I know this is not an easy job. What drives you?
By always taking a moment to pause and remembering my “why’s.” At the micro level, I want to be able to retire my entire family, especially my parents, at an early age, and to also be able to fully provide for future generations of my family so that money will never be an issue as to why they couldn’t have a life they deserved. At the macro, I want to be leave behind a legacy and make as much impact as possible. I genuinely believe that everyone deserves to live the lifestyle that was meant for them, but they just need the inspiration to get there. What really drives me is the thought of 10 years down the line, people will say “Yeah… because of Danny, I was able to finally live life on my own terms and do things I’m passionate about.” My mission is to inspire the next generation of 9-5 dropouts to start doing shit they love.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? What lesson did you learn from them?
I owe a lot to one of my professors back at San Jose State University, Steve Bennet. He was the one who helped jumpstart my entire career. I would say that the only valuable thing that I got out of my time at SJSU was from his invite-only class, which was focused on hands-on experiential learning for entrepreneurship. He helped me with my very first internship at a start-up company that he was an investor in, and that entire experience sparked my passion for marketing and entrepreneurship. I can say is that, if it weren’t for him and that experience he helped me with, I wouldn’t have the guts to be doing what I am today.
How do you push through your worst times?
Of course to always remember my “why’s.” I also like to surround myself with people multiple levels more successful than me. Seeing their success is not only inspiring, but being able to look at them in the eye, shake their hand, and have a meaningful conversation, makes that level of success real, attainable, and sparks more of that hunger.