00:00:00 KATIE
This is Katie Ellis. Welcome to Business Inspires Podcast. We have the one and only Nathan Minns, the founder and CEO of Green Light Improv. Thank you so much for being
00:00:12 NATHAN
Thank you for having me. Happy to be
00:00:14 KATIE
So we met because we both work out of co-hatch and I find that to be very lucky. I know when I see you, it's gonna be a good day because I know that I'm immediately gonna laugh about something, got only knows what it will be, but it's gonna be a good time. Can you share a little bit about your entrepreneur
00:00:35 NATHAN
Yeah, well first, of course, I usually say whenever I go to a networking event, if I make one or two good jokes, great branding. That's great branding for the company. Yeah, my entrepreneurial journey, I have always been interested in startups and the first time I really did anything entrepreneurial was when I was about seven years old.
00:00:57 NATHAN
When I was seven, most kids have a lemonade stand, but I got a little bored with that and I wanted to do something a little different. So I went in my backyard and found the coolest rocks and sticks that I could
00:01:10 NATHAN
Took those rocks and sticks and went out in front of the street and started selling them to my neighbors and I didn't sell any sticks. Those were not a big hit, but I did sell some rocks. And I realized first that, you know, I didn't sell enough rocks that it made sense for me to keep doing that.
00:01:30 NATHAN
It made more sense to go back to the lemonade stand. But I realized some of this innovative process of we put something out into the world, we see what happens, see how the market responds and then we adjust and keep
00:01:45 NATHAN
So that's where it all started, but I started my first company in 2019, that's the one I'm working on now,
00:01:52 NATHAN
And how that company came to be was in 2016, I saw my first improv show and I knew that improv was something I wanted to do. And I was like, their minds are moving so fast. This is just incredible to see. So I went out and auditioned for
00:02:10 NATHAN
and I was doing so well. I was laughing and I was making everyone else in the room laugh. And honestly, I was thinking that I'm blowing everybody else in this audition out of
00:02:23 NATHAN
And then later that night, I got a call from the two improv groups and I found out that it seemed that I was the only person that thought I did well. So I didn't get into either group. And I took a step back, I took classes, an audition again, and the exact same thing happened.
00:02:41 NATHAN
And I auditioned seven times in total before I got into my first group. And those seven auditions showed me one, Improvs of Learnable Skill. Improv didn't come naturally to me, but it is something that can be learned with a good
00:02:58 NATHAN
And second, I realized that as I was improving on stage, I was improving off stage as well. So as I was becoming a better improviser, I was becoming a better communicator, a better entrepreneur, and even a better team member. And that's really the basis of how we started Greenlight Improv is to be the place where non-improvisers can go to realize the benefits of performing Improv comedy without actually having to perform Improv comedy because I recognize almost everyone has no interest in doing that.
00:03:34 NATHAN
So that's what we do now. We're a professional training company that uses Improv comedies a tool for innovators to improve their entrepreneurship and
00:03:45 KATIE
That's fantastic and fabulous. I'm so excited that we had the opportunity to meet. And you are now a new member of the Trivalid Chamber Partnership, and you're going to be working with us to do a workshop March 23rd. So we're going to be playing in real time, in real
00:04:06 NATHAN
Yeah, and it's exciting. So one thing to note about all of our workshops, as a baseline for everyone listening, Improv is typically when five to six actors get on stage. They ask for a single word.
00:04:20 NATHAN
And then they use that word as inspiration for a variety of scenes. And those scenes in total come out to about 10 to 60 minutes. And these are scenes that have never been done before and never been thought of before. And we'll never be done again, but only exist in
00:04:39 NATHAN
Now, that can be very anxiety inducing for many people that are thinking about attending an Improv workshop. Of course. Yes.
00:04:48 NATHAN
But that's not exactly what we do in our workshops. As I mentioned before, we use Improv as a tool. And so Improv is useful to us to the extent that it benefits entrepreneur. and communication skills. So we're not actually doing, improbably
00:05:07 NATHAN
word is potato. Go ahead and do scenes for the next 30 minutes. It's much more structured in trying to isolate the skills instead of
00:05:19 NATHAN
people out into the ether and trying to make them do comedy in front of a bunch of
00:05:20 KATIE
00:05:24 KATIE
00:05:25 KATIE
00:05:26 KATIE
Yeah, very much can create some anxiety just being in front of people, not doing anything. Creates anxiety, let alone. Let's come up with this whole new
00:05:37 NATHAN
00:05:38 KATIE
So I noticed that there were four foundational principles of improv. Can you speak to that a little bit,
00:05:49 NATHAN
Yeah, so we have four main principles of improv. And they generally, these are generally things that we hit on throughout the workshop. So the first one is a yes and, and the basis of yes and is basically this.
00:06:05 NATHAN
Many times people think what we mean is to say yes to every opportunity that comes our way. But in reality, we all know that we don't have time to take every idea that comes our way. So instead, yes and means yes, I hear you.
00:06:22 NATHAN
I understand what you're saying. And I'm going to respect what you have come up with. And I'll take it a step further and actually try to add something to try to make the idea work. So in short, it means I'll respect what you've created. And I'll take it a step further and try to figure out how the idea can work. That's useful in ideation sessions, in presentation skills, and a lot of our entrepreneurship programs
00:06:51 NATHAN
Another one is communicate confidently. That is pretty clearly in the communication program, arena. But we use that in our active listening program and in our presentation skills program. And it's really about being able to fully listen, take a pause, and then respond fully in the moment, and be comfortable throughout the process of communicating whether you're presenting or you're on
00:07:19 NATHAN
We also have team over self, improvs a team sport. And so we don't say, I had a good show. We say we had a good show.
00:07:29 NATHAN
Like I had a good presentation when we're presenting to the board. We had a good presentation because all of us put something into it. And when we're on stage, it's not like stand up where it's just you.
00:07:42 NATHAN
We have team members that we can lean on. We get on stage and we have no idea what we're about to say. And that's why we have the other person.
00:07:52 NATHAN
Very commonly a saying is when you get on stage, you don't know what to say. A lot of beginning and providers will look at the ground or just sort of look up and try to think about what to say. And they always say the answer is in your partner's eyes.
00:08:12 NATHAN
Whatever you're about to say next, if you look at your partner, you'll come together and figure out what you should say and how to develop a scene. The scenes are very much built together and built as a group on stage. So we can't create it individually nearly as well as we can as a group.
00:08:35 NATHAN
And then the very last one, the last foundational principle is that we don't have any mistakes. Everything we're doing is learnings. While we're on stage and we don't know what we're going to say, of course we make some quote mistakes.
00:08:50 NATHAN
But every time that happens, the audience saw it. We can acknowledge that the audience saw it. And we can move forward and take that, acknowledge that mistake and take it as a learning for next time. So those are our four foundational principles. And all of them are in service of that main goal of developing entrepreneurship and communication
00:09:13 KATIE
Tell us who else that you work with other than
00:09:19 NATHAN
We work with generally any person or any group that wants to be very innovative. And that typically comes into a lot of entrepreneurship programs in universities, a lot of leadership programs in universities or other specialty programs. But then also these teams that are maybe stuck in a rut and want to figure out a way to get out of that.
00:09:44 NATHAN
Oftentimes these are teams that they've done a strengths finder, they've done these other tests, which are great. But at some point they want something that's a little more engaging, a little more. They want something more engaged. and just something that brings them out of their shell, a little bit more and gets the ideas flowing. So right now the primary market is higher ed programs, but we also do work with a variety of businesses, corporations, and groups like that. But right now, we almost exclusively sell two existing groups. So if there's an individual that wants to do
00:10:28 NATHAN
workshop, right now, they generally hire us to come into their group. So it's not something where everyone can sign up on the website, but an existing group can sign up.
00:10:41 KATIE
And then can you share some of the things that you've been up to recently that may be caught you by
00:10:47 NATHAN
Last night, I had a workshop with 100 people at Ohio State. And we do this exercise where I give them two words, and then they come up with a business idea. And this was an entrepreneurship group. So it was very much in the vein. But I wanted to give an example of something that of how they're going to pitch it. So they have two words that is a business idea, and then they'll pitch it to the whole
00:11:15 KATIE
and then they'll pitch it
00:11:18 NATHAN
So typically, I ask them for two words, and it's not very difficult to come up with a business idea because this is my job. But yesterday, they said, funny tungsten. And that was the name.
00:11:36 NATHAN
And I don't know what tungsten is. And apparently it's a medal. But I would say that was one thing that for me was a little bit interesting to be in
00:11:51 NATHAN
crowd. And very similarly, when we're performing, to not know what we're going to say. But essentially, I used the principle of entrepreneurship of jump and then find the ground as you're falling.
00:12:05 NATHAN
And I started, and I didn't know where I was going. And I said, hi, everyone. My name's Nathan Mins.
00:12:12 NATHAN
And today I'm pitching funny tungsten. You ever have that funny friend who, at the very beginning of your relationship was very funny. But now they just can't stop making jokes.
00:12:26 NATHAN
And it's just too much, and they're really annoying you. Well, my solution is funny tungsten. Funny tungsten with a push of a button.
00:12:36 NATHAN
You can freeze somebody's tongue. Anybody's tongue you want. And so I didn't know what tungsten was, but I thought that sounds a lot like another word I know. I know. And of course, these are silly pitches that we come up with. But they tend to give people to be more comfortable presenting other ideas too. But that's one where I was a little caught off guard. And another one where a
00:12:07 KATIE
00:12:44 KATIE
a lot like another word I know. I know.
00:13:05 NATHAN
maybe had a realization throughout the workshop was I had a one workshop where I went in and I found out that they hadn't told anybody that I was coming in. They thought that they might be a little anxious if they told anyone. And so when I came in and I said we were doing an improv workshop, they said, I'm not doing an improv workshop.
00:13:33 NATHAN
So like, well, that's going to be tough. Because we're here.
00:13:39 KATIE
You're stuck in this room.
00:13:42 NATHAN
here. And so we started
00:13:46 NATHAN
woman raised her hand about five minutes in. The workshops typically consist of about the first 10 minutes is me talking about what's going to happen, how we're going to operate throughout this workshop and how improv's not that scary. And then the rest of the workshop tends to be partner exercises and groups of about four to six. So everything's
00:14:08 NATHAN
In the first 10
00:14:11 NATHAN
that raised her hand and I hadn't asked a question yet. I thought, that's okay. Sure, let's go for it. One question do you have for me? And she said, I just want to let you know that we're all introverts and we're
00:14:28 NATHAN
And I thought, thank you for letting me know. And I thanked her. And I said, all I'm asking is that you give me 15 minutes. This is a two hour workshop, but I'll ask that you give me the valiant effort for 15 minutes. And she said, I can do that. I'll do 15 minutes. And throughout
00:14:32 KATIE
00:14:42 KATIE
the valiant
00:14:54 NATHAN
we won her over because about an hour into this two hour workshop, she will... volunteering in front of the entire group to to say what her team learned and what her group was learning from the workshop. And so that was a nice moment of seeing the impact in real time and seeing how even though I understand that improv can have a certain effect, the word spur some emotions.
00:15:24 NATHAN
understand how and could see that she had a realization in the workshop of how impactful it can be and that it's really not that
00:15:35 KATIE
get into it. Once you get into it. And you decide to give a valiant effort, right? For just that 15 minutes. All you
00:15:36 NATHAN
get into
00:15:42 NATHAN
need is 15 minutes. It's like the there's a productivity hack, I guess. That's the two-minute rule that says, I'm just going to do the dishes for two minutes. And then you end up doing it all the dishes. You end up doing
00:15:59 KATIE
I use that quite often. I can do anything for 30 seconds and then you just get into it. Just rolls
00:16:01 NATHAN
I
00:16:06 NATHAN
in. The one a friend uses is don't put it down, put it away. I
00:16:11 NATHAN
something in your bag? Don't put it down, put it away. Don't put it down, put it away.
00:16:21 KATIE
is. And it's it's obviously
00:16:23 NATHAN
sounds funny.
00:16:26 NATHAN
try it once and you'll
00:16:27 KATIE
sold. Yeah, I'm going to for sure. So a little birdie told me that you are going to be speaking at keynotes or doing keynotes. Is this true? That
00:16:38 NATHAN
And I
00:16:43 NATHAN
I have a keynote just a couple weeks and then another one coming up in Chicago. But yeah, in these keynotes we're essentially realizing that while workshops are incredible and they're engaging and very fun, every venue is not set up for this. And every organization, their members aren't signing up for a workshop.
00:17:08 NATHAN
they're signing up for a dinner. And saying, all right, everybody, let's get up and get into circle. When they're having a dinner, is a little bit tough.
00:17:21 NATHAN
this is a keynote that we can use those four foundational principles of improv and share some of these learnings from improv and how we can apply it to innovation, communication skills and entrepreneurship. But in a more keynote style rather than having everyone get up and be more of a workshop
00:17:44 KATIE
I've been seeing the success that you've been having just bit by bit and then it just seemed like it came like a tidal wave. Are you hanging on?
00:17:53 NATHAN
Yeah, definitely felt like it came like a tidal wave as well. Yeah, hanging on, we're hiring. So, yeah, we're hiring now. I
00:18:05 NATHAN
another facilitator yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you.
00:18:10 NATHAN
have another offer letter out. And yeah, we had, we're building out an operations team too to do more of the work on organizing how we're getting to workshops, keeping clients updated, some of the account management pieces too. And so it is growing and it's nice to see that now I can take a vacation and the company doesn't stop because at the very beginning when it's just you, like when I, when I, like in 2019, it was, if I
00:18:49 NATHAN
00:18:51 NATHAN
emails, the emails stopped coming in. And if I stopped doing outreach, the workshop stopped coming in. And now we're at a point where the name in some ways carries stronger than in some ways, my own name, green light improv is more memorable for many people than Nathan Minnes.
00:19:15 NATHAN
so a lot of times when people are looking for this kind of training, they will find green light improv and a lot of the clients are more inbound now rather than ascending email campaigns that have a very low success
00:19:31 KATIE
rate. Sure. That's
00:19:33 NATHAN
00:19:34 NATHAN
00:19:34 KATIE
And just since 2019, when do you feel like it all really picked up so that it was that tidal wave? 2022. So
00:19:41 NATHAN
year, I think is really when it picked up. I quit my job in July. I was doing corporate innovation and I was working in a venture studio. So I was making startups for corporations. And
00:19:56 NATHAN
I quit my job and I just I can do this on my own as well and go full time into green
00:20:06 NATHAN
you know, I think. That's when I really realized that I could do it as well. And so once I quit my job and went full time, I realized that it really picked up because full time effort is even though it may be 40 hours a week versus 20 hours a week, although it's probably more than 40 hours a week.
00:20:28 NATHAN
It's still much more productive than two to three times the hours. Because being able to devote my entire mind to one thing is just so much more productive and it makes me go so much further. Whereas before, I felt that I was splitting my attention between different things and I wasn't able to reach the success that I knew was
00:20:55 NATHAN
splitting some of that effort. So now it feels very good because I'm focused on one thing, green light improv and we're
00:21:04 KATIE
Yeah, you are. So for anyone interested, we are having the Be Your Best Self, Nathan's going to come in and facilitate the green light improv workshop and that's going to be March 23rd here at the Upper
00:21:21 KATIE
Anything that you want to give our
00:21:26 KATIE
anxious, why they should sign up even
00:21:33 NATHAN
Here's one thing I shared last night at our workshop and that is to remember that during any presentation, whenever you have a really big meeting, anything like that, to recognize that no matter how many times you practice, how
00:21:53 NATHAN
happen, it will 100% chance not happen perfectly. There's no chance that that happens perfectly. And in Brav comedy allows us to see some of that a little more and release some of that perfectionism that we often deal with.
00:22:10 NATHAN
And so I like to say in my opening speech, the 10 minute speech, I've rehearsed that hundreds if not thousands of times and every time I do it, there's something that I think I could have said that just a little better. And this is my job. And I'm friends with a lot of professional speakers and they all tell me the same thing that every time there's something we can learn from it.
00:22:36 NATHAN
And I think the value for coming to the workshop in part and for just using improv for these different skills, as it pertains to perfectionism, is to realize that although it can't be anxiety-inducing, knowing that it won't go perfectly, there's a little bit of freedom in knowing that it definitely won't go perfectly. And when it doesn't go perfectly, we can take a moment, recognize that that wasn't ideal and keep moving forward. We didn't know where it was going to go just a little bit off, but we knew it was going to at some point.
00:23:14 NATHAN
And that team
00:23:32 KATIE
here at Co-Hatch in Upper Arlington March 23rd. And how can people find you if they can't make it to
00:23:41 NATHAN
you can find me online at greenlightimpov.com or you can find me on LinkedIn at Nathan Minns.
00:23:49 KATIE
That's it! Thanks so much for being here, Nathan. We're so excited.