How Do Creatives Make a Living While Pursuing Their Art? | Brent Lindstrom

PROFITABLE TALKS...

In this episode of the Profitable Creative podcast, host Christian Brim speaks with Brent Lindstrom, the founder of Light-Minded Arts. Brent shares his journey from the construction industry to the creative arts, discussing his passion for storytelling and filmmaking. He emphasizes the importance of financial stability while pursuing artistic endeavors and the challenges of self-sustaining art in a noisy marketplace. The conversation also touches on the role of algorithms in content creation and the need for trust and audience engagement in today's digital landscape.

PROFITABLE TAKEAWAYS...

• Brent Lindstrom transitioned from construction to creative arts.
• Light-Minded Arts was founded to house Brent's creative projects.
• Financial stability is crucial for pursuing artistic endeavors.
• Brent's 10-year plan included becoming a full-time filmmaker.
• Self-publishing and independent filmmaking can be financially challenging.
• Building street cred with an audience is essential for success.
• Algorithms serve as gatekeepers in the content creation space.
• Trust and audience engagement are vital in a noisy marketplace.
• Creativity can be applied to problem-solving in business.
• Brent aims to create stories that align with his personal values.

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• 34:59 (Cont.) How Do Creatives Make a Living While Pursuing Their Art? | Brent Lindstrom

Transcript

Christian Brim (00:01.89)
Welcome to another episode of the profitable creative the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host Christian Brim special shout out to our one listener to We record that special shout out to our one listener in Jupiter Florida. That's a great name. I don't know why you would name your town after a Roman God or a planet but.

Congratulations. Thanks for listening. Joining me today, Brent Lindstrom of Light-Minded Arts. Brent, welcome to the show.

Brent Lindstrom (00:38.951)
Hey, thanks for having me on here. I look forward to talking with you.

Christian Brim (00:43.298)
Have you ever been to Jupiter, Florida?

Brent Lindstrom (00:46.035)
I have not been to Jupiter, Florida. I did not even know it existed until you just mentioned it.

Christian Brim (00:52.63)
And I'm assuming you've never been to the planet Jupiter because no one has unless you were doing it secretly.

Brent Lindstrom (00:57.488)
You know, there's people who think I might be from there, but I don't know, my head's always in the clouds, so who knows?

Christian Brim (01:05.548)
Yes. Interesting, interesting secret. When I was a child, when I was in second grade, I was fascinated with Carl Sagan and cosmos and all that. And when people asked me, what do you want to be when you grow up? I answered, I want to be an astrophysicist. And they were like, hmm, yeah, OK. Anyway, I didn't go that path. I'm still fascinated by astronomy.

Why don't Brent, you shut me up and tell me what you do there at Light-Minded Arts.

Brent Lindstrom (01:40.885)
Okay, excuse me. So light minded arts is a company that I created. It is a company that I wanted to build up to house all of my creative projects. So I am originally from the construction industry. I built my life around building homes for people. And at some point there, I decided, you know, I want to become

Christian Brim (02:00.366)
Hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (02:09.978)
a writer and once I got fully addicted to that and was learning my craft there I said you know what writing's not enough I want to become a filmmaker and so I started learning all the craft involved in becoming a filmmaker also and and so rather than just starting a company based off of me my author name I said I'm gonna start a production company and house all my creative works in it and I'm gonna call that light-minded arts and

kind of a play on words, you know, because with movies, you're basically painting with light, so light there, and then light-minded, because I don't really take myself all that seriously, and so why not just have a little bit of fun with it? So yeah, Light-Minded Arts is my company. I'm based out of Utah, and it's where I experiment with...

Christian Brim (02:40.813)
Yes.

Brent Lindstrom (03:05.936)
my imagination and see if anybody else wants to enjoy it along with me.

Christian Brim (03:12.322)
That okay, you've already intrigued me twice once in the green room now on the show. Okay, let's let's unpack this a minute. Why did you get into construction?

Brent Lindstrom (03:21.95)
Sure.

Okay, so I grew up in the construction field. So when I was 13 years old, I started on a framing crew and started doing that during the summers full time. And well, I did the framing crew for one year. Then another year I did finish carpentry as a hod tender for brick. You know, I went through all the trades and eventually ended up joining the family business while I was going to college for my finance degree. Actually, it was after that.

I was building homes to put myself through college, but then I joined the family business where I became a superintendent for some larger construction sites and eventually got into real estate development through that family company. And that was also the time when I was experimenting with writing because when you start with a family business, you know, they start you from the ground up and

At the time I wasn't making any money doing it. And so I said, you know what? There's potential for me here. My true goal at the time was actually to go work on Wall Street, become a CFA, a certified financial analyst. And so that's what I was going to school for. And at the time I just thought, you know, I need a little extra side income. So that's when I started writing and that's when I got addicted to writing and said, you know what?

I'm going to keep Wall Street in my back pocket as sort of a hobby. I'm going to learn everything about the real estate industry, the where I'm in right now, so that I can have that as a fallback. But I'm going to create a financially stable future for me. And then in 10 years, I'm going to completely change my career, go into writing and filmmaking as my full time.

Brent Lindstrom (05:24.466)
job but I need to use these other skills that I've developed along the way to be financially independent because I didn't want to be a struggling artist.

Christian Brim (05:33.334)
Hmm. Okay. You know, did. it, no, no. And then, and then the fact that you had a finance background kind of answers the first question of why are you trading natural gas futures? So that kind of belays that a little. Okay. So

Brent Lindstrom (05:35.464)
Did that answer your question? I started meandering around there and then I think I forgot what he even asked me.

Christian Brim (06:00.174)
Let me recap that make sure I got it right you you realize that construction was not it from a you know, like a passion standpoint like but you did see it as a way to make money to support your creative endeavors And you reached that level of financial security to then migrate and be in in the creative space full-time is that

Brent Lindstrom (06:17.758)
Yes.

Brent Lindstrom (06:30.536)
Yeah, yeah. And like when I first started writing and got addicted to it, I said, you know what, because I want to do this full time, I'm going to put together a plan that will help me achieve this. And so that's when I decided, you know what, a 10 year plan sounds achievable in 10 years. I should be able to do two things. I should be able to level up my craft and my storytelling abilities. And I should be able to figure out how to become financially independent.

And so I started working on those two things concurrently while I was working in the construction field. And I was fortunate enough to have some good mentors in the family business for that end. And then for the Wall Street end, which I did as the hobby, I was because I wanted to diversify and have multiple streams of income. you know, I worked really hard at learning that and spent a lot of free time.

studying, researching, and practicing things that would help me achieve those goals.

Christian Brim (07:33.624)
So did you meet your 10-year plan or did you do it quicker than

Brent Lindstrom (07:38.837)
I did meet it. I actually revised it about halfway through because the filmmaking part of it came after I'd already decided to become a full-time writer. And once I decided I wanted to be an independent filmmaker, also I realized, you know what? Making movies is a lot more expensive than writing books. And so I basically had to triple my net income potential.

Christian Brim (07:59.427)
Mm-hmm, yes.

Brent Lindstrom (08:06.768)
And so yeah, I changed that about halfway through and I was still able to meet that projection, which was really helpful because yeah, making movies is not a cheap endeavor.

Christian Brim (08:18.392)
So when did you, no, no, no it is not. So when did you launch light-minded arts?

Brent Lindstrom (08:26.472)
So I actually launched this at the very beginning, January 1st of 2025.

Christian Brim (08:34.414)
Okay, so you're a year in, you know. How is it going?

Brent Lindstrom (08:36.582)
I am a year in.

Brent Lindstrom (08:40.69)
You know, it's going great. I've got three books which are published under my name. I've written others under other names. But yeah, I've got one called One for the Money, Two for the Soul, which is just a really fun, zany adventure ride. Just super fun. And actually, you're...

guests want to get a copy of that, they're welcome to jump over onto my website and just fill out the contact form and mention your podcast and I'll send them a free ebook just so they can see my style. But also I've got one called Swing Low, The Hangman of the Woods, which is more of a coming of age story. And then I've got one called Hard Boiled Cabbage. depending on when this gets published or when you're publishing this, it comes out March 2nd.

Christian Brim (09:15.33)
that. Thank you.

Brent Lindstrom (09:33.178)
And so that one's going to be a fantasy noir series. So it's the first book in a six book series. So that one is going to be pretty fun, too.

Christian Brim (09:33.292)
Okay.

Christian Brim (09:44.384)
Okay, and do you have any production credits yet?

Brent Lindstrom (09:48.905)
Production credits? No, I do not. But I've been producing short films. So I've got a couple of them that I've been doing on my website. Or not on my website. You can find them on my website, but they're also on YouTube. But I've been doing short films, basically practicing the craft. I'm producing a short film that's probably going to be more long version. It's going to be starting this spring, but that one's a

adaptation of Moby Dick's The Sermon. I don't know if you've read Moby Dick or if you're familiar with that. But yeah, there's a sermon in there by a guy named Father Maple and he just gives an awesome delivery of this sermon. And so I decided to do my own adaptation of that. So I'm going to be doing that. And that one I am going to try to circulate to the film festivals once I get it done.

Christian Brim (10:26.785)
Not recently.

Brent Lindstrom (10:47.942)
And then I'm also under development on some property that is going to house my official studio. So then I'm going to got some screenplays that I've been writing and I'm going to start filming those as soon as I get through all the red tape with the city and get that built.

Christian Brim (11:07.79)
Fascinating. Okay, so on these productions that you're the short films and the sermon are you doing the screenwriting as well?

Brent Lindstrom (11:16.2)
Yeah, yeah, I'm doing the screenwriting. I'm the producer, the director. And, you know, I, I do hire out for a lot of the acting and help with, you know, the, camera work, the grip, all the things like that. But yeah, I, like to involve just some of the local people around here to help me out when I do some of those certain things. And luckily, I've got a couple of colleges nearby. I've got Brigham Young University and

UVU that down here which have film classes in them and so there's a lot of students there that are willing to help on projects like these but there's also some more established people around here too that like working on film and so yeah there's just a community of people around here that I'm able to bring in and have help me with things like this.

Christian Brim (12:07.982)
Okay, so the burning question in my mind is Because I I'll be honest. This is you you're you're a unicorn. I've I've never found somebody that Went this route to to I guess fulfill their their their passion in in the arts

where they became financially capable before, you didn't use your art to earn the income for your art. I'm curious what translated. you're in the construction business, finance background. How did that shape what you did a year ago starting out with light-minded arts?

Brent Lindstrom (12:43.347)
Right.

Brent Lindstrom (13:01.298)
Well, I think for me, like money has always been a passion of mine. I've always wanted to own my own businesses and basically have control over my own destiny. I've always had that entrepreneurial mindset and a lot of what I've done has been working with other people on their projects. So like the family company.

Christian Brim (13:19.426)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (13:30.14)
You know, I am eternally grateful to the lessons that taught me on real estate development and construction and things like that. And I've become incredibly handy on that. mean, I'm a pretty good carpenter myself and I love expressing myself through that. And even the house I build is a kind of a work of art in itself. But I've always liked the idea of being able to control my own future, my own destiny and

A lot of what I've heard in the artistic fields, you know, especially if you're going the traditional routes for, book publishing, if you're able to get those deals, you still have editors there who want to maybe control things a little bit, maybe make things a little more marketable. And for me, I want to tell the stories I want to tell. I want them to still be incredibly entertaining, but I didn't want anyone telling me what to write or how to change it.

if I felt like the story was good the way I had it. But also when it comes to the movie industry, I mean, I love being able to help other people on their projects, but at the same time, I don't want anyone telling me what movies I can and can't make. so finding a way to use my financial background to

basically tell the stories that I want to tell, it just made more sense to me to encapsulate all of my financing, my art and everything into a business that was self-sustaining so that I could tell those stories I want to end. And granted, when you become a self-published author and an independent filmmaker, especially in the beginning, there's not going to be a lot of money in that.

And so, so I just wanted to find a way that I could sustain myself, my family, and my art without having to ask permission.

Christian Brim (15:37.81)
Yes, because I think that's the thing that creatives, I use that term very broadly, struggle with is how to hold that passion, that artistic integrity, that, you know, doing what lights their fire and the ability to make money.

and, and, and seeing that not as a trade off of like I can do either or, but how can I do both? Right. I, I, I'm going to ask this question and I do not want it to sound the wrong way, but I want to clarify something. Did you, did you create a business through your, construction and, and finance backgrounds to fund your hobby?

Brent Lindstrom (16:25.556)
Sure.

Christian Brim (16:37.49)
Or is the artistic endeavor profitable in and of itself? That's kind of.

Brent Lindstrom (16:46.26)
All right, that's a that's a great question. And it's a question that I had to ask myself when I put together that 10 year plan. And I created my financial businesses to support basically the hobby of art. And the idea was that eventually the art would be able to sustain itself. But I knew that

Christian Brim (17:02.733)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (17:13.914)
it wouldn't in the very beginning. at this time, light-minded arts is not self-sustaining. Light-minded arts needs a constant infusion from me, from my personal financial sources otherwise, to actually keep it afloat. And so, yeah, it's definitely, I definitely created everything to help support that. And eventually though,

you know, I hope that people will start reading my works and say, wow, yeah, I actually like his style. And maybe that'll help create a following. And same thing with my movies when they'll start coming out is, yeah, maybe, maybe they'll still be independent films. And a lot of those don't make a ton of money. But I'd love to be able to find an audience for those and eventually make that end of itself sustaining also. So yeah, it

It's definitely supporting the hobby, the hobby hopefully will one day become a profit center in itself too.

Christian Brim (18:17.378)
Well, that's what I was trying to get at is that, you know, the lessons, the profitability lessons that you learned outside of art, have you been able to incorporate those into the business of art?

Brent Lindstrom (18:36.07)
Yeah, so some of it, I've been able to incorporate it and some of it I'm still working on incorporating. One of the things that I've learned as a contractor and real estate developer is that you do need to establish, I guess, a little bit of what you call street cred. It helps when you're trying to get financing. It helps when you're trying to find customers. It provides a degree of legitimacy.

Christian Brim (18:44.59)
you

Brent Lindstrom (19:05.788)
So when I bring that into my light-minded arts, I need to find a way to build a little street cred. need to, which is why I actually offered your audience that one book that I did for free, because I need to develop street cred with an audience. need to find people who value what I do and it will help with financing. If I need financing for a movie in the future, it'll help.

just establish me as a legitimate creative. And that's one of the reasons that I also have a YouTube channel. I also have a podcast. I'm, helping other creatives find basically ways to be profitable, even if their art isn't sustaining that yet. So yeah, I'm, I'm working on, taking lessons that I've learned in the construction field and applying them to light-minded arts to help. And that's one way.

that I'm doing that.

Christian Brim (20:06.262)
Yeah, I again, I, this is not, this is not a criticism at all. is an observation is that because you financially, because you financially don't need the art to perform. Yeah. Because you have other financial assets, how obviously it's given you tremendous freedom.

right, like you can do what you want. How how has that financial freedom maybe? hindered you in the creative?

Brent Lindstrom (20:36.219)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (20:50.228)
I would... That's a good question. How has it hindered me?

Christian Brim (20:59.342)
That's why I asked it, because it was a good question. That's what I do.

Brent Lindstrom (21:02.212)
No, it's a great question and it makes me think a little bit because. It let me answer that, I guess, in a couple of ways. First is what is the potential way it could that I've been thinking about that I need to always be mindful of so that I don't fall into that trap and that trap would be that I create art that is not entertaining. It's it's maybe it maybe excites me.

but it's not something that an audience would value. And that is definitely a trap that I work really hard to try to avoid because there's a lot of... Okay, so have you read the book, Save the Cat? Okay, so for any of your audience who maybe doesn't know about Save the Cat, Save the Cat is written by Blake Snyder. He goes through and he talks about all of the... Was it Blake Snyder? I think it was Blake Snyder.

Christian Brim (21:31.202)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (21:47.97)
Yes, I have.

Christian Brim (22:00.332)
That sounds right.

Brent Lindstrom (22:00.404)
He goes through and he talks about how to break down a screenplay. And he says, by page, whatever you need to have this, by page, whatever you need to have this. And he goes down very formulaic and you go onto Amazon or you go onto any forum that talks about this and you're gonna find a whole bunch of people on there who say, I do not want to be...

confined to this structure. I do not want to be confined to one way of telling a story. I want to be able to tell the story I want. And basically what they're saying is they're not writing stories that follow this format that he says is a very industry standard format. And the problem with that is they and maybe they're going to be able to tell a story that's entertaining still. But let's just

And I'm not saying they're wrong either, but I'm not saying they're right either because they're wanting to tell a story that has no rules and storytelling is full of rules. It's full of beats that need to be adhered to for the different genres that you're trying to address. And if you're just trying to go way off into left field and tell your own style of artistic story, there's a chance that it might be artistic. There's a chance that it might be

groundbreaking, but there's a very big chance that it's never going to find an audience. And I think that's the trap that I'm always keeping in the back of my mind is can I tell a story my way, but still tell it in a way that will engage an audience that will be popular, that will be entertaining. And so yeah, I'm

Christian Brim (23:32.29)
Right.

Christian Brim (23:38.562)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (23:53.677)
always trying to work on my craft. I'm always trying to have professional editors review all of my works. And so yeah, that is one area, trap or thing that could probably hinder me if I wasn't cognizant of that. so yeah.

Christian Brim (24:11.938)
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think I think of my my daughter is a figurative oil painter and instructor of that art by profession. And when she started it, was this, you know, dad conversation of like, OK, you're going to go out and do this. How are you going to actually make a living around it? And

Brent Lindstrom (24:25.662)
Uh-huh.

Christian Brim (24:41.294)
she got frustrated to the point where she said, I don't know, dad, I'm just going to paint what I want to paint. Right. Which is to your point, like, yeah, you, you, you can certainly do that, but there's no guarantee that anybody's going to pay you for it. Right. and when I just finished my novella, it's, it's ready to go to editing. I purchased, save the cat for novels. It wasn't the same author. was a derivative.

Brent Lindstrom (24:53.96)
Right.

Christian Brim (25:10.702)
But I remember in that book she was talking about writers classifying it as formulaic, you know, and that's what the resistance to it was. But the reality is that if you're going to be commercial with any art, you have to find a buyer.

Brent Lindstrom (25:22.792)
Right.

Christian Brim (25:39.86)
It may be, you know, one patron like Michelangelo and, you know, or, you know, where you have one very wealthy person that's willing to pay you for what you do because it's so novel and so wild, right. But for most of us that are trying to slog it out with creativity and, make money at it. It's, it's, it's really being able to.

accept some limitations on that creativity to understand that, yeah, you can write a story without following all the beats, but this is the way people understand story. is the, you can't have a completely disjointed story or no one's going to be able to follow it and no one's going to read it and no one's going to enjoy it and no one's going to pay you for it.

And I and that's what I think ultimately This podcast is about is how do you merge those two things? How do you how do you? Allow yourself to be creative and follow your passion but at the same time make money at it and I think the answer to that is reapplying your creativity so like

If you're going to be creative for creative sake, and you're just going to make what you want and to hell with everybody else, that's totally fine. Right? Like that, that's, that's art, but it doesn't have a commercial intent. You, you, you, somebody may pay you for it, but that's not the reason you're making it. Right. if you're, if you're on the other hand, trying to make money at it, it's, it's reapplying that creative energy within those kind of confines.

Brent Lindstrom (27:08.628)
haha

Brent Lindstrom (27:21.063)
Right.

Brent Lindstrom (27:32.735)
Well, and if you think about it, when you go to college, what are you getting a degree in? You're getting it. And I don't care what what field you go into that first four years is called bachelor's of arts. So even if you're going into business, if you're going into math, if you're going into teaching, you're getting a bachelor's of arts in that field. And so

Christian Brim (27:50.958)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (28:01.716)
there's a degree of creativity in just about everything you pursue, but finding that creativity, like you said, and applying it to a way to actually become financially feasible and financially or and something that resonates with a broader audience, I think is incredibly important. I was thinking of ways that you could do that when you were mentioning that. I was thinking, well,

Christian Brim (28:06.274)
Yes.

Brent Lindstrom (28:30.228)
You mentioned Michelangelo, who had basically one big client. There's people like Vincent van Gogh, who sold only one art painting in his entire life. maybe that was to his brother, someone who felt sorry for him. But he was so wild and out there at the time that he had to have a sponsor that basically supported his work while he was doing this wild, unprecedented thing. And he didn't even become popular till after he was dead.

Christian Brim (28:34.605)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (28:52.013)
Right.

Brent Lindstrom (29:00.116)
And I think that a lot of those kind of people, know, they do shape our art today, but, you know, if you need to support yourself in your art today, and if you need to be groundbreaking, try to find a way to do it within the confines of the system or find a way to support yourself by other means. And then

Christian Brim (29:08.813)
Yes.

Brent Lindstrom (29:28.084)
And then you don't have those restrictions, but you know, you know for me I like to you know combine the two I like to look for a way to do it within More of the approved format while also having other sources that I can Have that freedom and Like to my point like I I want to write the stories I want to write but I'm not trying to go out there in left field and do something totally bizarre

I'm more just trying to write the stories that align with my personal values and my creative ideas. So like I do mostly clean fiction and you know, a lot of things out there aren't necessarily clean fiction anymore. You know, I don't like a ton of the sexual content and the profanity that you see out there. And so I want my stories to focus on things that align with my values, not preachy, but

but entertaining for people with similar mindsets. So yeah, you know, it's finding what you want to do and being creative enough to find out how to support yourself in doing that.

Christian Brim (30:35.894)
Yeah. And I think, I think creativity in business goes beyond that simple paradigm. not that what we've talked about is not true, but for instance, I was, I had somebody on the, on the show that was talking about, AI and, and authorship of books. And the novel approach was that.

Brent Lindstrom (30:38.494)
Thank

Christian Brim (31:05.378)
they created a online AI something or other. I don't know if it was just a chat bot or what, but it was essentially to engage in the world that the novel created. And I'm like, that's interesting, right? And so to me, entrepreneurship in general, you said everybody is educated in some

creativity. I think we're all creative. I lead with that in my book. I believe that we are a reflection of our creator and therefore by nature are creative everyone. And I think that the entrepreneur in general is a problem solver. That's what they do. They see a problem, they fix it.

and get compensated for that solution, right? And so, but almost all entrepreneurial endeavor is creative by nature. Like that's what problem solving is. It's coming up with a novel solution that hasn't been created before to fix a problem. Now it might be a tweak, it might not be completely new, it may just be an iteration of something that's already been tried before. But I think like that

woman talking about creating an immersive experience for a book, that's a novel thing. Like, it's not just saying we have to produce something that someone will buy. Yeah, that's table stakes. Like, yes, we have to do that. But is there a way to take your creativity and apply it to solving a problem that no one's solved yet?

Brent Lindstrom (32:50.889)
Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (32:59.956)
Yeah, I, when you mentioned that they did that with their book, I know I did something similar with one of my books. I was out there like, you know what? I want to make a, YouTube video or a podcast that basically lets people know a little bit about one of my books. And so I actually uploaded my book onto an AI platform and I customized a, of like one of those chatbots to it. And

Basically, I was able to interview my character and have him give me responses back in his voice. And I was able to do a podcast interview of my own character in the book. And, you know, I was able to have it be in his voice. And, you know, it was it's amazing the things that you can do. And they're fun. But, you know, it's that was just a fun little exercise.

Christian Brim (33:28.366)
Hmm.

Christian Brim (33:34.85)
Nice.

Christian Brim (33:49.706)
Yeah. And as I'm sitting here, as I'm sitting here thinking, I was a huge fan of the choose your own adventure books when I was a kid. and you know, that's, that is actually what entrepreneurship is, is that you get to choose your adventure. and, but, but I was thinking, you know, around another iteration of this is like creating a game.

Brent Lindstrom (33:57.49)
Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (34:05.363)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (34:14.88)
around, and it wouldn't even have to be digital. mean, you could do a very, a digital one very easy where like alternative endings, like this is, this is how this goes, or you kind of have the reader has more choice in how the story goes. Or it could be, you know, that you, create a, you know, a board game that, that is around the world that you've created and the characters that you've created, like

It's not, I guess what I'm saying is that the potential is limited only by your imagination.

Brent Lindstrom (34:50.164)
Exactly, and there's so many tools out there now that make everything so much more accessible and easy to do nowadays.

Christian Brim (34:59.694)
Well, I'm sure based on what you've described, that you probably have, and I share this as an example, is the show on Prime Network, or Prime Studios that derived from the video game Fallout. I'm assuming that you haven't seen it, which is fine, but that's not the point. The point is that you have a video game that was created in 1997, right?

Brent Lindstrom (35:23.081)
You

Brent Lindstrom (35:28.414)
Uh-huh.

Christian Brim (35:29.742)
and got bought by Bethesda Games and they did several iterations of the game. And then they worked with MGM Studios at Prime to create this series that was completely novel. was kind of loosely based on the games, but like my point is that...

The creative if that's where your creativity lies is in creating story. Then then the opportunities are really limitless because you can you can do anything with a good story.

Brent Lindstrom (36:16.712)
Yeah, I think and I mean, the barriers to entry, they used to be so high and now there's no barriers to entry into all of this. But then that brings up the big question again is how do you support yourself and your family when you're going into a field where there are no barriers, where anyone who has an idea can put something up and to get any eyeballs on it is

Christian Brim (36:22.668)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (36:45.256)
basically a war. mean, you're I mean, how many books do you think are published every single year? I mean, they're probably in excess of two million each year. And how many movies are published each year? And those are going to be, you know, over 500,000 movies out there each year. And then not to even mention all the things on YouTube, TikTok, all the different things that just can pull people's attention away from your work.

Christian Brim (36:48.151)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (36:52.98)
millions. Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (37:15.412)
I mean, you gotta go into something like this with a plan and even if you have something that's really good in quality, you gotta know that you might never get noticed, at least not for quite a while.

Christian Brim (37:30.71)
No, think that's, you know, I based upon the couple of conversations that I've had in the last couple of weeks, I've really been toying with this idea that curation is the next it's a huge need in the marketplace because of all of the noise. So, you know, think back about before the internet.

If you were going to do anything of a creative nature, whether you were a musician or a movie maker or a writer, there was a huge cost in production. And so there was a gatekeeper in the industry that made a decision that your content was worth the investment. Right. And so they were the curator of the content. Did they get it right all the time? No.

Brent Lindstrom (38:14.45)
Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (38:24.137)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (38:29.294)
That's not the point. The point is now where the cost of producing any kind of content is virtually zero. You know, you can produce a novel with AI and put it on Amazon in a morning, right? Where is the human in the matrix anymore? It's not because the algorithm is the only thing that is curating content right now.

Brent Lindstrom (38:45.619)
Yeah.

Brent Lindstrom (38:57.512)
Yes.

Christian Brim (38:57.71)
The algorithm is saying well you like this so maybe you like this But there's no human involved that says you know what this is what I am and this is what I do and this is the stuff that I like and I'm curating content. I may be producing my own content as well but the value is not in the content necessarily that I produce

but rather than my curation of the content that says, Brent, this is something that is worth your while, because I know you, you and I, we have similar values, we like the same things, there's this resonance. And so like, you're going to say, well, it's on Casey Kasem's top 40, I'm gonna listen to it because Casey Kasem, I trust him, right? And that whole trust and community element is completely gone.

Brent Lindstrom (39:46.75)
Great.

Christian Brim (39:52.536)
from the marketplace, like the human element is gone. And I think that's the next event. I think that's the next thing. I don't know. What are your thoughts? Am I completely off base?

Brent Lindstrom (40:04.936)
Well, I know that that's a lot of what I, what I chase at the moment. So like, yeah, the algorithms, like you said, they are the gatekeepers right now. If the, and a lot of times the algorithms get things right, but at the same time, there's things that I'm working towards personally that help, excuse me, that would help me to maybe

Christian Brim (40:17.335)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (40:33.928)
build some more of that trust or some of that community. you know, that involves things like going on to Goodreads or going on to Amazon and actually getting reviews from people. it's it's it's those actual people's comments and testimonials that are really what make the most difference for someone like me, because, yeah, you go on to Amazon, you know, maybe maybe something shows up on

Christian Brim (40:42.03)
Mm-hmm.

Brent Lindstrom (41:03.06)
on their algorithm. I mean, you've never heard of, you know, one of my books like, who's this Brent Lindstrom guy, who cares? But if you see the reviews, and he's got a whole bunch of reviews on there, you can say, well, let me look at these and see. Okay, so this looks like a real person. This doesn't look like some robot or some group hired out of China to write these reviews. These look like people actually enjoyed them. Or like on Goodreads, you actually have friends on Goodreads who are recommending

Christian Brim (41:30.135)
Right.

Brent Lindstrom (41:32.05)
the books and giving reviews, you can say, I know them and I know they like that book. I'm going to trust that book. then because it's really an investment, not just in money, but in time. mean, how long does it take to read a book for some people? can blow through one in a day. But a lot of people takes a couple of weeks to actually read. That's a big commitment of somebody's time.

Christian Brim (41:53.454)
Right. Right. And I, I, I stopped reading a book, uh, last week because I was like, don't like this. And, it was, it was one of those that, uh, came from a article saying, you know, five, five best new sci-fi books or something like that. And I, and I, I went and got it from the library and I'm about a third of the way through it. And I'm like,

Brent Lindstrom (42:14.605)
Right.

Christian Brim (42:21.838)
But that's the thing is I don't if I'm looking for a new book to read, which I read a lot. You know, where do I go? I and that's that's the problem that presents I think in the marketplace and it and it's not just books, music, video, its content in general. Like what is worth my time reading or investing in?

And who do I trust?

Brent Lindstrom (42:55.442)
Yeah. And trust is really hard to gain. And finding an audience is really hard to gain. just got to.

Christian Brim (43:06.37)
Yeah, it, yeah, I think that, I think the solution is somehow to turn the technology on itself. I'm not exactly sure how to do that. I'm still working through that. It's using the technology, but not for the way it was intended. Brent, how do people find out more about light-minded arts and your work?

Brent Lindstrom (43:19.438)
Hahaha

Brent Lindstrom (43:25.639)
Right.

Brent Lindstrom (43:32.191)
Well, they can go to my website at lightmindedarts.com. You can also visit me on YouTube. Same idea, lightminded arts. And if you want to listen to my podcast, it's the lightminded arts podcast. So you can find that pretty much anywhere podcasts are found. But yeah, lightmindedarts.com. That's my website. And like I mentioned earlier, mentioned this podcast on my contact form and I'll send you a free copy of one of my books.

Christian Brim (44:02.638)
Perfect. Listeners will have those links in the show notes. If you like what you've heard, please rate the podcast, share the podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you don't like what you've heard, shoot us a message, tell us what you'd like to hear and I'll get rid of Brent. Until next time, ta-ta for now.

Brent Lindstrom (44:17.493)
Thanks.