What Most Business Owners Get Wrong

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. Today, we have Daniel Marcos with the Growth Institute, and Daniel Flynn from Austin, Texas to talk about the journey from entrepreneur to CEO. Now I am on a mission to create 100 millionaires, and the information on this podcast alone is enough for you to become a millionaire in the next five to seven years. If you'll take consistent action, you will become one.

Now I am having deep conversations with business owners right now that are facing a lot of uncertainty. Right now, what I'm offering, I don't do this all the time, is a dedicated one hour diagnostic call to talk about you and your business. The call is recorded and will be emailed to you to keep afterwards. Now we're gonna discuss exactly where you are in your business today, what you want your business and personal life to look like, and what the exact challenges you're facing right now that's preventing you to getting you where you want to go. At the end, I may suggest a couple of actions or a couple of products.

It might be one of my products or a partner's products. The cost of these products are gonna range from free to a lot of money. I'm just being totally honest with you. If this is something you might find valuable, go to stevetrangdiagnostic.com. And this show is brought to you by our sister company, Investor Lift.

Get over to get access to over 2,000,000 cash buyers across the country. Go to investorlift.com, put in disruptors to get 10% off. And, we're gonna be diving really deep into Daniel's world, so, you know, be patient with me. There's a lot to unpack. I'm really excited about this episode.

You ready?

Daniel Marcos: Ready. Thanks for the invitation.

Steve: Oh, it's totally my honor. I got a chance to listen to you speak at Collective Genius. I was totally blown away. Actually shared one of my biggest tidbits from it and, you know, kinda got viral for it. Thanks to you.

Nice. So just an FYI. So it was about how to excise cancer from your company. Right? Because that

Daniel: We have those.

Steve: Everyone talks about, you know, excising cancer and, like, you know, we'd say, oh, just get rid of cancer. Get rid of cancer without any kind of strategy behind it.

Daniel: Yeah. Right?

Steve: So before we jump into this, you wanna talk about the strategy for excising cancer?

Daniel: So so I always talk about this chart of nine boxes. Right? Mhmm. I I always rank employees in nine boxes. So the further to the right are people that produce a lot of money.

Right? They're they're very productive. And the higher is the ones that are more aligned with your core values.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So if you are on the top right, you're an a player. Right?

Steve: Love having you.

Daniel: Love having you. Yes. And you love them for any all the reasons. Yeah. They're great producing, but they're also in core values.

They come they're they're they're really engaged with the company. They do whatever they have to do to be successful. What I call the the cancer or the or the difficult rock star is the one that is on the right but on the bottom. Mhmm. And it's someone that if they leave your company today, you will cry because they're really productive.

They do 30% of your revenue. But you know that in the long term, you cannot work with them. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I call them the cancer because whenever you identify cancer in someone's body, you don't remove it immediately. You do chemotherapy so you could decrease their power and once they're weaker, then you remove them. That's what you have to do. You have to identify the person and you take probably six months to a year in debilitating the position and the person. Mhmm.

And once it's debilitated enough and then your business will not suffer. That's when you exit them. Yeah. It takes around six months to a year to do it right.

Steve: Yeah. So that was a video I did based off your conversation. Yeah. A lot of you served, so thank you.

Daniel: My pleasure.

Steve: So what was your life like before you became an entrepreneur?

Daniel: So I grew up in Mexico. I was born in Montreal, Mexico, live in Mexico City. And I was a typical happy kid, did really bad in school like most entrepreneurs. The only part that was a little bit different, I've always take a lot of risks.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I had a lot of accidents when I was a kid. When I was one year eleven days old, I had I was a baby. Mhmm. I burned my house down.

Steve: Burn your house down. Down.

Daniel: So quick story. I don't know if you remember back then, the paint was very thick and you need to thin it with some thinner.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: There was this other thing. So before you paint, you had to mix them and then put the paint. There was this guy painting the garage in my parents' house, and he left for lunch and left left a bucket of dinner open. And I was one year old. I was learning to walk, and it looks like I was crawling, and I kind of grabbed the bucket, tried to stand up.

And I kind of threw it. The bucket fell on top of me, went to the boiler, and blew up. So, I my mom heard the noise of the boom, and then the lady that was supposed to be caring for me start shouting because there was fire all over, and there was me in the middle. So my mom came running from the 2nd Floor, and she looks into the garage, and I'm walking in fire in the middle. So she ran into the fire, My mom.

Steve: You're right. But you're on fire?

Daniel: I was completely on fire. Completely on fire. She ran, hugged me, and then, like, hugged me so she could turn the fire out. Run to the street. The first car that was moving on street, stopped the car, said take me to the hospital.

Mhmm.

Steve: And

Daniel: we got into the hospital and the doctor, as soon as they receive us, they said, okay. Your son goes here. You go here. And my mom said, like, no. No.

I'm going to go with my son. And I was like, no. We have to treat you. And my mom said, treat me of what? She was all burned.

She didn't realize she was burned. Like, she was so worried. And I lived in a hospital, like, six or seven months. Had several operations.

Steve: And

Daniel: today, I'm in perfect shape. But Mhmm. If you see my face, I'm burned here.

Steve: Wow.

Daniel: My stomach, I'm over burned. My knees. At that moment, I had eighty three percent of my body, with thirty degree burns. Wow. But something that you don't realize, I was so small, I was a baby, that a lot of new skin grow.

Mhmm. And that moment was 80%. Today is probably 15%.

Steve: Oh, wow. Okay.

Daniel: So so I was very lucky that it was very, very early.

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: And I got run over by a car when I was 11, and I had all these accidents when I was kid. Talking about big, a lot of risk tolerance.

Steve: Uh-huh. I

Daniel: had a lot of risk tolerance. Yeah. I was bad at in school, had a lot of risk tolerance, but I I was always had this certain charm Mhmm. And and have a good way to connect with people.

Steve: Well, I can sense that for sure. So went to so you grew up Monterey.

Daniel: In Mexico City.

Steve: In Mexico City. You grew up, went to college.

Daniel: I went to college in Monterey, industrial engineer.

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: And at that moment, when I was graduating, I started looking for a job in a factory. So industrial engineer is all about making a factory more efficient.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And at that moment, the Japanese factories was the most efficient factories in the world. And everything I learned was about Japan and and just in time and all these things. So I wanted to go to live in Japan to learn how to do it. And also because when I was applying to jobs in Mexico, the starting salary was $700 a month. And I was like, how can I get a college of the best engineers school in the country and make $700 a month?

Yeah. So I, started looking around how to go to Japan, and my brother was working in New York as a trader. And he said, they just changed my boss. And I was like, what happened to your boss? Well, my boss was sent to Hong Kong to be the general, counsel in in Hong Kong of the Mexican government, the the ambassador of the council.

So I said, hey. Give me his phone number. If he's in Hong Kong, he's closer to Japan. So I called the guy and said, hey. I'm the little brother Ernesto.

Can you help me get a job in Japan? And the guy said, hey. I have a job opening here in Hong Kong. Why don't you come to Hong Kong? And from here, I'll help you jump to Japan.

Steve: That's awesome.

Daniel: And I was like, on. So my first job out of college, I was a financial attache in the Mexican consulate, in Hong Kong for two years. Okay. You know, Hong Kong was part of England Mhmm. And went back to China.

Steve: English province.

Daniel: I was there the day Chris Patten got into the train to the boat and said goodbye and we're all Oh. So I was there for the handover. For the handover. So so interestingly, let me just quick story. So he had a special position that it was just a two year job.

It was a year before the handover and the year after the handover because Hong Kong, all all the big events of the world happened in Hong Kong. The World Bank meeting and all these kind of things were there. Mhmm. And he had a lot of extra work. So he had a position for two years, and I was the one that filled that position.

Steve: So, is that involved with your industrial engineering degree, or this is something Nothing to

Daniel: do with it.

Steve: Okay. I didn't think it did.

Daniel: So interesting. He was a he was a financial guy. In Mexico, whenever you were in government at high levels, and instead of firing you or sending you home, they usually give you an embassy or a consulate. Mhmm. And that's kind of your process to get out of Retirement.

Retirement. Mhmm. And he was sent to be the consul general in Hong Kong. He used to be the head of the Mexican Central Bank in New York, and he was a trader. I worked Super well connected.

Super well connected. And I the last three years in college, I was working in a brokerage house in the floor. I was the guy doing the trading.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So I connected with him through that, and he said that you know finance, you know industrial engineering, come and work for me for two years.

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: So I worked in government for my first two years.

Steve: Okay. Did you go to Japan?

Daniel: I did not. Okay. So quick story. Back then, this was 1997, 1998.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: The Internet boom. And I was reading all these magazines of these kids making millions of dollars.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I was like, I need to do this. So after my two years, resigned, came back to Mexico, and opened my first company. What was

Steve: your first company?

Daniel: I build the first fintech in Mexico. I was the first one to put financial information online for the Mexican market. So I was the first one to put stock quotes and news and everything from the Mexican stock market online 1998. Wow. So long time ago.

Yeah. So

Steve: how was that business? How was that business?

Daniel: We did great. So I started running that. I was the biggest one in the country. I was the first one. Mhmm.

But we got pretty good traffic. We started going very fast. And one day, I got a call from my competitor. I had a competitor in Argentina

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Called Patagon. And they already had operation in Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela. And I was the biggest one in Mexico, and he called me and said, hey. I'm raising $50,000,000 from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. You want to be with me or against me?

And I was like, okay. What's the price? Yeah. And the guy said, I'm I'm sending you a plane ticket. I'll see you tomorrow morning in Argentina.

Mhmm. So I flew over there to Argentina, and he told me all the plan. He said, hey, I'm gonna be straight with you. I'm raising $50,000,000. I want to be the biggest one in Latin America.

But when I went to JPMorgan to ask for the money, they say, if you don't have Mexico and Brazil, you're nothing.

Steve: If

Daniel: you understand Latin America, Mexico and Brazil are the the 800 pound gorillas

Steve: compared

Daniel: to every other country. Just to give you an idea, Mexico, the PEMEX, the Mexican oil company, just PEMEX is bigger than Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela's GDP combined. Okay. So Mexico and Brazil are really big compared to the rest.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So JP Morgan told this guy, hey. We love your strategy. We love what you're trying to do. But if you don't have Mexico and Brazil, you're nothing. Mhmm.

Bring me the best operation in Mexico and Brazil, and I'll give you the money. So he called the number one trader in Brazil. I was the number one in Mexico. We merged. Next week, we went to, New York, and we said, okay.

We have five countries. Now we're all together. Here's the contract. Mhmm. And we raised $53,000,000 at a valuation of a 100,000,000 at that time.

Wow. We were in all the companies, we're probably 80 employees. We're doing, like, 5,000,000 revenue. We value the company at a 100,000,000 and raised 53.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And then six months later after that, we end up selling it to Santander, the thirteenth biggest bank in the world. Okay. Anko Santander is the biggest bank in Spain, but they're very big in Latin America. They have operations all over Latin America, and we sold the company for 753,000,000, six months after that.

Steve: So you did pretty well here, I imagine.

Daniel: I did decently well for that time.

Steve: For that time?

Daniel: Yeah.

Steve: Why would you just continue working after that?

Daniel: First, we did very well in paper, and then we did not do that well in money after the bank. Okay. So here's something that happens as entrepreneurs, and I made that mistake. First, you get a lot of money in paper and you think that you're worth that money. Mhmm.

And until the money doesn't hit your bank, you're not like that.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So at the moment, we were worth a lot in paper in stock. I had a lot of stock.

Steve: You had a you had a net worth.

Daniel: A net worth that it was pretty big.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: But in cash in my bank was not that bad. Hey. I was 25 and I was making $3,400,000 back in 1999. But in today's world is, like, a million. Right?

Mhmm. On my 25. So it was in cash flow, it was good. But in stock, I had several million. Mhmm.

And then the company had a lot of trouble. We hired IBM to build us a software. $28,000,000. It didn't work. It took us two years to build the software and 28,000,000 in cash and it didn't work.

Steve: So $28,000,000.

Daniel: 28. Invested. Invested in Two years. In two years. Oh, plus, like, a 100 team members from our team.

Plus 28 that we pay IBM. It didn't work.

Steve: What do you mean it didn't work? It didn't work.

Daniel: We we so they said, okay. It's ready. It didn't turn on. Okay. Let me change this.

It didn't turn. I need we're two months every day. Never worked. Wow. It never worked.

And that started the demise of the company, and then we went on.

Steve: Well, yeah. That's $20,000,000 is a lot of money to invest to go nowhere.

Daniel: 28. Indeed, after I left, the guy that kept the the the shell of the company, sued IBM and won 41.

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: So the person that kept the the shell company ended up making some money at the end.

Steve: So he did okay?

Daniel: He did okay. He did very well.

Steve: What did you do with, after that? I mean, because it's kinda dispiriting. It's a little discouraging.

Daniel: So I I I was really tired. I worked probably eighteen hours a day for three years. It was it was tough.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I opened the first online banking license in the country. We opened, like, five more countries. And then we acquired banks in Spain and Germany. And we we bought two telephone banks and convert them to online banks.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So it was it was a lot of work. And by the time I left, I had a bad conversation with, a top executive at Santander. And I said, Santander acquired us

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: And I had a really bad conversation with one of the main guys at Santander. And I says, it's time for me to leave in the middle of conversation. And the guy said, okay. I expect your resignation letter in an hour.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And that was it. So I left in an I went home and I was I'm gone. And my wife's like, what do you mean you're gone? And I was like, I told the guy that I was suffering my resignation. The guy said, taken.

So What led to that? I had to hire a CEO. So let me go a little bit back. In Mexico, there's probably 15 banks in the whole country. In The US, there's like a 100 banks just in Texas.

Right? Mexico is very different. You have natural banks. So I went to the government and asked for a banking license and it took me two years of work and around 2 and a half million dollars of lawyers. And one day, I got a call and said, hey.

You passed everything you need to pass. We have just one problem. And I was like, what's the problem? He said, you're 28 years old. We cannot give a banking license to a 28 year old kid that has never worked in the bank.

And I was like, okay. That sounds coherent. So they told me go and raise or bring a a banker and we'll give you a license.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So I went to Conferry and said I need a banker. So Conferry took around a week, gave me, like, 20 resumes, and said, these are the 20 people that we believe we could get you.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I sent them to a banking commission and said, these 20, who will you approve? And they approved three. I said, okay. Great.

Steve: That's a smart way

Daniel: to do it. Yeah.

Steve: You didn't say I have I have this guy. It'll work. It's like, which one is good enough for you?

Daniel: That's correct.

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: I sent them the rest of us. And they approved three out of the 20.

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: And then I went and pursued them and got one of them.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And then he started working for us and now he was the CEO of Mexico because we needed that for a bike license. And he and I start kind of going our own way, different ways. Mhmm. And one day I said, what you're doing, I don't like it. And the guy said, I don't care if you want a resignation now.

And I was like, I'm out.

Steve: So you placed the CEO Yeah.

Daniel: And then you fired.

Steve: And then you submitted your resignation to him.

Daniel: Yeah. Some months after, but yes.

Steve: What was the conversation, though? I mean, there should have been some loyalty there, some It

Daniel: was a strategy of where we should go with the business.

Steve: Got it. So just different visions?

Daniel: Just different visions. Okay. I wanted to do something completely different that he wanted. And he said, but I'm the CEO? And I was like, yeah.

But you don't know what you're saying. Like, I've been I built this business. And he said, I'm gonna do it my way because I'm the CEO. And I was like, I don't want to be here. Yeah.

It was time for me to leave.

Steve: So somewhere along the way Yep. You created you did some mortgages.

Daniel: After that. Yeah. So so I I I do that. I took two years off.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I did, like, sixteen months around the world trip. So I

Steve: had That doesn't sound so bad.

Daniel: I had some money on the bank. Mhmm. I was just married for a year, no kids. Yeah. So I went back home that night.

Steve: Sixteen month honeymoon.

Daniel: Yeah. I told my wife, hey. We have some money, no kids. Do you mind that we travel? And she was like, well, the house and, you know, all these things.

And I said, let's put the house for rent.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And if we rent it, we'll go. We put it for rent, like, in a week. The day we put it for rent, we got an executive from Switzerland working for for, Nestle Mhmm. And they rented a house in cash for, like, $5,000. And I was like, we're out.

So we just went around the world. We bought a run the world ticket with United, you know, Star Alliance, and did, like, a sixteen month trip around the world.

Steve: That's incredible.

Daniel: It was awesome.

Steve: So then at some point, you come back.

Daniel: So I did my MBA in Babson. So after that, went to do an MBA in Babson in Boston, and then moved to Austin and opened a mortgage bank. Okay. At that moment, there were two very, very important trends in The US. Mhmm.

The first one was the Hispanic market. I I don't know if you remember the census of 2,000 in The US. That's the first time the market realized how big the Hispanic market was. Got it. It was mostly illegal, or undocumented Mhmm.

People in The US, and they have never understood their purchasing power

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: In the sense of 2000 was like a a super awakening. And then 2004, it was the big push for homeownership. Yeah. Henry Cisneros was the CEO was the, secretary of HUD, and he had a mandate to increase homeownership in The US, like, by five points, especially with minorities. Mhmm.

And that's what created the subprime disaster that we had.

Steve: So was it you saw the environment and then you created the mortgage?

Daniel: So when I was in Babson, I I was designing my next business, and I started learning a lot about trends. And for me, the two trends that were most aligned with me was finance Mhmm. Mortgages, housing, and Hispanics. I said, if I Hispanic, I know how to do that. So I moved to Austin, opened a mortgage bank to finance undocumented Hispanics.

That was

Steve: So I love that you said design my next business.

Daniel: It has to be by design.

Steve: Because we kinda fall into, like, you know, my first, experience in self on entrepreneurship. Right? Self employment. I bought the rental properties, whatever. And my first time working for myself was a realtor.

Yep. And, it's been a good experience. But what I learned about the realtor industry, and you probably learned this as well because you're in mortgages or were in mortgages, is that most realtors fall into that row Yes. World. No one's like, I'm gonna go and become a realtor.

It's like, well, that looks interesting.

Daniel: Have any other thing. I'll be a realtor.

Steve: Yeah. You fall back

Daniel: into it. So let me tell you a quick story because it goes exactly to that. 2007, the market changed dramatically.

Steve: Yeah. That's when I got licensed, by the way.

Daniel: You got licensed 2007? Yeah. I got out 2007. So I had raised money and everything. And I called my investors and said, hey.

The market for subprime and Hispanics has completely dried. Oh, yeah. We have two options. Or we convert to the English market and we go prime with the English market or we shut down the business. And they say, I think we need to have a meeting so we could get the data.

So I drove to Dallas. Most of my investors were in Dallas. We met in Dallas, and we I showed them all the trends and everything that I was seeing. And at the end, one of the investors asked me, and what would you do? Like, you personally.

Like, what do you prefer? And I said, I would shut down the business. And the guy said, why would you shut it down? I said, because I hate working here. And the guy's like, what do you mean you hate working here?

Like It's

Steve: your company.

Daniel: It's your company. You invite us to invest? And I said, I didn't realize that I was coming from an industry with highest, not quality, but determination people, Internet, back in the February. Mhmm. The people that were more tolerant to risk and better educated jumping through Internet.

And I said, here, I'm the people with have the lowest standards in the world. And it's horrible. Like like, it's it's depressing to go to work every day because a lot of people default into real estate. Mhmm. And the guy said they even look at each other and said, like, okay.

Shut it down. And I was like, thank you. But but that's that was it. I I was it was it was a very uncomfortable industry

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Because of that. I'm I'm sorry to say, but it's reality. A lot of people default into real estate. Yeah. Mortgages, insurance, all the things that are around real estate.

Steve: Yeah. So what was the so you start you say you started in 2004?

Daniel: 2004, and I shut it down 2007.

Steve: So what was that experience like? You know, because you you saw this trend. Well, I guess before we get into that, I mean, you're talking about you discovered the trend. Like, what are you doing to discover the trends? Like

Daniel: So I I read a lot.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: When I said I read a lot, I've read probably 1,200 business books. Yeah. And I read a lot news. I'm I'm I'm a a junkie of knowledge. Yeah.

And one of the things that I like a lot is trends. Mhmm. As an example, today, what's the biggest trend that I'm seeing? China and and The US fighting.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: We're gonna geopolitically restructure the world completely in the next five years. And people are not seeing it.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I talk with real estate investors in The US. They said, well, the market is not that bad. It's gonna have some and I was like, no. You don't get it. Like, I really believe 2023 or whatever recession is not gonna start in The US.

It's gonna start in Europe or China, and we're gonna get hit in The US.

Steve: Well, I mean, we're kinda seeing it already with China. We haven't felt it. Yeah. We haven't felt it, but it's happening.

Daniel: It's happening.

Steve: They're they're they're massively overbuilt, And what they're doing in China what they've been doing in China is not that different than what we did in 2006 and 2007.

Daniel: That's correct.

Steve: But no one's really talking about that.

Daniel: But but here's the difference. In The US, probably, we have 10 or 50% of our assets in real estate.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: In China, like, 40% of assets of the families. Yeah. So it's gonna get bad. And that's not the only issue that is happening in China. I don't know if you saw, Marie Garland, the what's the head of the security of The US.

Steve: Mhmm. Yeah. Department of Justice.

Daniel: The Department of Justice. Yeah. He gave a press release last Monday. Lasted, like, twenty five minutes. They have captured around 20 Chinese nationals

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Directed by the Chinese Communist

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Party to steal, information in The US and technology. Yeah. And they got them a couple of weeks ago. Mhmm. That's gonna be bad.

Yeah. So so Biden, two weeks before that, sent a information to Americans working for 21 companies that serve Chinese companies or were Chinese companies.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And the message in few words said, you have two options. Are you resign or you lose your American citizenship? Yeah. It's gonna get bad.

Steve: Yeah. I read that too, and there's not a lot of conversation about that.

Daniel: I don't understand. Like, it's a tectonic shift in the world.

Steve: Yeah. Well, it's not just that. The other thing I read was that, they're no longer, they they created a collusion, right, of of all the countries that we are no longer going to supply technological information to China.

Daniel: That is true.

Steve: Right? Yep. And that's the reason why this China Taiwan thing just keeps getting more and more tense.

Daniel: So so here's what The US said. If I want to strangle China Mhmm. How can I do it? You could do it financially, but they said China does not produce any chips. They don't have the technology and the knowledge to do it.

Steve: Right.

Daniel: They're all producing Taiwan or The US. Mhmm. They said that we could remove or strangle the access to chips Mhmm. They're gonna go on there. Yeah.

That's what they're doing. Right. So it's it's it's a way to choke China. Everyone said China was gonna overtake The US. China GDP could lose 30% of GDP in the next five years.

Yeah. And no one is talking about it as you said.

Steve: No one I'm I'm I'm seeing articles here and there about it.

Daniel: CNN should have it front and center as the number one news. Yeah. No one's talking about it. Yeah. I love to read these kind of things.

Mhmm. Like, trends geopolitically and all that, I love that. That's that's that's part of my

Steve: There's a lot of topic here, but where do you see this going then in the next few years?

Daniel: So I think we're gonna go from a globalized world to a regionalized world.

Steve: So we're going backwards as far as globalization.

Daniel: Yeah. So we we've been going towards globalization since the end of second world world to now, like, around eighty years. And by the way, if you see Ray Dalio and all these guys, they talk about these economic cycles of around eighty years. Mhmm. So we're at the end of this economic cycle.

I think we're gonna go back to regionalism. And the countries that did the best in globalism are the countries that export. The countries that are gonna do the best in regionalized or nationalized trends are the ones who have an internal market. The US has by far the biggest internal market.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Let me let me walk you through GDP. US let me let me just put this in context. The GDP of the world in the 2000, when we crossed the the 2000 year, we were on $20,000,000,000,000 a

Steve: year. Mhmm.

Daniel: Today, we're $90,000,000,000,000 a year. So we've grown the world four and a half times in twenty two years Mhmm. GDP. The US today, it's around $21,000,000,000,000 of economy. The next country is China, 17.

So China, if it continue in the trends that it was, it was gonna overcome The US. I don't think it's gonna happen. The next one is Japan with five. Like, it's it's a third of China.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And Japan is has so much so many older people that it's it's

Steve: It's a glassware economy.

Daniel: Yeah. And it's gonna get smaller. Yeah. Then after that, you have, like, Germany with, like, 3.8. Mhmm.

And then you have whatever. And England. And then you have India with 2.6. India is doing amazing. Mhmm.

But it's 2.6 against 21. Right. There's no way that's gonna get close to The US in the next twenty or thirty years. So there's no one that could overtake The US. Yeah.

I think The US is gonna come back way stronger, than in the past.

Steve: I hope you're right. I'm not I'm not as as optimistic.

Daniel: So I am worried socially of what's happening in The US.

Steve: Mhmm. But

Daniel: economically, no one could touch The US.

Steve: Yeah. So we will see. So, you know, you talk about your you know, you you you, born and raised in Mexico. Right? Like, we come from China.

Right? So I'm Chinese. We're talking about, you know, China. Like, my grandparents, right, had the pleasure of losing everything due to due to socialism slash communism. Right?

And they fled to Vietnam Yep. To blossom as entrepreneurs, as, as merchants

Daniel: Yep.

Steve: To do well again Yep. To lose everything Again. Due to socialism slash communism. Yep. Right?

People say, oh, but it's different. Right? No. Like, you can't have socialism without communism. Right?

It it goes hand in hand. And so I am fearful for everything I see, today. So go ahead.

Daniel: I agree. I am really worried socially, but social divide. Ray Dalio has a saying that I really like. He said, the ahemones are the leading countries of the world. They don't die because they get attacked by someone else.

They die from internal.

Steve: Yeah. It's always from within.

Daniel: So it yes. It can happen. I have a lot of trust in The US that The US is able to reinvent itself

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And the the system and institutions work.

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: So for me, one of the biggest proof that The US is gonna be able to turn around, the day of January 6. There was an attack of the capital. The senators have to flee because they thought they were gonna be killed. Mhmm. They came back at 2AM to certify the elections.

Yeah. I was blown away. That's when you know the institutions work. Yeah. So I hope

Steve: I hope you're right.

Daniel: Will hurt. I hope that I will work.

Steve: So who who guided you? Right? Because you went to I mean, you had a lot of people help you kinda get you to where you

Daniel: are. Yes.

Steve: Who were the people that helped you along the way in in in getting from, you know, growing up in, in in Mexico all the way to where you are right now? Because you're you're leading a lot of people.

Daniel: Yes.

Steve: Right? How do you who helped you along the way?

Daniel: I've always had mentors. And going back a little bit of the charisma that I said when I was a kid, I've always had people that come to me and said, hey. I like what you're doing. I like your capabilities.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Can I help you? And I've I've I've asked several of them, but several have, come to me. First, my parents. It's crazy how good of parents they are. Indeed, when I got in trouble, and I tell the story often, when when I closed the mortgage business, I got into a depression.

I I really felt really bad with myself, and and I had some economic challenges and all that. And my parents sent me a letter. And the letter said, in life gives you very little very few moments to learn really fast, And life is giving you one moment today. Mhmm. And because you have so much pain, you're not willing to learn.

Yeah. I think we need to put things on the table and learn. So I called my parents and said, I'm open. What do you want to do? Why don't we hire this guy, moderator, to moderate a conversation?

And let's have a conversation. And we go into a room like this, four white walls. My father, my mom, my wife, the trainer, and myself. And we spent three days. And we went through everything in my life, how I take risk about thing.

It was it was it was rough. But it helped a lot to clarify a lot of things in my life. So first, my parents.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Brilliant. Indeed, quick story. One day, I was gonna give a presentation in Monterey. Monterey is my hometown. And while people were sitting down, I was kind of walking in the front.

And this older guy in his sixties or seventies, he said, hey, who are you? Like, you know in Monterey, it's a very small city. Okay. They everyone knows each other. They got like, who are you?

Who are you, Sonoff? And I was like, Ernesto. And he was like, Sonoff Ernesto? Wow. And where do you live?

And I was like, I live in Austin, Texas. And he said, well, the the daughter of a friend lives in Austin, Texas. And I was like, oh, and we're very few Mexicans live in Austin. Who is it? And he gives the name.

And I was like, yeah. He's my father-in-law. I'm married with with his daughter. The guy, like, stand up, like, really fast. They're like, you're the son of Ernesto and son-in-law of Pedro?

And I was like, yeah. I need to hug you. This chat's gonna be amazing. And I was like, why are you saying that? He said, those are two of the people I admire the most.

Oh. And you're the son of one and father-in-law the other one. Yeah. Like, you're amazing. Gotta give you a hug.

I was like, that's how much my father and my father-in-law have helped. Wow. Both of them had the had an amazing career, great name, and they help a lot. But as an example, when I had the the the real estate sorry, the Internet company, I was raising money. Part of the money were raised with JPMorgan.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And one investor said, I'm not gonna invest. And he said, you're gonna have these three or four problems. And when I left the meeting, I said, this guy is an old guy. He has no idea. Mhmm.

And then six months into it,

Steve: one of

Daniel: the things that he said it was gonna happen happened. Mhmm. And then, like, two or three months later, the second one. I was like, no something. Mhmm.

Steve: So I

Daniel: called the guy, like, eight months after and said, can you coach me? And the guy said, I don't know if you remember. I hated your business. Mhmm. And I was like, that's why I want you to coach me.

Yeah. Because you told me these four things were gonna happen, two already happened. Mhmm. So I need you to verify the other two. And And the guy said, come in.

I'll coach you. I knew a billionaire in Mexico. Yeah. And I used to go to him every often. Wow.

And every time I get in trouble, I continue to call him. Yeah. And and he knows when I get a call when he gets a call from me that I'm I'm in trouble. Yeah. And he gets on the phone and he has flew me to see him.

I've flown to his vacation, said, you really need to talk. I'm having vacation in Aspen or whatever. Come here. Let's have a talk. Yeah.

So I go with him every every often when I have some trouble.

Steve: That's incredible. So I've had a lot

Daniel: of mentors in my life.

Steve: So in going back to being locked into a room with your parents and your wife for three days

Daniel: Yeah.

Steve: What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself?

Daniel: So the risk taking. Mhmm. When you're alone and you're a kid or whatever, risk taking, it's fine. You're the only one that that that gets into trouble. Mhmm.

When you're married and you have kids, it's it's a different ballgame. Yeah. And my risks when I was young or when I was starting were very small risks that if I lose money, it was nothing. Right? Now I start to play bigger games and the bigger games begin having bigger problems or bigger size checks.

And I learned a lot about how I felt very invincible, and I how how I need to change. Yeah. And I need to understand that my situation was different. Indeed, I there's one of Jeff Bezos' letters that I really like. Like, five years ago in one of the letters he sends investors.

He said, I hope you're very happy because we've done a lot of bets, billion dollar bets, and gone great. I hope you understand that the more billion dollar bets we get great, we're gonna have billion dollar bets are gonna go wrong

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: In the future. Hope you understand. Yeah. And it's reality. But they have built such an amazing company Mhmm.

That if you have solved mistakes of 1 or $2,000,000,000, doesn't matter. Right? I don't have the amount of money that they have. Yeah. That changed a lot.

Steve: So before we started this, recording, you and I were talking, and I shared with you that I have the highest risk tolerance of anyone I know.

Daniel: You said that.

Steve: Yes. And you said that's a bold statement.

Daniel: That's a bold statement. So In in your industry and with the people in CG, that's a bold statement.

Steve: So how would you counsel someone like myself? Because I've learned to finally slow down. It took a lot. Right? It was really, you know, a lot of growth in the last six to twelve months to finally learn how to slow down.

Yep. But what counsel would you give to someone like myself with with insane tolerance?

Daniel: Right. So, you need to understand your, your freedom point. Mhmm. Like, what's the amount of money you need to do maintain your life the rest of your life and understand kind of that number. And it's gonna be much smaller what you think.

When I talk to entrepreneurs, I want to do 50,000,000 and 30,000,000, whatever, and I help them run their numbers on their freedom point.

Steve: It's never 30,000,000.

Daniel: Never 30,000,000. Usually, your freedom point's between five and ten Mhmm. And you could live very comfortable the rest of your life.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So when I run their numbers, they kind of get it. So once you cross that, you go from risk off to risk on. I've learned how to keep some of that aside. Mhmm. And I don't touch it and I don't do anything.

I'll give you an example. When my mortgage business got in trouble, I got personally financially in trouble because I used to use my wallet as the wallet of the business, and I was completely no boundaries. Yeah. So when I was gonna start growth easy to my second business, my wife said, hey. Remember what we talk?

What are we gonna do? And I always tell businesses you need to have six months of cash in the bank in your business. So whenever there's a recession or something, you could weather that. Mhmm. And my wife said, why don't we do the same?

Perfect. So before I start my next business, I put at least six months in the bank account. Today, I have more than three years in that bank account. Mhmm. I could not touch that money for any reason.

I cannot pay payroll. I don't care. That's money reserved for the family, and I could not touch it. And my risk tolerance and investment of that money, it's completely different. Yeah.

So I have a nest egg of, like, retirement money, and then I have another account that I don't touch. Mhmm. And I've learned to be very disciplined with those kind of things. Yeah. Before I didn't do that.

So what I coach entrepreneurs said, great. You want to take a little risk? Let's put some money aside that you cannot touch. Let's make let's understand what will that be, and it's untouchable no matter what. Yeah.

Indeed, in that account, I don't have access to an account. My wife has access to an account. I could put money every month. She's the only one who could get money out of the company. Yeah.

And it's part of the rules that we have. And by the way, have growth is to be in trouble a couple of times in ten years. When he gets in trouble, I go with it. I get home with all the stress and whatever. There's always food on the table.

My wife is happy. My kids are okay. Life is good. Yeah. So I've learned how to divide a little bit.

Steve: And the peace of mind from your wife Yes. Goes a really long way.

Daniel: Happy wife makes things much better.

Steve: Well, because I know, like, for me, again, like, being married to a person like myself Oh, yeah. And we're always taking big bets and, you know, personally guaranteed expenses. Right? Because some when you're starting, you have to

Daniel: Oh, yes.

Steve: Time personal guarantees.

Daniel: Oh, yes.

Steve: So it doesn't matter if you're making money or not. You're still on the hook for this business for the next three plus years.

Daniel: So as an example, some two years ago, I had to get, like, around a million dollars of debt for a business. And before I went to do that, I got an insurance, a life insurance of me for over 1,000,000. And he had a contract of with the CFO of the company that if I am not here because I have a personal guarantee, the money will go to pay that

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And just that. Yeah. And my wife said, hey. While you're here, you you know how to make money. Mhmm.

So if we get in trouble, you're gonna get us out. But if you're not here, like, I'm gonna be responsible for that. Right. So I was getting insurance. I never get debt without an insurance.

Mhmm. Life insurance that will cover that Yeah. On top of, as an example. But then I have some trust and the money is the trust that it's untouchable, and that's for the family.

Steve: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And, you know, for anyone else that's crazy, like me, and formerly you. Formerly. Lots of good wisdom there.

So what are some of your biggest victories in your career?

Daniel: Biggest victories. So I've been an entrepreneur and CEO of my companies for twenty four years.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I've never missed payroll ever in twenty four years. I think that's one of my biggest victories. Yeah. If there's something that will guarantee your company is gonna go under and it's gonna give you a lot of stress, miss payroll one day.

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: So I've never missed payroll. Second, I've had my great successes and some big failures. I've always learned never could be the same mistake twice. And usually, my next business, it's way better structured and designed than the previous one.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So I kind of feel good about that. Yeah. If if if you have a problem or a mistake and you don't learn from it, that's bad. Right?

Steve: Right.

Daniel: If you continue to be better and better and better. And I've been having fun. So

Steve: Yeah. A lot of fun in a lot of fun in the journey.

Daniel: That's correct. And then and then the impact of helping a lot of other CEOs get better decisions. Yeah. I feel like that's been a great you you you do that. You know?

What is start coaching a company with all this trouble. Mhmm. And in a year, they're completely different.

Steve: More fulfilling It's than the money can ever be.

Daniel: Oh, 10 times more. Yeah.

Steve: So you were multiple times on the Inc 5,000 list. Yes. What does that mean?

Daniel: So, in The US, there's 32,000,000 businesses in the IRS. Inc Magazine has a a a list of the fastest growing private companies in The US, and they rank the 5,000 fastest growing companies. We've been at least four years in a row. So that means out of the 32,000,000, we're in the 5,000 that has the fastest growth. So for me, and I I say that as the most competitive market in the world, 32,000,000 companies.

The year on the top 5,000, pretty decent. Yeah. That that proves that you're a decent CEO or entrepreneur. Yeah.

Steve: Well, you're definitely doing something right.

Daniel: By the way, a little bit of a brag, but last week, there was list in Mexico of the best 100 CEOs in the country. Mhmm. And I was ranked in the in the list. So he was the head of Bimbo and the head of Pepsi Mexico and the head of DHL Mexico, and Daniel was there.

Steve: So That's awesome. Congratulations.

Daniel: It feels pretty good.

Steve: Yeah. So Growth Institute Yes. This is your company?

Daniel: That's my company. Yep.

Steve: So talk to me about Growth Institute.

Daniel: So I, I started as a scaling up coach with Brad Harnish, fourteen years ago.

Steve: Another great book.

Daniel: Yeah. Scaling Up. I mean, Rockford Habits. Verne was my mentor in my first company.

Steve: Okay.

Daniel: And then I became one of his coaches.

Steve: Pretty fortuitous to have Verne be your coach, your mentor? Yeah.

Daniel: I did his here in Phoenix. He's at, Genius. Okay. He's gonna the keynote tomorrow.

Steve: Cool.

Daniel: So Verne coached me on the first one, and I attended his program called Burning of Giants in MIT. Brilliant. Best business education I've ever had. And, I start coaching with his methodology for four years. And my fourth year, it was extremely profitable year.

I was doing close to 1,000,000 in coaching, but I slept away from my home 250 nights that year. Mhmm. So my wife said, hey. We just had our second son. You You have to choose if you want to be a dad or you want to be a consultant as you are.

Mhmm. And I said, you're right. So I went to Verne and resigned. And Verne said, what are you gonna do? And I was like, I want to go back online.

I love my first experience online. I want to go back, but I'm hooked in education. I'm hooked in coaching. So I'm gonna bring that online. And he said, why don't we build the institute that you and I wish that we had when we started our business?

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I said, I'm in. But I could just do it in Latin America because that's my center of influence at that moment. And Verne said, yeah. But I'm I have influence all over the world. So you will run it.

I'll bring all the thought leaders and strategy and everything, and you'll run it. Let's do it together. So we partner, build a company together. We've been ten years in operation. And and that's what we build.

We build the institute or the learning space that we wish we had. So here's the premise. There's several premises. The first one is, as entrepreneurs or CEOs, we learn a lot. I'm a member of EO twenty four years ago.

I'm a member of YPO five years. I'm in Genius Network. We we invest a lot in our learning. Mhmm. But then everything we learn, we have to go back to the office and reteach it to our team.

Yes. And then we have to lead the implementations in our company. And every entrepreneur hits that.

Steve: Oh, yeah.

Daniel: You wish you said, hey. Read a book on implement. Right? So we said, how can we build a place that the CEOs with their team could learn together and then the team will implement without the CEO or with much less hand holding of the CEO?

Steve: Mhmm. And

Daniel: that's what we built. As an example, we teach scaling up. We have a three month class

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: That you have to take by mandate with two other team members. And we teach you all the principles of scaling up. You have videos we've learned, coaching calls, masterminds, everything. And at the end, you have all the knowledge that you need to implement. But most importantly, you went through a class with two other team members.

You're all perfectly aligned. You know what you have to do, and then your team implements for you. Yeah. And that's what we have. And we started with scaling up, and today, we have over a 100 thought leaders.

Salim Ishmael, the first director of Singularity University. Marshall Goldsmith, the coach, we have a class with him. Peter Damandis, Tom Peters. We have amazing, amazing faculty. Joe Polish, we have a class with Joe.

So we we are focused on helping mid market companies do two things. Scale your impact, do what you do in a bigger way, and reduce your drama. So I talked with entrepreneurs, and everyone said, oh, I want to make more money or I want to serve more clients or I want to hire more team members. As entrepreneurs, we want to do what we do in a bigger way. Mhmm.

But they always complain about the drama that it creates for big entrepreneur.

Steve: Can you elaborate on what drama is?

Daniel: So drama is, rotation of employees, things that you do that didn't work and you lost money, overwork, you take work home, you have to work on the weekends Mhmm. All the problems and and misalignment that you have with your team members, all of that. Right. We help make companies more efficient. So as an example, people said, hey, Daniel.

I have this boat and I'm gonna buy a really big engine because I want to move it really fast.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I'm like, yeah. But it's not very dynamic. Has a lot of holes. It's full of water. You could move it, but it will take you a lot of energy.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And it's gonna throw a lot of water out, and that's all the drama that we're in. Yeah. Let's first make the boat way more efficient. Let's make it more dynamic. Let's cover all the holes, paint it nicely, remove all the water, and now you could push it with very little energy.

You're gonna move it really fast. Yeah. That's why we do at the growth institute.

Steve: We're very,

Daniel: very good in making your boat way more efficient.

Steve: I love that. And then I remember when you were presenting, CG, you were talking about growth of companies

Daniel: Yes.

Steve: By stages.

Daniel: That's correct.

Steve: What are those stages?

Daniel: So as an example, and I get this all the time, people say, hey. I've heard scaling up is amazing. I want to implement scaling

Steve: up. Mhmm.

Daniel: And And I was like, let me ask you some questions to make sure it's the right moment for you and and it's what you need. No. No. No. They told me it's amazing book I have to implement.

Mhmm. And I was like, that's like going to a doctor and said, I've heard penicillin is an amazing medicine. Give me penicillin. Right? Like, you have to know if you're sick and what are you sick and if you use the right moment and what's your weight and your age to give you the right medicine.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Same thing happens. As a entrepreneur and as a coach, I've been coaching companies for fifteen years. I've been entrepreneur for twenty four. I know when's the right stage and when's the right moment and what's the right problem. Usually, entrepreneurs, they don't.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: They just hear a recommendation. They just hear a book or something, and they immediately want to implement.

Steve: All in.

Daniel: All in. That's a big mistake. Indeed, you could choke companies if you implement something that is not the right Mhmm. Moment. It could be too big or whatever.

Like SAP as an example. I see a lot of companies that I need to implement SAP or, whatever system. The company is not ready. There has to be a stage. Yeah.

So what I did is I said, okay. Great. Let me go and study how companies grow in stages. And then what's the right food and attention for each stage? You could have an amazing baby and you want to give them a Kobe, steak, $300.

They cannot even eat it. They don't have teeth. Right? So I said, okay. Let's divide companies in babies, adolescents, adults, and then understand what's right attention, right methodology, and everything.

So I really believe that there's four stages. Start up, grow up, scale up, and then you dominate your industry.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Stage one and two are prescaling stages. You're building the foundation of your business. And if you build the right foundations, then you go into stage three that is scaling. And then if you do scaling right, then you get to market domination or you own your market. So we understand the four stages and how the entrepreneur has to evolve from entrepreneur to be a CEO.

Steve: And you're saying you can't go from startup to scaling up.

Daniel: If you jump, stage two,

Steve: you're not no.

Daniel: So so let me give you an example. Stage one. The most important thing is product market fit.

Steve: Mhmm. You need

Daniel: to have a product that makes sense, that that clients are willing to buy.

Steve: Not not not the idea that I think is wonderful.

Daniel: That's correct. But in in the last five years, it was very sick to convince an investor to give you money. Yeah. So we saw a lot of entrepreneurs being very undisciplined

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Because he was very sick to convince one investor to give you money instead of convincing a thousand clients to buy their product. So we said stage one, don't raise money. Do what you have to do and figure out product market fit. And we have tools and everything to help you prove product market fit. Stage two is all about building a replicable revenue model.

In stage two, you have fixed expenses and very unstable revenue.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And that kills companies. And they want to scale and they want to put good money into bad funnels and systems. Mhmm. No. You have to figure out your your revenue model, your predictive revenue model before you go to the next level.

If you get those two, then it's the right time to scale. And scale is all about execution. You have to be very, very disciplined in execution. You and I were talking about Jim Collins, earlier. Jim Collins, if you see his flywheel, discipline thought, discipline strategy, discipline people, discipline execution, and that's what gives you the curve.

Same here. If you have a product market fit, you know how to sell it, how you could scale it. Yeah. That's kind of our formula. And then when you scale it, it's all about being focused on doing one thing well and just doing one thing.

More companies die of indigestion, trying to do too many things. So our job on stage three, keep them focused, discipline the execution. If they're able to do that, then they will dominate their industry. There's a couple of things that are important. First one, in stage two, you have to decide if you want to have a scale up or a lifestyle business.

And I believe the best size of a company for balance of quality on life and money, 10 to 15 employees. I have a lot of clients. They do 10 to 15 employees. They do probably $34,000,000. The owner nets a million, million half.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: You're happy as hell. Oh, if I'm doing a million now, if I get to 50, I'm gonna do 5,000,000. No. You're gonna make less than what you're doing today. Yeah.

So there's a valley of death between 20 to 70 employees, and we help companies go through that. But before they jump into valley of death, I help them understand what's gonna happen in the valley of death. You need to have certain money and tools to be able to go through that discipline. And then the second big decision, once you get out of the 78 employees, not you kind of got out of the, valley of death. I call it sell or not to sell.

Once you get out of that, the company has much less risk and you're gonna get a lot of offers to buy your business. Mhmm. Usually, your business is worth at least $10,000,000 once you cross that. All the private equity funds in in The US will buy you. Today, for growth institute, I get probably two or three a month.

Hey. You build a great company. It's time to get some money off the table, and they start to lure you. Mhmm. And it kind of moves you, but most important, your family.

You know how many times I've had discussions with my wife saying, hey, you already build it. You work fifty hours a week or sixty hours a week. It's time to sell it.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Let's retire. Let's have better time. Your kids are growing up. They have three or four more years to go to college.

Steve: That's sirens.

Daniel: That's great. So it's a really, really tough decision for the founders to decide what to do. So we help a lot on on go through that decision correctly. Because as I said, once you cross your freedom point, you go from risk off because you're building it Mhmm. To risk on.

And it's very, very important that you understand where you're going. And if you could take some chips off the table and and have some stability, buy some houses, get some apartment complexes or something Yeah. And be more stable in revenue. If we help them kind of go through those issues correctly. Yeah.

So it's very important that you understand the stages, your evolution, and what's the right moment to do what at your company. If you do that, the probability of your scaling is much higher, but most importantly, the drama. You will enjoy the ride of scaling a company. I imagine you've seen a lot of people that they they're not enjoying running their company.

Steve: Well, it's interesting because I started on the realtor side, and then I transitioned to the wholesaler side. And the one consistent theme I've always said because I want people like, Steve, I wanna scale. I wanna scale. Too much I typically reply with, I've I've been there. I've done the scaling.

It's not as sexy as you think it is. Revenue goes up, but take home goes down. Yeah. So you're working harder for less money. Yep.

Right? But they wanna do it. And my question always to them, like, there has to be a purpose. Because the question I always ask them, may one person you know

Daniel: Yeah.

Steve: That has six salespeople or more and is loving life.

Daniel: Very few.

Steve: Very few.

Daniel: Sales agent.

Steve: That's that's the number I pick. Right? Because six, you gotta spend a good amount of money on marketing the feed all of them. Oh, yes. To make enough money to deal with the transaction volume, to deal with the TC, to deal with the administrative people that hate the salespeople because salespeople are typically sloppy with their paperwork.

Their notes are awful. So you got all these things you gotta deal with. You're talking about the drama earlier.

Daniel: That's exactly right.

Steve: I've dealt with all of this.

Daniel: Exactly right.

Steve: And so I always ask them, like, name one person that you know that six tells people more in his loving life. They exist. You know, you work with Frank Cava, Eric Brewer. Eric Brewer.

Daniel: They have them.

Steve: They've got it.

Daniel: But they are seasoned investors.

Steve: Like Right.

Daniel: Like, I I'd say that they have these, how do you call it? The teeth The fangs. The fang. Yeah. They walk they have so big fangs.

Oh,

Steve: the canes. Yeah.

Daniel: They're they're they're making holes in the ground. Right? Yeah. Like, these guys are seasoned. They know what it is.

Steve: Well, they've been they survived the last recession. Yeah. Right? And so the scaling thing is always amusing to me because, like, the the buzzword for the last two years, I think, was, like, I wanna scale. I wanna scale.

I wanna scale. Today. And I've done the scaling thing. And, you know, I had over a 100 agents in my brokerage. It was not

Daniel: How much drama do you have?

Steve: Some with the realtors, predominantly, it was with, like, Department of Real Estate or the Board of Ethics or, you know, wage garnishment notices. Right? Like, you get all of these things when you have a lot

Daniel: Oh, yeah.

Steve: You have a large organization.

Daniel: Oh, yeah.

Steve: No one really talks about that.

Daniel: I hear you.

Steve: Right? But the revenue's sexy.

Daniel: Yes. But but but you get a lot of those you said there was all the the sirens. Oh. Yeah. But if, the other day, a mentor told me.

He said, hey. Is this your first company? I said, no. It's my third. I said, okay.

Great. And I was like, why? He said, entrepreneurs, they don't know what they don't know when they're entrepreneurs for the first time. Mhmm. You've been there in the royal three times.

You get it.

Steve: Been knocked down a couple of times.

Daniel: You've been knocked down. You'll get it. Whenever you see entrepreneur for the first time, they say, oh, cross cross cross. Why that? No.

Wait. Yeah. So that's wrong.

Steve: So one of the other things, I wanted to ask you about was the the development of business leaders. So Wren and I were doing our our sales leadership training.

Daniel: Yep.

Steve: Right? And it's not quite the same. There's a lot of overlap, but, you know, you have the the journey from entrepreneur to CEO. And I know we talked a little bit about the stages, but can you elaborate on the journey from entrepreneur to CEO?

Daniel: So in the first stage, you're entrepreneur, and I have these archetypes that I, assign. So you're a warrior. You're in front of your team, and you're fighting every fight.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Stage two, you have to be a leader. You have to step one step back and start working on your business. You have to be very selective. Hey. I'm gonna be here and you start seeing the animals and just shoot the ones that are the good ones.

Right? Mhmm. You have to be a little bit more selective and step back and start leading your team so you'd be a leader. Then stage three, you have to become a leader of leaders. It's not about your growth.

It's about the growth of your leaders.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: The more they grow, the more they're gonna grow your company. So I usually I tell entrepreneurs, you have to change your hat. Instead of your employees working for you, you work for them. So I tell my head of operations, my CFO, and I said, what do you need? How can I help you be better?

Mhmm. What tools you need to do your job? I'm here to help you. I'm working for you. Indeed, what I do is I turn the org chart around

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I put the c on the bottom. And I said, you're here to support your managers and your dealers, and they are here to support the frontline employees. Mhmm. The one that are making money are the guys up there. Yeah.

Your managers, they're an excuse to help you manage the guys on top. Right? So when I turn around the org chart, they kind of see it and they realize that their job is completely different.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: The entrepreneurs are are able to get stage three and understand that way easier skill. Mhmm. Because they they understand that the the relationship is different. The objective is different. And I tell them they have to stop playing chess and play sorry.

Stop playing checkers and play chess. Yeah. So if you see a checkers board, all the chips are exactly the same. Black or white, but they're have the same capabilities. And you move them around.

That's until stage two.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: When you get stage three, you look at your board and you're playing chess and said, wow. Every team member is different. They have strengths and weaknesses. Mhmm. And you cannot manage them all.

Your job is to put them on the right position for them to use their strengths Mhmm. And you cover the weakness with someone else. And then you step aside and you allow them to play and allow them to run your company. So that's the evolution. Being a warrior to being a hunter, to being a farmer, and be more strategical the way you position.

And the farmers said, hey. When's the right day to plow the land? When's the right day to put the water on the but they're very strategic

Steve: in the

Daniel: way they do things. And we help CEOs understanding the role and take the right decisions at that stage. And then on the fourth one, I say that the CEO becomes a satellite around the organization. Your organization runs day to day without you. Above, let's say, 200 employees.

But the problem is that you create an immune system in your company. For the company not to go under, it creates its own immune system.

Steve: But But

Daniel: that immune system doesn't allow you or doesn't allow the company to evolve and learn. Your job is to be kind of the disruptor. The guy that is bringing innovation, bringing ideas to try to get your team to move. Mhmm. And that's the right process of evolution of the disruptor.

Yeah. So you have to be a warrior, a hunter, a farmer, then another disruptor. Yeah. And the ancient used to say, if your level of knowledge is here, you're gonna create a problem at this level. You cannot fix it at the same level of knowledge you created.

You have to evolve your level. Same happens with your company. You will not be able to be leading at level two and having a company at level three. No. Never gonna happen.

Steve: Right.

Daniel: So you have to first go to level three yourself as leader.

Steve: Mhmm. And

Daniel: that's gonna pull your company to level three. And then you have to go to level four to pull your company to level four.

Steve: Yeah. So I really enjoyed you talking about, flipping the org chart because I actually had to have this conversation with an organization. I wanna say two, three months ago.

Daniel: Yep. They're

Steve: like, who is who who is the boss? Who is this? Who's that? Like, you you're seeing this all wrong. That's right.

None of us are the bosses. Right? We're you flip this upside down That's correct. And you're serving everyone else that's above you. Right?

Because, again

Daniel: exactly right.

Steve: Right? Because they're the ones that are not only making us money, but they see the problems. They have to see it. They have to process it. And and, you know, if we're doing everything right, they're reporting it to us.

Mhmm. The greatest challenge we've experienced as an organization my entire career, but, you know, I feel like it's gotten better in the last maybe six to nine months is we're finally getting reporting from the front lines of, like, here are the problems that we can start working on. Because until very recently, you know, there was a there was a blockage in in messaging. Right? They've got problems.

They're frustrated. But I don't know about it. And if I don't know about it, we can't fix it.

Daniel: So when I go to companies and they ask me to help them implement scaling up

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I tell them, if you don't give me at least a year contract, I could not implement. Mhmm. And they said, but it's gonna take you a year. And I was like, no. In the first three months, you're gonna have most of it implemented.

But there's two problems. Half of the data is wrong because your team members have no idea what data they need to report and Yeah. How to get the data. But second, they have no idea how to read it and take decisions based on the data. Yeah.

It takes me three quarters to four quarters to help get the right data because I challenge them on the data, and we read the data all the time. And helping them understand how they have to react when the data changes. So the other day, I took a class of KPIs at Dell. You know, the factory, the computer factory. Yep.

And one person asked, hey, what KPI should I measure? And the faculty, the professor said something very interesting. He said, just measure what if the number changes, you're gonna act different. If the number changes and you don't do anything, don't measure it. If if the number goes to red or yellow and you don't do anything, you have a problem.

Right? Yeah. So we have to train our team to learn how to act based on data. And that takes a year at least for them to get it.

Steve: Oh, we're still we're still figuring that one out. Yeah. But I I love that. I love that. Right?

If the number changes, they don't do anything, it's not an important metric.

Daniel: It's not an important metric. Or the person has no idea what they're doing. That it has helped a lot. It has happened a lot of times.

Steve: Yeah. But it's it's such profound wisdom. It's such a simple statement. And then we're talking about trends. Right?

And then, you know, we are we're having a conversation right before this, me, you, and Wren Bartlett. And we're talking about, you know, like, when's the right time to take advantage of this? And I I make the argument that now is not the time to take advantage of it. Now is the time to make sure we don't have a game over situation. You're and I was thinking maybe 2023.

Yep. What are you seeing as trends and opportunities for '20 for business leaders in 2023?

Daniel: So, I had, I I had dinner with Jason Motley, couple of weeks. Frank Cava had his opening of his new office.

Steve: Yeah. I saw that. Okay.

Daniel: We were there. We had a lot of fun. And we're talking about this with Jason. And Jason said, making money is about being good. Like, you have to be intelligent to make money.

Keeping the money it's all about discipline.

Steve: Mhmm. It's got a fully different skill set.

Daniel: Completely different skill set. I think 2023 is gonna be about discipline. Mhmm. The most disciplined entrepreneurs, they will have the discipline of wait until the market signals that it's on the bottom. Mhmm.

If you see the last couple of crisis, real estate went down. It took two years to two and a half years from top to bottom. Mhmm. So when was the top of real estate? Six months ago?

Steve: Yeah. I would say March? I would say June. We started having problems in March. In March.

But June was like someone flipped a switch in the room.

Daniel: Right. So imagine March. Mhmm. Two years from March 2022. That gets you to March 2024.

Yeah. I still I believe we're gonna have some downturn in 2023 and then we're gonna have this cat bounce over the market a little bit, but they're gonna continue going down. That's when the suckers go in, the ones that don't understand the market. Yeah. The disciplined investors, they study the trends.

They study history, and they're gonna be waiting as an example. Bitcoin got to 17,000. Right? I have a lot of friends that jump in at 17,000. And today is a 2021, and they're they look like heroes.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I'm like, it's gonna go down to below 10. And people said, you're crazy. Like, if it goes below 10, the world's gonna die. I'm not gonna start buying if it's not at least at 12.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I have a lot of friends that have attacked me. Mhmm. You're never gonna be able to buy that price. We'll start later.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I know Bitcoin's gonna go below 10,000. Yeah. The ones that get excited at seventeen and they get they buy the house Mhmm. When it gets twelve or ten, they're gonna lose the shirt. Yeah.

That's discipline.

Steve: And I think one of the other things that we're talking about discipline, and this might sound, you know, kinda crazy, but the people that are all in on these bets

Daniel: Yep.

Steve: The like I said, I've I've very I've always had a very high risk tolerance, but I've never taken a bet that I can't afford to lose.

Daniel: Love it. Right? We we said this, Warren Buffett.

Steve: Yeah. Right.

Daniel: First rule of Warren Buffett, never lose money. Yeah.

Steve: Well, I've lost a lot of money. I've lost a lot of money. But it's money I've lost where, like, if I lose it, it is what it is. Right? And so but I've seen so many people.

Daniel: You're disciplined with the bets that you make.

Steve: I like to think so. Okay. Everyone else thinks I'm crazy. But, yeah, I mean, you see these guys that go all in. You know, you the, like Wall Street bets.

Right? Or, you know, the we call them moon boys, right, in the crypto world.

Daniel: Yep.

Steve: It's all in. And, man, like, they're and their entire emotional lively lives is is surrounded only on one metric. I guess that one KPI. Right? If it if it's if it's green or red.

Daniel: So Don't do it. As an example, when I build my company, I was very successful as coaching, and I said, I'm gonna keep my coaching on the side because my business is gonna have ups and downs. Mhmm. But my coaching is super stable. It's super profitable.

So today, I have two companies. I have Growth Institute.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: We've been four years in the 5000. We're doing great. I know we're gonna have tough times. In COVID, we had a couple of tough moments

Steve: at the beginning of COVID.

Daniel: My my consulting business, super stable. I had clients for ten years. Hey, Daniel, you're like my lucky charm or my insurance. Like, I've you're never gonna be of my payroll. Like, for you to be of my payroll, I'm gonna have to go under and close to my company.

Yeah. Because you helped me make better decisions that helps you that. Very stable, very profitable, very high cash. Yeah. So when things get bad, I'm okay.

Yeah. I I don't lose a shirt. I don't get like, I'd get nervous, but I don't make dumb mistakes or I don't make tough decisions because I know I have this plus. I have, like, three years saving the bank account. So if I don't need to get a dime for three years, nothing happens.

Yeah. That's the difference. If someone has a month of money and they're having trouble, they're gonna make a lot of dumb mistakes.

Steve: Well, they're gonna either do deals or transactions that they didn't really want to do, or they're going to, be hasty in their decision making.

Daniel: Making money is about keeping one's own discipline. Yeah. That's all about.

Steve: So what does your your life look today? Your business and your life look today versus, I guess, I would say, you know, when you had to leave the the banking Yep. Business. Not the mortgage one, but the the

Daniel: Yeah. The the first one. The first one. Yeah. The the fintech.

Mhmm. So, I left, really, really happy because I I was, like, 28. Some money in the bank. No kids. I did a travel and all that.

But I felt that and this is why I built Growth Institute. I felt that I needed to do one more complete cycle. Mhmm. The big growth of that company was me already I was not the owner of the company. I was not the CEO.

I was the head of Mexico. I was I was called a CEO, but I was CEO of Mexico and Central America, but I was not the main guy taking decisions.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So I knew that I wanted to prove if I was right, if I was a good CEO, if I could go for the full term, build a company, scale it, and then sell it. And the the mortgage bank, it did not went like that. So I said I need to do another one. Mhmm. That's what growth is for me.

Yeah. It's not about the money growth is to do. It's about I believe the right cycle of entrepreneur is building a company, scale it, and then sell it. Indeed, when I went to Babson, I took a class of, markets and all that. And the professor called it the moment when you shared your company, called it the harvest.

That's when you harvest all your work. Yes. You get distributions often, But when you sell it, that's when you get, like, kind of the big check and and it needs and it's a big moment.

Steve: Sell until the sunset. Sorry? Sell until the sunset.

Daniel: Yes. Yeah. So I I I when I left, I told my wife, I'm happy at this age that I have this, but I need to do another one that it's a full cycle.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I'm doing now today growth this.

Steve: Yeah. It's addicting.

Daniel: It's addicting. Oh, it is addicting. Yeah. So when I told my wife I want to do another one, you're like, oh, here you come again. Mhmm.

Because being consultant, it's like you're there in the strategy, the fun moments, you get paid, and then you're not worried about the execution, the bad moments you're like it's it's it's it's a business with very little stress, with very high revenue and and stability of cash. And when I said, well, I'm gonna do my next one. My wife is like, oh, here you go. Yeah. And I was like, but you know I need it.

And she said, I understand. Let's just put some rules so the comp the family will not get into trouble. Mhmm. You could do whatever you want. We put the rules.

I've been following my rules. We're a happy family.

Steve: Yeah. We're we're still working to the point where I can have those hard rules. We're not at that point yet where we got the number where we can set the the hard rules. We're on our way. I know my wife would be a lot happier when we get there, but we're not there yet today.

What

Daniel: good that you're having the conversations and you know where's what your numbers are. Yeah. A lot of entrepreneurs, they they they don't see their numbers, and they make a lot of mistakes.

Steve: What is your why?

Daniel: So my wife my why is to help a million entrepreneurs obtain freedom. And what gives you freedom is do what you do bigger because you're gonna feel good with yourself Yeah. And then have less drama. That's why in my log in the logo of Growth Institute, below Growth Institute name, it says scale impact, reduce drama. Yeah.

Those are the two things that give you freedom as an entrepreneur.

Steve: Yeah. I mean, it's so underrated, the part about reducing drama. Because there's a lot of things because we all get into it and we think it's gonna be, like, when I first became a realtor, right, I thought for sure, like, people need to buy houses. Right? And with my database, like, everyone's well off.

Like, for sure, I can do really well. I only need to sell one house a month, and I'm living a pretty good life. Yep. Right? And then I'm gonna have you know, go to the beaches and drink the Mai Tais.

Daniel: And travel the world.

Steve: Travel the world. Right? You have you have full control of your time. Couldn't that be further from the truth? Right?

Being an entrepreneur, a, generally means that you don't get to choose your time. Right? You get to use you get to work more hours. I have more bosses. More bosses.

Right? More people that rely on you, and you're obligated to more people. And then b, I don't know about other entrepreneurs before I found for myself, I don't really want to travel. I my fun is the business. So, anyway, there are a lot of promises made that

Daniel: Sorry. I coach entrepreneur that has, like, 8,000 employees today in Mexico. Wow. I I I coach another one that has 25,000, but I coach one that has 8,000. And he, one day, called me in in pretty depressed.

And I said, what happened? He said, I just came from my Christmas party from the office.

Steve: And I was like, why are you calling?

Daniel: Yeah. And the guy said, a month before the party, they told me, hey. We should include spouses or just employees. And the guy said, we have a lot of employees, just employee without the spouse. And the event came came in.

I didn't even see this the the place or anything. I was running the business, and my team was building the party and putting it all together. I enter the room, and it was like a big wedding and a lot of tables and a lot of people. And I looked at my team. I was like, I told you not to bring spouses.

They're all employees. He has never seen all his employees together. 1,200. He looks at the room. It's like, oh my god.

All of them depend on me taking the right decisions Mhmm. Doing the right thing. Yeah. I was like, wow. And he was he was freaking out.

Today he has 8,000. When he had, like, 7,000, he got an offer to sell this company, and he was in the hundreds of millions.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And the guy didn't solve it. And I was like, why? Like, you are free. And the guy said, I have enough already in the bank that I'm free. Mhmm.

But what it was bad for me is the company buying it was not gonna treat my employees

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: The way I treat them. So I came to my team and said, guys, I have two options. Or I sell it, I don't want to run it anymore, or you run it without me Mhmm. And you keep the quality that you guys have. And the team said, don't worry.

We'll run it for you. Mhmm. And now the team runs it. That's awesome. That's awesome.

Steve: That's phenomenal.

Daniel: Yeah. Hey. Just last story. I think this is really important. Sorry for this.

Steve: Oh, you're alright.

Daniel: The other day, I saw the story of entrepreneur that went public. And, you know, you want to go public between 12 to $15. That's a typical valuation for a tech company. He goes public, and that day, the stock goes to $80 and close at $80. And, of course, all the trip all employees had stock options.

Mhmm. They go crazy, and they go to nightclubs, whatever in New York. And where's the owner? Where's the owner? And the owner was nowhere to be found.

So they called the guy and said, where are you? And the guy said, I'm in the office. I'm working. The day he went public at $80, he went back to the office to work. So the team goes to the office and said, you're crazy.

You're worth billions of dollars. Let's go and have fun. And the guy's like, no. I need to redo the strategy of the company. And they were like, you're crazy.

And the guy said, we went public at twelve. I thought it was gonna close around twenty, and my business plan and projections are for a company that is worth $20 of stock. Mhmm. At $80 of stock, I don't have a business plan for an $80 stock. Mhmm.

I'm redoing the business plan of the company. Yeah. That's how the entrepreneur gets it. Yeah. Like, he knew that being public has its beauties as its Obligations, obscuring.

And he said, if the company is worth $80, I need to give a return of evaluation of $80. I don't have the business plan.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: So he went back to the drawing board and redid the strategy.

Steve: Yeah. I think I read this That's crazy. I think I read that same thing. It was, I was reading it. It it wasn't an article.

It's a different book. It was, the hard things about hard things.

Daniel: Great book. Yeah. And Amazing book. And I

Steve: was reading that and yeah. I I'm definitely not that I would have been celebrating with $80.

Daniel: By the way, talk about drama. Remember the story. One day, he's raising money. The company is about to go under. He's That guy's got more drama than anyone.

You talk about drama. Right? But quick story, guys. This is he's raising money because if not the company was gonna go on there.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And one day he gets a phone call when he's with a banker and the phone, it was his father-in-law. He said, my father-in-law never calls me. Yeah. So he sees the father-in-law and said, I think I need to get this call. So he gets out of the meeting, gets on the call and said, how can I help?

And the father-in-law said, hey. I know you have a lot of pressure and you're raising money and all that. Just want to let you know your wife had an accident, and she was pronounced dead for a couple of minutes. But she's back alive. She's okay.

She wants to let you know I hang up the phone. And the guy goes back to the meeting. And I'm like, what the hell? So he goes into the meeting

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And he's, like, realizing his wife was dead for a couple of minutes.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Comes back out of the meeting and calls the wife and said, how are you? And the wife said, like, I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm here. My father came, whatever.

Go and do your stuff. And the guy's like, no. I need to go to see you. And the wife said, I'm in the hospital. I'm I'm okay.

So continue doing your stuff. And the guy continued to raise money. Yeah. Imagine that your wife was dead for a minute.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: The guy didn't took time to go back home to give a hug to his wife. Yeah. That's drama.

Steve: That's drama. It's the life

Daniel: we hook.

Steve: It's the life we sign up for in certain capacities. Yeah. Right? I mean, talk about obligations.

Daniel: Talk about obligations. Yeah. Employees. How many people depend on you? Yeah.

How many people here, they're expecting a check from you to to their kids?

Steve: Yeah. No. That's that's that's the that's the drama. I live for it, but it's not without its, it's

Daniel: the plus. See the the fun part or the glam part to be entrepreneur. I'm entrepreneur and an owner, and I have a 100 employees. Yeah. Talk about the other side of the coin.

Steve: Yeah. The the sleepless nights, the, the the wife Yeah. That is stressed.

Daniel: The kids that you're not there for their parties and all these things.

Steve: What is your biggest struggle right now?

Daniel: What is my biggest struggle? I need to reinvent myself in several ways. I build a business, that has carried me today, but how another mentor says, what got you here won't get you there.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: I'm I'm in for a reinvention. I I know how to make money, and I know how to keep my clients happy. But I already pass a number of clients on limit that I'm overextended. I need to figure out how to continue giving value and provide even more value, but with less time for me. Mhmm.

Today is not about drama for me. It's about time. Like, I start coaching calls at 7AM. So I wake up at five every day and do my morning routine five to seven. Probably once a week, I wake up at five and there's a text from one of my clients saying, I couldn't sleep.

I'm having this issue. I need you to call me now. Now, like, at five, I want to wake up, have my cup of coffee, like, be nice. Right? Mhmm.

Having to call a client at 5AM because they're having some drama. I wish I don't have to do that. Mhmm. So those are the kind of things I want to change. Yeah.

Yeah. It's stable. It's not about the money. It's about changing it so I could enjoy my life more.

Steve: I mean, the best person I would refer to to answer that question would be you. So how would you counsel yourself through that?

Daniel: You know what? It's very easy to do it with someone else. It's very difficult to do it with you. Yeah. So, indeed, I had a call with my coaches.

Every Wednesday, I have five coaches that work with me. To all the clients that I cannot serve or whatever, I send them to all the coaches. And, I had a call with them and said, guys, I need to reinvent this business model. Mhmm. It's great.

We all feed our families and we're happy, but it's it's getting to be too much. We've been growing a lot and now the time commitment and the stress of the time is too much. Yeah. So I challenged him and said, how can we indeed, I I just hired a coach, you know, Ari Maisel, doing less.

Steve: Yeah. Doing less.

Daniel: So I just hired Ari. Yeah. Indeed, yesterday night, I send Ari a video I went into Loom and send him my calendar. And I show him every week my calendar between now and the end of the year. And then I show him I have a spreadsheet with all my revenue and all that and send it to him and said, hey.

Here's what I need your coaching. This is the amount of hours it's gonna take me. This is the amount of work that I do. This is revenue. I need to reinvent my business.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And I sent to him yesterday night. And that's that's what Ari is good at.

Steve: That is what he's good at. Yeah. It was a great book. Right? Was it live more by doing less?

Yeah. Yeah. An incredible book.

Daniel: And by the way, Ari, it's brilliant Yeah. To run his life. I I interviewed him for a podcast, like, a month ago. And he told me the podcast, I have a 7 figure consulting business.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: He's a paramedic in two hospitals. He's a a firefighter. That's what he love. He said, my only appointment in the day is your podcast.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Everything else is on structure of the day. I was like, I have, like, 12 calls a day. Yeah. Like, a month before. Today, if a client asks for a call, my assistant gives them a call at the November.

Mhmm. And people call me and say, like, Daniel, I'm paying you to be my coach. Like, I need a problem now.

Steve: Mhmm. But

Daniel: I'm so busy that I don't cannot get their calls. Yeah. I I have my space on but I have my routines and I have my spaces that my assistant could not put calls. And she needs to have special permission to block certain days. So I have to put those times and get my clients in.

It's not the right thing. I need to

Steve: Well, my biggest struggle right now

Daniel: What is your

Steve: biggest struggle? Is is I'm actually booking things on Sundays. Right? Like, there's no more times, right, in the weekdays. So I'm booking things on a Sunday.

So, like, every time I do it, I there's a little bit of guilt. Like, well

Daniel: Yeah. But I have a commitment. I have to do it. Yeah. So by the way, I try to keep Saturdays completely off.

Steve: Saturdays are completely off. Yeah.

Daniel: So my my my my son plays soccer Saturday.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: That's my number one obligation on Saturday. And usually by Friday, I'm pretty tired. So I leave Saturdays a 100% off.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Sunday, I sometimes do a lot of planning or thinking before the week. Yeah. I try not to have calls or anything, but I I still have pending emails or a presentation or something that I have to do on Sunday.

Steve: Oh, yeah. Definitely preparing presentations. That's definitely on Sundays.

Daniel: Yes. Sunday nights for me. Yeah. Usually around six or 7PM, going to my office or my my home office, and I clean and I plan my week between seven and 10PM on Sundays. Yeah.

Not the right thing.

Steve: What is your superpower?

Daniel: I think be able to see a lot of data and kind of put it together. Yeah.

Steve: Well, that goes back to the trends starting the bank.

Daniel: I I think that's my my super. I have a a couple of groups, masterminds that I lead. I've been talking about this thing with China for almost two years. And people were just like, you're crazy. I'm like, that happened.

Mhmm. And now it's happening, and they send me all these articles and said, you told me this two years ago. And I'm like, yeah. But I swear two years ago. But I've read so much that that's what gives me so that's kind of my superpower.

Steve: Yeah. What's disappointing for me is, like, I'm I'm reading these articles Yep. But I'm reading these articles in places that are not commonly read sites. That's what's frustrating for me. So

Daniel: today, The US is very divided. Mhmm. And the media is just one-sided. Mhmm. Not even 5% of the media in The US is one-sided.

Mhmm. I rarely go to a media site. I get a lot of my news in in YouTube, like podcast. Like, I read I hear a lot of podcasts and and and YouTube videos of the people I respect Mhmm. And admire.

Like, I don't know if you read, this guy, Neil Strauss, The Four Thirding. Mhmm. That guy is brilliant. And he's a lot of data, and and he looks into trends. I love him.

Joe Rogan. I hear a lot of Joe Rogan. The Kiko guys to talk about medals. I think medals are gonna grow fast. They interview really good people Yeah.

At Kiko. So that's that's where I get my news. That's where I get

Steve: my trends. But isn't it unfortunate? Like, you have to go in the most obscure places Yeah. To get what's going on. Yeah.

Daniel: I I don't go to the to the crazy ones. Yeah. Like, the what's the name of the guy that just got a billion dollars? What's the name? Let he was sued because he was attacking the parents of the Parkland kids or something.

Steve: Alex Jones.

Daniel: Alex Jones. I don't go to that. Yeah. Right? I I see a lot of people.

They they try to get out of the CNNs, and they go to Alex Jones. That's a problem.

Steve: Well, I would argue the problem is not Alex Jones. The problem is that the CNN is forcing people

Daniel: To go to the Alex Jones. To go to

Steve: Alex Jones. So final question is, what book have you gifted more than any other?

Daniel: Scaling Up, but I'm biased. Mhmm. Apart from scaling up, the hard things about hard things I've recommended a lot. Mhmm. You know, leadership and self deception.

It's a great book. And I've given I

Steve: read that very early in my career. I should probably read it again.

Daniel: I've read, like, eight times. Every time I get in trouble with someone I love Mhmm. I reread the book to think about the person and kind of help me get out of the box against the person. And I've read, like, eight times. And last, going back to Jim Collins.

I think the best book of Jim Collins is great by choice.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Two main chapters. Return on luck, that you and I discussed it, and the 20 mile march. Yeah. I think the best entrepreneurs in the world, they know the 20 mile march, and they do it for twenty, thirty years.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: They're exceptionally successful. Yeah. But they don't get distracted. They don't get distracted in the good time, the good times, and they don't get distracted in the bad times.

Steve: Yeah. See, I got I got the problem with the distraction. You know what's really cool as we're talking about this, you know, we're talking about leaders and leading leaders. Right? And I've got the great benefit.

I've got multiple great leaders here. I read that book, just a couple of months ago because one of the leaders here said, we need to read this book. Right? Because I've read on Facebook. People are like, I love this book.

This I think you you get the recommendations. But one one of the leaders in our organization says, hey. We need to read this book. So we

Daniel: did basics. Yeah. By the way, something interesting. When COVID happened, our business went on when when had significant problems in March, and then April, we had our best month of use. Yeah.

But Vernon and I were talking one day until, like, 02:00 in the morning. And we were trying to decide what to do with the business and kind of get our heads around COVID and lockdowns and everything. And Verne said something that I thought he was brilliant. He said, Daniel, when we when we're gonna shut the call, we're gonna end the call, said, first, we have to go back to basics. You have to go back to your rhythm of meetings, your KPIs, like, make sure you don't lose that.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: And second, you have to increase your talk time with all the entrepreneurs. He said, you're not gonna get out of this thinking. You're gonna get out of this talking. Yeah. So figure out who are your peers, people that you admire, mentors and all that, and multiply your talk time with them so you could really get a sense of what's happening.

Steve: Mhmm.

Daniel: Get the best ideas, the best, information, and then be able to take decisions. Yeah. So I'm doing that now. Yeah. That's why I'm here at Genius Network.

Part of Well,

Steve: that's the reason why I value you so much value at Collective Genius.

Daniel: That's correct. Right?

Steve: Alright. So, just I'm gonna make a couple of quick announcements. I want you guys Please. I want you to think about the leave a listen listeners with a last thought. So, guys, we do have our upcoming sales training event in my office, Disruptors Blueprint.

So go to, disruptors.com slash, I think it's sales training. We have our live event. Come check it out. We're gonna spend a day and a half in my office going over our exact sales process, how we're getting people not only to be able to buy houses deeper, but get more of those contracts to close. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter to get a signed contract.

It only matters when we close escrow. So if you're having problems getting signed contracts or getting them to close, be sure to attend our live event. So

Daniel: Getting the contract, like, first base. Yes. First base. Count to be your go back

Steve: to home. Yeah. You gotta get to home plate. I have

Daniel: to get a home plate.

Steve: So what are some last thoughts you want to leave everybody with?

Daniel: So, what I ask is that you think about your company as a product. The best entrepreneurs understand that the product on our clients are secondary for them to build a great company. If you build a great company, you're gonna be able to provide great value and make a lot of money. If you disregard the company, it does happen. Yeah.

So so think about your company as a product. And what creates a product is the team that you have in your company. Mhmm. I tell people, you cannot build a great company. You have to build a great team.

And that team is gonna build a great company.

Steve: Yeah.

Daniel: We're getting into a complicated market, however you want to call it. The teams that will double down with their teams and how to make them be better, how to grow your team, how to help them operate as team. You're gonna talk to them a lot. Those are the ones that are gonna come out strong. Yeah.

So concentrate in making the company a better company. And if the company is a better company and the team is a better team, like, there's a lot of opportunity. Yeah. Like, in an economy of $90,000,000,000,000, if you could not make money, you have a problem.

Steve: Yeah. If someone wants to get a hold of you or connect with you, how would they do that?

Daniel: At growth e c two dot com. That's my main business. And then my personal page is daniel marcus dot c o. Mhmm. As an example, I talk about stages and all that.

If you go to my danielmarcus.co, there's a banner for you to download some slides and and you see this trend, the the stages and all that.

Steve: Awesome. Thank you very much.

Daniel: Great pleasure. Thank you very much.

Steve: You're very welcome. Thank you guys all for watching.

Daniel: Thank you. Shout out to Steve Trane. Jump on the Steve Trane. We real estate disrupt us.