Tell me a little bit about your background and how you ended up choosing your field?
It all started by hopping on a plane with an airport bought copy of Tim Ferriss’s “The 4 Hour Work Week” and looking forward to women, drinks, and dancing while heading to Miami. I’ve always been fascinated by people and the creative process and back in 2010 I had a sneaky suspicion we were starting to replace human connection with technology. What was to become six days of hard partying resulted in me locking myself up in my hotel room and drawing up a business plan for my first venture. My biggest pain point that I wanted to solve was to return to a time of natural first impressions and a return to the dopamine rush of a solid first impression between two perfect strangers. This was something I studies in school as a gender and ethnic studies sociology major.
How do you personally define success? What does it mean to you?
I’m sure most entrepreneurs started out defining success solely by financial freedom and the luxury life. It was approximately around 2012 when I decided to retreat from the constant focus on money and more on personal growth. I applied the Pareto Principle to myself and learned I could get farther in life focusing on which virtues meant the most to me and looking at money as an illusion. Most of my personal brand is built on authenticity versus image, as tempting as it is to play out a façade I’ve felt more centered being myself. I actively seek out partnerships, both personal and business, that enrich me as a person and vice versa – to me this is continued success.
We are entering an era where everyone is interested in multiple income streams. How does one decide on a business to pursue?
I recommend a balanced diet of passions that lead to full expression. This is sort of like Peter from Office Space who went from the corporate drone to finding his passion through construction. We all want to find outlets that are an extension of us, if your day job isn’t fulfilling your “balanced meal” of passion then assess and execute. Once you find your passion fully exploit it. If you are passionate about fitness fully exploit all the income channels from selling supplements, attire, classes, seminars, and even online subscriptions. Something that sets me apart in the dating services space is that I’ve done it all from hosting speed dating events, date coaching, matchmaking, seminars, and even have wrote song lyrics related to dating.
What is the one mantra that you live your life by?
No matter how small or big I want to make ideas into reality. The power of focused affirmation really works, anything from setting your sights on running in the afternoon or your goal for scaling your business. Just last year I set my sights on receiving the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge while deployed to Kuwait. At that time, I suffered from plantar fasciitis, which for those unfamiliar feels like the base of your foot is constantly stepping on a marble. The challenge was there, and I could of easily gave up but the universe convinced me that this opportunity is presenting itself for me to overcome. Though I was one of the oldest to compete for this badge, after five events and nearly a 7-mile ruck march with 35lbs on my back, not even the pain of my foot was going to stop the tangibility of an idea. Continue to make the smallest ideas reality and you’ll surprise yourself when you start aiming for what may seem like the impossible.
What is your business all about?
The Dating Doc is my second venture under my Scenergy Dating LLC with the aim of having the singles community relook modern dating. It is a play on words between the gimmick of a doctor and that of a documentary of dating. We offer online and offline roap maps for dating success while also hosting a podcast that delves into specific topics such as how identify politics affect dating. Most counselors or therapists aren’t equipped to discuss both conflict resolution and strategies for Tinder – that’s where we come in.
How can you be reached if someone is interested in your products or services?
Visit us at thedatingdoc.com to view all of our products and services. For those that want a personal touch to any of their questions, me and my team are available at [email protected].