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Audio digitally transcribed by Otter.ai

Introduction 0:02
Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

Russ Johns 0:20
And it's beautiful day for the #PirateBroadcast™. And today we have a couple of new pirates in the room. I'm so excited to talk with Dina and Don. Good morning, and how are you to doing today?

Dina and Don Ortiz 0:34
Awesome. How are you doing?

Russ Johns 0:37
Oh, better than average better than average? You know, I didn't get up this morning to be mediocre.

Dina and Don Ortiz 0:43
No, it's got to be the bars way up here.

Russ Johns 0:46
Exactly. So I'm super excited to talk to you about well, number one, because you have a background in music and touring and doing lots of incredible things. And also, you've written a book recently that helps entrepreneurs out and you're really focused on giving back to the community. So I want to go back a few years and talk about your music and where you started out and how you got going and kind of the journey, walk us, take us back to the journey and where you started out at.

Dina and Don Ortiz 1:21
Ok, thank you. I actually started as a street musician in front of Ripley's Believe it or not. And I went to California to go to Berkeley. That was what I wanted to do, go to Berkeley University. But when I got there, I realized I wasn't an in State student. So the cost of going to Berkeley took me out of the running. So I ended up at City College in San Francisco and in between classes, a musician friend of mine said, Hey, why don't we got a bus? And I was so terrified. Can you imagine? I think I was 18 at the time. Wow. Yes. So we went out there. And we started busking and it was actually being a street musician that really taught me myfirst lesson in business right? There already senior street musicians out there and and street performers out there. And there was definitely a pecking order. And if you didn't follow that pecking order, boy, you were in trouble, they'd muscle you out pretty quickly. We were robbed. So I learned about you know, not showing your hand because we had all our money out there thinking that, you know, people are gonna think we're great if we have all our money out there. But of course, you know, somebody saw it decided they wanted it more than we did. Anyways, make long story short, I headed down to San Diego and started my first country rock band. We won a bunch of awards and an agency out of Minnesota picked us up and I went on the road with my band out of Southern California. And I lost a guitar and steel player, came back to Phoenix where my parents are located to find a new musician and just kind of take some time out. And that is where I met my current husband of 31 years and it's been quite a journey. It has, it has. I mean, I met Dina through her voice first. I was working at celebrity theater, doing shows there and my lighting director said, you know, there's this girl named Dina Preston, she's really got a great band. They got lots of contracts, but she's lost two players. And in saying that you'd like to get on the road and get, you know, clean that slate and start something new. And he gave me her number and I heard her cassette. And I thought wow, this is like Bonnie Raitt meets Melissa Etheridge meets Linda Ronstadt. So three, keep vocals and females there that are more vocals in the business. That really hooked me and I, and here we are 31 years later, of course. We literally...I broke up my band to go back east with Don and start something new. We literally by the time we got to New York, Delaware had 31 cents on our pocket. We had taken our GIG money when we were traveling across the country heading back east. And you got to really hefty speeding ticket, I think in Ohio, in Ohio, pretty much right. And as you know, there's toll roads on the east coast. So the last toll was 50 cents, and we literally had 31 cents. So I wasn't going to throw in 31 cents and make the little red bell go off, you know, so we were pirates. We ran the toll. That's right. We ran the toll and ended up in Delaware with 31 cents and 31 years later, we've traveled to 43 countries, I forget sometimes, 26 world tours and we're now an S Corp. So we started pretty much on the street with an open guitar case and today we've got a successful thriving global business. Yeah, a good entertainment company.

Russ Johns 4:39
That's an amazing story. I can relate to some of those incidents and activities because you know, I spent years in Seattle and right by the market, you know. And the buskers there were some of those guys were incredible players. I used to be in radio up there. So, you know, being around music and being in music and having played music for years. It's just such an art and activity that you just until you have that experience, you really don't really understand the experience because we play on a corner or play anywhere, is just so satisfying to me. And so you've had an incredible life and incredibly experienced, even if you're 31 cents, you're still, you know, it's like, okay, we can figure this out, we can play something, we can go do something. And, you know, you have the ability and the opportunity to do something, and earn some money. I mean, that's, to me, that's amazing.

Dina and Don Ortiz 5:50
Who would have ever thought through music, we would become ambassadors of goodwill for the US State Department, US embassies.

Russ Johns 5:59
Yeah, how did that story evolve?

Dina and Don Ortiz 6:02
We actually started working for the Department of Defense overseas entertainment shows, a friend of ours, recommended us. They came out to see us at a corporate event, actually, Pentagon came out to see us yeah, and they decided to pick us up they came out to see bands, and they they came to our corporate gig and they decided to take us as we were conga lining our clients out down the mountain, people down a mountain, and they decided to take us and, you know, we learned pretty quickly to not only provide good entertainment, but also there was a business entity and by then we were already because we're working with corporations, we already got the business and so we did, we did a good job. We were the first I think band with a female to Bahrain in Desert Storm one. So we started with Desert Storm one, we did embassies because the Marines guard the embassies all over the world. And so we had some work with the embassies, and Native American groups here recommended us, they do all kinds of work for the State Department to go to Azerbaijan, and Armenia. You know, there's been a lot of conflict forever, they just had a recent conflict as well. And so our job was to go in there and kind of maybe help communication, start goodwill at the table, you know. So that's how we got picked up for the State Department.

Russ Johns 7:13
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. So then you wrote a book, you have a book out right now, and it's about entrepreneurial leadership.

Dina and Don Ortiz 7:23
It really is.

Russ Johns 7:25
And let's talk a little bit about that because one, number one, you know, from musician to an author is a big step. However, it's a great way to kind of bring some of that information and that knowledge and that experience to the table. And so how did you think about that, when you just started? Did you want to say, hey, I want to take all this information and put it in book and that's how it evolved? Or did you say let's take and condense some of this information and put it in a book? Or what were your thoughts behind that?

Dina and Don Ortiz 8:00
Don saw this way to talk about entrepreneurial thinking, Don saw this way before I did. He wanted us, since we were already keynote speaking for the State Department, he wanted us to start doing that privately for corporations, right? We're already doing corporate work as a band, why not keynote speak as well. And so I got my doctorate in 2010. Later in my life, I became a professor, business professor, and he's like, why are we not utilizing that, the State Department's using it? And I said, Don, nobody wants to hear about our life. Nobody cares. You know, nobody wants to hear a book about us. And he's like, no, Dina, we've done some really amazing things. I mean, we were flying into Charles de Gaulle, when the shoe bomber was flying out of Charles de Gaulle. So just landing at the airport during that time, and seeing what was going on. And what happened during those experiences. He said, people are going to find that interesting, and we can couch you know, all our business. Well, we've had a front row seat to history. And part of that plan also is being sent in. So with that direction, we were coming back, and we're saying we need to be speaking and making this known and the book tells the stories. But we also have takeaways after each chapter that you can utilize for your business, your startup today. And as you know, everybody is pivoting, pivoting and turning. And this is a great way for us to help and also give people insight to what we've been through. So it saves you on some, you get to cut some corners there, because we've been through a lot of it. Yeah.

Russ Johns 9:29
Absolutely. I had in the questions, Gabe says, what has been the hardest part of the entrepreneurial journey for you guys?

Dina and Don Ortiz 9:40
Oh, that's a great question.

Russ Johns 9:41
The biggest challenge in the transitions in the movements.

Dina and Don Ortiz 9:46
So I think we're at the point now where we don't see. Certainly things come in and we're challenged. COVID is a good example of that. 10 years ago, it was a great recession. And so we love what we do so much that we don't see those things as challenges, we see them as opportunities. And I can tell you, when you love what you do, you're able to turn that around. So maybe the first thing I would recommend is that you've got to change your mindset. You can't think of it as a challenge, you have to think of it as a way to switch your business away to provide an opportunity, right? So we can't, we're live, we make our money doing live entertainment, that's what we do. We've been doing it for 30 years, whether it's speaking or playing professionally, we had to pivot quickly. So we get the book out and get our music out there. So when this all came down, right, I think we had 30 gigs cancel. 30 gigs. I mean, that was a ton right off the books instantly. And so and then we had also just finished recording our album, literally, we finished the last mix in February. And so we were like, Okay, now we're gonna pump up our product lines, we knew we had a book coming out, but let's put the music out first, because people can relate to music, and they're listening to music right now more than they ever have. So that came out, then we started realizing we also had time to put together videos, you know that we had not been able to do music videos to go along with our songs. So didn't like, you know, critiquing all that. And putting that together, we saw that we could work on that and jumpstart our book at the same time. So we started working on rolling out product that could be utilized that people can utilize, and think how they can also pivot in turn, how can we help our community? You know, it was a big deal by putting that book out. And then also, we also just like to make sure that people have something they can go with. Yeah, I think it's important to strategize, too, as an entrepreneur, I see my students as serial entrepreneurs, because they're so creative. They've got a million ideas going on. But they can't bring them to fruition. So you have to strategize, you have to pick one idea and then have to go with it and strategize, because remember, business formulas and theories will transfer. It doesn't matter what the product and the line is or the services, right? The idea is a product lifecycle is a PLC, you can use on the product, you can use that in theory, you just have to get focused and start moving on it.

Russ Johns 12:14
Yeah, it's interesting you say that because, I mean, as someone that's been in business, in and out of business and music, and you know, working in the corporate world, I find it's a balance between creativity, and focus.

Dina and Don Ortiz 12:35
Yes. Oh, yeah.

Russ Johns 12:35
And you have to focus on, you know, I'm squirrel hunter from day one. It's like, okay, new thing over here. Do I need this new thing? or? It's hard. It's difficult. And we live in such a noisy world that we really have to learn how to balance what our talents are, like, you were saying, you have a lot of talent, you have a lot of stories, you have a lot of information that you can transfer, that is actually and directly impacting entrepreneurs at this point in time. a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of knowledge. So I applaud you, and thank you so much for being here.

Dina and Don Ortiz 13:15
Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Russ Johns 13:17
And sharing your knowledge with the pirate crew here.

Dina and Don Ortiz 13:20
Well we're all capitalizing on the unknown right now. Yeah. And our book deals with a lot of that. And that's the incentive to inspire, really, it really is.

Russ Johns 13:32
Well, if we can take some of the experience that we've acquired over the years, and even our bad experience and transfer that, it's one of those things that you have to say, Hey, here's something I know, here's something I learned, and if you can learn from this or grow from this, and at least beaware of it. It's huge. It's a huge opportunity for somebody that hasn't had that experience yet and may not want that experience yet. It's like, you know, similar situation I've been, you know, it's like, Okay, well, three squares a meal, I cut one meal up in three pieces. I get three squares a day. It's just circumstance and you look back and you laugh, at least I do. I laugh and I smile, and I think wow, I never had so much fun in my life. It was traveling on the road and enjoying different cities and different circumstances and, and not internationally.

Dina and Don Ortiz 14:42
You're dealing with cultures, and you're dealing with a lot of different business minds, different mindsets, when you're traveling, touring and in other countries. So it's been an #inspiration for us, in fact, so much in our book that we had to put like 10 hardcore tips that we could give out for free to your audience it's on our website, deospeaks.com.

Russ Johns 15:02
That's fantastic.

Dina and Don Ortiz 15:04
And so they can utilize and put those 10 tips to use for your business today. And it doesn't cost you anything. It also takes you to click on it and take a look and download and start utilizing it. We work with students all the time. I work with small businesses all the time. So if they have questions, they are welcome to reach out to us. We're happy to share anything that we know. That's right.

Russ Johns 15:31
We've got a lot of a lot of people here and then Gabe is saying, so it's about taking action, executing well, and being creative with intention.

Dina and Don Ortiz 15:41
I love that, Gabe. Absolutely. So well said. That's well said. A plus, my friend.

Russ Johns 15:50
And he also asked, what is the writing process for you guys? Did you have an outline for the book? Or did you develop the narrative as you went along? That's a great question, Gabe.

Dina and Don Ortiz 16:02
Yeah, that's a great question.

Russ Johns 16:05
Gabe has the made from scratch business broadcast. He has evenings, I start the morning, he starts the evenings. So he'd be a great connection to also promote the book. But let me put that up there again. So the book outline, how did you process that?

Dina and Don Ortiz 16:26
We definitely started with an outline. And we already have the story to tell. Remember, we already had the 31 years under our belt. So we started the outline, we developed the outline, and then what was really helpful for us is I had a reading team. So I had colleagues of mine that read the book, they were our reading team. And the first pass of the book, they sent it back to me and they said, yeah, you are putting us to sleep. Because I'm an academic writer, I'm a published writer, but in academia, so my work is in journals, academic journals, and that just wasn't working for the lay people. And I'm much more visual. Yeah, so their information was really useful, because it told us we weren't gonna be able to get to the people that we were targeting. So they said you need to put the stories first, and then the tips at the end. And that worked out really, really well. And because Don is so visual, and he is so story oriented. He grew up in his dad's barber shop. So you can imagine right? Storyteller, right? So we started utilizing his talent and then my talent, my background in business, and we merged them together in that book and I think, is really what made it a you know, successful book today. Plus, we started off with action. So you you're just right from the very beginning, you're in action. We're flying into Charles de Gaulle as a shoe bomber....we're flying into Afghanistan, and nobody knows you're coming. You know, these are great, great stories that turned into business success stories. That's why we told them. I mean, we're we were actually lost in Afghanistan. We were off the radar during the war, they did not know that we were there. Welcome to New Year's Eve. Where are you guys from? The Jordanian minesweepers are detonating bombs behind us. So it's, yeah, it was quite unique. So we have a great, several stories to tell. But what's better is that people can actually utilize them for the business or their startups. And it's great insight for them. Because like I said, it saves them a lot of time. And makes it success for them. That's what it's about.

Russ Johns 18:27
Absolutely. What is the... if there's a common thread that travels with you throughout your journey in this the entrepreneurial the musical, the creativity, and and just being able to experience this life. What's the thread that pulls through that an entrepreneur could take away and say, that's the direction I want to go? Is there any thing that stands out, as you go through the this book or this experience?

Dina and Don Ortiz 18:58
I think it's a lot of things. But I think one of the primary I mean, you have to find you have to balance joy with with hard work and with creativity. But I know for me, it's about being able to capitalize on talent, and not just our talent, but the talent around us people that are working with us, I think it's important to know as a leader when to step back and let other people lead, because they have may have more experience and expertise in certain situations that we get in. And so that's something that we had to learn as well. The best leaders are the ones that will step back and know when to step back and let other leads just like the best teachers or the best students, right. So it's a combination of it's a combination of both and customer is king. You have to have an outstanding product all the time, not half the time. We're always about that relationship. Overdeliver, overdeliver product, whether it's additional services. I mean, we've had some of our clients for 30 years, and they keep coming back to us and there's a reason they keep coming back. We care about them. And we make sure that they know we care about them. Plus, we always update our product line. You know, we don't become stagnant. A lot of people become comfortable with where they're at. We've never become comfortable. We learned a long time ago. Don't do that. We've done that. We've done that and it didn't work out too well. You know, we've made so many mistakes, and they're all in the book. 31 cents to 43 countries is about all the things that could have gone wrong. And we turned into a positive and it made it 31 years of business with people, we would never expect it to keep those relationships. But because our entrepreneurship and foresight to see ahead, it really has always made us pioneers in our field.

Russ Johns 20:48
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. I want to give a shout out to a few of the pirates that are in the room today. Angie's here.

Dina and Don Ortiz 20:55
Hey, Angie.

Russ Johns 20:59
Say hi to Andrew. Finally a free day to check in to listen. You've met, Gabe. Thank you, Gabe for all the great questions. Lori's here. She's great.

Dina and Don Ortiz 21:19
Lori great. Hiett, yeah.

Russ Johns 21:22
Hiett Ives from Houston.

Dina and Don Ortiz 21:26
Our son's in Austin?

Russ Johns 21:31
David Munford is here in the room.

Dina and Don Ortiz 21:34
Hi David. Good to meet you.

Russ Johns 21:36
Dennis

Dina and Don Ortiz 21:36
Dennis. Whoo. Yeah, marine.

Russ Johns 21:47
Srinivis is here. Greetings from India. He's in there. You've probably been in his part of the world. Let's see. Oh. Craig Burns. Hey, Craig, how you doing? Thanks for being here.

Dina and Don Ortiz 22:03
jWelcome to being the pirate guy out this morning.

Russ Johns 22:08
Yeah, taking massive action and failing forward fast. F3, he says. Dennis says, F3. Aabsolutely, positively. You know, there's some things that you mentioned before we started the call that you said the book and you have music that goes along with the book.Talk a little bit about how that fits together? And how entrepreneurs can learn from the the overall immersion in this experience? How does that fit together?

Dina and Don Ortiz 22:40
Yes, I think it's about connecting your different product lines so that they work together. So now you're offering your clients more than just one type of product. So it's just an extension, I call it a product line extension. And you can do it many ways. You can do an upward stretch, a downward stretch, you know, you can fill out with different sizes. But for us, we took our music and we merged it because we write songs every time we go out on tour, because we also do master classes and music. And so we teach our students, whatever country you go to. We teach them our music, we learned from them as well, we learned their music, and then we come together and we'll perform. Then we also make a music video that shows we're connecting with people. We're touching people and they're touching us. So it's reciprocated back and forth. And people see that and what joy of music, I mean, come on, that makes everybody happy. And as we're telling these stories in the book, I'm like Don, these are, our songs fit perfectly with the book, because we wrote these songs about our experiences during the journey that we're sharing with everybody. So they're in the audio book, you know, which makes it great. And then there's links to our ebook to the songs as well. And of course to the album too. And our videos are matching too. So we have our field of blue, which talks about our military experience, working with the military in the armed forces. And we have Get back to you, which is about our State Department tour and our work in Fiji and care of us. We just released, I can't wait since everybody can't travel. I can't wait. And it's about all the places we've toured and been to, and how the people have touched us around the world. So it's been a happy, you know, joyful when people see it. It's like, it brings so much warmth, you can see the faces just smiling because they remember that place does that. I mean, that's what we're about is really touching people.

Russ Johns 24:25
I love that. I love that. And, you know, I still, you know, sit down once in a while and I'll create music because you know, with the tools we have now on the computer. It's a different experience than playing drums. You know, it's a different experience for me. However, it still brings me joy when I can just fiddle around and play some music.

Dina and Don Ortiz 24:53
You can tell by looking at your smile. Yeah.

Russ Johns 24:57
I mean, and you had these experiences. And doing different activities and all of that, that impact of the experience that you can bring with you and carry on. And thank you so much for putting it in a book and videos and the audio and so how is the best way for people to reach out and connect with you and get your materials and experiences, this whole process? What's your preferred way?

Dina and Don Ortiz 25:27
Well, you can reach us for speaking, deospeaks.com. And the DinaPrestonband, d-i-n-a-p-r-e-s-t-o-n.com, or band.com. DinaPrestonBand.com. And then LinkedIn, of course, that's our big line right there. We've been there for a long time we got a stronghold, we'd love to have people reach out to us. And then of course, our book, 31 cents to 43 countries, hardcore tips, increasing profits, you can find that on Amazon, and also our videos on YouTube. You can see...you can find us anywhere. You can find us on all your favorite platforms: Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, you know, they're out there for the masses. And the big thing is, we want to continue touching people and make a difference. That's really our story. And if we can help in any way, any of our friends out there, you know, feel free to pick up the phone or to type us or text us. You can find out how we write a book. And we can, we'd love to help anybody out there, especially now, it's you got to give back right now.

Russ Johns 26:32
Well, I have, as you know, you know, the #PirateBroadcast™ is kind of a, the experiment for the #PirateSyndicate™. And the #PirateSyndicate™ is just designed to help others create courses and, you know, put information out there for live streaming, and content creation and some things that are out there. So I'm growing that and i'd love the opportunity to talk to you about that, and how we can work together. Because I just know that there's so many things that we can do. And, you know, as you grow your YouTube channel out, or you grow your podcast, or whatever it happens to be that you pick, it's always nice to do it with friends and and people that you know, have that experience that you can relate to, you can understand you can communicate. And we're all in this together, you know, this, this whole pandemic and 2020. Everybody wants to look back on 2020. I don't think that January 1 it's just gonna magically change. So what are your goals? So what are your goals for 2021? And what are you looking forward to, as entrepreneurs in in the near future? And maybe 18 months down the road? What was it you're searching for in that area?

Dina and Don Ortiz 27:52
Already talking about touring, and of course, speaking, to promote book as well as our music and and touring is definitely the way I mean, the whole world right no is dying to be entertained. We're locked down and so people want I mean it's tough, people want to get out. So we're setting ourself up now so that when that happens, it's going to explode. And we're going to be ready to go. So we're already working with an agent out of Florida. So hopefully, we can go on tour, back out on tour and do what we do best and love best, right? Keep making people happy. Yeah, that's the big thing, bringing joy to other people's lives. We've been doing that for 31 years, and it will continue. It's that simple. It's about making people happy.

Russ Johns 28:36
You know, it's funny that you say that, because there's nothing more. For myself, there's nothing more satisfying in the world than looking at an audience and knowing that people are having a good time, enjoying the experience together. And it's really, really exciting to hear you guys. And some of the stories that I know, we could probably sit for hours and talk to...

Dina and Don Ortiz 29:00
One story. How many times have we been lost? Off the radar? Nobody knows you're coming? You know, it's easy. How do you fix it and make this success story. That's why we had to tell our story through the book because people, people do strive for success. And we want to help. And I think ultimately to, Don hasn't talked about this, but his goal, I know his goal because he shared it with me. He'd really like to make our book, our stories into a documentary, or some sort of a mini series of some sort, because there's so much that happens. Well plus it's history, when you're talking about history. You're looking at it from another angle that somebody's perspective hasn't covered before. And we're well on that mark. You know, because of our stories and where we've been, through music and the military military. We've worked a lot with the military overseas. I have so many people that actually ask us, are you guys part of the military? It's like no, you would think so, we've been contractors this whole time. But we know what it's like to go through the protocols and etiquettes of getting on base, off base what it's like to fly in cargo ship. A lot of the feedback we're getting on Amazon is, wow, we had no idea from a contractor standpoint from a USO band standpoint, what you guys are experiencing. You know, we had no idea that you went through all of this, just to bring shows up to us, you know, on a flatbed somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, in fact, we just had been recognized on a uso monument here in Arizona, along with the names of Lucille Ball, Mickey Rooney, Jane Russell and the doublemint twins. So we'd be on a monument, let alone the world's only us monument. Right here in Arizona.

Russ Johns 30:42
That's fantastic.

Dina and Don Ortiz 30:43
We are the most famous unfamous band in the world.

Russ Johns 30:51
Well, I appreciate you. And I want to thank you so much for being here and being part of the pirate community. I know that I wish you all the success in your adventures and your travels. And if there's anything I can do to add value to your day or help along the journey, please don't hesitate.

Dina and Don Ortiz 31:09
Heavens, yes. We're a pirate, so thank you.

Russ Johns 31:13
You're pirates now. Pirate crew.

Dina and Don Ortiz 31:16
And your community, too That's right. It was wonderful talking with you and your magic community. Merry Christmas, everybody out there, by the way. Yes. And Happy Holidays, everybody.

Russ Johns 31:26
Yes, absolutely. And as everyone knows, #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree...

Dina and Don Ortiz 31:34
Even with braces.

Russ Johns 31:37
Absolutely. And thank you so much, everyone for being here. I look forward to the rest of the week and looking forward to the to the rest of the year, and enjoying all of the pirates in the pirate community. And thank you so much for being here. Don, Dina, appreciate you.

Dina and Don Ortiz 31:56
Thank you.

Russ Johns 31:57
Take care everyone.

Dina and Don Ortiz 31:58
Take care everyone.

Exit 32:01
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