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October 3, 2023 11 mins

Have you ever wondered how faith can intersect with entrepreneurship? We bring you a conversation with the inspiring Brian Dixon, who successfully blended faith and business to transform his life. Brian's journey takes him from starting a charter school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to becoming a successful business leader, utilizing marketing and networking in innovative ways to grow his enterprise. 

Brian's story is a testament to the power of faith in business. He navigated his way through obstacles by using Facebook as a creative tool to connect with his target audience. But more than just business, Brian's story illuminates how delighting in the Lord can lead to clarity in our desires. He sought wisdom from the Lord to steer through difficult times, demonstrating how faith can be transformative in the realm of business. Join us as we explore Brian's inspiring journey that beautifully merges the spheres of faith and entrepreneurship.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Awesome.
Hey guys, welcome back to thecertain success podcast.
We're here kind of live atFunnel Hacking Live with my
special guest today, brian Dixon.
We are, we're just loving it atFunnel Hacking Live and we're
working and praying with anucleus of believers that are

(00:21):
here and I'm sure there's a lotmore believers just than the
ones that have been praying withus this morning.
But anyway, it's been supercool to see what God's doing
here, and so, if you guys havebeen listening along, you know
that this podcast is about theintersection of business and
faith, and I haven't found toomany examples better than Brian

(00:41):
and what he's doing in hisbusiness.
And yeah, man, so you know, Ithink that's what I want to ask
you about is just, you've beenon this journey for a little
while.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, it's my 11th year of entrepreneurship now.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Wow, and I you know well, tell the story a little
bit.
I mean, I'm looking at yourvideos of that kind of know a
little bit, tell us about howyou got here.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, I started out in K-12 education.
I was a classroom teacher andthen a school administrator.
My last real job was starting acharter school in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
So I'd never been to BatonRouge and I had to really level
up as a leader to get the schooloff the ground.
Why 'd?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
you do that.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Because that's where the education reform movement
was happening.
Yeah, so the education systemin Baton Rouge is really rough.
I have a doctorate degree ineducation and I just want to do
something just do something cool, you know.
And so I just had this amazingopportunity to move to Baton
Rouge, start a school, launch aschool, grew a school.
I was there for five years andpassed it on to my you know, my

(01:36):
successor, who's now taking itto the next level.
But through the process Idiscovered two things.
I discovered number one Idiscovered marketing.
Number two I discoverednetworking.
And I always wanted to make adifference in, like in the lives
of kids.
I was in big parks in it when Iwas 18 years old, so my life
kind of was like borrowed time,make the most of every day.
But I didn't know how to do itand I realized, like the tools
of the culture are marketing andnetworking, because that's what

(01:59):
I discovered in launching theschool.
So after the school was off theground, I was like how can I
use marketing and networking tokeep growing something?
Because this thing's doing fine.
And that's where I found theworld of entrepreneurship and
authorpreneurship, writing books, sharing a message, and and
launched into that now 11 yearsago.
So it's been.
It's been quite a journey.
That's incredible.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, even you know, starting a school was incredibly
entrepreneurial, oh yeah, thattook the same kind of gumption
that it takes to start anybusiness right.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
That's right.
You know, we couldn't figureout how to get the kids, because
a charter school is one wherethe kids decide that they're
going to go there.
They have to like, apply, thenthey're in a lottery to get in.
And we couldn't find how toconnect with the kids because
the local school system wouldnot let us go talk to.
It was a ninth through 12thgrade and the school system
would not let us go to theeighth graders to pitch them to
school, because we'recompetition to the local public

(02:50):
school, and so we figured outFacebook.
So we're targeting 13 year oldsand you can't.
You can't talk to 13 year oldson Facebook.
We're supposed to be 14.
So I was having a conversationwith a few eighth graders that
went to our church and they weretalking about Facebook.
This is years ago now, right.
What year was that?
It would have been 2009, 2010.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Brand new Facebook days, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So kids thought Facebook was so cool, right.
And so I'm like how are youguys on Facebook?
You're 13.
And they said oh, we lie aboutour age.
We're all over 100.
And so I started runningFacebook ads for people that
were 99 years old and older.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
So they purposely really do that?

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, ok, and so all of my ads were for people 99
years old and older, which meantI was only going to people that
lied about their age, whichwere mostly kids.
That's awesome.
So, the kids were all seeing myads.
They'd come to our open house.
We'd give them free headphones.
We told them about this mediaart school that we're launching,
and then they signed up.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
That is so awesome and so that's so interesting.
Like we're sitting here atFunnelHack and live we're
listening to all these uniqueideas about ads.
That's so creative.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
It was so fun and it was just, I think, such a god
moment ago Like I'm stuck.
What do I do Right?
And the Bible talks about ifyou lack wisdom, pray for wisdom
, and so I think that's one ofthat's like.
The first lesson ofentrepreneurship is stop trying
to figure it out on your own.
Ask the throne, go to the Lordand say, lord, what do you have
for me?
And sometimes it means justwaiting, and then all of a

(04:11):
sudden, what Deuteronomy saysit's the Lord who gives us the
power to create wealth.
And so God already knows,because he knows the beginning
from the end, he knows thefuture.
So just ask him and then he'llgo.
Here you go, try this, try thislittle thing, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I was listening to a book by Chris Bauton, yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
I love him.
I'm going to give this stuff.
Rich's Poverty and Wealth isone of my favorite books from
him.
Really, that's so good.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
So he's talking about ?
I guess he had repaired cars orwhatever.
Heard the story about somebrand new vehicle.
Nobody could fix it.
It was causing massive amountsof cost for their business and
God led him to this weird thingunder a fender that had nothing
to do.
It happens it's like my kneehurts but I'm going to work on

(04:54):
my elbow, kind of Like what Godand anyway it was huge business
win or whatever.
But I think those are thethings where that intersection
of business and faith that wetalk about all the time of, just
stop and ask all these littleteeny moments, it's true.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I think that the greatest trick the devil ever
played is convincing the worldthat he doesn't exist.
So that's true.
Number two I think the greatesttrick the devil ever played is
he took Thomas Jefferson's wordsseparation of church and state
which was just in a letter.
It's not in the Constitution,it's not in the Declaration of
Independence, it's not in theBill of Rights.
It's just a letter.

(05:35):
It's a personal letter that hewrote.
But we stand on this and we sayseparation of church and state.
And what happens is, because ofour public indoctrination
system, as Christians that sendour kids to public schools, what
happens is we think separationof church and state.
And so what we say is oh,there's secular and there's
sacred, and there's thisartificial division that does
not exist.
And so I'm a believer, becauseI'm a believer no matter where I

(05:58):
am.
And so, instead of trying tointegrate your faith or all that
sort of stuff, just be you.
Just be who you are, whereveryou are, and then you'll have
the clarity to lead in the waythat you need to lead.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Man, that's amazing.
So my book that's coming, it'scalled Dirty Disciple Congrats
and I think, along with what wewere just talking about, sort of
the undercurrent of I'm TooDirty, I'm Not Worthy, god's not
going to do that for me, right,right, but that's a lie.
Yeah, that's lie.
Number three is where I wasgoing with that you laid out the

(06:33):
proof too.
So how do you coach people pastthem like that?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
What's true.
All our sin is filthy rags weare.
While we were still sinners,christ died for us.
Yes, of course I believe intotal depravity.
We were born into the sin ofour Father Adam.
We are lost.
Without the Lord we are lost.
But what does he do?
He redeems right, he fixes thebroken, he makes all things new.

(07:00):
And so to live in your identityof your new heart.
He replaced your heart, right?
You look at David Davidmurdered, he had an affair Like
he was a failure, and yet he wascalled a man after God's own
heart.
And so I think this guilt isnot of the Lord, right, there's
godly guilt, but once we acceptthe Lord, there's this process

(07:22):
of redemption and sanctification.
So to step in your identity asthe son of the king.
And it's kind of like, you know, I'm a dad, right?
So I look at my seven year old.
It's like, let's say, my sevenyear old makes a mistake, he
knocks over a vase or something,and then he feels bad about it.
Well, great, he said I'm sorry,we got it right, but then the
next day he's still beatinghimself up.
And then, a year later, he'sstill beating himself up and he

(07:45):
won't give me a hug because hethinks I'm still mad at him and
he won't go to school because hethinks I'm mad at him.
Like that's how we, as men, Ithink, are living, because we
feel guilty about lust, we feelguilty about pride, we feel
guilty about a mistake that wemade in the past.
But, like step into youridentity as a kid of the king
Right and think about if I lovemy son in such a way that of
course I forgive him, of courseI love him Like he's my kid, how

(08:07):
much more does God love us?
And so I look at it as a hallof heroes and heapers.
It's like we're surrounded bythis great cloud of witnesses.
So run the race.
My grandfather in heaven Ibelieve this is biblical he's
cheering for me right now.
It's like run your race, man,and I'm going.
I'm not worth it.
Or run Like no.
He's like this is your momentto run.
And so step into that identityof who you really are, because

(08:29):
you know who's you are Every dayright, like whatever happened
yesterday.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
You know would, however much you blew it yeah,
every day we blow it Morning man.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, yeah, I mean even the apostle Paul, right, he
talked about how the things Iwant to do I don't do, and the
things I don't want to do I do,and like hello.
And he didn't have TikTok, hedidn't have internet pornography
, he didn't have social media,he didn't have the pride of life
in terms of like seeing.
You know, we don't compareourselves to the Joneses anymore

(08:58):
, we compare ourselves to theCodons.
You know, we compare ourselvesto the Trumps, like we don't
just look at our neighbors now,we look at the most famous
people in the whole world.
Can we say I am not worthy andlike no, of course.
So I think the pressures oftoday, this is, the pressures of
society, make it reallydifficult to see the truth.
That's why we need to startevery day in the word.

(09:20):
If you're not exercising thespiritual disciplines, of course
you're not going to bedisciplined.
Just start there Time andprayer, time in the word.
Remember who you are, be incommunity.
Too many Christians are notgoing to church.
Like don't forsake thefellowship of believers, get
there.
What a stupid excuse.
No, you've got to be in church,you've got to be with other
believers because you got toremember who you are.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Man, that's so good you know, and I think it's true
for anybody.
But in a business space wherewe both live, I think that is so
important to get really deepinto, whatever your mission is,
because the more you're onmission, the more that other
steps sort of just fades to thebackground, right.
Because you're going to have tobe thinking about your mission
every day.
Oh yeah, you know and I thinkthat's part of what you and I

(10:03):
are both trying to do in theworkspace is like, like figure
out what you're chasing, whatit's that you want.
That's right.
More deeply.
You're committed that themission's burning in your mind
every minute.
What does that have time tothink about?

Speaker 2 (10:16):
I love it, the verse that says delight yourself in
the Lord and he will give youthe desires of your heart, right
?
Well, there's actually twosteps in that.
Number one is delighting theLord, but number two is what the
heck are your desires Like?
Be clear as to what it is thatyou actually want in your life,
and so, as you delight yourselfin the Lord, your desires will
shift right, because you go Ireally want to do this thing,

(10:37):
and I want to do it in a waythat honors the Lord and that it
serves other people really well, and so, as you're doing that,
it gives you such clarity, yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
So good, dude?
Well, look, I don't want tokeep you too long.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
I know.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
We're about to go and hit the conference.
It's the, I think, the bestbusiness conference in the world
.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
I mean, I just think it's a must be at every year.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, so, guys, if you haven't been to Funnel
Hacking Live, which is the ClickFunnels marketing event, and
it's every year, although itlooks like they're going to skip
24 to go early, early 50.
It'll be February 25, almost 15.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, yeah but anyway , February 2025.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Brian, thanks for being on the Cirque Success
Podcast.
Man, I appreciate you.
Dude.
Yeah, you too.
All right, Y'all being blessed.
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