Mastering Graduate School and YouTube Fame: Lessons from Dan C. Bearded

Victors in Grad School

Transitioning from one career path to another is never simple, but for some, it can lead to opportunities that were never originally envisioned. Dan Command, also known as Dan C. Bearded, a middle school teacher turned YouTube content creator and keynote speaker, personifies the winding journey of career transformation aided by graduate education. This blog post dives deep into the enriching conversation between Dr. Christopher Lewis and Dan C. Bearded, exploring the roles of education, passion, and unexpected avenues in finding success.

The Initial Leap: Choosing Graduate School

From Classroom to Administration

Dan started his educational journey by earning an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan Flint. He began his career as a middle school teacher and quickly became known for his effectiveness, which led to several leadership roles within his school. His exemplary performance prompted his administration to encourage him to pursue a path in school administration, including becoming a principal.

Deciding on a Program

Catering to his full-time teaching schedule and family life, Dan chose a master's program at the University of Phoenix due to its flexible, hybrid model. This allowed him to pair online coursework with one-on-one mentorship within his community. The arrangement was a perfect fit for his hectic lifestyle, encompassing work, coaching, and family responsibilities.

Navigating Graduate School: Tips for Success

Making the Transition

Transitioning from undergraduate to graduate school required Dan to adjust several aspects of his life. For Dan, this meant honing his organizational skills and becoming relentless about meeting deadlines. The independence and focus required in graduate school were a stark contrast from his undergraduate experience, which involved much collaboration with a core group of friends. He stresses that the key to his success was his commitment to his goals and his ability to remain disciplined despite his packed schedule.

Choosing the Right Specialization

Dan's first master's degree focused on administration. However, upon completing his coursework and observing the day-to-day realities of administrative roles through shadowing, he realized that it was not where his true passion lay. Instead, he pursued a second master's degree in curriculum development, aligning more closely with his interest in educational engagement and helping teachers better reach students.

Embracing Unforeseen Opportunities

The Birth of a YouTube Channel

Dan’s commitment to education and his knack for engaging with people led him to start a YouTube channel centered around an entirely unrelated topic: beard care. This alternate pathway began to gain traction, eventually leading him to take a hard look at his professional options. Recognizing the rising success of his YouTube channel, Dan faced a critical decision whether to continue in his traditional career path or fully embrace this unique opportunity.

Leveraging Educational Skills in a New Domain

Surprisingly, Dan found that the skills he developed during his graduate education were incredibly transferable to his new line of work. His curriculum development master's degree proved invaluable as he created unique content about beard care techniques, which later became pivotal when training barbers at expos. The organizational and administrative skills he gained helped him manage the logistics and inevitable challenges that came with a growing online presence and business venture.

Advice for Prospective Graduate Students

Prioritize Passion

Dan strongly believes that education is never wasted. He advises prospective students to find their passion and choose programs that align with their natural strengths. According to Dan, "Following passion fuels success," and he encourages others to be open to unexpected turns that their paths may take.

Flexibility and Adaptation

Choosing the right program that fits individual schedules and learning styles is crucial. For Dan, this meant selecting a hybrid program that allowed him to balance his multiple responsibilities. He emphasizes that being adaptable and having a focused, relentless approach toward meeting educational goals played a vital role in his journey.

The Value of Education

In Dan’s words, nobody regrets their education. Whether you stick to your initial career path or pivot to a completely new direction, the skills and knowledge gained through graduate education are irreplaceable assets that support lifelong success.

Conclusion: The Ever-Lasting Impact of Education

Dan C. Bearded’s story illuminates the life-changing power of education, even when it paves the way to unexpected destinations. Graduate school equipped Dan with the skills and credentials that have helped him thrive in various avenues, from middle school classrooms to barbershop expos. His journey demonstrates that no matter where life takes you, a solid educational foundation provides invaluable tools for navigating the complexities of any career.

So whether you’re contemplating graduate school for career advancement or personal growth, know that the investment in education will forever be a stepping stone towards achieving your greatest potential.

TRANSCRIPT

Christopher Lewis [00:00:01]: Welcome to the victors in grad school, where we have conversations with students, alumni, and experts about what it takes to find success in graduate school.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:11]: Welcome back to victors in grad school. I'm your host, doctor Louis, director of graduate programs at the University of Michigan, Flint. And I'm really excited to have you back again this week. Every week, we are on a journey together. And I say journey because it is a journey that you're on. Every person that's thinking about graduate school, going through graduate school, getting ready to be done with graduate school, no matter what it is, you're going on a journey. There's a journey and a goal and a vision that you've set for yourself as you move forward, and you're looking to be able to move in a certain direction. Now sometimes that direction goes in a straight path.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:45]: Sometimes it's a little circuitous, but you never know. But this podcast is all about helping you find success in that journey. And how do we do it? Well, if this is your first show, we do it through conversations, conversations between you and I, but all but even better, conversations with others that have gone to graduate school to help you to find success in your own journey. So as we walk into every episode, I give you an opportunity to meet somebody new, somebody that's gone to graduate school, has learned many things along the way, and are sharing those learnings with you. So I encourage you to get out your pen and paper, get ready to gain some insights that can help you in this journey because we've got another great guest today. Dan Kaman, otherwise known as Dan C. Bearded, is with us today. And Dan did his own graduate school journey.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:39]: He went off, did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan Flint, and then went on from there to go and become a teacher. And then at some at one point, he made a decision. He was Dan went, got a graduate degree. I'm really excited to have Dan on the show to share his journey with you. Dan, thanks so much for being here today.

Dan C. Bearded [00:01:59]: Absolutely. It's an honor. Thank you for the invite. That was a a really cool email to receive, to be honest.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:04]: Well, we got introduced because you were just named one of the Flint and Genesee groups 40 under 40. Congratulations.

Dan C. Bearded [00:02:12]: Thank you.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:13]: Really excited to be able to talk to you about your journey. And and one of the things that I love being able to do is turning the clock back. I wanna turn the clock back in time. I said that you did your undergraduate work here at the University of Michigan Flint. And going through that undergraduate degree, you decided to become a teacher, ended up going off, becoming a middle school teacher, working with kids and teaching them history. And at some point in that journey that you went on as a teacher, you made a decision to continue your education. Bring me back to that point and talk to me about what was going through your head. What made you decide you wanted to continue and get that graduate degree?

Dan C. Bearded [00:02:49]: Yeah. And it actually was never a plan or or a goal of mine. I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a coach, and that was kind of the end of it. And so I started teaching, got a job right outside of graduating, and it was at the school that I had went to, and it was the dream. It was going really well. And in education, you find out when you do very well, they want to kinda move you up in the in the ladder, up in the system. And so pretty early on, I was, like, named a team leader, then I was the tech chair for our school and all this stuff.

Dan C. Bearded [00:03:20]: And then, eventually, the administration kind of was like, hey. We would really like you to pursue a path in administration. We think you'd be great at it. And I was like, okay. Awesome. You know, more money, more influence in this umbrella to help as many people as possible. So I decided originally that I was gonna go to be a teacher leadership is the name of it, but essentially for administration. And so I wanted to to be a principal.

Dan C. Bearded [00:03:43]: I was teaching full time. I was coaching full time and had a young family at the time. So I had to find something that was gonna be possible and work for me. And that was pretty much the start of it.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:03:53]: So every person goes through a little bit of a their own journey as they're figuring that out and they're saying, okay, yeah, I wanna do this graduate degree, but there's a lot of different options. There's a lot of options out there, a lot of different schools that teach in different ways. And talk to me about what you went through when you were whittling down that list for yourself, when you were looking and saying, you know what? Here's the schools that I'm considering. This is what I'm looking for in the schools. And and what brought you to that final decision of attending the University of Phoenix?

Dan C. Bearded [00:04:25]: Yeah. Great question. And and that was something that was very important to me because, to be honest, I didn't think it was possible with teaching full time, with being a coach, and I was coaching all year round. Pretty much every single day of the year, I was doing private lessons. I was tutoring. I mean, I had a really full schedule, but I did like the concept of being able to become a principal. And so I tried to look in every angle I possibly could, and I found out that online was gonna be my best option. But I also found out I wasn't exactly your traditional student.

Dan C. Bearded [00:04:57]: Fun fact that when I interviewed for my first teaching job, I let them know that my first six credits of college at U of M Flint, I failed all six of them. I actually had to take a study skills class to learn how to study because high school came very easy to me. I never really studied, never really tried, did very well. Went to college, assumed it was the same thing, and everybody told me the rules, like, 3 hours of studying for every hour of classwork. And I was like, oh, no way. They they don't know me. Well, they were right. I was entirely wrong, and I wasn't in love with the process of being a student.

Dan C. Bearded [00:05:29]: So I got through college. I did did fine, did did well, but the idea of pursuing that for another 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years was not a thought that I was gonna entertain. It just was not my thing until I found the University of Phoenix, and I started talking with them. They had a program that was kind of hybrid where I could work online, but also pair with, like, teacher leaders in my area. And so a lot of my classwork was I actually went to another middle school teacher a couple of times a week, and we worked together 1 on 1 for most of my first master's degree. And it paired with online testing and online papers, and and it was just kind of the perfect relationship for my learning style, but also my schedule at the time.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:06:14]: So you made that transition into your master's degree as you started talking about some of the things that you had to do in your master's degree to find success. But talk to me about there is that transition that you go through. And going from undergraduate work where you're being taught in a certain way to going into graduate work, it's a very different style of teaching, learning, and skill set that you need to find success. So talk to me about that transition for yourself. What did you have to do to set yourself up for success? And What did you have to do throughout your program to maintain that success?

Dan C. Bearded [00:06:50]: Absolutely spot on. The learning was entirely different from my undergrad. My undergrad, it was kind of figuring out what I wanted to do. I originally went, like I said, and failed all 6 classes while I was in a degree that I wasn't interested in. I originally went for, essentially, radiation. I wanted to either be a radiation tech. I I didn't know what I wanted to do, and we had a family friend that owns a large company and said, hey. You get this degree.

Dan C. Bearded [00:07:14]: I'll give you this job. I was like, awesome. And then turned out I didn't really relate to what I was learning. And so I couldn't get attached to it. So I was coaching in college and was like, I really enjoy this, but I can't make a career right off of coaching with similar teaching. So then I went into that. That was very nice. The biggest difference for me with the transition is in my undergrad, I kind of had a core group of friends and colleagues and classmates, and we all kind of got through it together.

Dan C. Bearded [00:07:40]: We went through the classes. We talked about the professors. We talked about what credits we needed. We kind of had each other that we traveled with. And then transitioning into graduate school, for me at least, it was very individual. I didn't have that same kind of core. I didn't have that same kind of group. So my key to success was shifting my organization and being relentless with not having options.

Dan C. Bearded [00:08:04]: If I had something that was due, if I had a project that I needed, if I had a meeting, it wasn't the case of how do I get this done, when do I get this done. It's I will get this done by that time no matter what. And my biggest transition again was just that being an individual rather than having kind of an undergrad, a very clear path. Hey. This is what you're gonna do. This is what's going forward. I was almost more driving myself and leading, but also was with something that was very particular to the skills that I was wanting to pursue and what I was wanting to learn about. So if I had to look at, like, my engagement level, my master's, both things.

Dan C. Bearded [00:08:41]: I I went for a second master's degree was very detailed and very engaging because it was only about the exact things that I wanted to use those degrees for, and I loved that a lot. It it suited me so well even and I had a great undergrad experience, but the concept of my masters suited me even more so.

Dan C. Bearded [00:09:00]: So talk to me about the second masters now because I know that you got the one masters, and some people say that's enough. Don't wanna go any further than that. Don't wanna get a doctorate. Don't wanna get another master's. I just wanna be done and keep moving with my career. You decided after finishing 1, a little bit after to get a second master's degree. Talk to me about what was going through your head at that point. And what made you decide that you wanted to continue your education to be able to move forward?

Dan C. Bearded [00:09:30]: Yeah. So kind of a 3 part storm that came together perfectly. One was I was working. I had a young family. On a teacher salary, kinda two sides to it, my first 5 years of teaching, we were on a pay freeze. So I was at the bottom step of the teaching salary. The only way I could earn more money within that job for my family was to not move up on the scale, but to move over with the education. So to be entirely honest, I saw that if I pursued more education, I would have more income.

Dan C. Bearded [00:10:00]: So I did that. Another thing, this is not something I advise now looking back on it, but also I had student loans. And as long as I was a student, I could defer those student loans and not pay them. Now as a young twenties man that was trying to survive and get by on not the greatest salary in the world, that was enticing to me. But the real reason, the main reason I decided to pursue a second master's degree is at the end of my first master's degree where I wanted to be in administration, essentially a principal, I found out that that job and career did not suit my my strengths and my personality well. I think I would have done the job very well, but I believe my quality of life would not have been where I wanted it to be, and that was achieved by shadowing. Did all the classwork, did all the projects, all the studying. Once I actually got towards the end of it and it required hours to shadow different principals and different administrators, I realized what I loved about teaching, much of that was taken away on the administration side, and the things that I disliked about teaching were highlighted.

Dan C. Bearded [00:11:03]: Now the skills I learned, the the actual trait of having that master's to my name, unbelievably valuable. I do not regret one second of it. But I knew I wanted to continue for the reasons I mentioned earlier. But I also knew I loved education. And my biggest focus was how can I have the greatest umbrella of influence over education? How can I help as many people as possible? So I then went into curriculum development. And I really liked the concept of when I taught, I did project based learning. I looked through the lens of engagement because I wasn't a great student myself. And I encountered a lot of teachers that were all a students, that were in love with learning, and oftentimes, they would miss the students that were not loving learning.

Dan C. Bearded [00:11:45]: They would miss those students, and they would chalk it up to bad behavior. They'd chuck up these things and I would, like, kinda wipe my arms around and say, hey. That was me. I wasn't that engaged student. Think about teaching through this lens. And I really loved that concept of at least being able to give a little bit of perspective. And so I pursued the the curriculum development degree and absolutely loved it. And that would be my career right now if my YouTube channel and the other side of my life didn't start taking off at the exact same time to the point where I had some of the hardest decisions of my entire life, to the point where I'm not even a person that stresses.

Dan C. Bearded [00:12:20]: And my wife, she handles all that for us, but I I love being kind of low key and mellow. I ended up going to a dermatologist at the end of my master's degree, my second one, because I had job offers. While my YouTube channel was taking off, I had this rash that broke out all over my leg, and I've never had that before. I went in. It was a stress rash. My body was not used to this level of stress, and making the decision to take a job and a contract with my master's degree or take this shot on this other side of life that has no blueprint. It became a very tough decision, but I absolutely loved especially my second master's degree.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:12:55]: So let's talk about that transition because like I said at the very beginning, you have times in your life where the path may be very straight, and then there may be some where it's circuitous. And you completed your degrees. As you said, you had job offers on the table. You had opportunities, but you also had been doing some other things. So talk to me about how these graduate degrees, how the courses, the education, the knowledge that you attained in these, As you look now at the work that you're doing through Dancy Bearded and your YouTube channel, how are you utilizing that education in the work that you do every day?

Dan C. Bearded [00:13:36]: It seems like the most unrelated possible fields. I do YouTube for beard care. I help people trim their beards, style their beard. You would be shocked at how much it overlaps and even at times as a direct carbon copy. So for example, 2 weekends ago, I was flown out to San Antonio, Texas, and I was there for 4 days. I was the keynote speaker at the 2nd largest Barber and Beauty Expo in the world, only to be topped by the one in Orlando, which I also went to. And taken out there, I teach a class to barbers. This time, it was 40,000 different barbers.

Dan C. Bearded [00:14:09]: And I teach a class called the science of beards. And, essentially, I teach them for an hour, and then I have questions afterwards and content and all this stuff. But I teach them about how head hair is different than facial hair down to the sebaceous glands and the thickness and coarseness and all these different things. I am entirely creating curriculum that is missing from barber school. In barber school, they do not spend any time on facial hair, and it is all about the head hair. But anybody that goes to a barber assumes they're an expert with beards and facial hair because that's what they do. And barbers, the only ones that are successful at that are the ones that pursue the knowledge on their own outside of their own schooling. So I have taken the curriculum development masters and have actually made curriculum that never existed before just in an entirely different world.

Dan C. Bearded [00:14:54]: And then on the other side, the administration side for the master's degree, so much of that is how do you handle parents? How do you handle delicate situations? How do you handle confidential information? Well, on the YouTube channel, I get this is crazy. Right? Wild thought, but I get mean comments online. You know, the Internet is going to have something sassy to say, especially a guy that is grooming himself and taking care of himself with pride. You can imagine the comments that come with that. Was an administrator and especially as being a middle school teacher for 12 years, I lived in that world. I I understood what it was like to receive a emotional oftentimes, a hateful oftentimes comment, and be able to not only handle it, but take pride in turning it and getting them on my side and bringing that as a part of this community and what I've built over here. These skills that I've learned from both of those master degrees are imperative to the success that I've had, and I would be nowhere near where I'm at right now without those.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:15:48]: Now this show is all about graduate school success. You've shared a lot of different things in the journey that you went on. As you think about other individuals, other people that are thinking about graduate school, what are some tips that you might offer to others considering graduate education that might help them find success sooner?

Dan C. Bearded [00:16:06]: Great question. I like to talk to people. I love conversations like this. I love listening to podcasts. I don't know if I've ever heard someone regret their education. I don't know if I've ever heard someone say, I went I went too far. I got too many degrees. It's something that is always gonna be transferable.

Dan C. Bearded [00:16:22]: It's something that they will never be able to take away from you in a world that is oftentimes trying to minimize or take things away. And to find that success, especially for the graduate program, it's finding that skill set that you love that makes the most out of your strengths and then applying it to the program that's gonna fit you the best. I truly believe if you follow passion, success will follow. And a graduate program is an unbelievable kind of aid or, like, almost like a cheat code to that success when you fuel it with passion. So my biggest advice would be genuinely speaking. Find your passion. Find the program that's gonna fit to your schedule and your life and learning style the most, and then go full force on it. Absolutely go after it, and you'd be shocked at where the path can go, like you said, that you don't even see.

Dan C. Bearded [00:17:11]: You have no concept. You might have an idea in mind of this is where I wanna go. Be open to those changes, but understand that the education will always be there to help you along that journey.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:17:21]: Well, Dan, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for sharing your journey today, and I wish you all the best.

Dan C. Bearded [00:17:26]: Thank you so much for having me. This is absolutely amazing and hope to be back in the future. I could talk about this stuff all day.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:17:32]: The University of Michigan Flint has a full array of masters and doctorate programs if you are interested in continuing your education. Whether you're looking for in person or online learning options, the University of Michigan Flint has programs that will meet your needs. For more information on any of our graduate programs, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms to find out more. Thanks again for spending time with me as you prepare to be a victor in grad school. I look forward to speaking with you again soon as we embark together on your graduate school journey. If you have any questions or want to reach out, email me at [e-mail].