Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 48 - Using “Mini-Movies” to Change the World
Synopsis:
Dan Edelstyn is a filmmaker, artist, and activist on a mission to create meaningful change—without relying on traditional media gatekeepers. In this inspiring episode of the Peaceful Profits Podcast, Dan shares how he and his wife built a thriving membership site, launched premium offers, and empowered a grassroots movement to decarbonize their London neighborhood—all while staying aligned with their values.
With support from Peaceful Profits, Dan discovered how direct marketing, systems, and storytelling could help him build a self-sustaining business that funds both art and impact. He also reveals how implementing high-ticket offers has allowed him to serve changemakers at a deeper level, and why staying connected to purpose is the ultimate business advantage.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: Using “Mini-Movies” to Change the World
[00:00:00] Ros: So hello Peaceful Profits nation. It's Ros Place here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. Today we're talking to our client Dan Edelstyn.
[00:00:12] Ros: Dan is a writer, artist and filmmaker who works closely with his wife Hilary. Dan got tired of having to go to TV or art commissioning bodies, which were fickle and narrow at a very narrow selection criteria.
[00:00:26] Ros: So together with his wife, Dan started to develop [00:00:30] direct marketing strategies, lending his work as a documentary filmmaker. with Hillary's work as an artist and printmaker. Dan and Hillary made feature documentary called Bank Job, which was nominated for some top awards in British documentary filmmaking.
[00:00:46] Ros: Dan is passionately community focused and is working on a new project called Power Station, a project to turn every viable building on their street into a solar power station, get it retrofitted whilst filming the entire [00:01:00] process. Dan came into Peaceful Profits to develop a business around teaching artists, indie filmmakers, and changemakers how to build online communities that help make a fairer and kinder world in the here and now.
[00:01:16] Ros: Welcome, Dan.
[00:01:18] Dan: Thank you very much. That's lovely, Ros. Yeah, amazing research you've just done. That
[00:01:25] Ros: Oh I've really been looking forward to talking with you. I'd love for [00:01:30] you Dan to share with our listeners about your experience in Peaceful Profits. And I'd love you to start by talking about your membership site, the membership site for for your art and for that change making business.
[00:01:44] Ros: I'd love you to talk about
[00:01:46] Dan: that
[00:01:46] Ros: and the members inside and how that's structured.
[00:01:51] Dan: Yeah. Basically there's two things there. One is the the kind of entry into the sort of Peaceful Profits mentality, and then the second one is [00:02:00] the membership and how that's been working. So I'll start, I think, with the membership because it probably precedes a little bit the Peaceful Profits, I think.
[00:02:07] Dan: We started it about a year and a half ago. And it was on the back of having screened and finished bank job, the film where we blew up 1. 2 million pounds worth of high interest debt. And I suppose I've done some sort of marketing courses before, and I'd have some experiences with direct marketing, but I think the screening of bank [00:02:30] job initially came out just as the pandemic was happening.
[00:02:33] Dan: Our ability to get into cinemas, which is usually the method filmmakers use, indie filmmakers who have got a feature film. At that point, it was really hard to get the previews into cinemas because, cinemas had so many rules around them and many of them were just shut. So we started launching ads on Facebook and we sold 2, 000 tickets for for that preview.
[00:02:57] Dan: And the sort of average order value was [00:03:00] about 20 and the cost per sale was about nine.
[00:03:02] Ros: We
[00:03:03] Dan: suddenly had this list of buyers, which was amazing. And we wanted to pursue this idea of not just like direct marketing, but direct action as well. Which was in other words trying to enlist people who felt the same way as we did about what was happening politically and socially in Britain and to try and make a difference.
[00:03:23] Dan: It was very empathetic, the type of thing, but people also understood that we're not magicians and we can't just [00:03:30] produce change or create impact without also having some kind of financial, sustainable financial thing. I think so we launched this membership site to try and have an impact on the climate at that point, that was more of our concern rather than the kind of, fuel poverty cost of living crisis at that point.
[00:03:49] Dan: And because we'd already had a list of buyers, lots of people joined the membership, maybe when I say lots, maybe 50 at that beginning, and then bit by bit, we started clawing our way [00:04:00] up. But weirdly, like in, inside of the marketing that I'd been learning, cause I felt like movement building and marketing was so closely connected.
[00:04:09] Dan: But a lot of the courses that I'd done were full of it felt like high pressure sales techniques and it was always about like getting a Lamborghini tomorrow. And, the people that I was on the courses with were, seemed to have a different culture or different values to me.
[00:04:26] Dan: And I was always felt the anomaly in these groups, [00:04:30] cause I was there effectively trying to learn how to, it wasn't like I was looking for the riches from this, and certainly that's not what I was, not looking for overnight riches. I was looking for a sustainable income and a way to scale impact as well.
[00:04:46] Dan: And just culturally speaking, I wasn't, I didn't really feel that I'd got to the right places. Lots of stuff that I was learning was really good and useful. But I was having to apply it to my own situation, which was quite radically different from everyone else's. [00:05:00] Most other people were thinking, how do I build an ad agency or how do I mainly that actually.
[00:05:06] Dan: But my question was more like, how do I. make independent films and artworks in a way that bypasses gatekeepers of different types, just because I'd found that the, that I suppose that the broadcasting system in Britain, like the BBC channel four and stuff, and we have worked with those people, just found it quite conservative and quite constricting.
[00:05:29] Dan: And [00:05:30] I think a lot of other filmmakers were finding it the same way. And a lot of artists as well. So anything that I could do to take these ideas and apply them into my own field was basically what I was trying to do. And when I discovered the Peaceful Profits method, I think it was the culture of.
[00:05:49] Dan: The Peaceful Profits that attracted me the most. The idea, it stood in opposition to a lot of that Lamborghini type of culture as [00:06:00] well, which I felt was the type of kind of aspirational ideas which were leading to many of the issues that we were trying to, Take up in our work as well.
[00:06:09] Dan: I didn't want to be, it was weird. There was a tension often I felt not necessarily on my behalf either because I'm entrepreneurial, but just I felt that people were, there was this weird tension. But when I found Peaceful Profits and got into that, I felt that there was a much more of a click, so that so it's really good.
[00:06:26] Ros: That's amazing. Thank you so much. I think something that I [00:06:30] noticed about your journey was that once you found a way of channeling your passion as a creative into business in a way that felt right to you, something really shifted.
[00:06:41] Dan: Yeah, I think that's right. I think, weirdly there is, there's always a bit of a tension.
[00:06:46] Dan: So in our membership site that we have now, there are 6, 000 people in there. Most of them, I can't, I'm not sure of the percentages I'd have to try and do a calculator, but many of them are in there for free. And we that is a kind of a bit of a belief that [00:07:00] we want people to have access to the information, which empowers them.
[00:07:03] Dan: It's, we call the membership it's power station is the name of the project, but we call the members, the powerful. And we want to be teaching them things that empower them in their lives and their own communities and part of, the philosophical idea is that we give everyone access to that information, but that really the only way for that to work is that some people are actually able to pay for it.
[00:07:29] Dan: So we've [00:07:30] built offers inside of that. So that sits quite well with our kind of philosophical views in a way, but nonetheless it's, there's still some tension in there because some people say why are you trying to sell things and all the rest of it, and it's a lot of people don't really have any experience of what it like is like to run a business online, offline or to create art and to really be doing things at scale is that, and that so that's a big part of it.
[00:07:55] Dan: Actually is educating people about value, and I think that's a really important thing is that you [00:08:00] actually, you're able to stand up for the value and for the offers that you create and you have to really genuinely believe that they're helping people and helping the world as well.
[00:08:10] Dan: That's foundational. And I think that's something that I really discovered through the Peaceful Profits method is, we're not here to sell snake oil to people. We're here to build things, which actually have. value and amplify people's potential to have impact as well, I think that's really important.
[00:08:27] Ros: So creation of your high ticket offer, [00:08:30] your premium offers talk to me about that. How's that gone for you now that you've created these ways of people working with you at a much higher level of not just value, but your ability to serve.
[00:08:42] Dan: Yeah interestingly, so what we realized like with our power project, we're basically what we're trying to do is to raise a million pounds through that, which sounds a lot to us, because we're not, we don't come from the background of Oh my God, I made a million this month and all the rest.
[00:08:58] Dan: Just a bit with that for us [00:09:00] that's a big a massive number. And what that enables us to do will be to literally put solar panels on every single house that wants it on this street. And then if and once we've hit that milestone, if it feels like we can continue to grow it, we'll then put insulation on all the houses and we'll be arguing that this is what the government should be doing in order to create sort of energy security for people right the way across Britain and other countries.
[00:09:25] Dan: But what I've realized is that [00:09:30] having just, relatively low ticket offers, for instance, people can join our membership for five, 12 pounds a month, or they can, they can spend 120 or 140 which is all quite low in terms of the price tag. Sorry, my dog's barking in the background.
[00:09:46] Dan: And really to shift the dial, we needed to create higher ticket offers. So I actually put in one that was 11, 800 pounds into our Page just a week ago and then someone [00:10:00] sent us that money literally a week later saying they just couldn't stand not sending the money. So it's interesting that when you create offers and you put price tags on them and how they effectively make a statement about, your own belief in yourself and your value and what you can offer people.
[00:10:18] Dan: And what this client really wanted was actually to work closer with us on trying to turn her street into a power station and to get her local schools and to actually to tap into our [00:10:30] network of of different installers and cooperatives who are able to turn schools into power stations and stuff.
[00:10:37] Dan: She just really wanted those personal conversations more than anything else. And she can now pick up the phone and speak to us whenever she likes, basically. So that, and that's really interesting. And I haven't, so For the other side of the business where I'm teaching artists and change makers, how to effectively build these systems themselves and these businesses themselves.
[00:10:57] Dan: But I actually haven't launched my high [00:11:00] ticket yet. Although in the past, if I go back and look at my clients over the last six months or so it's effectively going or actually making short films for them and then getting them distributed to their ideal audiences. That's where it's been really important because effectively we're all telling a story and trying to get a message out.
[00:11:17] Dan: And we're all trying to build. I suppose in a way we're trying to build impact and to build our own kind of tribes of people in order to actually achieve these things. Yeah, those are the types of offers. [00:11:30] Yeah, so I hear that there have been challenges for you in creating your high ticket offer and you're starting to see that once you create those.
[00:11:37] Ros: high ticket offers, then you're able to support people in ways which really do make a huge impact. And something else that you said was about systems and about processes. Something that you said was that you felt that your business had changed. Forever through implementing the peaceful profit system.
[00:11:58] Ros: That's something that you've actually said. Which [00:12:00] is amazing. So how do you see that those changes in your business, for example, like what, what's great about having those systems in your business, what are the rewards?
[00:12:12] Dan: Over the summer, for instance, we were on holiday and we went to, we were away for three weeks because we have young children and dogs and everything we needed to get out of London.
[00:12:20] Dan: And we now have there are some elements and this is inside of the power station business, the social enterprise business. So we do a [00:12:30] YouTube every week, for instance. We now have an editor who will cut those. She can download all of the information of the new people who have joined and paid to be in the membership and add their names to the credits at the end of that.
[00:12:43] Dan: So there's a process, there's a few processes there that she's really perfectly good at. I have a, also a collaborator now on the membership site who helps people who are stuck, who also edits all of the workshops that we do and cuts them up into little bits and then uploads them into the membership site as a separate [00:13:00] job from the film editor.
[00:13:02] Dan: Wow. And then he also drafts up my Wednesday update emails as well, so that because there's a formula for it it doesn't sound quite like my voice. So I have to get in there and tweak it and do a little bit. And we also have obviously an ongoing process where new people are continually joining the mailing list.
[00:13:22] Dan: And we have a sequence of emails that goes out to them and then a sequence of emails if they actually join on the paid. Membership as [00:13:30] well to onboard them and to, all the rest of it. And then we also have someone who comes to the house every week to package take things to the post office.
[00:13:37] Dan: And our framer does all the actual physical packages. There's an awful lot of processes that we've broken down. We haven't broken everything down. And in fact, there was still some processes, which we still have to do ourselves day in, day out. But we're definitely so much freer. With these, and while we were away, the business, everything was continuing [00:14:00] to grow.
[00:14:01] Dan: So that's quite an amazing thing. It's not like back in the old days where I was a freelance filmmaker. And if I left for three weeks, it was just zero earnings, so it's very different from that.
[00:14:13] Ros: That's so fantastic. That's that's amazing to hear. You've benefited a lot from what I can hear, but I'd really love to know also how you feel your clients are benefiting from what you've accomplished.
[00:14:26] Ros: What, how is it that you can, what is it when you look at your clients, [00:14:30] how can you see the seeds, if you like, of what you've planted in your own growth within your business, how your clients are benefiting directly from that.
[00:14:41] Dan: I think it depends if we're going to go into the power station when I think if people join up and they actually spend money inside of the power station.
[00:14:49] Dan: As even if they don't, they're getting lots and lots of processes on how they can immediately begin to decarbonize their streets and it doesn't need me to go and tell them that they can literally look at all of those [00:15:00] pre recorded workshops. where we bring lots and lots of experts in and we, have a good conversation and we, it's all chopped up and it's in there.
[00:15:08] Dan: So they're benefiting from that. They also get to see our feature documentary inside of the membership site for free, which shows how you can achieve amazing things when you come together. And that kind of documents our methods, a different type of method, but that's in there as well. So that helps people emotionally, I think and just to see what's possible.
[00:15:26] Dan: And then I suppose up to a point, the people who invest a bit [00:15:30] more in the power station, like going through a lot of Mike's trainings, I'm looking at what's the risk to them, if you like, of coming aboard, and trying to work out to map their objections, their fears and all the rest of it.
[00:15:43] Dan: And particularly if people are spending more money, like 10, 000 or something like that. A fear would be, a huge fear, I think would be. What happens if they don't make it? What happens if the power station doesn't ever reach the million pounds or whatever? And it doesn't solar panels like you put on everything.
[00:15:59] Dan: And I [00:16:00] think that in a way what's so powerful is that once you have a method and there are a hundred new people joining every day and and we also have a method for how to get into. The BBC or the Financial Times and all the rest of it is that you become a bit unstoppable, and there's no, you might get the odd hater online or you get emails from people who pull you down or try to attempt to pull you down.
[00:16:22] Dan: And you're like, you cannot stop this machine. This thing is lurking and it's moving. There's an element where you're [00:16:30] removing you're de risking the success in a way, you become, it becomes an inevitability, up to a point. And that's by creating offers that are pulling more people in, and that people just want to get behind it.
[00:16:42] Dan: So once you've got an attractive idea that people want Whether it be a service based business or, ultimately a product based or a mixture then and if you have a method for bringing people in every day, that's profitable then you're going to, I think you're de risking it. So you can, success [00:17:00] becomes.
[00:17:00] Dan: almost inevitable, not quite inevitable, but,
[00:17:03] Ros: That's so fantastic to hear Dan. I can hear the momentum, the movement, the progress, the processes, the systems, all of that coming together with your amazing passion and talent. It is like a machine. It is your own powerhouse. It really is. I've got one last question to ask you.
[00:17:21] Ros: This is my favorite part of our Client Spotlight episodes. I'd love to know from you, Dan, as a client of ours, you're currently dialing [00:17:30] in your high ticket offer fully. I'd love you I'd love a piece of advice from you to our audience. What is the number one piece of advice that you would share with others who are working through this process?
[00:17:43] Ros: Two of creating a high value product to sell.
[00:17:50] Dan: Yeah, I think like my main advice is just to try and find the space, even, even if life isn't easy for [00:18:00] anyone. I don't think we're all beset by challenges each day, mainly emotional or psychological in a way. There are obstacles that we all have to, to getting to where we want to go.
[00:18:12] Dan: So I think Just to try and be kind to yourself. And when you make mistakes, which are inevitable, like mistakes lead towards success, just as breakthroughs do, because so I would say, pick yourself up and just try to do 1 percent of your work each day don't try and get [00:18:30] 50, a hundred percent done in a week, just try and create a steady momentum.
[00:18:36] Dan: And when you do make mistakes or things go wrong, just try, I think, to meditate, as is the advice in the the early parts of the training, journaling, meditating, like giving yourself ultimately for when things go wrong, because you know why you're doing the thing. So if things go wrong, [00:19:00] Just go back to the why and the purpose of what you're doing.
[00:19:03] Dan: And think about, the family members that you're trying to serve through it on the, on that hand, or your, or yourself as well and then think about your clients as well, who you will be able to serve ultimately through this. And what you're creating in the world hopefully will really help, it will bring hope and help people in their lives.
[00:19:22] Dan: So don't lose sight of why you're doing what you're doing and just give yourself the ability to make a little bit of progress each day, [00:19:30] I'd say. That's wonderful. Don't rush.
[00:19:32] Ros: Thank you so much, Dan. That's absolutely wonderful advice. So I'd love to wrap up this episode with you sharing with our audience where they can find out about you and what you're up to.
[00:19:42] Ros: Where can people find you, Dan? Oh yeah. So if they want to join in the free membership for power, it's membership.power. film/enrol. And if they want to find out about the Mini Movies business where I'm trying to teach people to make [00:20:00] short films that get seen by their ideal audiences and build their business off that, the link is minimovies.optimisticproductions.co.uk/book. So there you go, it's quite long, but that's my Peaceful Profits book that I've written.
[00:20:18] Ros: And then that will
[00:20:19] Dan: move on,
[00:20:20] Ros: that's perfect, Dan. Thank you so much. I want to thank you so much, Dan, for sharing all of this with the Peaceful Profits Nation.
[00:20:27] Ros: Really appreciate it. And I'm [00:20:30] really excited as we all are here at Peaceful Profits for your continued success. Thank you so much.
[00:20:35] Dan: Thank you very much, Ros, and lovely to chat to you again. Thanks for all your help.
[00:20:39] Ros: You're welcome. See ya.