Meet Dylan Dent

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dylan Dent. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dylan below.

Dylan, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

Probably my mom. I was in high school when things really started to fall in place mentally. I really started to set goals and paths to achieve them. During the same time I watched my mom take charge of the house, multiple kids, and basically get straight A’s through grad school. That’s it. That’s how I learned what hard work looked like.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m Dylan Dent and I really don’t know what it is I do. At the very least I find it hard to put it succinctly. I write songs, I do stand up, I rap, I handle all the production and engineering of my projects, I play a few different instruments, and I just started dipping my toe into acting. Most people would use the term “jack of all trades” and I don’t necessarily reject that title. I have come up with my own spin on the idea, being a Prism Person.

Throughout my life the trend had been “find your niche.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a speciality, however, I feel as if there has been a gross devaluing of generalists. I also hold the belief that this is bleeding over into how we value our fellow man and the human experience in general.

We are all capable of so very much. Most of us may not reach the depths of our potential. But I, personally, have no interest in choosing one specific thing to hold complete mastery over. Gain proficiency, gain a working knowledge, then move on. Find a source, or sources, of life and find ways to let them flow through you. No, you may not a glowing resume or highly defined career path. But, in my experience, you’ll have a full and beautiful life.

If you must master something, choose yourself. Take stock of your emotional and mental state. Learn how you may react to certain parts of the world. Have a good idea of likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses. It will allow you to move gracefully from one line of work to the next.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Not to sound like a broken record, but you have to know yourself. One specific quality of myself that helps me is “zooming out.” I am admittedly a big picture guy. I look at timelines like they’re puzzle pieces to human existence (really waxing poetic here huh).

You have to have a good team or community as well. I’m fairly independent. But I have also spent a lot of time learning who I can call for what, when, and how. Community is vital.

If you can, let go of fear. Specifically of failure. In my day job I tutor various subjects. I always remind my students how often a baby falls as they learn to walk. Failure is natural and necessary.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

It’s funny you should ask. I actually have this idea where I live my life only 5 years at a time. When I was 22 I was in a car accident that could’ve ended it all. I walked away without a scratch. It was the second potentially life altering/ending car accident with a 3 year period. In short, I just signed a new lease until 35.

I think about what I want the time to look like. At this point in my life, I’m very interested in having my own place. Even land really but money always gets in the way. That’s definitely a goal of mine. I don’t mean to sound cocky, but in a way I’m living my dream. Through the next decade I’d love to scale my endeavors. Meaning make them more profitable. Hopefully, that will yield a more cohesive work life balance across all my interests.

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Will Drew

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