How to Have Fun While Doing Good in the World #57

Podcast
Written by Nick Halaris

Hi Everyone and Welcome Back!

This week on The Nick Halaris Show we are featuring Daniel Hettwer, founder and CEO of Hidden Worlds Entertainment, an innovative company responsible for pioneering the Impactainment industry, where businesses try to do good while having fun.  Daniel, a perfect example of a socially conscious entrepreneur, has an inspiring vision for how to merge our ever-present desire for fun experiences with our deep human needs for meaning, connection, and purpose.     

I wanted to have Daniel on the show to highlight his inspiring vision for building the first impactainment business, learn more about what motivates him to care so much about doing good in the world, and unpack the important philosophical and psychological truths at the core of his mission.  Tune in to this inspiring episode to learn:

  • All about Daniel’s vision for using immersive dining and art experiences to inspire a whole new generation of impact-oriented individuals

  • How it’s possible to design a dining experience that is not only delicious and super fun but also completely Ocean-positive with every bite and sip

  • Why good storytelling is the true key to inspiring change in the world

  • How he came up with the idea for impactainment and the huge potential he sees for the industry

  • Why it’s so important for those seeking big social change to move beyond strategies involving shame and blame and focus more on fun, hope, and inspiration

    &

  • Much, much more

Stay tuned to the end to learn how Daniel fell in love with Nature while fishing as a kid and hear why he got so motivated to go all-in on the idea of doing good while having fun.

As always, I hope you all enjoy this episode.  Thanks for tuning in!     

Ready to dive in? Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform.

Summary

Daniel Hettwer, founder and CEO of Hidden Worlds Entertainment, discusses the company's mission to have fun while doing good. They focus on two areas: immersive dining experiences and immersive art exhibits. In the dining space, they offer an immersive experience where guests can eat fish in a way that helps the ocean, such as by consuming overpopulated and invasive species. The dining experience takes guests on a journey through different marine ecosystems. In the immersive art component, they are developing a strong IP that raises awareness for mental health and challenges faced by differently-abled individuals. The company aims to create emotional connections and trigger actions through storytelling and community engagement. The conversation revolves around the concept of impactainment, which combines entertainment and education to inspire positive change in conservation efforts. The goal is to motivate young people to reorient their thinking and take action. The conversation also highlights the importance of hope and inspiration in driving innovation and creating lasting change. The vision is to create immersive experiences in various locations, including resorts, cruise lines, and touring ventures, to engage and educate guests. The ultimate mission is to encourage big conservation and entertainment groups to shift their focus towards impactainment and create concepts that are commercially successful and impactful.

Keywords

Hidden Worlds Entertainment, immersive dining, immersive art, ocean conservation, mental health awareness, storytelling, emotional connection, community engagement, impactainment, conservation, inspiration, innovation, immersive experiences, dining, mental wellness, storytelling, visuals, partnerships

Takeaways

  • Hidden Worlds Entertainment aims to have fun while doing good by offering immersive dining experiences and immersive art exhibits.

  • Their immersive dining experience allows guests to eat fish in a way that helps the ocean, by consuming overpopulated and invasive species.

  • The dining experience takes guests on a journey through different marine ecosystems, creating emotional connections and raising awareness for ocean conservation.

  • In the immersive art component, Hidden Worlds Entertainment focuses on mental health awareness and challenges faced by differently-abled individuals.

  • The company believes in the power of storytelling to create emotional connections and trigger actions.

  • They aim to reach people who don't yet believe in their mission, create emotional connections through storytelling, and solidify those connections through actions like beach cleanups. Impactainment combines entertainment and education to inspire positive change in conservation efforts.

  • Hope and inspiration are crucial in driving innovation and creating lasting change.

  • The vision is to create immersive experiences in various locations, including resorts, cruise lines, and touring ventures.

  • The mission is to encourage big conservation and entertainment groups to shift their focus towards impactainment and create concepts that are commercially successful and impactful.

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Nick Halaris

I’ve been fascinated by investing for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I would read the Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Barron’s, pouring over the data tables, stories and interviews with a passion and an insatiable kind of curiosity. As I grew into adulthood, I struggled to find the right outlet and channel for this passion and spent much of my twenties wandering and trying out different things. I had a very brief career as an attorney, spent some time as a strategy and leadership consultant for big multinational companies, failed in an attempt to start a hedge fund, and even ended up helping run a scrap metal recycling operation for a while.

At the age of 30 though, I took my stand. I made up my mind that no matter what I was going to be an entrepreneurial investor. As crazy as it sounds, I owe everything in my life to this one foundational decision—even my amazing wife and my beautiful kids. I don’t think I would ever have met Alicia had I not made this one choice. At that moment in time, the financial world had just been devastated by the crash in the housing market and the near systemic failure of the global banking system that followed. I’ve always had a contrarian bent to my investment thinking; so, to me the carnage in real estate looked like an opportunity.

It all started with one house in Compton California. The business plan was simple: buy a distressed foreclosed home from a bank, bring it back to life with a big renovation and sell it to a first-time homebuyer. Things progressed slowly as they tend to do with real estate. In the first years of this, I think I did 6-7 homes. But then after plugging away day-by-day, suddenly it seemed, things just came together. I found the right investors and the right loans and the right deals and in just a few short years I ended up investing in over 100 such transactions, building a portfolio of almost 2,500 multifamily units and creating a fully vertically integrated real estate company with almost 100 employees.

Fast forward to today and I’m running the second evolution of my entrepreneurial investing career and having so much fun that I have to stop and remind myself that this is all real.

http://www.nickhalaris.com
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