We were lucky to catch up with Dom Brightmon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dom, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

One of the major factors that hold aspiring entrepreneurs back from taking their ideas and executing them is the perfection gap. Sometimes we feel that we have to have everything right the first time when starting out, not knowing that in the beginning, every master was a disaster. This was the case for me after launching my first book and wanting to start a podcast.

Back in the fall of 2016, I completed a side quest of publishing my first book because I was dared to write one at a leadership conference. The book was a side quest because starting a podcast was something that I always wanted to do first because of my voice. Little did I know that publishing my book as an indie author gave me more clarity about what I wanted my podcast to be about. During the summer of 2017, I started the journey of finally launching my podcast. This journey had a few twists and turns like audio equipment breaking, recording interviews using a conference call line, and not having the episodes ready on launch day. After dealing with these setbacks and more, the Going North Podcast launched in September 2017. It was a rough start, but six years and 700+ episodes later, the process was worth it.

Going from idea to execution involved examining what other podcast hosts do to have a successful show, educating myself through multiple forms of content, and finally executing on what I’ve gained. When you finally execute your ideas, celebrate and tell others about it. Because a lot of folks let their ideas remain in a thick mental fog without allowing them to shine publicly to inspire others.

Dom, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a certified self-leadership expert with the Maxwell Leadership Team from Baltimore, MD, who empowers and equips others to share their stories. My business is about life advancement to help others create their piece of immortality (like a book) and embrace their dreams. This was born from discovering personal development in the Winter of 2012 when I desired to change because I went through a setback sandwich of becoming a caregiver for my dying father, crashing my car on my 21st birthday, and almost losing my part-time job. After eating that sandwich, I decided to read books on leadership, self-help, sales, etc., which helped me to shift my mindset to think positively. With a new positive mindset focused on intentionally advancing, I was promoted at my job to a full-time position, published four books (with the fifth one coming out this Fall), and launched a podcast that has interviewed over 700 authors from around the world. It wasn’t all easy but with faith, focus, networking, and deliberate action, I can help others advance in their own lives. If you need leadership training, motivational teaching, or content creation coaching, then I am your guy!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Books are gold and they energize me! For those who want some great reads to help you think bigger, execute, and get things done, check out the following titles:

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers. This book is a quick read that empowers readers to follow their passion and intuition while also being inspired to adjust as they go along. Derek details how he started CD Baby as a way for independent musicians to sell their music directly to the customer. This book led to me clarifying my mission to only interview authors on my podcast.

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell is one of my all-time top-10 favorite books that changed my life as a whole. It helped me to become an ambivert instead of a shy introvert, instilling the characteristics of a servant leader that attracts people to you like a magnet, and developing a more robust faith.

Podcast Launch: A complete guide to launching your Podcast with 15 Video Tutorials!: How to create, launch, grow & monetize a Podcast by John Lee Dumas. This is a book that any aspiring podcaster needs to read. It’s short, informative, and comes with well-recorded tutorial videos.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is seeing others take action on what they have been sitting on the fence about for a while. One of my podcast listeners eventually became a published author and even hired me to be the voice of his book, “Divorce Is Worse Than Death”. When he handed me a physical copy of his book, I was inspired to keep moving forward because I was one of the people who inspired him to finally write his first book. Your action today will inspire someone tomorrow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dombrightmon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dombrightmon/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dominique.brightmon/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dombrightmon/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DomBrightmon
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DomBrightmon?sub_confirmation=1
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-north-podcast/id1290656762 https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/author/dombrightmon/