What We Got Wrong About Running a Business 10 Years In | Dan Dulka

Dan Dulka and I started Drive Creative over 10 years ago but that’s when the real education began.

The first year or two was mostly brute force since cash was tight.. Right when we landed manufacturing clients and a public company with $2 billion in annual revenue, Covid hit. We lost most of our business overnight.

But instead of pivoting fast, Dan shared how we held on and hoped. But hope is NOT a good strategy.

In this episode, we tackled:

→ How Covid forced a full pivot

→ Why implementing EOS changed our partnership and the way we ran the company

→ How we’re rebuilding our team model around AI to create more leverage without losing culture

→ What "AI Thursdays" looks like and why we started it

Though it’s taken 10 years, it really does feel like something shifted three years ago. Like we went from hustling through the work to actually building something with intention.

Dan, thanks for coming on the show and sharing the story of Drive Creative!

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction

1:10 - Who Is Dan Dulka and What Does Drive Do?

3:15 - Building the Team: AI as Leverage, Not a Replacement

6:00 - Training AI Like You'd Train an Employee

9:23 - AI Thursdays: How Drive Is Getting Their Team Up to Speed

13:33 - How Drive Started 10 Years Ago

15:20 - The Early Grind: Cash, Clients, and Brute Force

17:05 - How Covid Devastated Their Manufacturing Focus

18:37 - The Three Pivots That Turned Things Around

23:06 - How EOS Fixed a Fractured Partnership

27:47 - What the Operating System Actually Does for a Small Business

33:18 - What Entrepreneurship Gives You That a 9-to-5 Doesn't

39:55 - Facing Fear: Everest Base Camp With a Heights Phobia

44:21 - Bravery in Business Is the Same as Bravery on a Mountain

49:12 - What We'd Tell Ourselves on Day One

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This episode is powered by Drive Creative

🌐 https://drivecreativeagency.com/

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