Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Bennett.
Hi Dan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started my career behind the camera, producing content for large brands like Harley-Davidson, Bud Light, and even Nerf.
I met some amazing people, the checks always cleared, but the work wasn’t very fulfilling.
Coming home to Flint, Michigan after working for major companies across the country made something crystal clear.
My small business neighbors couldn’t afford the kind of services I was providing for big corporations.
That realization made it hard to sleep at night and sent me on a journey to figure out how to help the people right in my own backyard.
In 2017, I made a change. I stepped out from behind the camera and in front of it, creating video content for my own brand, and that moment changed everything. I realized my filmmaking background made that transition relatively easy for me.
Then it hit me: if I could strip away the theory and jargon from filmmaking and leave only the framework and bones of great video in place, I could teach professionals, creators, and entrepreneurs how to make their own high-quality content.
That’s when I started helping people build in-home and office studios so they could record whenever inspiration struck. I wanted to show that video doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive to be powerful. It just has to be high quality and authentic.
When the world shut down in 2020, we had to find out if we could still help people set up studios without being there in person. Could we do it remotely and still get the same results? Turns out, we could, and we did.
Today my company, Hot Sauce Video, helps remarkable people look and sound great on camera every week through three distinct offerings:
Hot Sauce Studio – helping people all over the globe build flexible, sustainable home or office studios remotely.
Hot Sauce Strategy – helping clients get real results from their video efforts by leveraging a custom video strategy.
Hot Sauce Editing – helping people buy back their time and post production pain through our subscription-based editing service.
As we approach the end of 2025 we are getting ready to put a bow on our biggest year ever and we are laser focused on helping individuals, teams, and businesses who film themselves achieve the impact they deserve through high-quality video content.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be. Growth rarely happens when things are easy.
Like many people, we lost everything in 2020 and had to completely start over from scratch.
There were plenty of moments when I questioned whether the idea of helping people remotely build studios would even work. The early days were full of trial and error, figuring out how to translate years of hands-on experience into clear guidance that clients could follow on their own. Every small success came from dozens of behind-the-scenes adjustments.
There were also challenges that came with growing a business in a way that stayed true to my values. I know I’ve left a lot of money on the table over the past five years simply because of how we choose to do business at Hot Sauce Video. As the company scaled, I had to learn to trust my team, create systems, and protect the level of quality that defines what we do.
Most importantly, I had to build a business that creates space for my team to have creative freedom and autonomy, while also putting guardrails in place that keep them safe and paid. That part wasn’t easy, but it forced me to think more like a leader and less like a one-man production crew.
On the personal side, the shift from creative technician to teacher, mentor, and founder came with its own learning curve. It took time to find the balance between serving clients, managing a team, and staying creatively inspired. That journey of learning continues today as I keep entering new territory because of our tremendous growth.
Looking back, those rough patches are what made the company stronger. The struggles made me more grateful as we built a team, and they shaped how we operate, how we serve, and how we plan for continued growth.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Hot Sauce Video?
My business is called Hot Sauce Video.
We help remarkable people look and sound great on camera. That includes professionals, creators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who know they need to show up on video but want to do it with confidence, clarity, and quality that represents how amazing they are in everyday life.
We specialize in three areas that work together to make that possible:
Hot Sauce Studio helps people all over the world build flexible, professional home or office studios remotely.
Hot Sauce Strategy helps clients use video intentionally so every piece of content actually leads somewhere and drives results.
Hot Sauce Editing helps people buy back their time through our subscription-based editing services, making consistent, high-quality content easy to maintain.
What sets us apart is how personal and hands-on our process is. We don’t just teach video; we build systems around people’s real spaces, business goals, and personal challenges. Every setup, every strategy, and every edit is designed to help them look and sound like the best version of themselves and their brands.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud of our ability to simplify something that once felt complicated and make it feel achievable for everyday professionals. My favorite complimentary feedback is anytime someone says a version of “This wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be”.
Our clients don’t just walk away with videos; they walk away feeling confident, empowered, and equipped to grow their business with video for years and years to come.
What does success mean to you?
For me, success isn’t just about growth or numbers. It’s about seeing people come alive through the work we do.
When a client finally sees themselves on camera looking confident and natural, that’s success. When they realize they can create high-quality video on their own, in their own space, that’s success too. And when they start using video in ways they never imagined before, that’s success at its best.
Those moments remind me why I started this business in the first place.
It’s also about my team. I want everyone at Hot Sauce Video to feel proud of what we create together and to have the space to grow both personally and professionally. Building this company beyond myself and empowering a diverse group of creative professionals to shape how we grow and how we deliver for our clients—that is success.
Creating a business that supports creative freedom, fair pay, and mutual respect means more to me than any milestone we could hit on paper.
At the end of the day, success is doing meaningful work with people who care, serving clients who believe in what we do, and finishing each week knowing we helped others make their mark on the world.
Pricing:
- Hot Sauce Editing $1,575/$2,550 (Increasing in 2026)
- Hot Sauce Studio $1,500 + equipment (Increasing in 2026)
- Hot Sauce Strategy $2,500 (Increasing in 2026)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://HotSauce.Video
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/HotSauceVideo
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HotSauceVideo
- LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/HotSauceVideo
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HotSauceVideo
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@HotSauceVideoYT
- Other: https://DanHasLinks.com
Image Credits
Headshot – Alexandria C. Green
