you’re the healthiest person in the world and you have no money, you won’t be happy. All of those things matter.” In this episode of Growth Mindset, we talk about how one of the worst things that can happen to you as a high-performer is to become comfortable. We often think that people with trust funds, who come from wealth, have a significant advantage … but unless they have the right mindset, they are actually at a disadvantage.
We talk about how Ogline Digital ultimately succeeded because I had no Plan B. “Failure was not an option,” in a sense … except I failed so many times along the way. But I kept picking myself up and trying again because if I didn’t make it work, I literally wouldn’t eat!
We also talk about:
- The #1 mindset hack that defeats ego and allows you to accept help when you need it.
- Why business travel as we knew it is never coming back.
- Why I advise people that whatever they want to do - a podcast, a YouTube channel, a website, a photo set - do it now, tonight, instead of waiting for it to be perfect.
- What I did wrong during the first twelve years of my entrepreneurial career … and exactly how I fixed it.
- My morning routine and my favorite books.
- The only daily routine that matters.
About the Show: Durgesh Singh is the host of Growth Mindset.
Full Transcript
Durgesh Singh: Hello, everyone, this is your host, Durgesh Singh from “Durgesh Sing Growth Mindset.” And on today’s topic is growth mindset itself. The purpose of me having this channel was to give people a growth mindset so that they can learn and build a good, successful career for themselves. And that is why I have always uploaded things regarding growth mindset, like how to stop procrastination, how to be more productive, morning routine, and so much more.
And when I think about growth mindset, I just couldn’t think of anybody more perfect than today’s guest because this man has already done everything that you want to have. You want to have a seven-figure income? He has done it. You want to have a successful company? This man has done it. You want to travel the world? You’re thinking to travel the world? This man is already doing it. So please welcome with me Daniel Ogline. Daniel, welcome to the show, and thank you so very much for accepting this and coming to my show, thank you so very much. I am very grateful and honored to have you.
Dylan Ogline: Sure thing. I’ll clarify something. It’s my first name is Dylan, last name is Ogline. I knew you were going to butcher it. So no worries. Everybody gets the last name wrong, so no worries, it’s Dylan Ogline, and thank you so much for having me as a guest. And you really set the expectations high, I am the perfect guest to talk about mindset, so there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders right now. I’m feeling it, man. But thank you so much for having me.
Durgesh Singh: Okay. So, Dylan, I was thinking like as previously you mentioned that in 2016 you scrapped some ten of your projects and then you started this digital agency and then you really build it very successfully. So highlight something about that. How did you from fail to success, what was that? Something about your past.
Dylan Ogline: Sure. So a lot of people they hear, “You need to focus. Focus, focus, focus. Read a business book, or anything like that,” and everybody’s like, “Focus.” But when you’re struggling, when you are starting out with the business, or like me, I’ve always been a business owner. I started my first business when I was 14, I’ve only ever had one job. It was a summer job working a cotton candy stand.
When you are building, when you are starting out, you are going to be desperate. And what that naturally leads you to do is chase the shiniest objects. Its called shiny object syndrome. You’re bouncing around from one project to the next, you’re trying to get something to work. And literally, I don’t know anybody who came from-- I hate using the term humble beginnings-- who didn’t come from wealth or something like that. Like me, I’m a high school dropout who didn’t come from college or something like that.
Nearly everybody I know from some kind of situation like that did the same thing or they’re still doing it. They are bouncing around from one project to the next because you’re so desperate to try to get something to work. And in your mind, since we’re talking about mindset here, in your mind you’re like, “Well, if I could just get this project to make me a couple hundred dollars a month, and then this one to make me a couple hundred dollars a month, then I will actually have some income coming in, and then I can focus on the big stuff.”
Durgesh Singh: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Dylan Ogline: And I spent 12, 13 years doing that, wasting a big chunk of my life being miserable, not traveling around the world, being the absolute not perfect example of what you want to talk about. And I mean I was nearly a million dollars in debt. Sleep? What is that? I don’t know what sleep is anymore. I never went on a vacation. I was miserable. It was getting absolutely nowhere. And I say it was ten-plus business projects, I don’t even know how many it was, there were so many different directions I was going in. And it was advice from a mentor, I had a conversation with a long-term mentor, explained the situation to him. Figuratively speaking, it was like a slap across the face. It like woke me up. Like the solution was right in front of me was, “Dude, just focus on one single project.”
The project, or the business, or the service that is most likely going to get you to your financial goal. And that’s what I did, and that was the end of 2016. 2017, the business hit multiple six-figures, and then in 2018 was the first time we hit seven figures. So 2018, 2019 and then I think this week we’ll probably hit seven figures for the year.
Durgesh Singh: Wow. That is so amazing.
Dylan Ogline: I just condensed like 15 years into one minute. One or two minutes.
Durgesh Singh: But the amazing part is that you did not give up. I mean most people after 13, 14 years they would just settle with a job or something, that [inaudible 05:40] life. And that was amazing you just did not give up. And what really triggered you? What made you like, “No, I just don’t want to give up. This is what I want to do.” What was that main trigger? Like what hit you so hard?
Dylan Ogline: So for me there wasn’t a trigger. I talked to somebody about this yesterday, actually. And, for me, I had to keep going. Failure wasn’t an option. And to clarify, I have failed way, way, way, way more than I have succeeded. “Succeeded.” Multiple business projects that failed in a blaze of glory. And, like I said, 12, 13 years of pain and suffering and getting absolutely nowhere. So when I say failure is not an option, like there are things that I failed at all the time. But I’m saying I couldn’t give up because there was no plan B, there was no back-up plan, and I consider myself lucky for that.
The person I was talking to yesterday I said, “I think the worst thing you could ever possibly have in your life is to become comfortable.” Or like, “Oh, if I fail, it’s okay, I got a trust fund,” or “My parents will give me money,” or “It’s okay, I have a back-up.” Like that’s a very bad place to be in life in my opinion. In my particular place, like I said I’m a high school dropout. I didn’t have a college degree. I didn’t have anything. So if I failed and I gave up like I wouldn’t eat. I wouldn’t get a job. Nobody would hire me. And there were even times where I tried to get a job and nobody would hire me because this guy’s an idiot.
And so I think in my particular case, and figuratively burnt all bridges, there was no back-up plan. I had to keep going because if I didn’t, I would go hungry, there wouldn’t be any food, there would be no water. Like I consider that a blessing because I truly believe being comfortable is the worst thing that could happen to somebody.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah. That’s very, very true. I always tell my clients when I train them if you have a plan B, you’re not getting anywhere. You won’t be successful because that’s a subconscious mind is having that thought that you don’t trust in yourself. You don’t trust in your plans. That subconscious mind does not let you win that thing. So that was amazing, thank you so much for that.
And so let’s get a deep dive into the main course. So from that failure to this amazing success, what was the right mindset, or let’s just say the growth mindset, that actually helped you gain this? What were the changes that you brought in yourself, the routines, or learning, whatever the things that you did?
Dylan Ogline: Certainly focus, as we’ve talked about. Focus, determination. You can’t give up. You just have to make up your mind. Just decide that this is what I’m going to do. Like I’m going to eventually get there. Success, whatever that is, I’m not going to give up until I have that success. And, listen, this can apply in business, this could apply to athletes, this could apply to actors and actresses, it could apply to politicians. Like literally anybody, any profession, you just need to decided that I’m going to success, I’m going to eventually get there, and the universe will just get out of your way. It will just move out of your way and you will eventually get there. So I think just relentless, ruthless determination. That is certainly you just have to have that mindset. There’s no question about it.
Focus was a big thing that I was missing, certainly. Another thing would be, and this is kind of a weird answer, is gratitude. And I study stoicism, and gratitude is a big thing that you’ll take away from that. And, for me, it helps kind of in two fronts. So by showing gratitude, we’ve probably all heard “be thankful for what you have and you’ll be a happier person,” and that is undeniably true. If you’re going through struggles in life, and you feel thankful for them, or thankful just for the things that you have, you will be a happy person. Somebody could have it worse. Nelson Mandela was in prison for what, like, 25 years? And the dude would constantly practice gratitude, and it could be worse, and just being thankful that I have the breath in my lungs. So certainly that point.
The second reason that I think gratitude is so important is it naturally just by its very nature defeats ego. And I don’t mean ego in terms of like, “Oh, I’m the best, I’m a winner,” that kind of stuff. It battles ego in terms of thinking that you’re always right or thinking that you know what you’re doing. So because you’re practicing gratitude, and it naturally defeats ego, you don’t necessarily have a problem reaching out to somebody and saying, “Hey, I notice you’re doing this and this. You have a successful business. Can I talk to you about it? Tell me a little bit more.” And when you get that advice, you’re not like, “Oh, that person’s wrong. I know the right way.” You’re constantly in this like, “Hm,” seeking out better ways to do things. So if I had any particular mindset hack to give somebody, it would certainly be gratitude. It’s an 80/20 method. It’s 20% of effort that gets you 80% of the results.
Durgesh Singh: Yes. Yes. Yes. Very true. And as a brain expert, I always tell people, “When you’re in a gratitude state, your mind cannot be angry, depressed, sad. It will only stay in that gratitude zone.” So that’s very amazing. So I would like to tell our audience that whoever is watching this on either YouTube or listening to this on podcast, please take a screenshot of this episode, and share it on the social media, and tag both of us. We like to see and hear from you, and the links are in the description.
So getting back to the questions, Dylan. If you ask a cool kid, they have an exam, what is the right thing that you’re supposed to do? He’ll say, “I’m supposed to study,” but they don’t. There are many people who know what they’re supposed to do and know the right method, but still they are not able to take the action. They just don’t do it. So when you train people, what do you notice the most that holds people back? Or why don’t they just can’t do it?
Dylan Ogline: They just do. I would say I think this is probably going to be an unexpected answer. What I have noticed, and I used to do this myself, and this kind of plays into the focus thing, is people try to do too many things. So I like to say you want to have like a to-do list for the day. Like I have a to-do list, I have a Moleskine notebook that sits beside me here on my desk. If there are ten big things to do, and pick up, and I’m like, “Yeah, like I’m going to take on the day.” And I try to do ten things that day, I absolutely guarantee you I’m not going to do any of them. You’re not.
But if I have just one big thing on that list, I’m probably going to get that done for the day. Or at least make a conscious, big effort on progress on getting it done. So when I’m teaching my students I tell them like, “Focus, keep things ridiculously simple, and just pick. If you try to do ten things today you’re not going to get any of them done. Just pick one single thing for today and just focus on getting that done.”
Durgesh Singh: Yeah. That is amazing.
Dylan Ogline: And if you do that every single day, six days out of the week, five days out of the week, you get one big thing that moves your business, or your project, or your career, or whatever it is you’re working on. You pick one single thing and you work on that one single thing every day, eventually you’ll get to your goal. On top of that, you feel like you get that like dopamine hit whenever you cross that thing off on your to-do list. But if you did that one thing and then you have nine more things on your to-do list, you’re going to be like, “Dude, I got nothing done today.”
Durgesh Singh: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Dylan Ogline: So, yeah, I think just having one single thing every single day. To move your business, move your career, move your project, or whatever it is you’re working on. I think that’s really good advice.
Durgesh Singh: So, Dylan, since you have mentioned focus so many times, I want to ask you how did you actually increase your focus? Like as you said you were not really focused then and now as you changed, how that change came, and how did you do that?
Dylan Ogline: Sure. So I think for me it was I had spent so long suffering, grinding out, and not getting anywhere that when I got that figurative slap across the face, and realized that the solution was right in front of me, I just made a commitment to just ruthlessly focus and keep things simple. So like before, if I had one of these business projects or whatever, it had to be perfect. I had to get a really nice logo, and I had to get a business card, and I had to get stationery, and I had to have a nice phone system, and then I need to work on PR, and then I needed to do this, and this. Like stuff that just doesn’t matter, right? And that’s why none of the projects never went anywhere.
So once I realized like, “Oh, that’s the mistake I’m making,” I just made a commitment that I am going to just do the absolute necessary stuff and nothing else. So like my agency, once I decided that I was going to be focusing on digital advertising management service, naturally my mind because I’m a perfectionist, I was like, “Well, I need to go build a really nice website, and then I need a logo, and then I need a business card, and then I need a phone system, and blah, blah, blah. I need all these things.”
And I just was like, “No. No. I don’t need that. I probably don’t need that. I probably don’t need that. I’m going to focus on getting somebody, I’m going to focus on proving product market fit, keeping it ruthlessly simple, and just reach out to people and see if they’re willing to give me money for this service.” Like that’s how you prove product market fit.
So I just did it, and then once it actually started to work I was like, “Oh, that was the answer.” So like my agency, I didn’t have a website until the beginning of this year. I did seven figures for two years with no website. Just didn’t need it. Now that’s dumb, I don’t recommend that to anybody, because there’s certainly a level of professionalism that comes with having a website, and like maybe getting a logo or something. But, for me again, it was just that I had spent so long suffering that I kind of just quit the perfectionist cold turkey. Like I just quit it. I was like, “I’m not going to do that anymore.”
So now, and I teach people this in my program, just keep things ruthlessly simple. If you’re going to build a website, you’re going to build a logo, you’re going to do all these things for your business, get it done tonight, like tonight. Like make a commitment. Like if I’m going to do this stuff, it has to be done tonight. Don’t spend six months building out the perfect website.
Durgesh Singh: No procrastinating.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah. Don’t. You just have to make the decision and just ruthlessly commit to it as if your life depends on it.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah. That’s so amazing. You actually reminded me of my story. When I started my YouTube channel, it took me six months to actually act on it because I was very shy about my content, the content that I was about to provide. But I was comparing myself with other people. Like the visual and the editing part and so much. I was trying to be perfect. Until at last I lost that illusion. The real joy isn’t progress and process. The real joy is in process and progress. So I just like, no, I need to do it now, and that is how it really took me six months. So that was my reason of [inaudible 20:23].
Dylan Ogline: I’m so glad you brought that up because I really like to hit people. Just do it. If it’s a YouTube channel or if it’s a podcast, or it’s a training program, or whatever, just do it and get it out. Because I 100% guarantee you that it’s going to take 50 iterations before you actually get to the prefect product, the perfect video, the perfect podcast, whatever. And there’s absolutely no way for you to get to number 50 if you never put out number one. And this is a dirty little secret, but your first podcast, your first YouTube video, your first photo set if you’re a photographer, your first training program, your first sales call. The first time you do anything is going to be terrible. But if you’re looking at somebody else’s YouTube videos and you’re like, “Man, those videos are so good.” I guarantee you their first video was terrible.
Durgesh Singh: Absolutely.
Dylan Ogline: One of my favorite podcasts is Tim Ferriss, “The Tim Ferriss Show.” Listen to his first episode. It’s terrible. It’s not good. Like he repeats himself multiple times. He like stutters a bunch of times. And this guy’s like a millionaire and his first podcast like wasn’t that good. When he looks back on it he’s like he’s embarrassed by it. But he’s like there’s no way for me to get to the 50th one that’ll be good unless I do the first one. And then I see so many people, and what I advise to people is like, “If you have a training program, launch it tonight. Do it tonight or this weekend. Like it has to be now that you record that quick video, go do that photo set, do your first podcast. Just do it now and get it out there.” And that’s going to get you closer to the 50th, or the 100th that’ll actually be incredible.
Durgesh Singh: Yes. That is very true. And I think if people cannot enjoy the process, what do you believe? If you cannot enjoy the process, the journey, I don’t think it’s worth doing that work, right?
Dylan Ogline: Oh, 100%. You have to enjoy. I think you’ll realize that the part that’s actually fun and enjoyable is seeing yourself get better. If you’re doing a podcast, making those little improvements to like, “Oh, my background’s better, or my audio’s better, or I wrote really good show notes this time,” or whatever, just those slight improvements that make you better and better and better. Like it’s the climb that is the enjoyable part that you will look back on. And I can look back on projects or whatever, and I’m like, “Oh man, that was so stupid. That was so bad,” but it’s enjoyable. It’s enjoyable to like to see yourself get better and better at something. And there’s no way for you to get better unless you actually put something out. And the worst thing you can do is spend six months like you did. Like everybody does, everybody does that.
Durgesh Singh: I understand.
Dylan Ogline: Spend six months sitting around being like, “Oh, my audio needs to be perfect, this needs to be perfect.” No, just get it out there now. Just do it now.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, just get it out. Yeah. Please, don’t be me.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, don’t do that.
Durgesh Singh: So that was amazing. And let’s say every successful people or every growth mindset person has an amazing morning routine. So do you have one and would you like to share what’s your morning routine?
Dylan Ogline: Oh, absolutely. I have no problem talking about this. And this is important, I actually I believe that your the first and last hour of your day define your life. If you are working until you pass out at your desk, you probably don’t have your priorities straight. If you are going to bed and then looking at your phone, and you go to bed looking at Facebook, like you’re probably not going to be focused, you’re probably not going to get good sleep. If you wake up in the morning and you woke up late because you went to bed at a bad hour or whatever, you’re probably going to be scrambling for the rest of the day.
So the first and last hour of your day define your life. I’ll actually start with my evening routine, how I end the day. So I typically go to sleep at 11:00. I stop working 100% at 10:00 unless there is some emergency. So this is 10:00 PM, I’m done working. I have a few supplements I take—melatonin, ZMA I think they’re called, and that’s just to help me relax, help me get to sleep. I drink tea before I go to bed. This is all within that last hour. And what else? I read for about a half hour.
And then I picked this up from Japan, this is a Japan culture thing. And I probably do this three to four days a week. I think it’s called an onsen, which I really need to look up what it’s actually called. But basically it’s this popular thing I guess in Japanese culture where like before you go to bed, you’ll soak in really hot water for ten minutes.
Durgesh Singh: Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dylan Ogline: Do you do that in India, by chance?
Durgesh Singh: No. Actually, lots of trainers, and I also suggest people, especially spiritual leaders like [inaudible 26:32] and all, they always tell you when you are back at home, okay after your work when you come home, the first thing that you do is take a little lukewarm shower. And this is very spiritual as well. And when you’re taking that shower, you feel that every drop, you feel, you close your eyes, feel every drop, and as if all the negative energy is actually coming down and leaving the body. And that really helps a lot. Actually, try this, just close your eyes and tell yourself in your mind that all the negativity is really…
Dylan Ogline: You’re feeling all that negative, that’s good, I like that.
Durgesh Singh: That’s amazing. That is really very powerful. Yes, please continue.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, so it’s not a bath, I’m not like sitting in bubble baths, and I have my glass of champagne or something. It’s just it’s hot as water as you can possibly stand with some Epsom salt in it. And what this does, the entire purpose, is that it increases your body temperature. And the most exhaustive thing that your body can do is trying to decrease its temperature. Your body will divert all resources and all energy to try to decrease temperature because it’s very dangerous if your body overheats.
So by increasing your body temperature by sitting in this really hot water, you become exhausted. So soak in the water for like ten minutes just as hot as possible, as hot as you possibly can stand. Then I get out of the water, I dry off, I go to bed, and I fall asleep. It’s just boom, knocks you out. So then I get really good sleep, and I try to sleep seven to eight hours.
Now we’re on to the morning routine. So I get up at 7:00. My first hour looks like I do like a stretching routine. Maybe it’s like five minutes of a little bit of yoga and everything just to get the body warmed up. So I do that. I meditate for about ten to 15 minutes. And have my coffee with my girlfriend. And, yeah, what else? Then I get a shower and that’s pretty much it.
Durgesh Singh: Cold shower?
Dylan Ogline: Cold shower? No. Oh no. A lot of people talk about the cold shower and I’m like, “No, no, no, I’m not doing the cold shower.” I do cold plunges at the gym I go to. They have a cold plunge, it’s like 40 degree water, or whatever. And after a workout I’ll go into that. But no, cold showers, absolutely not. I like my hot showers.
Durgesh Singh: But it has a lot of benefits.
Dylan Ogline: There’s a ton of benefits, yeah. There’s a ton of benefits in cold showers, but no, that’s not for me.
Durgesh Singh: That’s okay, no problem.
Dylan Ogline: But I’d actually like to take that a little big step further. I would argue that one of the most powerful things you could do is you never want to consider yourself rigid. This is going to go off a little bit, but this has to do with mindset. You never want to consider yourself rigid. So like I’m sitting here talking about the cold showers, and I’m like, “Oh no, I wouldn’t do that.” That’s probably a sign that I should do cold showers.
Because you always want to consider yourself like malleable. Like hot steel that like can bend and not stiff. And what I mean by that is you’re not stuck in like this is who Dylan is. Like I don’t take cold showers or whatever. So there’s this term continuous destruction of the perceived self. And what this is, is basically just doing things that you would never do. So like I would never get a cold shower, so that’s probably a sign that I need to go take a cold shower to kind of shock yourself and be like, “I can move in different directions. I can become anything I want to be come.”
A perfect example of this is people who are like, “I’m bad at sales.” And I’m taking this in the direction specifically with business. If you’re like, “I’m bad at sales,” you become locked in your mindset of, “I’m bad at sales.” Because you’re defining yourself: Dylan is bad at sales. So by shocking yourself and continuously destructing your perceived self by doing just weird things, you can change your mindset into thinking like, “Oh, I can become a different version of myself. I can become good at sales.”
So it’s all kind of just weird things. And I always try to do that like changing up which treadmill I walk on at the gym, or my workouts, or if I have a way that I drive to the gym, I will drive a different direction. All kinds of weird things like that just if I feel like I’m getting stuck too much and this is who I am, and this is the way I am, and I’m struggling to make kind of a mindset shift, I would try to destruct my perceived self. I hope that makes sense.
Durgesh Singh: No. A lot. A lot. That makes a lot of sense.
Dylan Ogline: All because of cold showers.
Durgesh Singh: And one of the key ingredients of all successful people is that they are very comfortable being uncomfortable. They always try very, very different things.
Dylan Ogline: Oh yeah. That’s very good stuff right there. Become comfortable with being comfortable.
Durgesh Singh: Yes. Exactly. So, Dylan, one more very, very important question is when I train people for growth mindset, I always tell most people think that money is the only way of success. Like if I have money, I am successful. But I always tell them-- just tell me do you agree with this or not-- and I tell that there are certain elements in everybody’s life. Like in my there are six elements. If I balance them I’m successful. The broad category that I believe in for me is career, relationship, skills, adventure, and spirituality, and health most important.
If I’m earning a million dollars every single day and I have to visit hospital every day, I don’t think I’m successful. Or if I have a million dollars every single day and I have nobody to turn back and hug somebody or love, there’s nobody to talk to, I don’t think so I’m successful. So if you believe in that, and how do you balance this? What are the sectors that you have and how do you balance that?
Dylan Ogline: Well, I would say first, I 100% agree with what you just said. I like your six categories. That’s a good way of thinking of it.
Durgesh Singh: Thank you so much.
Dylan Ogline: How do I balance it? How do I balance it? I think you just need to be honest with yourself. Let me back up here. First, is simply recognizing that there isn’t just one single area that if you just focus on that one area everything else doesn’t matter.
Durgesh Singh: Yes.
Dylan Ogline: People gravitate towards money, and I can 100% guarantee you, I know a lot of people who have a lot of money and they’re absolutely miserable with their lives.
Durgesh Singh: Yes.
Dylan Ogline: So you need all of those things-- spirituality, relationships, health. We all know the person who’s rich and fat. That person ain’t happy. At the end of the day, I guarantee you, like if you have a bunch of money but like you said, if you’re going to the hospital everyday, that’s not a happy life.
And I do think that I am seeing people recognize this more and more, at least in the United States, for sure. Like my brother is-- what would he be? Gen Z? No, he’s not Gen Z. He’s ten years old than me. I’m a Millennial, so whatever generation came before more Millennials. Health doesn’t matter, the Baby Boomer generation here in the United States, like health didn’t matter. It was all about just money, money, money. And maybe they cared about relationships, but health wasn’t an importance. So, yeah, I’m getting off topic here, but it is very, very important to balance all these things. And you have to recognize. I think that’s step one is recognizing that, yes, it is important.
Second thing is being honest with yourself and kind of taking a second and realizing like where am I weakest at? Where do I need to put some attention towards? And wherever you feel kind of feel like that needs more attention, then yeah, focus there. How do I balance it? If I’m feeling like the relationships, that category is going down, then I need to put some effort in there and I need to put some time and some focus into that. I think it’s just it is up to you to make those things a priority. That’s not a very sexy answer.
Durgesh Singh: No. No.
Dylan Ogline: But it’s just the way it is. You need to make it a priority.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, most people actually fail because they give money more priority, and they’re failing other things.
Dylan Ogline: 100%.
Durgesh Singh: So that’s absolutely so amazing.
Dylan Ogline: And I would add one comment. Like I’m relatively healthy, I go to the gym, I cycle, I’m doing all these things. So in my circle of people like my family, I’m undoubtedly the healthiest person. And I’m always like my family, like I want them to be healthy. And they’re like, “Oh, Dylan, I just don’t have the time.” And I’m like, “You don’t have 20 minutes? Like you don’t have to go and run a marathon. You don’t have 20 minutes for your health? You don’t have 20 minutes? Maybe you don’t need to pray or to just think about mortality and you don’t have 20 minutes for that? You don’t have 20 minutes to go for a walk with your spouse? Really? Really you don’t have 20 minutes for that?”
There’s a good quote. Credit to whoever said this, but this has to do with meditation. If you don’t have five minutes to meditate everyday, then you need to meditate for 20 minutes a day. Because you’re so going in so many different directions, and the meditation will help you kind of get more focused. So yeah, if you don’t have five minutes to go for a walk or to do some push-ups or something to get a little more fit, then you need to re-evaluate your entire life because we all have 20 minutes for one of these things.
But yeah, I think the first thing is like I mentioned…
Durgesh Singh: Priority.
Dylan Ogline: Making it a priority, certainly, but recognizing that if you have all the money in the world but you’re unhealthy, you’re not going to be happy. If you’re the healthiest person in the world, but you have no money, you’re not going to be happy. All of those things matter. You have to take the responsibility to put focus towards them.
Durgesh Singh: That’s so true. Very, very true. And so who are the people who make a big influence in your life? Or from whom you learned a lot? Every people has some idols so who was your idol and who inspired you?
Dylan Ogline: Who was my idols. Before the show I was listening to one of your shows you did the five people that you’re closest to or something like that.
Durgesh Singh: Oh yeah, the five people, yeah. Thank you so much.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, absolutely. No, so this is a good “lesson” is you are the five closest people in your circle. So if you hang out with five people who are unfit, you’re probably going to get fat and lazy. If you hang out with five people who are bums, and they don’t have jobs, and they don’t have businesses or anything, they’re just sitting at home playing video games all day, you’re probably not going to have a successful business.
So recognize that your circle of influence is incredibly important. The hack, the great thing here is maybe in your immediate area, your family, your friends, your local area, there are no people that are the better versions of yourself that you want to be. Luckily we have the internet and we have books.
Durgesh Singh: Yes.
Dylan Ogline: So your circle could include Tim Ferriss, I talked about Tim Ferriss, he’s certainly a mentor of mine. I’ve never met the guy, but in terms of lifestyle design, business, and things like that, stoicism, Tim Ferriss has had a massive influence on my life. Again, I’ve never met the guy. I’ve read his books, and I’ve listened to his podcast. Robert Kiyosaki. I don’t know if you know, do you know who Robert Kiyosaki is?
Durgesh Singh: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, so he wrote “Rich Dad Poor Dad.” He’s had a massive influence on my life. I don’t even know if that guy’s still alive.
Durgesh Singh: I read all his books.
Dylan Ogline: Oh yeah, his books are incredible.
Durgesh Singh: Absolutely.
Dylan Ogline: I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I’ve never met the guy, but he’s had an incredibly impact on my life. Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, it could be people that are dead that you’ve read their books or read about them. So yeah, I would say publicly, probably the three people that have just kind of been mentors or had a big influence on me would be Tim Ferriss, Robert Kiyosaki, and Sam Ovens. He has a consulting business. And then I’ve had private mentors that probably wouldn’t want me to mention their names, but people like that, and then my girlfriend, she’s had a massive influence on my life so.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, that is very true. So that is amazing. And you said it’s all right, and this was again very personal to me. In my life also I had nobody around me who was successful and who was living the life that I wanted to live. And as I mentioned in the beginning of my show, you should always take advice from somebody who has done it. So I also turned back to internet, books. Robert Kiyosaki, he actually draw this concept of money and home not being an asset and liability. And I was like, “Oh my God.” I was so much in illusion. This man literally shook me.
Dylan Ogline: Yup. That was the very first business book I ever picked up. I was 14 years old, 13, 14 years old and it just rocked my world. Because it’s the first book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” which anybody who’s listening to this, if you don’t have the resources, find a way to get that book into your hands. “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” he has like 20 different books that he’s written, but the original “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” read that book. It’ll change your life. But yeah, as like a 13, 14 year old, that’s like my financial Bible. Like it’s the original testament. I probably read that book like four or five. I think it’s over there. You can’t really see but I have like a whole bookshelf going around me.
One comment I would like to add to that is you want to keep your circles small. I’m going to use fitness. I’m just going to go with that as an example. Say you have nobody in your immediate circle that is fit and you want to be a body builder or whatever. If you are following 20 different body builders, and watching Facebook groups with body builders, and watching YouTube videos with body builders, you’re going to have conflicting advice. You’re not going to know what is the best workout routine, what are the best supplements to take, what to eat. And the truth is, is that nobody is going to be perfect. So the best thing to do is just pick one and run with it.
Because the truth is, is that person has had success, they’re probably going to be able to teach you to have success too. The last thing you want to do is spend ten, 20, 30 years of your life looking for the perfect advice not actually getting anywhere. What matters is actually taking relentless, ruthless action in some direction and you’ll probably end up where you want to be. So like with finance, I follow Robert Kiyosaki. There’s probably 10,000 new finance books that are going to be released this year. But I just choose to follow Robert Kiyosaki and it’s served me pretty well. Is it perfect? Probably not. But I’m actually taking action because I’m following advice.
Durgesh Singh: Exactly. Exactly.
Dylan Ogline: So that’s very, very important I think.
Durgesh Singh: That is so very true. And the whole concept of growth mindset is to be very flexible. I know those rules, regulations maybe 20, 30 years they might change, but we need to start on this, so that is very real and true. If you’re talking about books, I read books every single day. I’m a memory trainer, so I train people to read fast and all this. So I read books every single day. What are some of your best or favorite books that you would like to recommend?
Dylan Ogline: I’ll try to keep the list small. “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. I study stoicism a little bit. I believe it’s “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. Don’t quote me on that, but pick up any meditation book or any stoicism book, and you’re probably headed in the right direction. Just looking at my bookshelf.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, sure, no problem.
Dylan Ogline: “Harry Potter?” You gotta have some “Harry Potter” in there. And “Team of Rivals.” Now that’s just a political book, but I absolutely love it. That’s by Doris Kearns Goodwin, I believe. It’s about Abraham Lincoln. It’s just an incredible book. Highly recommend that, and then “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. That would be my book recommendations for today.
Durgesh Singh: Cool. Thank you so very much.
Dylan Ogline: Have you read that?
Durgesh Singh: I did not read that Barack Obama one. I’ll read whatever I’m missing. I’ll definitely read them.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, and I just bought his new book… What is it called? Whatever Barack’s new book. Oh man, I can’t believe I’m stumbling on it. Is it “We the People?” It’s not “We the People.” Oh, “Promised Land” by Barack Obama. I got it yesterday and I’m like two pages in.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, that man is great. So as you mentioned earlier, you had this digital agency, right? So a lot of my audience are very young and getting into this culture. They still haven’t decided what to get into. So can you just highlight a little bit what the digital agency is, and most importantly, what is the future of this work?
Dylan Ogline: Sure. Sure. So as a quick recap, I own a digital agency called Ogline Digital. We focus on simply direct response digital advertising management. And what that is, in simply layman’s terms, we manage Facebook and Google ads for our clients. So we will write the ad copy, we’ll write the Facebook ad as an example, the Google ad, and then we will build the landing page for the client. And basically we choose what to target, what key words with Google or whatever, and then the potential customer for the client goes to that landing page, submits a form or buys something right away depending on whatever, and then it’s up to the client to take things from there. That’s what we do.
I also have an education company, which is ran under my personal name, dylanogline.com where I have a training program called Agency 2.0 where I teach people how to start and grow their own digital marketing agency like I have. Where do I think the industry is going? I still believe we’re kind of almost in the infancy of things. The world has been changing faster and faster and things are going more digital. Everybody’s shopping online, everything is moving online, and COVID just cranked that up to a hundred and really sped up the process.
So with more and more businesses going online, more and more people are going to be looking for marketing strategies to grow their online business. Facebook is getting better and better everyday, they know more and more about you everyday. The algorithm gets better and better everyday. So yeah, I see just ridiculous growth coming over the next ten to 20 years. We are going to become more and more of a digital society.
Certainly more and more people are going to be coming online, but it’s not just that, it’s our lives are becoming more at home in our virtual world. Like this, I was talking to my neighbor about this yesterday, actually. We were talking about business travel. Business travel is never going to come back to what it was pre-COVID. For years more and more people were doing meetings online, but they was still kind of this stigma of like we got to meet in person to get the deal done. I got to see your body reaction, your body language, or whatever. There was still that stigma. So there were still conferences, there were still person-to-person meetings, people flying all over the country to close business deals.
Well, COVID happens, and you were forced to change that. So now it was you have to do Zoom meetings, you have to do Zoom podcasts. Like everything became digital because there was no option. And because of that, people were now forced to recognize that, huh, you could do business deals over Zoom. You don’t have to fly across the country to go shake somebody’s hand. So I don’t even know where I was going with this, but I think the world is certainly changing. It is getting more and more digital. Business travel’s never going to come back to what it was.
Office space, we were also talking about office space. Like I have felt for years like if there was a way for me to short the commercial real estate market, I would. I don’t know what it’s like in India, but here you have like strip malls, like these small little shops or whatever in a strip mall. That’s dead because everyone just buys everything on Amazon or buys everything online.
Durgesh Singh: Same here.
Dylan Ogline: And, yeah, like I don’t go to the mall to buy clothes. Who does that anymore? So malls are dead, strip malls are dead, and now because of COVID people were still convinced that you need to go into the office to get work done. If you’re any kind of business you need to go into the office to actually work. There was still this stigma at the beginning of this year that people that worked at home were lazy or weren’t actually getting work done, and then everybody was forced to work at home.
So companies are going to realize that they can reduce cost and their employees are going to be happier, people aren’t stuck in traffic, everybody’s going to be working at home. And because people are working at home, more people are online, the digital market it’s going to explode.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah, that is so very true. So since this digital agency is going to explode and so much, so whoever is watching this, and if you really find this interesting and if you find that you can really polish your hand in this. And as Dylan said he trains people, he helps people to get started, so how can my audience find you, Dylan? How can they reach you?
Dylan Ogline: Sure. My website is Dylan, D-Y-L-A-N-, Ogline, O-G-L-I-N-E.com. That’s it. Just my name, which I’m sure you’re probably going to add it to the show notes or whatnot.
Durgesh Singh: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll add that on the description. Everything will be there don’t worry.
Dylan Ogline: Yeah, so I’m sure if you just click on that, check on my website, and yeah.
Durgesh Singh: Okay. And just last two more questions is one of the reasons to have such shows like “Growth Mindset” is because we can share our mistakes to people, or the lessons that we learned the hard way we can share it to the people, so that they don’t do the same mistake. So what were some of the biggest lessons from your life that you learned the hard way that you would like to…
Dylan Ogline: I’m going to go with focus. I’m going to go with focus. That was probably the biggest mistake I made was bouncing around from so many different projects not getting anywhere. Just focus one single business, or project, or whatever it is. One single path and that’s it, that’s the biggest lesson that I have learned is focus.
Durgesh Singh: And, yeah, you’re right. Especially at this time when social media is making us, okay, this guy is doing this, this guy is doing this, let’s try this. So I think focus is actually disappearing. So I think that has to be. And last, but not the least, Dylan what is one growth mindset hack tip or habit that you do all the time and you would like to share it with my audience?
Dylan Ogline: I think we talked about it earlier and that would be the gratitude. And I’m going with that because it’s kind of a weird answer. Like nobody says that, right? Is the gratitude for the reasons we discussed. It typically makes you happier, and then it naturally battles ego, or thinking that you’re right, and it puts you in a mindset where hey, I’m constantly learning, possibly I’m wrong. It challenges your preconceived notions of how to do something. So, yeah, I would say my growth hack of the day is gratitude. That would be my tip for the day: show gratitude.
Durgesh Singh: Thank you. That’s amazing. And just one more: when do you practice this gratitude? Like early morning, night? When?
Dylan Ogline: In particular where I’m like really thinking about it is during meditation. But then it’s also just as I go through life when a problem arises. I’ve probably gotten to the point where it’s more subconscious. I’m not sitting there like, “Oh, I’m so glad, I’m so thankful that this problem happened.” It’s once you train yourself, it’s just you naturally become like a lot less negative when something bad happens, or a struggle happens, or whatever you just constantly are like, “Hey, I’m kind of glad this happens. What’s the lesson? What can I do to shake things up and make it better,” or whatever.
Again, when I’m really thinking about it is during meditation. Constantly thinking about I’m thankful for all the struggles, I’m thankful for the breath in my lungs, I’m thankful that I’m alive. Just all that stuff I’m thankful for the warmth of my body. Just constantly thinking about that stuff. But other than that it’s pretty subconscious.
Durgesh Singh: That is amazing. So that was it, and I would like to thank you again, Dylan, thank you so, so, so very much. The show was absolutely amazing. And I hope you like this show as well and what is that anything that you would like to say to my audience about this show or anything?
Dylan Ogline: No. Focus, be relentless, and show some gratitude. There you go. Focus, be relentless, and show some gratitude.
Durgesh Singh: Okay. Thank you so much, Dylan. Thank you so very much again. I’m very grateful and honored that you came and I’m like this was an amazing show. Thank you so very much. And, again, to the audience if you like our show, please take a screenshot whether you’re watching on YouTube, podcasts, any platform. Take a screenshot, share it on social media, and don’t forget to tag both of us. I would like to see you. Our links are in the description. Please do that and see you next Saturday. Thank you so very much.