Dan Nilsen Interview for “30 Days – 30 Voices – Stories from America’s LGBT Business Leaders” [Podcast]

 
Storytelling with Dan Nilsen of Bishop-McCann
Kansas City, Missouri
Links mentioned in the show:

Bishop McCann
Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce – Kansas City Area
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

You can get in touch with Dan here:

Email: [e-mail]
Bishopmccann.com
MAGLCC.org

Listen to the podcast by clicking the play button below!

Would you rather read the transcript than listen to the podcast? No problem! Read the transcription below!
AUDIO TITLE:  30 Days, 30 Voices – Dan Nilsen

Jenn T Grace:
Welcome to 30 Days, 30 Voices: Stories from America's LGBT business leaders.
Intro:
You are listening to a special edition of the Gay Business and Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Tune in for the next thirty days as we interview one business leader per day each day in June to celebrate LGBT Pride Month. That's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride month. You'll learn insights around business and marketing from those who know it best. And now, your host. She's an entrepreneur, a marketing maven, and an advocate for the LGBT business community - Jenn, with two N's, T. Grace.
Jenn T Grace:
Hello and welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this special Pride Month episode of the Gay Business and Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Information about today's guest and links mentioned in the show will be available on the website at www.JennTGrace.com/30days-30voices. If you like what you hear in this interview, please be sure to tell a friend. And now, without further ado, let's dive into the interview.I am delighted to be talking with Dan Nilsen today. Dan is the CEO of Bishop McCann which is a brand experience agency with six locations in the United States. In 2010, Dan was awarded with the NGLCC Wells Fargo Business Owner of the Year Award. And this recognition spawned Dan to found the Mid-America Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, recognizing that there was a need to have one in the Kansas City area. So Dan, I've given the listeners a really brief overview of who you are and a little bit about your company; but why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself, your story, and what your path looked like that led you to where you are today.
Dan Nilsen:
Hi Jenn, thanks for having me on today. You know I actually was asked about a year ago to be the topic of a reality series because my life- where I got to today is just so interesting because it involves so many pieces, some quite entertaining actually. I was born and raised in California and went to Long Beach State, and grew up and actually married my college sweetheart, Julie, out of that. And we had three children together. I have three daughters actually, they are- my first just graduated from college, my second just turned 21. So I can't believe that it's been so long. I started actually in Big Pharma out of college, so I was a pharmaceutical sales rep for a company like- called Marion Laboratories back in '85, and left school to work for them and ran sort of the LA market for that. I was 24 at the time and the average age of my district at the time was about 32. So that was quite a challenge to kind of move in, try to quickly learn all the things that you didn't know about managing people. I remember one of my first sort of a ride-along where you ride with one of your reps, she was talking about getting a divorce and I didn't know the first thing about what I could say that could possibly give her any advice. But I learned at that point I was supposed to be a good listener, and just share as much as I could about my reps with each other and I think was one of the ways that I certainly got to in terms of working with people and understanding the differences in people.