Episode 1646: Interview with Brent Lindstrom About Living His Calling as An Indie Filmmaker

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 1,646 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Brent Lindstrom: I'm Brent Lindstrom. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to make choices about what you consume is key.

And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer,

but the rest of my family. So coming from my, uh, my constructions family business, that was hard. Because my dad had turned the company over to me. He was an investor at that point. My brother was working for me. We come back from the accountant one day and [00:01:00] I said, guys, I got to tell you something.

Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be. Then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that

Brent Lindstrom: you can impact the world.

Scott Maderer: In this podcast episode, I interview Brett Lidstrom. I asked Brent to share with you how he discovered his calling as an independent writer and filmmaker. I also asked Brent about how he leaned into his calling even when things were hard and he had doubts. And Brent also shares some misconceptions he's discovered as an entrepreneur.

I have a great book that's been out for a while now called [00:02:00] Inspired Living. Assemble the Puzzle of your Calling by Mastering your Time, your Talent, and your Treasures. You can find out more about that book over@inspiredlivingbook.com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there.

I'd love to see you. Get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world. After decades spent as a general contractor, Brent Lindstrom put together a 10 year plan that helped him reposition himself into the uncertain artistic world of being an independent writer and filmmaker. With a strong background in finance, he was able to use those 10 years to go from earning 45 KA year to learning how to become a master storyteller and become financially stable enough to focus entirely on his writing and filmmaking.

Welcome to the show, Brent.

Brent Lindstrom: Hey, thanks. Glad to be here.

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. [00:03:00] We've been talking a little bit before it kind of in the green room and it's always what funny, when you have one of those days, it's when we're actually recording this it's over the, the holiday season. Folks will be listening to it later and we're talking about all of the, the crazy stuff that you have going on during the holidays.

All of us do. So for those of you that are listening. Be glad you're several months out from that.

So I, I talked a little bit in the intro about some of the work you've done first as a general contractor and now writer and filmmaker. And we're gonna talk more about, well that doesn't seem like, you know, one of these things is not like the other. Right. But talk to us a little bit. Take us back in time, share a little bit about your journey and what has brought you to the point where this is the work.

That you feel called to do

Brent Lindstrom: Yeah, so I didn't always know that I wanted to be a writer and filmmaker. I, I [00:04:00] always felt like I was more of the entrepreneurial sort and I was getting really into finance when I went to college and I wanted to go work on Wall Street. Actually, I, I loved digging into the nitty gritty of.

Public companies and figuring out what they were worth, and I, I wanted to be the guy there who was picking stocks and bonds and different things, just being immersed in that culture there, but. At some point during my college years, I ended up going to work for the family construction company, and I did it mostly because I thought, uh, my dad's got a good business here.

I can learn some business skills, which will eventually carry over to Wall Street. And I thought, yeah, this is what I'm gonna do. But I started out at entry level. I mean, I was making. Peanuts at the time, and I was living in a really ghetto place as about as ghet as ghetto as you can get in Utah. And [00:05:00] while I was there I thought, you know what?

I really need to find a way to bring in a little bit extra income while I'm doing this. I don't plan on doing this forever, but what can I do? And my wife said, I want you to stay at home with the family more because I was working a lot of hours already doing the construction thing and. So that ruled out a lot of possible side gigs and side jobs that I could think of at the time except for writing.

And I thought, you know what? I read a lot. I think I can do this. I'm gonna write some books and I'm gonna think about this structurally, what makes a good book, how I can sell this. So I, I put a lot of thought into it and I started writing and along the way I got addicted to writing and I didn't make any money with those first books, but I.

I got the passion for it. And later as I went on, I said, you know what? This is what I want to do for my life. [00:06:00] I wanna be a writer. I want to be a filmmaker. I wanna, I wanna create stories. But I'm also a very value driven person. And a lot of the things that I read in adult fiction, I didn't. Necessarily feel connected to.

And a lot of the movies that are made for adults, I didn't really feel connected to because, uh, me and my wife, we, we don't really like watching and reading things that have a lot of sexual content and profanity in them. And so I thought, you know what? I feel like given my value set, given my faith and things, I wanna write things that are made more for adults, but adults like me, who maybe.

Enjoy a story that's focused on us, but not necessarily containing all of the rated R and worse kind of material in there. So I wanted something pg, PG 13, gentle, PG 13 at that. But I wanted things that were more [00:07:00] along those lines. And so I thought, you know what? I'm gonna create my art based around clean fiction and.

It's something that I'm passionate about. It's something that I love doing and, and I'm writing for people like me. And so that's, that's kind of where I came from and how I got passionate about doing what I'm doing.

Scott Maderer: So, what's interesting, uh, so why do you think you had the finance drive at the beginning?

Why was that direction?

Brent Lindstrom: You know, the finance thing, I had it beginning, and to be honest, I never lost the finance thing. I, I do a lot of it on the side. In fact, my finance thing is, see, I didn't want to be a struggling artist. I mean, that's such a cliche out there, but it's a true thing. And I knew that it was gonna take several years of working on my art before I could actually.

Create art that supported me financially and my family. I didn't want my kids [00:08:00] living out of the backseat of our car. And so, yeah, I, I always have been a big study on money and how money works. And so I've, you know, at, at the time when I decided to go full-time riding, I said, I can't do this yet. But in 10 years I'm gonna be able to do that.

And so I put together a plan, not only to work on my writing craft, but to also work on my financial independence so that when I did step into that arena, I could basically focus on the art and, and it worked out that way. And. And so, yeah, to this day I still, I spend probably one and a half days a week working on my real estate ventures.

I spend about half an hour every morning on the stock markets and the futures markets. I'm always looking for ways that I can create that income until my art [00:09:00] picks up and is able to provide that kind of a lifestyle that I want to provide for my family.

Scott Maderer: So you also mentioned going into the construction family business kind of thing.

What lessons do you think you learned there that you've taken forward into what you do now?

Brent Lindstrom: There's a lot of lessons that I learned in the construction business. For one, if you're thinking about just. Artists or artistry writing, things like that. You meet so many fun and interesting people while you're doing that, you, I, it broadened my horizons of the world.

So I got a, I got a lot of experience as far as my creativity was concerned, as far as my business sense goes. My dad was an incredible businessman. He. Basically built a company from nothing to a multimillion dollar company and [00:10:00] seeing how he worked, he basically became my mentor when it came to all things entrepreneurialship and running business.

And I felt like the skills that I got in there, both the marketing, the uh, the production, the focus on. On creating value and just there I, if I, I could probably do a masterclass. It would last days just on all the little lessons I've learned in there. But being able to run a business, because I did, I started out on the construction end, but then as I mastered certain elements of it, he would move me around until eventually I ended up replacing him and running the business by myself and with my brother and who we brought in later and.

Also at the time too, it wasn't just a construction company, but it had turned into a full on property development company. And so I learned from the finance end how to invest in real estate and the different ways that I can invest in real [00:11:00] estate, both residential, commercial, flipping, holding. So yeah, it really helped me on a financial end, uh, gain a foot into that world.

Scott Maderer: So one of the things I like to highlight on the show is kind of what I call the intersection between our, our faith journey and our life journey, and then our life journey and our faith journey, whatever our particular journey is. Unpack a little bit for the listener. How has your faith journey and your life journey kind of intersected as you, as you went through these different phases?

Brent Lindstrom: Yeah, so I've always been a person of faith. I grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I, I always had a strong belief in Christ and in God and things, and, and it ended up leading me to serve a Proselyting mission, which I did over in the Philippines for two years.

And then when I got back from that. It was still an important part of my life. It's what helped me find my wife [00:12:00] and create the kind of a family that I've always wanted. And while we were doing that and while I was finding success in my business and looking towards my art, you know. I enjoy entertaining art.

I don't enjoy preachy art. And so along the way I was like, how can I reconcile this? Because I felt like I'd been incredibly blessed in my life to be in a financial situation where I could focus on my art and, and I was thinking, how can I, how can I show God that I am grateful for his. You know, his blessings.

I I feel that the money that I've been able to receive has been a blessing from him, and I want to be able to give back, and I do, I do charity, things like that, but it, it wasn't enough. I, I felt like my career choices, my art that I wanted to do, needed to reflect my values. [00:13:00] And along the way I thought, you know what?

I don't wanna, I don't wanna create something that just tells people what to believe, because I don't think that's the job of any artist. But I said, you know what? If I can create content that I would be happy sharing with my children, but it's still made for me that he'll, or that doesn't, that doesn't offend my value system, then that's what I want to create.

And that way I can kind of give back. I can say, God, this is my way of basically showing that I value everything you've given me. I'm creating value-driven content, but it's still entertaining it. It's an entertainment outlet for people who are value driven people.

I just don't want to take people away from God, I guess, is the [00:14:00] sense.

Scott Maderer: Are you still writing?

Brent Lindstrom: I am. I write every morning. My, that's the biggest priority of my day every morning is to write until noon. And, you know, I, I still do a few things. Uh. To start out there, but I guess I do the stock marketing things for half an hour first. But yeah, I, I try to write for about three to four hours every morning before I step into my, uh, filmmaking and content things that I do.

Scott Maderer: And, and you're still putting out books.

Brent Lindstrom: I am still putting out books.

Scott Maderer: So talk a little bit about, you know, the kind of books that you put out and maybe share a couple of the titles or your latest title.

Brent Lindstrom: Yeah, so, uh, last year I, I published one called, one for the money, two for the soul Fun story about a, a young girl who gets her spirit sucked out of her and transplanted into another body, and it's really fun and zany thrill ride her adventure.

Going through that. And, [00:15:00] and then this year I've. I've repu republished one of my trunk novels, swing Low, the Hangman of the Woods. Uh, that one came out in January, which, uh, which is basically rewriting one of my books that I did back before my craft was perfected. And then I thought, you know what? I'm, I'm gonna rewrite this to make it feel better.

But yeah, this March is debuting a new series that I decided to write called Hard-Boiled Cabbage. It's book one of the gear lock series.

Scott Maderer: Okay, so what, what is, is it fiction, nonfiction? What's

Brent Lindstrom: the premise? Uh, yeah, that one is fiction. Most of my books are fiction. So it's a fantasy? No. Or if you're familiar with the no or, uh, genre, it's uh, it's basically hard boiled mystery.

Scott Maderer: Okay. Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom: For, but yeah, it's in a fantasy line too. It, it combines a few genres.

Scott Maderer: So I used to read a lot of, uh, uh, urban fantasy whenever, back in the day whenever I was, uh [00:16:00] read board. I, I don't currently read much fiction. I read almost all nonfiction, but just 'cause I live it some my time. But, uh, yeah, when I was reading, reading a lot of fiction, one of the, one of the genres that I liked was kind of the urban fantasy where it was, you know, set in a modern world, but like elves and things were.

Around or that kind of thing. So I'm somewhat familiar with that idea of a, a genre. I wanted to bring that up in part the fact that you were writing and writing fiction 'cause and the stories that you're telling. How do you think. You know, you talked about being a creative person. Did that creativity get served even when you were doing the construction indus industry?

Do you think it served in your finance? You know, do you think your creativity adds values to those things, or those things add value to your creativity or, or both?

Brent Lindstrom: Uh, it, it, it really works both ways. I don't think that creativity is exclusive to riding and. Uh, filmmaking and things like that. I started out, I, [00:17:00] I actually started working really young.

I, I started, uh, on a job site when I was 13, but, and actually before that I had the paper out and things like that. But no, I, uh, I started out as a Finn Carpenter and I got to be really good. I was trained, I was fortunate to be trained by a master carpenter, and I would go to jobs and I would. Have to show up at a house.

I've never seen the floor plan before, and I'd walk through with the homeowner or home buyer and. And they look to me to make the house pretty because, you know, at that point it's just sheet rock and that's it. So we'd go through, we'd look at the doors, the casings, the baseboards, all the different filigrees and fancy things that you could do to a house to basically prep it for paint.

And at that point it's done. And, and you need to, you need to give it as fun as a final coding as you can there. And so, yeah, I, I got. Really creative on a lot of those, and I think creative [00:18:00] creativity served me well on that. But also just all those different interactions that I had going through the construction industry served me so well because there's I, I think this is funny because I've, I've talked to people before, editors more specifically, and I've written characters into some of my books, and they look at me and they're like, Brent.

That's a fun character you put in there. That person would never exist in real life. And I'd be like,

Scott Maderer: I

Brent Lindstrom: met them. I can tell you exactly who that is. I mean, I never write specific people, but I'm like, yeah, I know there's definitely people like that 'cause I've met them. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, it, it's really fun because you can, you, you can really play around and have a lot of fun and.

I, I, I've mentioned this to others before, but you go and get a degree in college in, what's it called? It's called a Bachelor's of Arts, and you could have that in mathematics. You can have that in anything [00:19:00] other than English, and it's still a Bachelor's of Arts, which was what my finance degree originally went.

Bachelor's of Arts in Finance, so, yeah. Creativity is important in all aspects of life, especially in business ownership, because as an entrepreneur, you've gotta be creative to figure out how best to build your business, find a market, and be a salesman.

Scott Maderer: So back in, you know, speaking of that, when you started on this entrepreneurial journey or even before that, was there ever a moment when you thought, okay, this might have been not what I was supposed to do and how did you reset or refocus or pull through that?

Brent Lindstrom: The hardest part for me was the day that I told my family about it, not my current family. My wife has been very supportive about this, but the rest of my family, so coming from my, uh, my constructions [00:20:00] family business, that was hard. Because my dad had turned the company over to me. He was an investor at that point.

My brother was working for me. We come back from the accountant one day and I said, guys, I got to tell you something. I'm about five years into a 10 year plan to leave the company. And they both look at me and they're like, really? It's like, yeah, I'm gonna go be a writer and a filmmaker, and I've been working towards this forever.

And that was a hard conversation to have because I had no idea what they were gonna think. I, I tried to bring that conversation up a year before and I couldn't do it. And five years into it, I was like, okay, they need to know, because we have five years to plan on my exit and. So, yeah, that, that was a really hard thing and there were definitely doubts about that.

And my wife to [00:21:00] this day, still doubts, you know, you're leaving a really good paying job. You sure you wanna do this? I was like, yeah, I do.

Scott Maderer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. What, uh I think a lot of times people think about. Having the job, whether it's a, a business like you're talking about, where you're running, working on the construction business, the family business, whether it's a W2 job, you know, we tend to think about that as security and we think about entrepreneurship as insecure.

What is your approach to that? When you hear people saying, you know the job is safe, but the entrepreneurship is not what is, what have you learned as you've been on this journey?

Brent Lindstrom: One of the. Key takeaways I've learned from business, from investing, from trading, all that, the greater the risk, the greater the return.

So yes, I'm leaving something secure. [00:22:00] I'm not just willy-nilly doing it. I've, I've actually had a thought field plan put into place, but I am still risking that, but. Emotionally, spiritually, mentally, everything. This is the best move for me. And to risk that all for it, I think is worthy. But you know, at the same time, I ma I manage that risk.

I, I put together investments income streams, things like that, that can help see me through it all. Yeah, leaving something that is steady for something that's maybe a little uncertain. At some point you gotta just ask yourself, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, if I don't do this, am I gonna look back and regret it?

And to me that's the risk. That's where the biggest risk is.

Scott Maderer: [00:23:00] So before you, you know, you talked about having a 10 year plan and, and all of that, and I. We all plan and plans are good and, and that, but we also get surprised, you know, there's also things that we, we thought we planned for. We thought we prepped, we thought we knew before we went into it.

What are some of the misconceptions that you've had or that you've discovered about whether that's about writing, whether that's about the indie filmmaking, whether that's just about going. Your plan and how it put together, what were some of the things that you went into it saying, yeah, I know this, and then discovered along the way, whoop, I gotta make an adjustment.

I've gotta shift this. Or maybe what I thought was true isn't true.

Brent Lindstrom: I think for a lot of it, I, I pretty well planned on what was going to. Happened from a realistic standpoint, I knew that it was gonna take a long time to build an audience, and that's held true. I knew that it was going to take a lot of time [00:24:00] to build my craft, and it did.

I knew that it was gonna take a lot of time to become financially independent, and that happened too. If there's any surprises, I would, I, I think my biggest surprise is that, probably that marketing hasn't quite turned out the way I would've expected it to. I never actually expected to run a YouTube channel or host a podcast.

And why did I start those? I started those because I wanted to connect with an audience. I wanted to connect with other people who were like me, and I knew that. By connecting with them, we'd help lift all bolts together, basically all, and that was just something that I hadn't anticipated doing.

And it's actually, it's been very rewarding doing, but at the same time. [00:25:00] It's turned my life into a madhouse. There's a lot of things going on now, whereas before my, I was gonna say, my mornings are just writing. My afternoons are just filmmaking. That's it. And now everything just kind of gets in a big jumble together and it's like, wow.

Time management has become incredibly difficult to deal with. And it's been a fun journey. Learning how to basically balance it all.

Scott Maderer: So before I ask you a few questions that I ask all of my guests, is there anything else about your work or your new book coming out that you'd like to share with the listener?

Brent Lindstrom: No. I would, I would probably. I'd probably just suggest that if you are looking to follow a career path, kinda like what [00:26:00] I've done, that you put a little thought into it. You know, I, I, I've mentioned that risk is very important in all of your life, but balance or remember that one of those risks, is the risk of the path not taken?

Are you going to regret not following your heart? Are you gonna regret not. Living the values that you probably want to be living. And you know, I, I know that you're very into this motivation or what motivates us and inspires us, and look to your inspirations, look to your faith, look to your values, and let that help determine where you want to be.

Scott Maderer: So my brand is inspired stewardship, and I kind of run things through that lens of, of stewardship, and yet I've discovered over the years that's one of those words that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to [00:27:00] you?

Brent Lindstrom: When I hear the word of stewardship, it's handling the the gifts or the blessings that I've been given in a way that would please the person who gave it to me, or in my case, God.

Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a moment that I could invent this magic machine, and with this machine, I could take you from where you are today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years.

But with the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life, see all of the ripples, all of the connections, all of the impacts you've left. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

Brent Lindstrom: I think the impact that I would like to leave in the world, and I think a lot of Walt Disney, when I think of this, it's the first name that pops into my mind.

If Walt Disney was to come back and look at his legacy, what would he [00:28:00] think? And I think that for me, I want people to look. My life and say he created something that everybody could enjoy, that some that he created escapes. He created stories. He created things that you could, you know, a grandparent could enjoy with their grandkid and.

I, I get that Disney has kind of started veering away from that, but for the longest time, a lot of what you saw out of Disney was family friendly. And I would love for people to look back on me and say in a world where so many people were putting out content that just kinda made you feel ick or maybe just didn't sit right with a lot of family and the family values.

There was a guy who. Who basically had family at the forefront of his storytelling.

Scott Maderer: Absolutely. So what's on, what's [00:29:00] on the roadmap? Well, what's on, uh, what's on your mind as you continue on this journey?

Brent Lindstrom: So I am continuing to write, I am planning on publishing at least two books a year. That's the idea.

But I'm also working on film. I'm building a film studio, just an indie film studio where I can create whatever I want to create. I've got screenplay that I am I'm multiple drafts into right now that I am planning on developing and filming. Once I get to that point, I've also got. A short film that I'm doing, a kind of a reimagined version of Moby Dick's, the, uh, father Maple sermon.

I don't know if you've read Moby Dick, but, uh, there's a point in there where Father Maple gives this big sermon and it's, it's very dramatic. And so yeah, I am planning on doing probably a 30 minute. Tation of that, and so [00:30:00] that, that's the immediate horizon. But yeah, I've got this film studio that I've got coming up and aside from doing my own films in there, I plan on helping other creatives up and comings find a foothold in there and use it also to help make their dreams come possible.

I live close to a college, couple colleges that have film schools in them, and you know, I, I love the idea of helping provide opportunities for them also. Awesome.

Scott Maderer: So you can find out more about Brent over@lightmindedarts.com. Of course, I'll have a link to that in the show notes as well. Brent, anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

Brent Lindstrom: Yeah, I'd just like to let everybody know, 'cause chances are, if you're listening to this, you probably haven't heard of me yet. So I would suggest going to my website at like-minded arts.com. And on there I've got a contact form if you mention this podcast on that podcast form, I mean on that, on that contact form.

And I will [00:31:00] send you a free copy of my latest book for free, just a new book. That way you can get to know me, find out if you like Theto kind of stories that I tell and. Just something that I'm doing for any one of your, uh, any one of your listeners. And if you're an artist like me, jump on over to my YouTube channel and see if I can't help you.

Also avoid the struggling artist trap yourself.

Scott Maderer: Awesome. Thanks so much for that. I appreciate it and I'm sure the listeners will as well. So again, I'll make sure you have a link to the show note link of the show notes over to the website and please take advantage of that kind gift as well.

Brent Lindstrom: Alright, well thank you for having me.

Scott Maderer: Thank you.

Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and [00:32:00] passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

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