Trevor J. Brown is the founder and president of the Inherent Dream Production Company, a media company that is dedicated to artistic exploration.
Raised in Zimmerman, a small town located 45 minutes north of Minneapolis, Brown was part of the town’s first graduating class back in 2005, a time when the iPhone hadn’t yet been invented, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire grossed almost $900 million worldwide.
Today, both Brown and Zimmerman look much different.
“Over the years, it has been exciting to see the development of not only the school, but also the town of Zimmerman,” notes the cheerful Brown, a voracious reader and cinephile who reaps tremendous joy from consuming art.
Despite his affinity for high-art, Brown wasn’t embraced by his peers in high school.
He admits that he didn’t have a lot of friends, but that never affected his approach toward human interactions.
“Back then I was the same person that I am today, in that I tried to be nice to people and listen to what they had to say because I think being kind goes a long way,” Brown says.
“Even today, I like to go into every interaction with a positive outlook, which can be hard, because I am a realist, so I have had to retrain my brain to be more optimistic sometimes.”
That focus on being rigorously sanguine has proven to be vital, especially in the last year as Brown has methodically scaled his media company and built a sustainable business.
Yet, before Brown defied the odds and found success in a podcasting niche, he contends that he was just a normal kid who ate dinner every night with his family, all while the radio hummed softly in the background.
“If I wasn’t locked into the conversation, I would hear music from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and that’s how I developed a love for music,” Brown says.
“But then as I got older, I also developed an appreciation for sports, and then I later started listening to people have conversations and voice their opinions.”
One such show that appealed to the young Brown was Loveline, an edgy call-in program hosted by comedian Adam Carolla and media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky.
“They talked about sex and addiction, and Carolla would go on these rants that were hilarious and mesmerizing to listen to,” Brown recalls.
“That type of unhinged entertainment played a huge role in fostering my love for radio.”
Unsurprisingly, when Brown graduated high school, he soon after enrolled in college to study radio broadcasting, which was then followed by several years of Brown working in radio.
During that stretch, podcasting became a global phenomenon, its long-form model quickly showing to be an antidote to the scripted, lifeless broadcasts aired each night by the legacy media.
Of course, Brown was immediately drawn to podcasting, and so when he wasn’t selling radio ads to local Twin Cities businesses, he was behind the microphone, finding his voice so that he could eventually share it with listeners who otherwise would never have discovered the bespectacled enigma from rural Minnesota.
“What is cool about podcasts is that anyone in the world can listen to them. You’re not restricted to a certain demographic or area because the power of the internet is so massive,” Brown says.
As Brown began publishing podcasts and segments on Spotify, he encountered resistance, and some people he thought would cheer him on and be in his corner were no longer by his side.
However, new connections were made, and those connections gave him the confidence needed to keep moving forward.
“When you have the confidence to do your own thing and build your own brand, that is unknown to many. It was unknown to me. It still is. I am still learning every day. However, many people equate unknown to scary, and scary things lead to fear, and people don’t always want to associate with fear,” Brown reasons.
“But I believe that you don’t need permission to do what you love. If you want to write a book, write a book. If you want to make a record, make a record. If you want to start a business, start a business. Do what you want and do it with all of your heart!”
At present, it’s been a year since Brown ditched his day job and delved full-time into his media company, Inherent Dream.
Naturally, when Brown first walked away from a steady paycheck, there was a whirlwind of anxiety that ensued, but slowly Brown grew comfortable navigating the unknown, and now, he’s learned that he can survive off the income his morning show and podcast generates from sponsorships.
That alone has him excited for the next couple years, even though he is still unsure how everything is going to unfold.
“Moving forward, I want to continue to develop content that is entertaining and informative,” Brown emphasizes, in touching on his morning show that captures local news in central Minnesota, plus his weekly podcast that highlights talented people from all around the country.
“And to achieve that intoxicating blend of value and entertainment, I sit down with all types. I don’t exclusively talk to athletes, authors, or politicians. In fact, I will talk to anyone who I think has a compelling story that my audience will find relatable.”
So far, this approach has worked, and it has attracted and retained sponsorships from local businesses who see the value in solidifying a brand by executing on a long-term marketing campaign; and not just investing a couple thousand dollars in hopes that the ads Brown places in his shows will immediately result in an abundance of new business.
“Well before we ink a deal, my clients know that they’re not going to get anything out of advertising for only a month, because with that strategy, their message will come and go, and quickly be forgotten,” Brown explains.
“With my ad packages, I want to partner with companies for one year because I think it takes at least one year of a repetitive message for it to resonate with an audience. I say this somewhat facetiously, but my goal is to get my audience so familiar with a brand that they get sick of hearing that company’s name. But that’s what it takes to establish yourself in the market and to be at the top of someone’s mind when they have a need or a want that they are trying to fulfill.”
In the coming years, as Brown continues to establish the Inherent Dream Production Company as a trusted source for local information and entertainment, his goal will likely include expanding his operations so that he can secure more sponsors and generate more revenue, but perhaps more importantly, throughout this entire endeavor his aim will continue to be on making a positive impact on a community and a culture that in many ways would benefit from a renewed level of connectedness.
“We live in a social and digital age where we think that we are connected to people because we are always on our phones, but the truth is, we have never been further apart,” the Zimmerman native suggests.
“I want to bring back that sense of community by highlighting and showcasing a variety of people, but throughout that journey I’ll also try to be the best person I possibly can toward anybody I encounter. Will I be perfect with that? Absolutely not, but if I fail today, there is always tomorrow, and that’s the same approach I take every day with my business.”
Adds Brown:
“People sometimes ask me, `what is your end goal with this?’ Well, there are multiple goals. Short term, if I’m recording the morning show today, I want to produce a great show for my listeners. Next year, I want to double our ad revenue with the company. In ten years, I want to produce a major motion picture.”
“That boils back to the thought of constant evolution in business. What got me here, will not get me to level two, and so on. So, the beauty of evolution, at least part of it, is I have a general direction of where I am going, but the adventure along the way will inspire a variety of new ideas and introduce me to new, amazing people.” QS
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