October 10, 2023 • 47 mins
Ever wondered how resilience and adaptability can help you reinvent yourself? Meet Dan Bigger, a man who has successfully navigated various career pivots, personal trials, and life changes. His journey is an inspiring tale of resilience that casts light on the emotional and physical tolls of job loss and moving, and the significance of effective communication during such transitions.
Dan's story is not just about career twists and turns but also about honesty, authenticity, and the importance of staying true to oneself. His experiences have taught him to reassess his relationships and manage time more productively and intentionally - lessons that he's eager to pass on. Plus, hear how he transitioned to working alongside his wife in their joint business, Glimmerglass Gifts, and the balance of strengths that make their venture successful.
Finally, we unpack the concept of calculated risks involved in reinvention and the necessity of a backup plan. Dan's insights into taking early life risks and maintaining a carefree attitude offer a unique perspective and a wealth of wisdom for anyone considering a career change or personal reinvention. This episode is a treasure trove of valuable insights on life changes, career transitions, and personal growth. Get ready to be inspired by Dan's tale of resilience and reinvention!
Host: Julie Basello, Basello Media
Email: juliebasello@gmail.com
Website: http://www.juliebasello.com
Guest: Dan Bigger, Glimmer Glass Gifts
Contact Dan Bigger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-bigger/
Visit Glimmer Glass Gifts Online: https://www.glimmerglassgifts.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie Basello (00:03):
Have you ever wanted to start over to reinvent
yourself?
Reinvention is something we alldo at some point in our lives.
Sometimes it's simple,sometimes it's complicated, but
it's often necessary to lead afulfilling life, and it's always
interesting.
I'm your host, julie Bassello.
Join me for some inspiration asI share reinvention stories,
(00:24):
tips and tricks from real peoplejust like you.
Let's explore reinventionadventures together.
Episode of ReinventionAdventures.
In today's episode, we'respeaking to a person who has
reinvented himself too manytimes to count.
Dan Bigger is a stable familyman, happily married with four
(00:44):
amazing kids.
However, his career has been aninteresting journey with lots
of twists and turns.
He's had to reinvent himself indifferent situations time and
time again.
He brings a ton of sales skillsto the table, but has often
found himself in situations thatwere less than supportive of
his efforts and experience.
As a result, he's become themaster of pivoting, and his most
(01:05):
recent pivot landed himsomeplace where he's definitely
appreciated, right in the middleof his wife's small business,
glimmer Glass Gifts.
Glimmer Glass Gifts createsartists and glass pieces
inspired by nature, and Dan isnow assisting the artist, his
wife Julie, with all kinds ofjob tasks in an effort to help
their family business grow.
He has a ton of interestingstories and he's going to share
(01:27):
some of his important lessonsfrom his reinvention journeys.
I'm really looking forward tohearing what he has to say, and
I bet you are too.
Before we begin, this podcast issponsored by Bicello Media.
Bicello Media is my contentcreation company that supports
small businesses with theircontent needs.
Things like websites, socialmedia and podcasting all require
content, and Bicello Media canhelp your small business
(01:50):
navigate the process.
We also edit and producepodcasts for small businesses.
If you find yourself short oncontent or want to reinvent
yourself with a new podcast foryour brand, let's talk.
For more information, visitjuliebicellocom.
And now let's dive right inwith Dan Bigger.
Dan, welcome to ReinventionAdventures.
Dan Bigger (02:10):
Hey, it's.
Julie.
Thanks for having me.
Julie Basello (02:12):
Smarty Dan and I are not strangers and we've
definitely interacted from anetworking standpoint, first and
then as friends.
For what a couple of years now,right?
Dan Bigger (02:24):
Yeah, that's probably going on three.
Julie Basello (02:26):
Yeah, at least, at least Dan is someone that I
got to know online, believe itor not, and then we've actually
met in person, had dinner withsome other people that we
networked with.
So Dan and I are not strangersand I know a lot about Dan's
stories and I'm really lookingforward to him sharing some of
those lessons that he's learned.
So let's begin with a bit aboutyour career background.
(02:46):
How did you first get intosales and what made you know
that that was what you wanted todo?
Dan Bigger (02:53):
To be honest with you, I had career goals as I was
coming up, things I wanted totry out and things I wanted to
do.
But I tried a lot of differentthings and when I found
something that I thought Iwanted to do, that there was
obstacles in my way that Ieither couldn't do or didn't
want to do.
Then I just moved on tosomething else.
(03:13):
So I sort of got into salesalmost by accident.
Julie Basello (03:17):
To be honest with you, Interesting, so it wasn't
a choice then.
It wasn't like you had in yourmind that you were good at
selling things, or somebody toldyou you were good at selling
things and you decided you weregoing to do it.
You just kind of fell into it.
Dan Bigger (03:35):
No kind of yeah.
So I went to college, and whenI went to college, of course,
growing up, I wanted to be abaseball player, and that was
actually a possibility.
Julie Basello (03:44):
That was actually a possibility.
Oh, that's cool, I didn't knowthat.
Dan Bigger (03:47):
Yeah, but at a certain point it got to be that
I was just playing too much.
I was playing all the time,even in the Northeast, almost
year round.
Right, I got burned out on it.
So I just went anotherdirection and I went with
football.
But when I went to college Ididn't know what I wanted to be
when I grew up.
I'm 47 years old.
I still don't know what I wantto be when I grow up.
Julie Basello (04:10):
I'm older than you and I still don't know
either.
Dan Bigger (04:12):
Yeah, I'm just being honest with you, I sort of have
.
I've seen pictures on LinkedInwhere they have the career path,
where it's a zigzag line allover the place, and that's
really what mine is.
Julie Basello (04:22):
Mine too, but you know what?
Who says that there's any agewhere you have to know what you
want to be when you grow up?
I like to think that we canevolve as we go and we learn new
things as we're living and wegain new interests as we're
going through life, and whycan't we explore those?
Why does it have to be astraight line?
Dan Bigger (04:41):
It doesn't it doesn't, but it's much easier Of
course I sort of tell that tomy kids, because everything I've
done in my career I sort of tryto train them and teach them on
the things where I screwed up.
So I'm trying to get my kidsearlier to understand that if
they have a career direction andstart following a straight line
, that may veer off, but if youstay in the same industry or the
(05:02):
same profession, everythingyou're doing you're building a
foundation that you can keepbuilding on.
Where mine has just gone allover the place and in most cases
I've had to start over, whichagain, is fine with me.
But I'm not willing or I'm notunwilling to learn new things.
I'm not willing to jump intothe deep end of the pool and
(05:23):
learn how to swim, because I'vereally done that my entire
career.
Julie Basello (05:26):
Right and you don't want your kids to suffer
from things the way you did.
Understood on that.
Dan Bigger (05:32):
But at the same point is it suffering, though?
No, I don't want to say it'ssuffering, but let's just take a
couple of my career changeswhen I went from injection
molding plastics to extrusionplastics.
I mean same general principleideas, but they're whole
different industries.
So now everything that you knewor were learning and all the
(05:55):
connections and companies thatyou're working with now you have
to go build all that up againand that's basically what I've
done.
Every time I go I'm building awhole new everything and
basically starting a scratch.
Julie Basello (06:06):
I have to tell you, though, I don't know if
easy is always best and I saythat, you know, with all due
respect to you and wanting yourkids to have an easier time.
I understand that for sure, buteasy sometimes easy isn't.
If you choose well and it'sfulfilling to you, then
absolutely going in a straightline can be good and much easier
(06:27):
.
But I don't know.
I mean, I started out in astraight line and then I
zigzagged, and the zigzags werewhere things got interesting.
The straight line was okay andI was successful on paper, but I
don't know that that was thekind of success that I wanted.
You know what I mean.
Dan Bigger (06:42):
No, I totally understand what you mean and I
enjoy.
Julie Basello (06:45):
I enjoy the work of it.
Dan Bigger (06:47):
You know I enjoy the journey.
I enjoy doing things that Idon't have any idea what I'm
doing when I start.
You know, I call myself ahalf-ass marketer because I
don't have the training andexperience that some of our
colleagues have.
But I wanted to dive into thedeep end of the pool and just
figure it out.
Julie Basello (07:02):
Half the world is a half-ass marketer, just so
you know.
Yeah, right, it works for you.
Yeah, and nothing in life iseasy.
Dan Bigger (07:11):
Everything's, you know, a process.
You got to learn and learn andlearn, Right, you know?
I guess the key to it is if youhave a general outline plan
that you can sort of follow.
It's a lot easier than startingover all the time.
Julie Basello (07:26):
It sure is, it sure is.
However, when the opportunityarises to start over, when
you've prepared yourself and youhave some experience with
starting over, it is definitelya little bit easier, wouldn't
you say?
That is correct.
I mean, you and I, we hit azigzag line and we're like okay,
here's what we need to do.
You know, we've kind of got agame plan in our heads of, okay,
(07:49):
we've got to try this, we'vegot to do that, we've got to
think this way.
But there's some people whohave only done the straight line
and then they reach a point intheir lives where they need to
zig or zag, and it's a struggle,for sure, even though they know
they need it or they know theywant it.
It's scary.
Dan Bigger (08:06):
Yeah, Everything is better with experience.
I mean the more experience youhave, you know, the easier it is
to do whatever it is, becauseyou've been there, done that,
you know and, like I said, Ihave literally started over so
many times that it's not a bigdeal for me because I have a
generalized plan in my head ofwhat I need to do, what I need
to figure out first and thenwhere I'm going, because I mean
(08:27):
I can iron out a plan for a newjob in a couple of hours day
maybe.
Julie Basello (08:34):
And that is why you're here, Because you bring a
lot to the table and thelisteners that listen
individually.
Each person who's got theirears on this has something to
gain from all of those zigs andzags.
Dan Bigger (08:49):
Yeah, it's all teachable moments.
Julie Basello (08:51):
It is all teachable moments.
For sure.
If you do it right, I thinkit's all teachable moments and
it doesn't evolve into a crisis.
Dan Bigger (08:58):
Well, even if you do it wrong, you're still learning
something.
I mean, I've learned atremendous amount, that's true,
I'm not the same person.
I was 10, 15 years ago a yearago.
Julie Basello (09:08):
Really, yeah, that's true.
So what's one thing you wouldconsider an important career
reinvention lesson from whatyou've experienced, let's say
information?
Dan Bigger (09:20):
And I say that because the more information you
have about going into a certainsituation, that easier again.
Julie Basello (09:26):
I'm using it a lot easier, but that's okay, we
don't mind that word too much.
Dan Bigger (09:31):
The transition becomes less complicated.
So when you're going in and youhave a generalized idea of what
the job entails, what you'regoing to be doing on a
day-to-day basis, who you'regoing to be working for, the
team you're going to be workingwith, I mean all that stuff
plays a huge part in yoursuccess, and not only your
success but the team's success.
(09:52):
So that's one thing I've reallytried to emphasize.
Now, when I make a careerswitch is what exactly am I
getting into?
And I'm not afraid to askquestions that, frankly, some
employers don't like becausethey don't want to give you the
full view.
I mean, when you go into a jobinterview, I think in some cases
(10:12):
probably most cases it'shalf-truths.
I mean, the interviewer isgiving half-truths about what
they've done, what they'veaccomplished, and the employer
is doing the same, because theydon't want to.
It's like a first date.
They don't want to give you allthe gory details of what
actually goes on in a place, soyou sort of have to uncover that
(10:32):
on your own, and the moreinformation you have can help
you avoid obstacles later.
Julie Basello (10:38):
Right, that's unfortunate too that it's like
that, but it is often like that.
Everybody's selling somebodysomething, a bill of goods, so
to speak.
Dan Bigger (10:50):
Right, well, and that's where I don't do that.
In any case, I go into everyopportunity and every interview
that I have and I'm me, I askquestions, I ask a lot of
questions, I ask so manyquestions.
My interviews usually run ahalf an hour long, if not longer
.
Right Right, because I'vegotten into situations where I
didn't have all the informationgoing in, even into family
(11:11):
businesses.
I had family members that Iknew in the family business.
You didn't get all theinformation when you went in and
as you started going along,you're like well, why is this
happening?
Why are they doing this?
What's going on here?
Who's making decisions?
And it comes back tocommunication.
Communication wasn'tcommunicated to me in a fashion
because the person that I wascommunicating with didn't know
(11:32):
how to do it.
They didn't know how tocommunicate as a leader.
They didn't know how to prepareyou for what you were getting
into, what the long-term planwas, what the short-term plan
was, what's the end goal?
Where are we trying to go withthis and all those things?
What are the things I'm goingto have to be doing?
All those kind of things helpyou mentally prepare when you
(11:54):
walk in the door, Instead ofbeing the kid on first day of
school figuring out as you'rewalking down the hall and you
don't know anything, versuscoming in with some assemblance
of a plan.
Julie Basello (12:05):
You mentioned communication and you mentioned
job interviews being like afirst date and really
communication is everythingeverywhere, whether it is a
first date or a job interview.
In every facet of life,communication is going to make
or break any situation and it'samazing to me how poorly so many
(12:26):
people are at communicating.
Dan Bigger (12:28):
I think they're afraid to be honest with you.
I think people are afraid.
People are afraid to be whothey are.
Julie Basello (12:33):
And I also think people are afraid in many
instances to be honest andauthentic and it takes some
vulnerability to be able to bestraight up and honest with
people.
But at the end of the day andI'm like you, as straight as I
can be at the end of the day atleast, if something doesn't work
, you know that you were yourauthentic self.
Dan Bigger (12:58):
Correct, yes.
Julie Basello (12:59):
And I think that's important.
Dan Bigger (13:01):
Well, and the life lesson that I learned that from
was when my mother passed away.
My mother passed away suddenlyand at that point I really
started evaluating all myrelationships in my life,
because I was doing all thesethings for all these people and
I started noticing that when Ineeded stuff that these people
weren't around and again and Idon't keep score all the time-
(13:23):
no, no, but sometimes it'sblatantly obvious and you have
no choice but to sit up and takenotice, if you're really paying
attention.
Right.
So I started evaluating my lifeand what I was doing with my
life and how I was spending mytime, if my mother could pass
away at the age of 56.
Suddenly, life is short, you'reonly here for so long, so every
ounce, every minute, I am here.
Julie Basello (13:44):
I wanna be productive.
Dan Bigger (13:46):
Even if it's productively, taking a day off
to do something I wanna do orjust relax.
But everything I do has apurpose, everything I say has a
purpose, like I don't waste asecond of time in my life period
.
Julie Basello (13:59):
Well, I think that's amazing and very rare.
Most of us are wasting sometime.
I mean, my addiction is TikTok.
Dan Bigger (14:07):
I waste a lot of time on that, yeah, but that
could be a relaxing, just sortof mind-numbing thing that just
sort of clears your mind andlike I walk on the beach and
when I walk on the beacheverything just goes quiet in my
head, where I don't have 10,000things, 10,000 ping pong balls
going off of my head.
Julie Basello (14:22):
I shouldn't say TikTok.
So I do walk two to three milesevery day, so there is that?
Dan Bigger (14:26):
Oh, both are good.
Julie Basello (14:27):
Yeah, a lot of times I will just put music on
or I'll get on the phone andcatch up on phone calls, or I'll
just listen to a podcastsomething, but just out of my
day job and out of my head, kindof just chilling out and
physical activity both are veryimportant.
Dan Bigger (14:46):
It's because I am so time conscious.
I spend a lot of time thinkingand my mind very rarely shuts
off or even quiet down.
Julie Basello (14:56):
That's how creative people are too.
I have a very tough time and myhead is never quiet.
My mind is never quiet either.
I'm always doing somethinginside creating, thinking,
planning and it's not justthings that I have to do.
Sometimes I'm actually creatingsomething.
Whether I realize it or not, Imight be thinking of something
(15:17):
that will turn into somethingelse.
It's always going.
It's exhausting.
To be honest with you, and Iknow you can relate even though
you're not necessarily acreative the way that I'm
describing.
You have some of the sametraits, and I'm sure your wife
is like that too.
Dan Bigger (15:31):
No well, yeah, and I probably.
I never give myself as muchcredit as I maybe deserve, but I
use my iPhone all the time.
I'll be sitting at a volleyballgame or something for my kids
and then I deal, pop in my headand I'll start typing up an
email to myself so I don'tforget.
Julie Basello (15:44):
Yeah, well, that's the bane of getting older
you have these great ideas andthen you either sleep through
them or you forget them.
Dan Bigger (15:51):
Yeah, I have a whole folder on my email that has
just posts or ideas that I needto accomplish or things that I
need to do.
Julie Basello (16:00):
Do it all the time and I do the same thing
send myself emails.
Yeah, it's easy to search whenyou're searching for you.
Yeah, so let's talk again aboutmanagement, because we talked
about how management tries tosell employees kind of a half
truths, if you will.
How do you think managementplays a role in people's
(16:22):
perception of success?
Do you think that sometimesmanagement impedes the
perception of success or evenimpedes success?
That's a great question.
Dan Bigger (16:31):
I think management has its own idea of success and
what they want to see, but inmost cases those ideas are not
drawn out of the head of theperson that's giving them.
So they have their idea of whatyou need to do and where you
need to go, and they're notconveying it to you.
So you're coming in with yourown plan and your own ideas of
(16:52):
what you think you need to doand again whether right or wrong
.
I've gone rounds with managersand leaders and owners because
either they didn't have theexperience that I did and they
were trying to tell me how to domy job, or they had more
experience than I did, but itwas antiquated and outdated.
That's a struggle always.
Julie Basello (17:13):
Yeah.
Dan Bigger (17:15):
And I worked for one manager one time that thought
that you still had to do inperson and you tried to get
indoors.
Well, I did that because hetold me to do that, but in some
cases you'd walk into a roomwith a phone and you don't know
who you're calling, so how?
Julie Basello (17:30):
do you get into the door?
Dan Bigger (17:33):
So again, there's drawbacks and setbacks, but
again, doing some of thosethings that I didn't think were
great ideas even at the time, Idid them and I learned things
from them and now I can just Ican walk into a room and talk to
anybody.
You know, I was with my son acouple of months ago dropping
him off at his friend's house,and down here everything's a
(17:53):
gated community.
So I walked in, you know,pulled up to the gate and I
started talking to the securityguard and we started having a
conversation and my son's likehow?
Julie Basello (18:00):
do you do that and I'm like that's just what I
do.
I think that's just who you areas a person.
Dan Bigger (18:06):
Well, it's fun to me .
It's not even about me.
It's about it's making a jokeor you know, just getting them
to laugh, you know.
Julie Basello (18:15):
Finding a way to connect.
That's what it is.
It's finding a way to connectwith other people, and there's
always a way to connect withother people, Even the ones that
don't want to connect.
You can still somehow find away if you're really paying
attention.
Dan Bigger (18:27):
One of my best stories was we were in a
volleyball tournament, I thinkColumbia, south Carolina, and it
was a break.
So we went to Chick-fil-A meand my sons and we ordered and
we were waiting in line and outcomes this girl with an order.
She's like are you Bob?
I said no, but if I can be Bob,if you give me my food faster
and she just lost it laughing.
So again, it's just that's adad joke, by the way.
(18:51):
Hey, I don't care, I'm proud tobe who I am.
Julie Basello (18:55):
Did you get your food faster?
Dan Bigger (18:56):
I didn't but everybody laughed.
Julie Basello (18:59):
It's the little things, Dan it's the little
things.
I know the last year has beensuper challenging for you and
your family and I know it's beenchallenging career-wise and
personal-wise.
And can you walk me throughwhat that looked like and how it
segway to Glimmerglass gifts?
Dan Bigger (19:17):
Well, the last year has been just complete shock
Last year.
So that was 2022.
Julie Basello (19:23):
Well, so 2021.
Dan Bigger (19:24):
Let's go all the way back to then, so I was working
in-.
Julie Basello (19:28):
Remember, we only have about an hour and a half.
No, it's gonna be quick.
I'm just kidding, it's gonna bequick.
So I was working up there foran injection molding company.
Dan Bigger (19:36):
And all of a sudden my wife and I went to dinner and
she said my son asked if wewere about going to Heldon Head
and my wife said we're moving toHeldon Head.
Didn't ask me nothing, so Iwasn't prepared for that.
So, okay, we're moving toHeldon Head.
So now she has her own business.
She has everything.
The kids will come down here toschool I'm the only one that.
So now I'm trying to figure outmy head.
(19:56):
What's the plan?
What if I don't get a job?
How long is it gonna take me toget a job?
What I will wanna do Can I workremotely?
So all these things startpopping in my head.
And then all of a sudden Istarted networking and I had, I
wanna say, four interviews inlike two weeks and I got a job
in under a month.
Super exciting, that went,super easy, and I you know.
So okay, now I get in this jobI have.
(20:19):
My territory is expanded from.
You know, when I worked forthat company in New York, he
didn't really want me to leaveNew York, but I didn't do that,
so I went across the UnitedStates.
Now this new company allowed meto cold call and prospect North
America.
So now I could go into Canada,I can go into Mexico, and it was
exciting because I had a biggerterritory and more opportunity.
(20:40):
So then the CEO got fired and Iwant to say within three or four
months, my boss and I lost ourjobs, and I had never lost my
job before.
So it was a complete and totalshock to me.
I didn't know what to do, so Iliterally sat on my computer for
about an hour.
I went and told my wife that Ilost my job and then after that
I was posting.
(21:00):
I was posting connecting.
I want to say I had aninterview.
I don't know how big my postgot, but I ended up having an
interview the next day.
It wasn't something I wanted topursue so I didn't pursue it.
I ended up talking to acolleague of ours, John, and he
had an opportunity.
So I took that job and we wasoff and running again, but now
my territory was the world.
(21:21):
So now I was super excited.
John and I were havingconversations at 10 and 11
o'clock at night.
I'd have an idea.
I'd call him.
I think we should do this.
We would have like our two hourdiscussions and we were both
super excited because we wereboth on the same page.
And it was exciting to workwith John because he wanted to
go forward.
I wanted to go forward.
(21:42):
We were driving the train andwe were all ports north.
Julie Basello (21:46):
We discovered both with great energy levels
and great drive both of you yeah.
Dan Bigger (21:52):
And then we realized that we didn't control the
train, that the train really hadno conductor, and we were doing
things that were not going tobe supported.
So now we had to find waysaround that.
So then come February of thisyear.
So I left New York in June of21, lost my job in January of 22
(22:14):
, found a job in February of 22and then lost my job again in
February of 23.
Julie Basello (22:20):
That's quite a roller coaster.
Dan Bigger (22:22):
Yeah.
So now I'm thinking, okay, I'mjust going to redo everything I
was going to do, and then thenext day my father-in-law passed
away.
So yeah, so I lost my job oneday.
I sort of knew he was gettingbad and sick.
So when I had my separationmeeting I'm like I just want to
get this done.
I don't want to prolong this sothat to be honest with you,
(22:45):
with losing my job and then himpassing away, because he was
like a father to me.
To be honest with you, yeah,that's so sad.
Julie Basello (22:52):
I'm sorry to hear that.
Dan Bigger (22:53):
Yeah, it is what it is, I guess.
But it threw me into a downwardspiral which I didn't recover
from for a while.
It took me a month just to getmy head right to the point where
I could really just be onLinkedIn and actually looking
for a job, and probably two tothree months before my looking
for a job was starting to becomeproductive.
(23:14):
Because I went into interviewsand I just wasn't there mentally
, I mean.
Julie Basello (23:18):
I was out.
Yeah, that's understandable.
It's understandable, yeah, butgiven what your family was going
through and what you had beenthrough already, career-wise.
Dan Bigger (23:26):
Yeah, it was a crazy time, you know, trying to help
my mother-in-law, trying to helpmy wife.
I'm looking for a job.
Some days I'd lock myself in myoffice for hours, or at one
point I locked myself in myoffice for three days and I just
was looking for jobs and tryingto talk to people.
The market's just not thereright now.
Julie Basello (23:41):
Yeah, challenging for sure.
How did that kind of transitionto you working with Julie on
Glimmerglass Gifts?
Dan Bigger (23:51):
Well, my wife would come in because my office is
right off of my bedroom, so shewould come in and ask me
questions and how's your daygoing?
And blah, blah, blah.
She works her home in her ownstudio and she could just see
the frustration in my face andthen how I was talking and,
quite frankly, I was losing mymind and she's like well, why
don't you just work for me?
She's like I need help.
(24:12):
I can't do all this stuff bymyself.
You can do things that I can'tdo.
And then I started sort of liketesting it out.
So I would look for a job inthe morning and then, like noon,
one o'clock, I'd go transitionto work for her any afternoon.
And I didn't know where thiswas going to go, because we had
talked about this back in 2017,when I left her family business.
And when I left her familybusiness, I went to her and I
(24:36):
told her all the things I wantedto do and how I wanted to do it
, and she wasn't on board withit at the time.
So now she's more receptive toit because she realizes how much
help she needs and she realizesall the things that I can do,
and she realizes that herweaknesses are my strengths and
my weaknesses are her strengthsand coming together as a team.
So till I really bought into, ittook me about six months to
(25:02):
mentally say okay, because theother thing about it having a
family, we have two sets oftwins, so that isn't cheap.
No, they're constant.
Yeah, they're constantly,constantly, constantly on the
move.
I mean, all my kids play somany sports and right now I go
to about eight games a week.
Julie Basello (25:22):
Between all of them and my wife who's coaching.
Dan Bigger (25:26):
So, again, this is where my priorities, sort of my
kids.
I've been an integral part ofmy kids' lives.
I've been, I've looked at whatmy father did, what my parents
did and what her father did, andthey weren't.
My parents were involved, butnot to the extent that I am.
When I had kids, my kids weregoing to be my number one
(25:47):
priority, and jobs are jobs andI appreciate that.
But I'm willing to work as hardon my job as I am on my kids.
But I want to see my kids growup and I've already invested all
this time into my kids and alltheir events.
I mean, I very rarely missanything that they've ever done
and I didn't want to lose thatat this point.
My daughters are seniors.
I didn't want to take a jobwhere they wouldn't allow me to
(26:09):
be flexible and attend mydaughters because this could be
their last go around.
I didn't want to miss the endof the story, right.
So so when I looked at workingwith my wife, I saw a lot of
possibility.
I know that she wasn't able tokeep up with the customers, I
know she wasn't able to keep upwith production and, frankly, I
love my wife to death, but sheis not the most organized person
(26:30):
, and that's some of the thingsthat I do like getting all our
customers into a CRM, setting upa cadence to follow up with
them, sending out emails to letthem know of things that she
wasn't communicating to them.
Julie Basello (26:43):
Knowing what I know about working in with
artists in the art business andI have both sides of the brain,
I'm a creative but I'm also abusiness brain and seeing the
two of you and how you've workedout this situation is amazing
and I'm sure that Julie Biggervery much appreciates you doing
what she isn't natural at doingthe whole follow up piece, the
(27:08):
whole business piece.
It's not the fun part for acreative.
Dan Bigger (27:11):
No.
Julie Basello (27:13):
And, but it's necessary if you want to keep
creating.
Dan Bigger (27:15):
Well, and my wife, my wife is a, she is a, she is a
, she is a, she is a, she is a.
She doesn't really.
I don't know what the word is,but you know, she is just, she
doesn't see any obstacles.
Julie Basello (27:24):
That's awesome.
She doesn't see.
That's what you want.
Dan Bigger (27:27):
And I'm not the complete opposite, but I'm
somewhere in the middle andsaying well, you gotta consider
this, you gotta think about this, like she just has.
She comes up with an idea andshe doesn't even think about
anything, but go Like she's, youknow so hey, I want you to swim
the Atlantic and end up inEngland.
Julie Basello (27:42):
Okay, go, and she's in the water and swimming
and you're like, hey, wait asecond, yeah, right, so I I
appreciate that about her and Ilove her to death and and you
know, but that's how she doeseverything Like.
Dan Bigger (27:54):
last year she started a volleyball club.
I mean, she's done it before,but now, between her business,
the volleyball club and our kids, she is spread thin.
Julie Basello (28:04):
You know what I used to say as a manager, though
I'd rather rain someone in thanhave to pull them out.
Dan Bigger (28:10):
Yeah, that's true.
Julie Basello (28:11):
You know, it's better to have someone who's so
action oriented and doing somuch that maybe I need to rain
them in a little so that I canhelp them get more efficient or
be more productive with theirtime and their efforts.
I would so much rather thatperson than someone who will not
move and has to be pushedconstantly.
You can't survive that way.
It won't.
You won't move forward.
(28:31):
That way.
So you know what?
At the end of the day, she'sgot all the right qualities to
be successful doing what she'sdoing.
Dan Bigger (28:38):
Yeah, but she needs me to balance out the planning
because she doesn't plananything.
So, I look at things, I look atwhat you need to do.
You know, and we've talkedabout a lot of different things
lately, because now I'm not onlyhelping her with Glimmerglass
gifts, I'm helping her with hervolleyball club, which is rising
tide.
Julie Basello (28:51):
Man, soon.
Neither one of you is going tohave time to do anything.
We don't.
Dan Bigger (28:56):
It's incredible, the only breaks we take are to
attend our kids' games.
That's about it.
Julie Basello (29:00):
And that's not even a break.
That's all part of the picture.
Dan Bigger (29:03):
Yeah, we work seven days a week, you know, sometimes
12 hours a day, it's.
You know.
We are both of the same mindsetand the fact that we will work
and figure it out, and ourcommunication is fantastic,
which is better than it ever hasbeen in our marriage.
So, yeah, everything is goinggreat.
Julie Basello (29:22):
That's amazing.
Back to that communicationthing, so we talked about how
that I mentioned.
You know your ability to pivotat the beginning of this podcast
.
Glimmer glass gifts was theultimate pivot.
Dan Bigger (29:36):
Yeah, yeah, and and I say that because, well, a
couple different things, a Ididn't like having all of our
eggs in one basket.
You know, with the market theway it is, yeah, I was a little
fearful of, you know, because Ioffset her.
You know, she being thesolopreneur and doing what she
does.
I had the steady job, thesteady paycheck and the medical
(29:57):
insurance right.
And you know, I again, being aplanner, I talked to a lot of
different people and a lot ofpeople Didn't think it was a
good idea to go into businesswith my wife because it could
destroy our marriage, which itcertainly could.
But, of course, and.
Julie Basello (30:15):
But then any business can do that.
It doesn't have to be abusiness that you're working
together either.
Dan Bigger (30:20):
Well, that's true, but you know, spending.
Julie Basello (30:23):
All you know, I spend.
Dan Bigger (30:24):
I don't spend all day with her, but you know, we
divide up to the point where wewe break up and do different
things so we don't burn on topof each Other all the time.
But yeah, again, it's acommunication thing and, like
you said, we communicate so well.
Now, you know, she's receptiveto my ideas, I'm receptive to
her ideas.
I've accepted that she's theboss and and that what she says
goes.
So she doesn't like one of myideas, that's fine and and she's
(30:47):
actually doing the same for me.
So when I tell her things orthings that I think we need to
do, she's receptive to it.
If she doesn't like it, shegives me honest feedback and
that again, that's, you know,communication and honesty in any
relationship.
Is really where it needs to be,so You're not wasting your time
Going down paths that are justgoing to take you to somewhere
where you don't want to be.
(31:07):
You know what I mean.
Julie Basello (31:09):
I do, and it's you know.
When it comes to reinvention,the lesson that I'm hearing here
is Communication at all facetsof the process.
Dan Bigger (31:18):
Communication is the most important thing in any
relationship, in my opinion, youknow, because, again, if one
person is doing all the talkingand one person doing all the
listening, it's not a 50-50.
You know, and that's how I lookat every relationship, every
relationship in my life has tobe 50-50, or very, very close to
it, or it's not.
It's not a relationship.
Julie Basello (31:37):
Right, and things go through ebbs and flows.
There's going to be days whereJulie may need 70, you may have
30 to give.
There's.
There's always ebbs and flows,but at the end of the day you're
both working towards 50-50right and, like I said, even you
and I know.
Dan Bigger (31:54):
You, you, when you need something and I'm there to
help you.
And I call you and I needsomething and you help me and
that's, that's how absolutely.
Julie Basello (32:01):
That's how, and there's.
Dan Bigger (32:02):
There's no minced words.
There's no.
Julie Basello (32:05):
No, whether it's not with us.
Dan Bigger (32:09):
We know each other so well that we're, you know,
basically friends.
So you know, you help me withmy personal life, I'll help you
with your personal life, there'ssure.
Julie Basello (32:17):
I mean that's what happens when you, when you
open yourself up in an authenticway to different people in
different, you know, indifferent facets of your life.
I mean this was a networkingOnline interaction that, to me,
has become one of my goodfriendships.
Dan Bigger (32:33):
So it started from you joining us on Twitter and
following my page and me Askingyou if you needed help right
from the get-go.
Julie Basello (32:41):
That's how it all started right and you were a
huge help to me.
In fact you you changed thetrajectory of some of what I was
doing at the time.
So this funny how you calledyourself a half-ass marketer,
but that's, I'm a full-timemarketer and I learned a bit.
Dan Bigger (32:54):
Yeah, but again sharing some information.
How it goes.
It's all about communicationand sure, and you've been
completely honest with me andI've been completely honest with
you, so the the relationshipcontinues to flourish as it
should, and you branch off and Ibranch off and we bring other
people in the fold, and that'sreally what it's supposed to be.
Julie Basello (33:12):
Yeah no, it's true.
So, after all the challenges ofthis year that you've had the
thing that was sitting right infront of you the whole time your
wife's business ended up beingyour most successful pivot for
2023.
Would you say that's anaccurate?
Dan Bigger (33:25):
statement.
I would say yes, you know, andthere's the jury still out,
because we have a long way to go.
You know, the business isrelatively small, but it has a
huge ups.
Julie Basello (33:33):
It has a huge upside.
Dan Bigger (33:34):
I mean there's, there's nothing but up to go.
Julie Basello (33:37):
That's the key right.
There is the potential.
I definitely think that, justlooking at her business from the
outside, looking in, knowingwhat I know about the art
business and what it takes torun an art, an art based
business, the potential is there.
There's huge potential there.
There's a huge upside to be had.
That's my take.
Dan Bigger (33:57):
Yeah, I'm even finding now, you know, after we
go to shows and things like that, other industries and avenues
that I can take that areuntapped, that I never
considered when I joined, youknow, when I joined her three
months ago.
I mean I think we've added 30new customers or more.
That's amazing, and like reallyamazing and it's, it's simply
(34:17):
from taking, you know, we'vetaken some, some calculated
risks, you know, and we'regetting more repetitive orders
because I'm keeping up withcustomers and keeping them
informed of what's going on.
Julie Basello (34:26):
Well, let's talk about the calculated risks for a
second, because in anyreinvention adventure, see what.
I do there in any reinventionadventure, there's always going
to be Risks.
Some of them are calculated.
Some of them are literallyjumping off the cliff with a
parachute ready to open.
Hopefully, some of them arejumping off a cliff without a
(34:48):
parachute and hoping you findone on the way down.
You've heard that saying before, I'm sure.
So would you say, where wouldyou rank in terms of
reinventions?
Where would you rank theability to take calculated risks
on the list of importantqualities to have as you embark
on Reinventing yourself?
Dan Bigger (35:07):
I think it all really depends on where you are
in your life.
Okay, you know, at this stagein my life with my kids, where
they are, I really didn't wantto take huge risks.
You know, I'm more conservativeagain than my wife is, so I
wanted to be able to supportthem and do everything that I
was doing for them before.
But now we're taking morecalculated risk Well, not
(35:27):
calculated more risk risks.
You know higher risk stuff,because it's things that my wife
hasn't done before, but shehasn't been able to do them.
You know what I mean becauseshe was just so strung out with
doing what she was doing.
So you know some of thesethings involve high ticket.
You know money and with melosing my job and being on a
(35:48):
work for six months, you knowthese were big risks and you
know the biggest risk we tookrecently was we did a show in
Atlanta and it was it was highend and it was it was expensive,
but it ended up working outvery well for us.
Julie Basello (36:01):
Which is great.
Dan Bigger (36:02):
Yeah, and you know that was a risk that you know I
wasn't completely on board with,because I didn't know where my
career was going.
I didn't know if I was going tostay with her or or go back to,
you know, corporate America,you know, and I didn't want to
commit to the, to doing the showwith her.
And then I got a job and nowshe's, you know, out on her own.
So I was on the fence for along, long time until I finally
(36:25):
decided that and she sort ofsaid to me she's like I don't
want you to commit to this.
If you don't want to do it, andI don't want you to commit to
it, build it all up and thenleave me stranded.
Julie Basello (36:34):
Right Understandable it's a big
venture.
Those shows are a big venture.
Dan Bigger (36:41):
So I think that's probably the biggest thing.
I mean, if you're younger andsort of and this is going to
sound bad, but a carefreeattitude.
Julie Basello (36:49):
Well, that leaves me out of the equation.
Dan Bigger (36:53):
Yeah, but if you don't have kids and significant
others and houses you have tosell and if you're willing to
move and all this other stuff Imean.
Julie Basello (37:00):
Well, hold up a second, though.
One of the things you'reforgetting in that whole
equation that you just drew,that whole picture that you just
painted, is there's no backupplan.
So if someone like me rightwith very little baggage messes
up on my risk taking, I don'thave someone who's got the
steady job behind me sayingdon't worry, you still have
(37:21):
medical insurance, or don'tworry, the mortgage is paid for
a few months until you findsomething when you have nobody
else in the equation.
That's a whole other side ofrisk that people don't always
consider.
Dan Bigger (37:32):
No, that's true.
But again, how risk averse areyou?
If you're 23, 24 and yourfriends are moving to California
, are you willing to jump in thecar and go back?
Julie Basello (37:42):
Sure, it just depends on the person.
Some people were raised.
I was raised veryconservatively.
I was raised to shoot for thatstraight line, that straight
line career trajectory.
My father is a retiredpharmacist.
I have medical peoplethroughout my family.
I took a career path and ranwith it.
(38:05):
And then there's me, thecreative, who was told to get
the real job.
And at 35 years old I had had alot of success in a real job
and decided okay, it's time totake the risk.
It's now or never.
Dan Bigger (38:22):
Yeah, but what is a real job?
I mean any job, as long asyou're successful at it and
you're supporting yourself andyou enjoy doing it.
That's a real job to me.
Julie Basello (38:32):
Well, you didn't see the air quotes when I was
saying real job.
Dan Bigger (38:35):
No, I get it.
Julie Basello (38:37):
I don't know what a real job is, other than any
job that pays you adequately forthe duties you're performing.
To me is a real job.
However, some people view amore corporate structure as a
real job and what I've done inthe past and what you and Julie
are doing now as more of anon-traditional job, but they're
all real jobs at the end of theday.
Dan Bigger (38:58):
And I say that again from experience, because I've
seen what my wife hasaccomplished over her 18 years
of being in business.
And I have a creative daughterthat's now getting ready to go
to college and trying to figureout what she's going to do with
the rest of her life, and I'mtrying to advise her.
But you have to advise her withcaveats, I guess.
So she wants to do something inart.
(39:19):
She doesn't know exactly whatthat is yet, but again, with her
being younger she can take alittle bit more risk to try
something, to see how it goes,and she can always do something
on the side to make a littleextra money until it pans out or
does it, and then she can moveto something else if she needs
to.
That's true Because, again,like you said, you never really
(39:40):
know how things are going towork out.
The market could crash, chinacould invade the United States,
I mean, there's all kinds ofthings that could happen.
Again, I'm being honest, that'sa significant possibility.
Julie Basello (39:50):
No, I know, I know You're right, it's just
yeah, we try not to go throughlife thinking of all of those
things.
Maybe we should.
Dan Bigger (39:58):
I've been in US marketing for 25 years.
I think of all that stuff.
Julie Basello (40:02):
Yeah.
Dan Bigger (40:02):
But you know.
Julie Basello (40:04):
Well, it is a reality to some extent.
I mean, anything can happen isreally the lesson.
So if anything can happen andsomebody is waffling on their
reinvention and I mean areinvention that they're
choosing, I don't mean a forcedreinvention like life change
reinvention I mean choosing toget outside of their norm and
try something different thatthey've always wanted to try
(40:27):
what are they waiting for ifanything can happen at any time?
Dan Bigger (40:29):
Yeah, again, the clock is ticking, so it's always
ticking, so if you're in aposition that you're not
comfortable with, or it's atoxic environment or something
like that, then you need to getout of it.
You know, because I've been inall those toxic kind of places
and it's not fun.
Julie Basello (40:46):
They're not good, it becomes a drag.
Dan Bigger (40:48):
It becomes a drag to get up in the morning and go to
work.
I mean, you know you could be aparent, that you know you have
to do it and it's still not fun,but being here and doing things
that you enjoy and actually andthat's one thing that I have
now- is.
I actually enjoy getting up inthe morning because I don't know
what I'm going to do and Idon't know where I'm going to
end up, but I enjoy it because Iknow why I'm doing it and I
(41:09):
enjoy the latitude that I haveto be an adult, which, again,
corporate America doesn't allowyou to do.
Julie Basello (41:16):
No, they really don't always allow you to do
that.
Now, when you have certaintypes of managers that kind of
cut through some of the standardcorporate speak, there are
certain managers that do giveyou latitude and do help you
grow.
They're not as prevalent as Iwish they would be, but they are
out there and they do have animpact and that does make a
(41:36):
difference.
Right and again, growing iswhat it's about.
Dan Bigger (41:38):
Yeah, and going back to the, the mutual
communication, and you know,relationship building, every
real, every relationship Iequate to dating.
So you're dating and dating anddating to figure out who you
know, who you're going to hangout with or what you're going to
do with people.
But once you enter into arelationship, it becomes a
marriage and really again it's a50-50.
You know, it is my boss helpingme grow.
(41:58):
Am I doing what my boss isasking me to do?
Yep, Do they provide me with alatitude to do what I need to do
to be successful?
Are they listening to myfeedback?
Are they giving me constructivefeedback that I can grow from?
I mean again, it's the samething.
It's the same thing as amarriage.
Julie Basello (42:14):
It is so, just a quick recap Communication, not
being risk averse.
In fact, being bold at pointsin time.
These are things that I amhearing are some of the most
important lessons you've gainedfrom your reinvention stories.
Dan Bigger (42:31):
Yeah, I would say I'm a lot more of a risk-taker
than I was when I was younger,just simply because I've had to
be.
And you know things have workedout how they worked out not as
planned, but they've worked out.
Julie Basello (42:44):
So we both know, you and I, that reinvention is
never really easy.
I mean, we've used, we'vethrown the word easy around a
bit during this podcast episode,but we know it's not easy, in
that there can be a lot of upsand downs and a lot of pain
points, right.
So someone out there islistening to this right now and
they're thinking about their owndesire to reinvent themselves
(43:05):
career-wise.
What would you say to thatperson about things to watch out
for, and what encouraging wordswould you give them?
Dan Bigger (43:12):
Again, I would say do it.
You can't think back on thingsthat you should have done
because again they're going tohaunt you for the rest of your
life.
Possibly, if you're not happyin your current situation, you
need to start looking for otheravenues to it.
At least investigate starting.
If you're a planner like me,investigate ideas that you think
you could do.
Maybe start it as a sideproject as it grows.
(43:34):
Then you can make betterdecisions on.
Is this, on the other hand,something I want to do
permanently and get out of whatmy normal thing is?
Again, it all depends on yourrisk aversion.
Some people just take the riskand quit their job and start the
business and see where it goes.
I'm not that person, but somepeople are like that.
Again, my advice is to dowhatever it is that's going to
make you happy and allow you toget out of bed motivated and
(43:56):
ready to attack the day, versusdreading going to work.
Depending on your risk aversion, how much are you willing to
accept?
Because I actually, coming outof losing my job, I thought
about starting my own company,but I wasn't on board with that
because I knew how long it wasgoing to tick to ramp up.
Julie Basello (44:18):
Right, it wasn't the right time.
I think it doesn't mean that itwas the wrong idea.
It was the right idea at thewrong time.
That's going to come backaround, you know it could.
Dan Bigger (44:28):
It could.
Julie Basello (44:28):
It will.
I'll bug you about it.
I'll bug you about it.
So shameless plug time.
Glimmer glass gifts.
Where can one find glimmerglass gifts on the internet and
out in the world, and whatexactly does glimmer glass gifts
produce?
Dan Bigger (44:48):
Glimmer glass gifts was created by my wife so she
could stay home with my kids.
She originally started outdoing retail shows up in central
New York.
When we started having kids twoat a time, she realized that
that was going to be a problem,so she ventured off into the
wholesale market again without anet, just trying to figure it
(45:09):
out and she did it.
So what she has created wasoriginally lines of jewelry.
The jewelry is laser etch, soshe takes glass, etches images
on it and then puts it together,fuses it together in a kiln,
and that's how she really gother business started with fused,
laser etched glass jewelry,mainly around the tree of life
(45:32):
Again.
Yeah, and then as COVID hitbusinesses, you know you
couldn't go to businesses, youcouldn't go to work, so all
those things shut down.
So she had some free time, soshe created a line of greeting
cards and wall art that havebecome phenomenally successful
for her.
So that's what glimmer glassgifts does.
We do laser etched glassjewelry and fused glass art.
(45:53):
Where you can find us iswwwglimmerglassgiftscom, and we
are in over 250 stores acrossthe country right now.
Julie Basello (46:06):
That's amazing 250.
Wow.
Dan Bigger (46:09):
Yeah, one of our biggest accounts is actually
Dollywood Dollywood in SilverDollar City, nice.
Julie Basello (46:17):
She did that all on her own.
Dan Bigger (46:18):
The other one is the Corning Museum of Glass.
That's amazing too, and we'repicking up new customers and
things all the time.
So we're growing and it's allgood.
Julie Basello (46:29):
Sounds like life is good.
Dan, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast and
sharing your experiences.
I really appreciate you beinghere and you have so many good
lessons, and, of course, it's somuch fun to catch up with you.
Dan Bigger (46:40):
No, as a friend of yours, you know I'll do anything
to help you out and it was aprivilege to be here and talk to
you and I'm always willing tohelp you.
You know that.
Julie Basello (46:48):
Thanks.
I really appreciate that and ifyou'd like to reach out to Dan,
his contact information is inthe show notes for this episode.
I'm so grateful you listened tothis episode of my podcast and,
as always, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for listening.
I appreciate you Until nexttime.
This podcast is sponsored byBicello Media, a boutique
content creation agencysupporting the marketing efforts
(47:09):
of businesses through visual,written and audio content.
If you'd like to contact me, myemail is in the show notes.
You can also find me onInstagram at Reinvention
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Giving a rating and review isalso appreciated.
(47:29):
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of Reinvention
Adventures.
Have you ever wanted to start over to reinvent
yourself?
Reinvention is something we alldo at some point in our lives.
Sometimes it's simple,sometimes it's complicated, but
it's often necessary to lead afulfilling life, and it's always
interesting.
I'm your host, julie Bassello.
Join me for some inspiration asI share reinvention stories,
(00:24):
tips and tricks from real peoplejust like you.
Let's explore reinventionadventures together.
Episode of ReinventionAdventures.
In today's episode, we'respeaking to a person who has
reinvented himself too manytimes to count.
Dan Bigger is a stable familyman, happily married with four
(00:44):
amazing kids.
However, his career has been aninteresting journey with lots
of twists and turns.
He's had to reinvent himself indifferent situations time and
time again.
He brings a ton of sales skillsto the table, but has often
found himself in situations thatwere less than supportive of
his efforts and experience.
As a result, he's become themaster of pivoting, and his most
(01:05):
recent pivot landed himsomeplace where he's definitely
appreciated, right in the middleof his wife's small business,
glimmer Glass Gifts.
Glimmer Glass Gifts createsartists and glass pieces
inspired by nature, and Dan isnow assisting the artist, his
wife Julie, with all kinds ofjob tasks in an effort to help
their family business grow.
He has a ton of interestingstories and he's going to share
(01:27):
some of his important lessonsfrom his reinvention journeys.
I'm really looking forward tohearing what he has to say, and
I bet you are too.
Before we begin, this podcast issponsored by Bicello Media.
Bicello Media is my contentcreation company that supports
small businesses with theircontent needs.
Things like websites, socialmedia and podcasting all require
content, and Bicello Media canhelp your small business
(01:50):
navigate the process.
We also edit and producepodcasts for small businesses.
If you find yourself short oncontent or want to reinvent
yourself with a new podcast foryour brand, let's talk.
For more information, visitjuliebicellocom.
And now let's dive right inwith Dan Bigger.
Dan, welcome to ReinventionAdventures.
Dan Bigger (02:10):
Hey, it's.
Julie.
Thanks for having me.
Julie Basello (02:12):
Smarty Dan and I are not strangers and we've
definitely interacted from anetworking standpoint, first and
then as friends.
For what a couple of years now,right?
Dan Bigger (02:24):
Yeah, that's probably going on three.
Julie Basello (02:26):
Yeah, at least, at least Dan is someone that I
got to know online, believe itor not, and then we've actually
met in person, had dinner withsome other people that we
networked with.
So Dan and I are not strangersand I know a lot about Dan's
stories and I'm really lookingforward to him sharing some of
those lessons that he's learned.
So let's begin with a bit aboutyour career background.
(02:46):
How did you first get intosales and what made you know
that that was what you wanted todo?
Dan Bigger (02:53):
To be honest with you, I had career goals as I was
coming up, things I wanted totry out and things I wanted to
do.
But I tried a lot of differentthings and when I found
something that I thought Iwanted to do, that there was
obstacles in my way that Ieither couldn't do or didn't
want to do.
Then I just moved on tosomething else.
(03:13):
So I sort of got into salesalmost by accident.
Julie Basello (03:17):
To be honest with you, Interesting, so it wasn't
a choice then.
It wasn't like you had in yourmind that you were good at
selling things, or somebody toldyou you were good at selling
things and you decided you weregoing to do it.
You just kind of fell into it.
Dan Bigger (03:35):
No kind of yeah.
So I went to college, and whenI went to college, of course,
growing up, I wanted to be abaseball player, and that was
actually a possibility.
Julie Basello (03:44):
That was actually a possibility.
Oh, that's cool, I didn't knowthat.
Dan Bigger (03:47):
Yeah, but at a certain point it got to be that
I was just playing too much.
I was playing all the time,even in the Northeast, almost
year round.
Right, I got burned out on it.
So I just went anotherdirection and I went with
football.
But when I went to college Ididn't know what I wanted to be
when I grew up.
I'm 47 years old.
I still don't know what I wantto be when I grow up.
Julie Basello (04:10):
I'm older than you and I still don't know
either.
Dan Bigger (04:12):
Yeah, I'm just being honest with you, I sort of have
.
I've seen pictures on LinkedInwhere they have the career path,
where it's a zigzag line allover the place, and that's
really what mine is.
Julie Basello (04:22):
Mine too, but you know what?
Who says that there's any agewhere you have to know what you
want to be when you grow up?
I like to think that we canevolve as we go and we learn new
things as we're living and wegain new interests as we're
going through life, and whycan't we explore those?
Why does it have to be astraight line?
Dan Bigger (04:41):
It doesn't it doesn't, but it's much easier Of
course I sort of tell that tomy kids, because everything I've
done in my career I sort of tryto train them and teach them on
the things where I screwed up.
So I'm trying to get my kidsearlier to understand that if
they have a career direction andstart following a straight line
, that may veer off, but if youstay in the same industry or the
(05:02):
same profession, everythingyou're doing you're building a
foundation that you can keepbuilding on.
Where mine has just gone allover the place and in most cases
I've had to start over, whichagain, is fine with me.
But I'm not willing or I'm notunwilling to learn new things.
I'm not willing to jump intothe deep end of the pool and
(05:23):
learn how to swim, because I'vereally done that my entire
career.
Julie Basello (05:26):
Right and you don't want your kids to suffer
from things the way you did.
Understood on that.
Dan Bigger (05:32):
But at the same point is it suffering, though?
No, I don't want to say it'ssuffering, but let's just take a
couple of my career changeswhen I went from injection
molding plastics to extrusionplastics.
I mean same general principleideas, but they're whole
different industries.
So now everything that you knewor were learning and all the
(05:55):
connections and companies thatyou're working with now you have
to go build all that up againand that's basically what I've
done.
Every time I go I'm building awhole new everything and
basically starting a scratch.
Julie Basello (06:06):
I have to tell you, though, I don't know if
easy is always best and I saythat, you know, with all due
respect to you and wanting yourkids to have an easier time.
I understand that for sure, buteasy sometimes easy isn't.
If you choose well and it'sfulfilling to you, then
absolutely going in a straightline can be good and much easier
(06:27):
.
But I don't know.
I mean, I started out in astraight line and then I
zigzagged, and the zigzags werewhere things got interesting.
The straight line was okay andI was successful on paper, but I
don't know that that was thekind of success that I wanted.
You know what I mean.
Dan Bigger (06:42):
No, I totally understand what you mean and I
enjoy.
Julie Basello (06:45):
I enjoy the work of it.
Dan Bigger (06:47):
You know I enjoy the journey.
I enjoy doing things that Idon't have any idea what I'm
doing when I start.
You know, I call myself ahalf-ass marketer because I
don't have the training andexperience that some of our
colleagues have.
But I wanted to dive into thedeep end of the pool and just
figure it out.
Julie Basello (07:02):
Half the world is a half-ass marketer, just so
you know.
Yeah, right, it works for you.
Yeah, and nothing in life iseasy.
Dan Bigger (07:11):
Everything's, you know, a process.
You got to learn and learn andlearn, Right, you know?
I guess the key to it is if youhave a general outline plan
that you can sort of follow.
It's a lot easier than startingover all the time.
Julie Basello (07:26):
It sure is, it sure is.
However, when the opportunityarises to start over, when
you've prepared yourself and youhave some experience with
starting over, it is definitelya little bit easier, wouldn't
you say?
That is correct.
I mean, you and I, we hit azigzag line and we're like okay,
here's what we need to do.
You know, we've kind of got agame plan in our heads of, okay,
(07:49):
we've got to try this, we'vegot to do that, we've got to
think this way.
But there's some people whohave only done the straight line
and then they reach a point intheir lives where they need to
zig or zag, and it's a struggle,for sure, even though they know
they need it or they know theywant it.
It's scary.
Dan Bigger (08:06):
Yeah, Everything is better with experience.
I mean the more experience youhave, you know, the easier it is
to do whatever it is, becauseyou've been there, done that,
you know and, like I said, Ihave literally started over so
many times that it's not a bigdeal for me because I have a
generalized plan in my head ofwhat I need to do, what I need
to figure out first and thenwhere I'm going, because I mean
(08:27):
I can iron out a plan for a newjob in a couple of hours day
maybe.
Julie Basello (08:34):
And that is why you're here, Because you bring a
lot to the table and thelisteners that listen
individually.
Each person who's got theirears on this has something to
gain from all of those zigs andzags.
Dan Bigger (08:49):
Yeah, it's all teachable moments.
Julie Basello (08:51):
It is all teachable moments.
For sure.
If you do it right, I thinkit's all teachable moments and
it doesn't evolve into a crisis.
Dan Bigger (08:58):
Well, even if you do it wrong, you're still learning
something.
I mean, I've learned atremendous amount, that's true,
I'm not the same person.
I was 10, 15 years ago a yearago.
Julie Basello (09:08):
Really, yeah, that's true.
So what's one thing you wouldconsider an important career
reinvention lesson from whatyou've experienced, let's say
information?
Dan Bigger (09:20):
And I say that because the more information you
have about going into a certainsituation, that easier again.
Julie Basello (09:26):
I'm using it a lot easier, but that's okay, we
don't mind that word too much.
Dan Bigger (09:31):
The transition becomes less complicated.
So when you're going in and youhave a generalized idea of what
the job entails, what you'regoing to be doing on a
day-to-day basis, who you'regoing to be working for, the
team you're going to be workingwith, I mean all that stuff
plays a huge part in yoursuccess, and not only your
success but the team's success.
(09:52):
So that's one thing I've reallytried to emphasize.
Now, when I make a careerswitch is what exactly am I
getting into?
And I'm not afraid to askquestions that, frankly, some
employers don't like becausethey don't want to give you the
full view.
I mean, when you go into a jobinterview, I think in some cases
(10:12):
probably most cases it'shalf-truths.
I mean, the interviewer isgiving half-truths about what
they've done, what they'veaccomplished, and the employer
is doing the same, because theydon't want to.
It's like a first date.
They don't want to give you allthe gory details of what
actually goes on in a place, soyou sort of have to uncover that
(10:32):
on your own, and the moreinformation you have can help
you avoid obstacles later.
Julie Basello (10:38):
Right, that's unfortunate too that it's like
that, but it is often like that.
Everybody's selling somebodysomething, a bill of goods, so
to speak.
Dan Bigger (10:50):
Right, well, and that's where I don't do that.
In any case, I go into everyopportunity and every interview
that I have and I'm me, I askquestions, I ask a lot of
questions, I ask so manyquestions.
My interviews usually run ahalf an hour long, if not longer
.
Right Right, because I'vegotten into situations where I
didn't have all the informationgoing in, even into family
(11:11):
businesses.
I had family members that Iknew in the family business.
You didn't get all theinformation when you went in and
as you started going along,you're like well, why is this
happening?
Why are they doing this?
What's going on here?
Who's making decisions?
And it comes back tocommunication.
Communication wasn'tcommunicated to me in a fashion
because the person that I wascommunicating with didn't know
(11:32):
how to do it.
They didn't know how tocommunicate as a leader.
They didn't know how to prepareyou for what you were getting
into, what the long-term planwas, what the short-term plan
was, what's the end goal?
Where are we trying to go withthis and all those things?
What are the things I'm goingto have to be doing?
All those kind of things helpyou mentally prepare when you
(11:54):
walk in the door, Instead ofbeing the kid on first day of
school figuring out as you'rewalking down the hall and you
don't know anything, versuscoming in with some assemblance
of a plan.
Julie Basello (12:05):
You mentioned communication and you mentioned
job interviews being like afirst date and really
communication is everythingeverywhere, whether it is a
first date or a job interview.
In every facet of life,communication is going to make
or break any situation and it'samazing to me how poorly so many
(12:26):
people are at communicating.
Dan Bigger (12:28):
I think they're afraid to be honest with you.
I think people are afraid.
People are afraid to be whothey are.
Julie Basello (12:33):
And I also think people are afraid in many
instances to be honest andauthentic and it takes some
vulnerability to be able to bestraight up and honest with
people.
But at the end of the day andI'm like you, as straight as I
can be at the end of the day atleast, if something doesn't work
, you know that you were yourauthentic self.
Dan Bigger (12:58):
Correct, yes.
Julie Basello (12:59):
And I think that's important.
Dan Bigger (13:01):
Well, and the life lesson that I learned that from
was when my mother passed away.
My mother passed away suddenlyand at that point I really
started evaluating all myrelationships in my life,
because I was doing all thesethings for all these people and
I started noticing that when Ineeded stuff that these people
weren't around and again and Idon't keep score all the time-
(13:23):
no, no, but sometimes it'sblatantly obvious and you have
no choice but to sit up and takenotice, if you're really paying
attention.
Right.
So I started evaluating my lifeand what I was doing with my
life and how I was spending mytime, if my mother could pass
away at the age of 56.
Suddenly, life is short, you'reonly here for so long, so every
ounce, every minute, I am here.
Julie Basello (13:44):
I wanna be productive.
Dan Bigger (13:46):
Even if it's productively, taking a day off
to do something I wanna do orjust relax.
But everything I do has apurpose, everything I say has a
purpose, like I don't waste asecond of time in my life period
.
Julie Basello (13:59):
Well, I think that's amazing and very rare.
Most of us are wasting sometime.
I mean, my addiction is TikTok.
Dan Bigger (14:07):
I waste a lot of time on that, yeah, but that
could be a relaxing, just sortof mind-numbing thing that just
sort of clears your mind andlike I walk on the beach and
when I walk on the beacheverything just goes quiet in my
head, where I don't have 10,000things, 10,000 ping pong balls
going off of my head.
Julie Basello (14:22):
I shouldn't say TikTok.
So I do walk two to three milesevery day, so there is that?
Dan Bigger (14:26):
Oh, both are good.
Julie Basello (14:27):
Yeah, a lot of times I will just put music on
or I'll get on the phone andcatch up on phone calls, or I'll
just listen to a podcastsomething, but just out of my
day job and out of my head, kindof just chilling out and
physical activity both are veryimportant.
Dan Bigger (14:46):
It's because I am so time conscious.
I spend a lot of time thinkingand my mind very rarely shuts
off or even quiet down.
Julie Basello (14:56):
That's how creative people are too.
I have a very tough time and myhead is never quiet.
My mind is never quiet either.
I'm always doing somethinginside creating, thinking,
planning and it's not justthings that I have to do.
Sometimes I'm actually creatingsomething.
Whether I realize it or not, Imight be thinking of something
(15:17):
that will turn into somethingelse.
It's always going.
It's exhausting.
To be honest with you, and Iknow you can relate even though
you're not necessarily acreative the way that I'm
describing.
You have some of the sametraits, and I'm sure your wife
is like that too.
Dan Bigger (15:31):
No well, yeah, and I probably.
I never give myself as muchcredit as I maybe deserve, but I
use my iPhone all the time.
I'll be sitting at a volleyballgame or something for my kids
and then I deal, pop in my headand I'll start typing up an
email to myself so I don'tforget.
Julie Basello (15:44):
Yeah, well, that's the bane of getting older
you have these great ideas andthen you either sleep through
them or you forget them.
Dan Bigger (15:51):
Yeah, I have a whole folder on my email that has
just posts or ideas that I needto accomplish or things that I
need to do.
Julie Basello (16:00):
Do it all the time and I do the same thing
send myself emails.
Yeah, it's easy to search whenyou're searching for you.
Yeah, so let's talk again aboutmanagement, because we talked
about how management tries tosell employees kind of a half
truths, if you will.
How do you think managementplays a role in people's
(16:22):
perception of success?
Do you think that sometimesmanagement impedes the
perception of success or evenimpedes success?
That's a great question.
Dan Bigger (16:31):
I think management has its own idea of success and
what they want to see, but inmost cases those ideas are not
drawn out of the head of theperson that's giving them.
So they have their idea of whatyou need to do and where you
need to go, and they're notconveying it to you.
So you're coming in with yourown plan and your own ideas of
(16:52):
what you think you need to doand again whether right or wrong
.
I've gone rounds with managersand leaders and owners because
either they didn't have theexperience that I did and they
were trying to tell me how to domy job, or they had more
experience than I did, but itwas antiquated and outdated.
That's a struggle always.
Julie Basello (17:13):
Yeah.
Dan Bigger (17:15):
And I worked for one manager one time that thought
that you still had to do inperson and you tried to get
indoors.
Well, I did that because hetold me to do that, but in some
cases you'd walk into a roomwith a phone and you don't know
who you're calling, so how?
Julie Basello (17:30):
do you get into the door?
Dan Bigger (17:33):
So again, there's drawbacks and setbacks, but
again, doing some of thosethings that I didn't think were
great ideas even at the time, Idid them and I learned things
from them and now I can just Ican walk into a room and talk to
anybody.
You know, I was with my son acouple of months ago dropping
him off at his friend's house,and down here everything's a
(17:53):
gated community.
So I walked in, you know,pulled up to the gate and I
started talking to the securityguard and we started having a
conversation and my son's likehow?
Julie Basello (18:00):
do you do that and I'm like that's just what I
do.
I think that's just who you areas a person.
Dan Bigger (18:06):
Well, it's fun to me .
It's not even about me.
It's about it's making a jokeor you know, just getting them
to laugh, you know.
Julie Basello (18:15):
Finding a way to connect.
That's what it is.
It's finding a way to connectwith other people, and there's
always a way to connect withother people, Even the ones that
don't want to connect.
You can still somehow find away if you're really paying
attention.
Dan Bigger (18:27):
One of my best stories was we were in a
volleyball tournament, I thinkColumbia, south Carolina, and it
was a break.
So we went to Chick-fil-A meand my sons and we ordered and
we were waiting in line and outcomes this girl with an order.
She's like are you Bob?
I said no, but if I can be Bob,if you give me my food faster
and she just lost it laughing.
So again, it's just that's adad joke, by the way.
(18:51):
Hey, I don't care, I'm proud tobe who I am.
Julie Basello (18:55):
Did you get your food faster?
Dan Bigger (18:56):
I didn't but everybody laughed.
Julie Basello (18:59):
It's the little things, Dan it's the little
things.
I know the last year has beensuper challenging for you and
your family and I know it's beenchallenging career-wise and
personal-wise.
And can you walk me throughwhat that looked like and how it
segway to Glimmerglass gifts?
Dan Bigger (19:17):
Well, the last year has been just complete shock
Last year.
So that was 2022.
Julie Basello (19:23):
Well, so 2021.
Dan Bigger (19:24):
Let's go all the way back to then, so I was working
in-.
Julie Basello (19:28):
Remember, we only have about an hour and a half.
No, it's gonna be quick.
I'm just kidding, it's gonna bequick.
So I was working up there foran injection molding company.
Dan Bigger (19:36):
And all of a sudden my wife and I went to dinner and
she said my son asked if wewere about going to Heldon Head
and my wife said we're moving toHeldon Head.
Didn't ask me nothing, so Iwasn't prepared for that.
So, okay, we're moving toHeldon Head.
So now she has her own business.
She has everything.
The kids will come down here toschool I'm the only one that.
So now I'm trying to figure outmy head.
(19:56):
What's the plan?
What if I don't get a job?
How long is it gonna take me toget a job?
What I will wanna do Can I workremotely?
So all these things startpopping in my head.
And then all of a sudden Istarted networking and I had, I
wanna say, four interviews inlike two weeks and I got a job
in under a month.
Super exciting, that went,super easy, and I you know.
So okay, now I get in this jobI have.
(20:19):
My territory is expanded from.
You know, when I worked forthat company in New York, he
didn't really want me to leaveNew York, but I didn't do that,
so I went across the UnitedStates.
Now this new company allowed meto cold call and prospect North
America.
So now I could go into Canada,I can go into Mexico, and it was
exciting because I had a biggerterritory and more opportunity.
(20:40):
So then the CEO got fired and Iwant to say within three or four
months, my boss and I lost ourjobs, and I had never lost my
job before.
So it was a complete and totalshock to me.
I didn't know what to do, so Iliterally sat on my computer for
about an hour.
I went and told my wife that Ilost my job and then after that
I was posting.
(21:00):
I was posting connecting.
I want to say I had aninterview.
I don't know how big my postgot, but I ended up having an
interview the next day.
It wasn't something I wanted topursue so I didn't pursue it.
I ended up talking to acolleague of ours, John, and he
had an opportunity.
So I took that job and we wasoff and running again, but now
my territory was the world.
(21:21):
So now I was super excited.
John and I were havingconversations at 10 and 11
o'clock at night.
I'd have an idea.
I'd call him.
I think we should do this.
We would have like our two hourdiscussions and we were both
super excited because we wereboth on the same page.
And it was exciting to workwith John because he wanted to
go forward.
I wanted to go forward.
(21:42):
We were driving the train andwe were all ports north.
Julie Basello (21:46):
We discovered both with great energy levels
and great drive both of you yeah.
Dan Bigger (21:52):
And then we realized that we didn't control the
train, that the train really hadno conductor, and we were doing
things that were not going tobe supported.
So now we had to find waysaround that.
So then come February of thisyear.
So I left New York in June of21, lost my job in January of 22
(22:14):
, found a job in February of 22and then lost my job again in
February of 23.
Julie Basello (22:20):
That's quite a roller coaster.
Dan Bigger (22:22):
Yeah.
So now I'm thinking, okay, I'mjust going to redo everything I
was going to do, and then thenext day my father-in-law passed
away.
So yeah, so I lost my job oneday.
I sort of knew he was gettingbad and sick.
So when I had my separationmeeting I'm like I just want to
get this done.
I don't want to prolong this sothat to be honest with you,
(22:45):
with losing my job and then himpassing away, because he was
like a father to me.
To be honest with you, yeah,that's so sad.
Julie Basello (22:52):
I'm sorry to hear that.
Dan Bigger (22:53):
Yeah, it is what it is, I guess.
But it threw me into a downwardspiral which I didn't recover
from for a while.
It took me a month just to getmy head right to the point where
I could really just be onLinkedIn and actually looking
for a job, and probably two tothree months before my looking
for a job was starting to becomeproductive.
(23:14):
Because I went into interviewsand I just wasn't there mentally
, I mean.
Julie Basello (23:18):
I was out.
Yeah, that's understandable.
It's understandable, yeah, butgiven what your family was going
through and what you had beenthrough already, career-wise.
Dan Bigger (23:26):
Yeah, it was a crazy time, you know, trying to help
my mother-in-law, trying to helpmy wife.
I'm looking for a job.
Some days I'd lock myself in myoffice for hours, or at one
point I locked myself in myoffice for three days and I just
was looking for jobs and tryingto talk to people.
The market's just not thereright now.
Julie Basello (23:41):
Yeah, challenging for sure.
How did that kind of transitionto you working with Julie on
Glimmerglass Gifts?
Dan Bigger (23:51):
Well, my wife would come in because my office is
right off of my bedroom, so shewould come in and ask me
questions and how's your daygoing?
And blah, blah, blah.
She works her home in her ownstudio and she could just see
the frustration in my face andthen how I was talking and,
quite frankly, I was losing mymind and she's like well, why
don't you just work for me?
She's like I need help.
(24:12):
I can't do all this stuff bymyself.
You can do things that I can'tdo.
And then I started sort of liketesting it out.
So I would look for a job inthe morning and then, like noon,
one o'clock, I'd go transitionto work for her any afternoon.
And I didn't know where thiswas going to go, because we had
talked about this back in 2017,when I left her family business.
And when I left her familybusiness, I went to her and I
(24:36):
told her all the things I wantedto do and how I wanted to do it
, and she wasn't on board withit at the time.
So now she's more receptive toit because she realizes how much
help she needs and she realizesall the things that I can do,
and she realizes that herweaknesses are my strengths and
my weaknesses are her strengthsand coming together as a team.
So till I really bought into, ittook me about six months to
(25:02):
mentally say okay, because theother thing about it having a
family, we have two sets oftwins, so that isn't cheap.
No, they're constant.
Yeah, they're constantly,constantly, constantly on the
move.
I mean, all my kids play somany sports and right now I go
to about eight games a week.
Julie Basello (25:22):
Between all of them and my wife who's coaching.
Dan Bigger (25:26):
So, again, this is where my priorities, sort of my
kids.
I've been an integral part ofmy kids' lives.
I've been, I've looked at whatmy father did, what my parents
did and what her father did, andthey weren't.
My parents were involved, butnot to the extent that I am.
When I had kids, my kids weregoing to be my number one
(25:47):
priority, and jobs are jobs andI appreciate that.
But I'm willing to work as hardon my job as I am on my kids.
But I want to see my kids growup and I've already invested all
this time into my kids and alltheir events.
I mean, I very rarely missanything that they've ever done
and I didn't want to lose thatat this point.
My daughters are seniors.
I didn't want to take a jobwhere they wouldn't allow me to
(26:09):
be flexible and attend mydaughters because this could be
their last go around.
I didn't want to miss the endof the story, right.
So so when I looked at workingwith my wife, I saw a lot of
possibility.
I know that she wasn't able tokeep up with the customers, I
know she wasn't able to keep upwith production and, frankly, I
love my wife to death, but sheis not the most organized person
(26:30):
, and that's some of the thingsthat I do like getting all our
customers into a CRM, setting upa cadence to follow up with
them, sending out emails to letthem know of things that she
wasn't communicating to them.
Julie Basello (26:43):
Knowing what I know about working in with
artists in the art business andI have both sides of the brain,
I'm a creative but I'm also abusiness brain and seeing the
two of you and how you've workedout this situation is amazing
and I'm sure that Julie Biggervery much appreciates you doing
what she isn't natural at doingthe whole follow up piece, the
(27:08):
whole business piece.
It's not the fun part for acreative.
Dan Bigger (27:11):
No.
Julie Basello (27:13):
And, but it's necessary if you want to keep
creating.
Dan Bigger (27:15):
Well, and my wife, my wife is a, she is a, she is a
, she is a, she is a, she is a.
She doesn't really.
I don't know what the word is,but you know, she is just, she
doesn't see any obstacles.
Julie Basello (27:24):
That's awesome.
She doesn't see.
That's what you want.
Dan Bigger (27:27):
And I'm not the complete opposite, but I'm
somewhere in the middle andsaying well, you gotta consider
this, you gotta think about this, like she just has.
She comes up with an idea andshe doesn't even think about
anything, but go Like she's, youknow so hey, I want you to swim
the Atlantic and end up inEngland.
Julie Basello (27:42):
Okay, go, and she's in the water and swimming
and you're like, hey, wait asecond, yeah, right, so I I
appreciate that about her and Ilove her to death and and you
know, but that's how she doeseverything Like.
Dan Bigger (27:54):
last year she started a volleyball club.
I mean, she's done it before,but now, between her business,
the volleyball club and our kids, she is spread thin.
Julie Basello (28:04):
You know what I used to say as a manager, though
I'd rather rain someone in thanhave to pull them out.
Dan Bigger (28:10):
Yeah, that's true.
Julie Basello (28:11):
You know, it's better to have someone who's so
action oriented and doing somuch that maybe I need to rain
them in a little so that I canhelp them get more efficient or
be more productive with theirtime and their efforts.
I would so much rather thatperson than someone who will not
move and has to be pushedconstantly.
You can't survive that way.
It won't.
You won't move forward.
(28:31):
That way.
So you know what?
At the end of the day, she'sgot all the right qualities to
be successful doing what she'sdoing.
Dan Bigger (28:38):
Yeah, but she needs me to balance out the planning
because she doesn't plananything.
So, I look at things, I look atwhat you need to do.
You know, and we've talkedabout a lot of different things
lately, because now I'm not onlyhelping her with Glimmerglass
gifts, I'm helping her with hervolleyball club, which is rising
tide.
Julie Basello (28:51):
Man, soon.
Neither one of you is going tohave time to do anything.
We don't.
Dan Bigger (28:56):
It's incredible, the only breaks we take are to
attend our kids' games.
That's about it.
Julie Basello (29:00):
And that's not even a break.
That's all part of the picture.
Dan Bigger (29:03):
Yeah, we work seven days a week, you know, sometimes
12 hours a day, it's.
You know.
We are both of the same mindsetand the fact that we will work
and figure it out, and ourcommunication is fantastic,
which is better than it ever hasbeen in our marriage.
So, yeah, everything is goinggreat.
Julie Basello (29:22):
That's amazing.
Back to that communicationthing, so we talked about how
that I mentioned.
You know your ability to pivotat the beginning of this podcast
.
Glimmer glass gifts was theultimate pivot.
Dan Bigger (29:36):
Yeah, yeah, and and I say that because, well, a
couple different things, a Ididn't like having all of our
eggs in one basket.
You know, with the market theway it is, yeah, I was a little
fearful of, you know, because Ioffset her.
You know, she being thesolopreneur and doing what she
does.
I had the steady job, thesteady paycheck and the medical
(29:57):
insurance right.
And you know, I again, being aplanner, I talked to a lot of
different people and a lot ofpeople Didn't think it was a
good idea to go into businesswith my wife because it could
destroy our marriage, which itcertainly could.
But, of course, and.
Julie Basello (30:15):
But then any business can do that.
It doesn't have to be abusiness that you're working
together either.
Dan Bigger (30:20):
Well, that's true, but you know, spending.
Julie Basello (30:23):
All you know, I spend.
Dan Bigger (30:24):
I don't spend all day with her, but you know, we
divide up to the point where wewe break up and do different
things so we don't burn on topof each Other all the time.
But yeah, again, it's acommunication thing and, like
you said, we communicate so well.
Now, you know, she's receptiveto my ideas, I'm receptive to
her ideas.
I've accepted that she's theboss and and that what she says
goes.
So she doesn't like one of myideas, that's fine and and she's
(30:47):
actually doing the same for me.
So when I tell her things orthings that I think we need to
do, she's receptive to it.
If she doesn't like it, shegives me honest feedback and
that again, that's, you know,communication and honesty in any
relationship.
Is really where it needs to be,so You're not wasting your time
Going down paths that are justgoing to take you to somewhere
where you don't want to be.
(31:07):
You know what I mean.
Julie Basello (31:09):
I do, and it's you know.
When it comes to reinvention,the lesson that I'm hearing here
is Communication at all facetsof the process.
Dan Bigger (31:18):
Communication is the most important thing in any
relationship, in my opinion, youknow, because, again, if one
person is doing all the talkingand one person doing all the
listening, it's not a 50-50.
You know, and that's how I lookat every relationship, every
relationship in my life has tobe 50-50, or very, very close to
it, or it's not.
It's not a relationship.
Julie Basello (31:37):
Right, and things go through ebbs and flows.
There's going to be days whereJulie may need 70, you may have
30 to give.
There's.
There's always ebbs and flows,but at the end of the day you're
both working towards 50-50right and, like I said, even you
and I know.
Dan Bigger (31:54):
You, you, when you need something and I'm there to
help you.
And I call you and I needsomething and you help me and
that's, that's how absolutely.
Julie Basello (32:01):
That's how, and there's.
Dan Bigger (32:02):
There's no minced words.
There's no.
Julie Basello (32:05):
No, whether it's not with us.
Dan Bigger (32:09):
We know each other so well that we're, you know,
basically friends.
So you know, you help me withmy personal life, I'll help you
with your personal life, there'ssure.
Julie Basello (32:17):
I mean that's what happens when you, when you
open yourself up in an authenticway to different people in
different, you know, indifferent facets of your life.
I mean this was a networkingOnline interaction that, to me,
has become one of my goodfriendships.
Dan Bigger (32:33):
So it started from you joining us on Twitter and
following my page and me Askingyou if you needed help right
from the get-go.
Julie Basello (32:41):
That's how it all started right and you were a
huge help to me.
In fact you you changed thetrajectory of some of what I was
doing at the time.
So this funny how you calledyourself a half-ass marketer,
but that's, I'm a full-timemarketer and I learned a bit.
Dan Bigger (32:54):
Yeah, but again sharing some information.
How it goes.
It's all about communicationand sure, and you've been
completely honest with me andI've been completely honest with
you, so the the relationshipcontinues to flourish as it
should, and you branch off and Ibranch off and we bring other
people in the fold, and that'sreally what it's supposed to be.
Julie Basello (33:12):
Yeah no, it's true.
So, after all the challenges ofthis year that you've had the
thing that was sitting right infront of you the whole time your
wife's business ended up beingyour most successful pivot for
2023.
Would you say that's anaccurate?
Dan Bigger (33:25):
statement.
I would say yes, you know, andthere's the jury still out,
because we have a long way to go.
You know, the business isrelatively small, but it has a
huge ups.
Julie Basello (33:33):
It has a huge upside.
Dan Bigger (33:34):
I mean there's, there's nothing but up to go.
Julie Basello (33:37):
That's the key right.
There is the potential.
I definitely think that, justlooking at her business from the
outside, looking in, knowingwhat I know about the art
business and what it takes torun an art, an art based
business, the potential is there.
There's huge potential there.
There's a huge upside to be had.
That's my take.
Dan Bigger (33:57):
Yeah, I'm even finding now, you know, after we
go to shows and things like that, other industries and avenues
that I can take that areuntapped, that I never
considered when I joined, youknow, when I joined her three
months ago.
I mean I think we've added 30new customers or more.
That's amazing, and like reallyamazing and it's, it's simply
(34:17):
from taking, you know, we'vetaken some, some calculated
risks, you know, and we'regetting more repetitive orders
because I'm keeping up withcustomers and keeping them
informed of what's going on.
Julie Basello (34:26):
Well, let's talk about the calculated risks for a
second, because in anyreinvention adventure, see what.
I do there in any reinventionadventure, there's always going
to be Risks.
Some of them are calculated.
Some of them are literallyjumping off the cliff with a
parachute ready to open.
Hopefully, some of them arejumping off a cliff without a
(34:48):
parachute and hoping you findone on the way down.
You've heard that saying before, I'm sure.
So would you say, where wouldyou rank in terms of
reinventions?
Where would you rank theability to take calculated risks
on the list of importantqualities to have as you embark
on Reinventing yourself?
Dan Bigger (35:07):
I think it all really depends on where you are
in your life.
Okay, you know, at this stagein my life with my kids, where
they are, I really didn't wantto take huge risks.
You know, I'm more conservativeagain than my wife is, so I
wanted to be able to supportthem and do everything that I
was doing for them before.
But now we're taking morecalculated risk Well, not
(35:27):
calculated more risk risks.
You know higher risk stuff,because it's things that my wife
hasn't done before, but shehasn't been able to do them.
You know what I mean becauseshe was just so strung out with
doing what she was doing.
So you know some of thesethings involve high ticket.
You know money and with melosing my job and being on a
(35:48):
work for six months, you knowthese were big risks and you
know the biggest risk we tookrecently was we did a show in
Atlanta and it was it was highend and it was it was expensive,
but it ended up working outvery well for us.
Julie Basello (36:01):
Which is great.
Dan Bigger (36:02):
Yeah, and you know that was a risk that you know I
wasn't completely on board with,because I didn't know where my
career was going.
I didn't know if I was going tostay with her or or go back to,
you know, corporate America,you know, and I didn't want to
commit to the, to doing the showwith her.
And then I got a job and nowshe's, you know, out on her own.
So I was on the fence for along, long time until I finally
(36:25):
decided that and she sort ofsaid to me she's like I don't
want you to commit to this.
If you don't want to do it, andI don't want you to commit to
it, build it all up and thenleave me stranded.
Julie Basello (36:34):
Right Understandable it's a big
venture.
Those shows are a big venture.
Dan Bigger (36:41):
So I think that's probably the biggest thing.
I mean, if you're younger andsort of and this is going to
sound bad, but a carefreeattitude.
Julie Basello (36:49):
Well, that leaves me out of the equation.
Dan Bigger (36:53):
Yeah, but if you don't have kids and significant
others and houses you have tosell and if you're willing to
move and all this other stuff Imean.
Julie Basello (37:00):
Well, hold up a second, though.
One of the things you'reforgetting in that whole
equation that you just drew,that whole picture that you just
painted, is there's no backupplan.
So if someone like me rightwith very little baggage messes
up on my risk taking, I don'thave someone who's got the
steady job behind me sayingdon't worry, you still have
(37:21):
medical insurance, or don'tworry, the mortgage is paid for
a few months until you findsomething when you have nobody
else in the equation.
That's a whole other side ofrisk that people don't always
consider.
Dan Bigger (37:32):
No, that's true.
But again, how risk averse areyou?
If you're 23, 24 and yourfriends are moving to California
, are you willing to jump in thecar and go back?
Julie Basello (37:42):
Sure, it just depends on the person.
Some people were raised.
I was raised veryconservatively.
I was raised to shoot for thatstraight line, that straight
line career trajectory.
My father is a retiredpharmacist.
I have medical peoplethroughout my family.
I took a career path and ranwith it.
(38:05):
And then there's me, thecreative, who was told to get
the real job.
And at 35 years old I had had alot of success in a real job
and decided okay, it's time totake the risk.
It's now or never.
Dan Bigger (38:22):
Yeah, but what is a real job?
I mean any job, as long asyou're successful at it and
you're supporting yourself andyou enjoy doing it.
That's a real job to me.
Julie Basello (38:32):
Well, you didn't see the air quotes when I was
saying real job.
Dan Bigger (38:35):
No, I get it.
Julie Basello (38:37):
I don't know what a real job is, other than any
job that pays you adequately forthe duties you're performing.
To me is a real job.
However, some people view amore corporate structure as a
real job and what I've done inthe past and what you and Julie
are doing now as more of anon-traditional job, but they're
all real jobs at the end of theday.
Dan Bigger (38:58):
And I say that again from experience, because I've
seen what my wife hasaccomplished over her 18 years
of being in business.
And I have a creative daughterthat's now getting ready to go
to college and trying to figureout what she's going to do with
the rest of her life, and I'mtrying to advise her.
But you have to advise her withcaveats, I guess.
So she wants to do something inart.
(39:19):
She doesn't know exactly whatthat is yet, but again, with her
being younger she can take alittle bit more risk to try
something, to see how it goes,and she can always do something
on the side to make a littleextra money until it pans out or
does it, and then she can moveto something else if she needs
to.
That's true Because, again,like you said, you never really
(39:40):
know how things are going towork out.
The market could crash, chinacould invade the United States,
I mean, there's all kinds ofthings that could happen.
Again, I'm being honest, that'sa significant possibility.
Julie Basello (39:50):
No, I know, I know You're right, it's just
yeah, we try not to go throughlife thinking of all of those
things.
Maybe we should.
Dan Bigger (39:58):
I've been in US marketing for 25 years.
I think of all that stuff.
Julie Basello (40:02):
Yeah.
Dan Bigger (40:02):
But you know.
Julie Basello (40:04):
Well, it is a reality to some extent.
I mean, anything can happen isreally the lesson.
So if anything can happen andsomebody is waffling on their
reinvention and I mean areinvention that they're
choosing, I don't mean a forcedreinvention like life change
reinvention I mean choosing toget outside of their norm and
try something different thatthey've always wanted to try
(40:27):
what are they waiting for ifanything can happen at any time?
Dan Bigger (40:29):
Yeah, again, the clock is ticking, so it's always
ticking, so if you're in aposition that you're not
comfortable with, or it's atoxic environment or something
like that, then you need to getout of it.
You know, because I've been inall those toxic kind of places
and it's not fun.
Julie Basello (40:46):
They're not good, it becomes a drag.
Dan Bigger (40:48):
It becomes a drag to get up in the morning and go to
work.
I mean, you know you could be aparent, that you know you have
to do it and it's still not fun,but being here and doing things
that you enjoy and actually andthat's one thing that I have
now- is.
I actually enjoy getting up inthe morning because I don't know
what I'm going to do and Idon't know where I'm going to
end up, but I enjoy it because Iknow why I'm doing it and I
(41:09):
enjoy the latitude that I haveto be an adult, which, again,
corporate America doesn't allowyou to do.
Julie Basello (41:16):
No, they really don't always allow you to do
that.
Now, when you have certaintypes of managers that kind of
cut through some of the standardcorporate speak, there are
certain managers that do giveyou latitude and do help you
grow.
They're not as prevalent as Iwish they would be, but they are
out there and they do have animpact and that does make a
(41:36):
difference.
Right and again, growing iswhat it's about.
Dan Bigger (41:38):
Yeah, and going back to the, the mutual
communication, and you know,relationship building, every
real, every relationship Iequate to dating.
So you're dating and dating anddating to figure out who you
know, who you're going to hangout with or what you're going to
do with people.
But once you enter into arelationship, it becomes a
marriage and really again it's a50-50.
You know, it is my boss helpingme grow.
(41:58):
Am I doing what my boss isasking me to do?
Yep, Do they provide me with alatitude to do what I need to do
to be successful?
Are they listening to myfeedback?
Are they giving me constructivefeedback that I can grow from?
I mean again, it's the samething.
It's the same thing as amarriage.
Julie Basello (42:14):
It is so, just a quick recap Communication, not
being risk averse.
In fact, being bold at pointsin time.
These are things that I amhearing are some of the most
important lessons you've gainedfrom your reinvention stories.
Dan Bigger (42:31):
Yeah, I would say I'm a lot more of a risk-taker
than I was when I was younger,just simply because I've had to
be.
And you know things have workedout how they worked out not as
planned, but they've worked out.
Julie Basello (42:44):
So we both know, you and I, that reinvention is
never really easy.
I mean, we've used, we'vethrown the word easy around a
bit during this podcast episode,but we know it's not easy, in
that there can be a lot of upsand downs and a lot of pain
points, right.
So someone out there islistening to this right now and
they're thinking about their owndesire to reinvent themselves
(43:05):
career-wise.
What would you say to thatperson about things to watch out
for, and what encouraging wordswould you give them?
Dan Bigger (43:12):
Again, I would say do it.
You can't think back on thingsthat you should have done
because again they're going tohaunt you for the rest of your
life.
Possibly, if you're not happyin your current situation, you
need to start looking for otheravenues to it.
At least investigate starting.
If you're a planner like me,investigate ideas that you think
you could do.
Maybe start it as a sideproject as it grows.
(43:34):
Then you can make betterdecisions on.
Is this, on the other hand,something I want to do
permanently and get out of whatmy normal thing is?
Again, it all depends on yourrisk aversion.
Some people just take the riskand quit their job and start the
business and see where it goes.
I'm not that person, but somepeople are like that.
Again, my advice is to dowhatever it is that's going to
make you happy and allow you toget out of bed motivated and
(43:56):
ready to attack the day, versusdreading going to work.
Depending on your risk aversion, how much are you willing to
accept?
Because I actually, coming outof losing my job, I thought
about starting my own company,but I wasn't on board with that
because I knew how long it wasgoing to tick to ramp up.
Julie Basello (44:18):
Right, it wasn't the right time.
I think it doesn't mean that itwas the wrong idea.
It was the right idea at thewrong time.
That's going to come backaround, you know it could.
Dan Bigger (44:28):
It could.
Julie Basello (44:28):
It will.
I'll bug you about it.
I'll bug you about it.
So shameless plug time.
Glimmer glass gifts.
Where can one find glimmerglass gifts on the internet and
out in the world, and whatexactly does glimmer glass gifts
produce?
Dan Bigger (44:48):
Glimmer glass gifts was created by my wife so she
could stay home with my kids.
She originally started outdoing retail shows up in central
New York.
When we started having kids twoat a time, she realized that
that was going to be a problem,so she ventured off into the
wholesale market again without anet, just trying to figure it
(45:09):
out and she did it.
So what she has created wasoriginally lines of jewelry.
The jewelry is laser etch, soshe takes glass, etches images
on it and then puts it together,fuses it together in a kiln,
and that's how she really gother business started with fused,
laser etched glass jewelry,mainly around the tree of life
(45:32):
Again.
Yeah, and then as COVID hitbusinesses, you know you
couldn't go to businesses, youcouldn't go to work, so all
those things shut down.
So she had some free time, soshe created a line of greeting
cards and wall art that havebecome phenomenally successful
for her.
So that's what glimmer glassgifts does.
We do laser etched glassjewelry and fused glass art.
(45:53):
Where you can find us iswwwglimmerglassgiftscom, and we
are in over 250 stores acrossthe country right now.
Julie Basello (46:06):
That's amazing 250.
Wow.
Dan Bigger (46:09):
Yeah, one of our biggest accounts is actually
Dollywood Dollywood in SilverDollar City, nice.
Julie Basello (46:17):
She did that all on her own.
Dan Bigger (46:18):
The other one is the Corning Museum of Glass.
That's amazing too, and we'repicking up new customers and
things all the time.
So we're growing and it's allgood.
Julie Basello (46:29):
Sounds like life is good.
Dan, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast and
sharing your experiences.
I really appreciate you beinghere and you have so many good
lessons, and, of course, it's somuch fun to catch up with you.
Dan Bigger (46:40):
No, as a friend of yours, you know I'll do anything
to help you out and it was aprivilege to be here and talk to
you and I'm always willing tohelp you.
You know that.
Julie Basello (46:48):
Thanks.
I really appreciate that and ifyou'd like to reach out to Dan,
his contact information is inthe show notes for this episode.
I'm so grateful you listened tothis episode of my podcast and,
as always, thank you, thank you.
Thank you for listening.
I appreciate you Until nexttime.
This podcast is sponsored byBicello Media, a boutique
content creation agencysupporting the marketing efforts
(47:09):
of businesses through visual,written and audio content.
If you'd like to contact me, myemail is in the show notes.
You can also find me onInstagram at Reinvention
Adventures podcast or BicelloMedia.
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to help support this
podcast, please share it withyour tribe.
Giving a rating and review isalso appreciated.
(47:29):
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of Reinvention
Adventures.
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