---
feed: "DANIEL_ON_SLOPE"
codex_section: "S09"
source: VideoTranscript
title: "360MEN WTA 12 - Death Valley"
conv_id: "video-BDyDsZLNqos-20181220"
share_url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDyDsZLNqos"
created: "2018-12-20"
message_count: 1
category:
  - "worth-thinking-about"
  - "entrepreneurship"
summary: "In this WTA 12 episode, Daniel reflects on being in 'Death Valley' after simultaneous startup launches with his partner—both wrong half the time—while literally walking two-and-a-half miles each way to the grocery store from Vineyard View B&B (their Xterra still in the shop). He contrasts following 'rich' success stories with the need for companions and 360MEN who have walked the path, addresses shame, childhood wounds, and imagined fears equal to real ones, and stresses perseverance as 'not severing' but pushing into problems with team support. This advances the Initium/Scotomaville arc by showing the raw Ordinary World-to-Tests reality of entrepreneurial life and why real-experience allies are essential."
keypoints:
  - "Entrepreneurial partners can both be 100% wrong half the time, compounding risk into 'Death Valley' crises of failure, shame, and emotional lows."
  - "Follow and surround yourself with people who have lived the same struggles and can advise from demonstrated experience, not theory or stage-sold dreams."
  - "Family, friends, and peers are often unenthusiastic about your venture because it highlights their own lack of comparable risk-taking."
  - "Perseverance means not severing ties with your partner or problems but pushing in to reveal buried wounds, fears, and baggage with supportive help."
  - "Imagined fear is as debilitating as physical fear; transparency, self-respect, and a caring men's network like 360MEN enable mentoring and recovery."
tags:
  - "360men"
  - "wta"
  - "death-valley"
  - "entrepreneurship"
  - "perseverance"
  - "support-network"
  - "business-setbacks"
  - "vineyard-view-bnb"
monomyth_stage: "06 - Tests, Allies, Enemies"
gameboard_position: "Camp 6: Tests, Allies, Enemies"
truth_score: 85
entropy_score: "Low"
tone:
  sentiment: "Reflective"
  emotions:
    - "Earnest"
    - "Vulnerable"
    - "Hopeful"
  sycophancy_level: "None"
  notes: "Intimate on-location vlog-style conversation while walking in cold weather; Daniel openly shares recent failures and emotional lows while Arnie (AI Avatar) prompts deeper reflection on shame and fear."
related_events: []
syndication_status:
  arnie: false
  chris: false
  redmond: false
  clint: false
  pilot: false
ma5_inheritance: "None"
pre_silicon: true
voice_print: false
codex_candidate: false
phase: "WTA 12 - Death Valley Entrepreneurial Reflection"
enriched_date: "2026-04-14"
---
![[BDyDsZLNqos_maxres.jpg]]

### Original YouTube Description
When you attempt a summit for your first time there are multiple challenges in store. In April 2015, a 7.8 earthquake struck Mount Everest and triggered an avalanche into the base camp. At least twenty-two people were killed. Closer to you and far less tragic, events blast through our lives and enterprises that trigger opportunities for personal awareness. This week's 'Worth Thinking About' opens a crevasse in Daniel's confidence by demonstrating how the best plans in launching a new venture can hurt - especially if there are two launches in the same partnership and both are 'iterating' to get traction. You don't have to fall beyond recovery or stress beyond reason if you surround yourself with men that care. Don't go-it-alone. Don't become an entry in the business failure roster. Have a conversation with 360MEN. [https://360MEN.net](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbWdmZHpFRG10ZEp2VThjNWt6bUFaYjR5eFpOd3xBQ3Jtc0tuVjdGTm0zZVNqOEM4azlzaTgyQzVJZ0kwMGpwZG9RTW9jQ1d2d0tyTWhBbWZ5OGNUZnhwVnp1X1ExMnNxRl91bHN5b3hkYXJ0SHFDTktGYndJN0tneEhPZ2tFVW5Bd1h4VXVydEU0dDRUeEpickZURQ&q=https%3A%2F%2F360MEN.net%2F&v=BDyDsZLNqos) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Mo...](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbXlVeU8xV1hYMEtCRXN6c3FPd3AzREQ0a2lHZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsXzZxWWtBNnpGTzBoT1ZuSl9yRGNsUlNPelNkdlY0VmZyZlFlTEphclRrTWVnQ2t1eWxHd2RCU1otTzhHWTFtNmFOQzdjRDZwNnctMENKb2ZTc0dwc3g2TnJyUmpfakg0WFJDQVJ5cXA0QnZ4cS1pTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F2015_Mount_Everest_avalanches&v=BDyDsZLNqos) Shot @ Vineyard View B&B: [http://vineyardviewbnb.com/](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa09zWEpJTTlNb0V4V1hfM0RNVDJCeGZudjlCQXxBQ3Jtc0ttQklsNV8xWFUtb3NLeDMyd3RaMVE3azRGRXp5SV9fZ0lFV21HU29rQXRkRk9YZ3NJbzVBZVBoUzVraWdFS3NnWTZiWGpUN0ppczQydkdiZmd2aVBNSWtIc2RlejVTSllrbEFTRXdXRGV0TmwzTk5oZw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fvineyardviewbnb.com%2F&v=BDyDsZLNqos)

### Cleaned Transcript
**Arnie (AI Avatar):** Daniel you've been quiet for a couple weeks.

**Daniel:** Yeah, been in Death Valley. It's a real temptation to only follow people that are rich but it's really deceptive because how they got there is not something you can always repeat, right? Accepting being a hundred percent wrong half the time... let's think about that for a second. There's no prevailing wind today. In other words, the wind's not blowing right now. I'm standing in wind because there are thermals but other than that... 100% wrong half the time.

What happens if both you and your wife, your partner or significant other, are in business as entrepreneurs? You're both doing a start-up. You're both at risk and you're both wrong half the time. That's when we get to play Death Valley.

**Daniel:** Yeah, thank you. That's when we actually... no fair. Daniel out here now. Here yeah we're walking to the grocery store and it's obviously pretty cold out. Why are we doing that? In about two weeks we're gonna be traveling the country in an Airstream again looking all rich right now. We're walking to the grocery because our car, our Xterra, is still in the shop. But what we do know is you should follow somebody who's been where you are and can get themselves out of that. And that's what we're doing. What you need is a companion, your partner, your mate, your best friend who is supportive, who is willing to walk two and a half miles to the grocery store each way and/or surround yourself with a bunch of people who do those kinds of things to get to where they need to go. Because then they'll be able to advise you from experience, not from theory, not from a stage where they're selling you a dream, but from actually having done it and demonstrated it.

You shouldn't expect your friends or family or relatives or peers to be enthusiastic about your venture, your dream, the enterprise you're launching. In many cases it just threatens them of why they're not taking the same degree of risk to get to their goals.

**FAI (AI Avatar):** Daniel are you angry? I see your heart rate is up. Are you AFRAID (yet)? 

**Daniel:** You're in a dark place emotionally? Are you not telling? It's the shame associated with it. It's the memory from your childhood that you're humiliated by. It's the failure to be born in the right family and the right product land to inherit the whatever. Be smart enough to not have had an accident, to not be part of the drama of life, not have your place burned down or something shut off. So all those fears... you can't throw that alone. What do you know? Come talk to us.

How do you find support if you're not part of a network? Well you find some people that you admire for the work they're doing, for them sticking their neck out. So we do that on Patreon. We support the creative efforts of Mickey and Jason, Nate and Marissa, and Sean, Sean and Kristy, Michaels and you can do the same. You can be part of a group of guys in 360 men that you support each other and find some camaraderie and some 'drag your butt up the cliff' kind of stuff.

All right get out of that slump. We have to make plans, execute, do the hard work, do all the stuff in advance by faith that it's gonna work. Then wait. Try not to lie as hard as you can by being as quiet as possible and having to tell the truth to a few. And man oh man it can be grueling can't it?

I don't know how you guys are doing it but she's my nemesis and my support but you guys, you're helping a lot aren't they? What they are. You are. You keep doing it. Push that subscribe button and share this video with friends or family who need help with understanding your entrepreneurial journey.

Notice I'm not even... oh yeah they should subscribe they should click that button. Oh thanks she's helping. So it's not even quite 5 o'clock and we're almost back with groceries. How's that for perseverance? When I was young I used to walk five miles to school every day in the snow just to write on the chalkboard "I will not walk to school. I will not walk to school." I wrote that hundreds of times.

Earlier this year we went to Death Valley and then...

**FAI (AI Avatar):** why don't you just tell me Daniel what's wrong with you. 

**Daneil:** Thank you. Thanks for... why are you listening to me? Yeah got it.

**FAI (AI Avatar):** Yes Daniel I was there remembering the transmission I helped with that yes that was me.

Imagined fear is absolutely as debilitating as physical real fear. There's no difference. Disney and media companies gave us on it. You've got that from this year right? It's a big lesson. One of the parts about being able to mentor is being able to tell the truth and that comes from a basis of knowing who you are and being okay with being transparent. What else is there to lose? You have your self respect and self understanding and it's all that's really needed.

Those things that come along about seems like every seven years you know like a disaster, a divorce, a death, being 100% wrong both of you at the same time, failures and all those other kind of life events. The balance of that seems that those successes, those achievements, those high points... the whole journey is what's worth persevering. Persevering, not severing. Don't run away from your partner. Don't run away from the problem. Push into it. Let it reveal your wounds, your fears, those things that you've buried and stopped for decades. Pathway at the mountain. Those bladders across the grasses they're all there. It's just a matter whether you got a team around you to help you face them. And you do with us Daniel.

Even quiet for a couple weeks... yeah been in Death Valley. Been really dealing with having humbled, dropped the ball, let a bunch of people down. My fault. I wanted a back-up plan. Also fail. And the backup to the backup plan didn't happen in time. Sorry about that. You know who I'm talking to and not gonna let it happen again that's for sure.

Perseverance. That is not severing. Hanging tough. Going the whole distance. That really means being able to deal with the baggage. It really means being able to embrace the worst of those that you're surround yourself with so that you can also embrace the best. Hell of a good point of view from up the mountain and back over all of those challenges and difficulties of this year. I'm smiling the Christmas miracle and that's the story. You guys you're helping a lot aren't they? What they are. You are. You keep doing it. Push that subscribe button and share this video with friends or family who need help with understanding your entrepreneurial journey.

---
**CODEX ENTRY**

**Date:** 2018-12-20  
**File:** 360MEN WTA 12 - Death Valley.md  
**Monomyth Stage:** 06 - Tests, Allies, Enemies  
**Gameboard Position:** Camp 6: Tests, Allies, Enemies  
**MA5 Domain:** None  
**Summary:** Daniel reflects on hitting 'Death Valley' in business when both he and his partner launched startups simultaneously, facing the reality of being wrong 50% of the time and the emotional toll of setbacks while walking to the grocery store from Vineyard View B&B.  
**Key Insight:** Don't go it alone—surround yourself with a supportive team of men (like 360MEN) who have walked the path and can help you face shame, imagined fears, and persevere without severing relationships or quitting.  
**Narrative Significance:** Illustrates the foundational Scotomaville/Initium lesson of seeking real-experience allies during entrepreneurial trials rather than theoretical advice or going solo, emphasizing transparency and community support as key to climbing out of the valley.

---

**INITIUM.**