It started with a speech seven years ago where one producer asked me for the right to turn the story she heard into a movie.

Several months later, she brought in a couple of her producer friends who agreed to propel the project forward. They brought in a screenwriter who delivered a brilliant screenplay. And a genius film director who agreed to lead the project.

Countless rejections followed from prospective investors who felt the timing was wrong, the risk too high, the likelihood of success too low. And yet, 47 financial investors stepped forward, determined that despite the odds, the story was simply too important to not tell right.

So, into St. Louis came more than 200 outstanding crew members working tirelessly to support the work of 52 principal actors and more than a thousand background actors, all to get to the point last Friday that Director Sean McNamara excitedly proclaimed, “And that’s a wrap!”

My friends, two decades into a professional speaking career, the past several months have by far been the hardest I’ve worked. Early mornings, long days, late nights, tons of stress, lots of risk, a few tears…and yet, it was by far the most fun I’ve ever had working in my entire life.

It was also a crash course in learning about an industry I knew nothing about before this journey began. Today, I want to share with you three things I learned about making movies that have nothing to do with movies … and explain what they mean for you.