Unemployable with Jeff Dudan

Episode Title: After 20 Years He Walked Away and Rebuilt Everything From Scratch with Dustin Hillis
Release Date: April 13, 2026
Host: Jeff Dudan (Homefront Brands)
Guest: Dustin Hillis

Episode Overview

This episode of Unemployable features Dustin Hillis, a leader who walked away from a 20-year career at Southwestern to build something entirely new from scratch. Dustin shares candid reflections on the value of coachability in business, lessons learned from door-to-door sales, transitioning from direct sales to technology, and his new mission leading Safe Space Global Corporation—an AI-driven company focused on school safety and multimodal technologies. The conversation is rich with firsthand stories of resilience, leadership, and personal reinvention.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Most Important Business Superpower: Coachability

[00:00 - 04:29]

• Dustin’s pick for the most essential business skill: “Being coachable”
  • Definition: Eager and curious to learn, proactively seeks feedback, implements advice, iterates, and asks good questions, even if imperfect.
• Rarity: Dustin notes this trait is rare in all departments, not just sales—“The fact that they’re asking questions separates them from the pack.”
• Jeff’s anecdote: Relates coachability to his son’s fast career rise—“He doesn’t have an ego; he wants the right answer, not just his answer.”
• Is it innate or learned?
  • Dustin: "I think that some people naturally come about it easier than others. I do think it can be learned… humility is one of those things. Be careful if you ever pray for humility because… usually it’s pain and suffering that creates that humility." [02:43]
  • Lessons of humility often come from setbacks, not success.

Lessons from Door-to-Door Sales at Southwestern Advantage

[04:29 - 12:32]

• Culture comparison: Jeff likens Southwestern’s book sales to Cutco’s knives in terms of being a foundational, tough sales experience.
• Key takeaways from Southwestern:
  • Time management, self-discipline, accountability, overcoming rejection, goal setting.
  • "They throw you into the toughest environment known to man… selling door-to-door, 80 hours a week, straight commission, a thousand miles away from home." —Dustin [05:40]
  • High attrition akin to military boot camp.
• Dustin’s sales success story:
  • He became the #1 first-year salesperson by outworking others (“85 hours a week, 35 demos a day”) and focusing on the close before mastering the full script.
  • “You have to be dumb enough to be smart enough to be coachable.” —Dustin [07:31]
  • His “reverse” approach led to fast results and accidentally avoided the trap of overselling.

Early Entrepreneurial Roots

[12:32 - 14:24]

• Influence of Dustin’s father (entrepreneur and role model):
  • Father started a flooring business, later sold to Southwestern after reevaluating life priorities.
  • Full-circle moment: Dustin ended up in the exact same office his father had at Southwestern.
• Encouragement to put family first and define success on your own terms.

Restructuring and Expanding a Legacy Business

[14:24 - 21:28]

• Leading Southwestern Family of Companies:
  • Dustin drove a significant rebranding and streamlining of the company’s identity.
  • Oversaw or launched multiple businesses, including an insurance company, while managing multiple roles.
  • Key realization: Building scalable systems and processes is vital for handling multiple ventures.

Transition to Technology & Founding Safe Space

[21:28 - 23:35]

• After two decades in direct sales, Dustin founded All Things New Ventures to focus on emerging tech—especially AI and defense technologies.
• Macro trends Dustin identified for new ventures:
  • “Artificial intelligence is the future. It’s gonna be bigger than the Internet. Military technology is going to become a central focus of the world.” [21:58]
  • Sectors of interest: healthcare, education, school safety, transportation.
• His guiding philosophy: “Once you set your intentions, your goals, your vision for your life...God manifests things and puts people in your life… and crazy things happen.” [22:32]

Safe Space Global Corporation: Vision & Impact

[23:35 - 26:02]

• Company profile:
  • Publicly traded (SSGC), AI-driven safety technology, aiming for NYSE uplisting.
  • Offices in the US and Hyderabad, India.
• Four Core Verticals:
  1. School safety: AI-based weapons detection, automatic response, lockdown integration.
  2. Healthcare
  3. Education
  4. Transportation
• How the tech works:
  • AI detects weapons (even through cars at distance), automatically notifies authorities, can deploy drones with real-time response.
  • "As soon as a gun goes onto a school campus, this device will tell us that it is there, and our AI will tell you if it's a threat or not." —Dustin [24:03]
• Is it deterrent?
  • "Absolutely. They couldn’t even get in the school. The drone would be over their head, yelling at them. They would have the school locked down." [25:11]
• Affordability:
  • "What's the value of saving kids' lives?" [25:45]
  • The solution is said to be within most state budgets; currently in talks with Alabama and Tennessee for statewide rollouts.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Being coachable is doing all of those things… curious, asking questions, listening, applying feedback." —Dustin [00:19]
• “If you ever pray for humility…usually it's pain and suffering that creates that humility.” —Dustin [02:43]
• “You have to be dumb enough to be smart enough to be coachable.” —Dustin [07:31]
• “They throw you into the toughest environment known to man… selling door-to-door, 80 hours a week, straight commission, a thousand miles away from home.” —Dustin [05:40]
• “Artificial intelligence is the future. It's gonna be bigger than the Internet.” —Dustin [21:58]
• “What's the value of saving kids' lives?” —Dustin [25:45]
• Jeff: “You are a closer. You went right to the back page.” [25:49]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:00–04:29] — Coachability as the #1 business superpower
• [04:29–12:32] — Door-to-door sales grit and lessons from Southwestern
• [12:32–14:24] — Dustin’s early entrepreneurial influences and full-circle family story
• [14:24–21:28] — Leadership, acquisitions, and running multiple companies at the Southwestern Family of Companies
• [21:28–23:35] — Identifying macro trends and pivoting into technology
• [23:35–26:02] — Safe Space Global: AI, school safety innovation, state partnerships

Final Thoughts

Dustin Hillis’s journey from sales prodigy to CEO and tech entrepreneur is packed with actionable insights—especially on the power of coachability, grit, intentional reinvention, and aligning ventures to the world’s urgent needs. The episode inspires entrepreneurs to embrace humility, actively seek growth, and boldly rebuild—even after decades at the top of one field. Safe Space’s mission to make schools safer with cutting-edge AI brings a practical and meaningful application of these entrepreneurial lessons.