March 21, 2024 • 50 mins
Embark on an extraordinary exploration of entrepreneurial spirit and profound personal transformation with Daniel Giordano, the dynamic CEO of 561 Media and a master of mergers and acquisitions. As you journey with us, you'll uncover the pivotal moments that redefine success, the embrace of mentorship, and the relentless pursuit of impact. Daniel's narrative, beginning as an accountant and blossoming into an entrepreneurial trailblazer, is punctuated by his first child's birth—a catalyst for a monumental career pivot. His transition into the digital realm, with early ventures in eBay and Amazon leading to a lucrative dance with affiliate marketing, serves as a powerful reminder of the constant evolution of online business opportunities.
Through our conversation, we tackle life's urgency and the art of choosing engagements that resonate with a greater purpose, echoing the voices of lost friends and mentors. Daniel and I dissect our shared experiences, including the tough decisions that come with agency closures and the exhilarating opportunities of the pandemic era, which paved the way for strategic acquisitions and billion-dollar aspirations. As you listen, you'll glean insights on the significance of aligning with partners who propel you forward, the art of selecting transformational projects over transactional ones, and the wisdom of drawing confidence from those who've walked before us.
Finally, this episode casts a light on the nuanced role of time management and delegation in fostering both business longevity and personal contentment. I reveal the interplay between my role as a visionary and the operational expertise of my partner Michael, and the criticality of constructing a power team that upholds the enterprise's heartbeat. As we look ahead, Daniel and I share our aspirations and the legacy we endeavor to build, reflecting on the joy found in the psychology of advertising and the anticipation of future business milestones. Join us for an episode that not only charts the map of entrepreneurial success but also serves as a compass for mindful living and lasting impact.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank youso much for joining me.
This is Walt with the salesside, hustles and startups
podcast.
Today's special guest issomebody that really, as I look
at his history, has achievedincredible things, and yet I get
the sense that it's only justthe beginning.
As I was doing my research andI was looking at our friends in
common, I was actually stunnedthat our paths haven't crossed
(00:23):
before.
We share so many friends, butthat's not unusual, considering
what Daniel puts across as hisown message.
He's currently the CEO of 561Media.
He's a merger and acquisitionspecialist who focuses on taking
companies and helping them withgrowth strategies and helping
them achieve their goals, butnot only that.
He's been through someincredible experiences, starting
(00:44):
as an accountant straight outof school of all things, and
then he decided to I don't knowcome across to the light side
and become an entrepreneur.
So we're going to dive right inwith Dan and find out all about
how that works.
Please welcome to the show theCEO of 561 Media, mr Daniel
Giordano.
Hey, dan, thanks so much forjoining us.
Man, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I greatly appreciate it, man.
I always have an opportunity tojust kind of share a message
and help people like I'm inAmazing.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Amazing.
How did that all come to be?
Let's dive straight in.
You've had what you wouldconsider to be a typical
schooling academic backgroundand you've pivoted to become
this kind of leader figure.
You've become this companybuilder, you've become an
empower.
How did that happen?
When did the light go on foryou?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I think at first I've been an entrepreneur pretty
much my whole life, but I was inthe construction industry up
until about 1999.
In 1999, there was somethingmagical that happened, and what
that was was I was expecting ourfirst child, nice, and I
started to question my lifechoices.
We had already moved.
(01:50):
I had sold my first business in1998.
We moved to South Florida afterthat from New Jersey and I
started to question my lifechoices and I happened to be
working for a guy that had amassive exit in the construction
space.
I was working on his home and Ikind of looked at him one day
and I said I would always become.
I was kind of podcasting backthen, long before it was called
(02:11):
podcasting, but it just weren'trecording Before.
It was cool, right.
I was just asking questionsbecause I was curious.
Everybody else would go withtheir hands out, like they get
paid, and I would go hey man,can I just ask you a question?
How did you get where you're at?
What did you do for a living?
How did you get there, right?
So I asked this guy a question.
It was like, is there anythingyou would do differently?
And he looked at me and he goesI would give it all back if I
(02:34):
could get my son back, whoa, andI said, well, what happened?
And he said, you know, his sonhad died from alcoholism at the
age of 30.
He was never home because hewas grinding and building his
company and he had a $400million exit, so it was a
massive payday private jet, thewhole thing, right, you know,
the beautiful home on the beach,multiple homes throughout the
(02:55):
world, but didn't have his kid.
And, you know, just started toreally sink into me that, you
know, I grew up with a dad thatis an awesome father, right, but
he old school, worked toprovide for the family, so he
was never at my sporting events,never played catch, you know,
never.
So I started questioning, likeI want to be the dad that gets
(03:15):
to be home, right, and so it wasa major pivot point to say,
okay, what could I dodifferently so that I'm not
working in the constructionspace seven days a week and I
could be home with my kids,right?
So that was the beginning pointof me starting to dabble online
in 1999 and figure out somethings.
You know, in the first start.
You know, try to figure outselling, you know, through eBay,
(03:39):
selling through Amazon, right,trying different things, until I
stumbled across affiliatemarketing right, and that was my
first home run.
It took me about a year and ahalf to kind of dabble around a
lot of late nights.
We didn't have all the fanciestools we have today where I
could watch a video on how to dojust about anything, right, so
I just banged my head againstthe wall till I figured some
things out, and that's what kindof led me down the path of the
(04:01):
internet marketing world andlead generation and being able
to be partners in a personaldevelopment leadership training
company for 10 years and alwayshad, you know, some form of an
agency that I was involved in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Nice, wow, amazing.
I find the pivot with childrenis such a common thread as well.
I remember when my daughter wasborn, thinking to myself I was
the ultimate employee at thatpoint.
I was in at the office at sevenin the morning and I was at the
last to leave at night,thinking that I was doing the
right thing and inverted commas.
And then my daughter was bornand I gallantly, gallantly, took
(04:35):
three days off, three wholedays, when my daughter was born,
and the morning that I wentback to work, I dropped some
croissants off to my wife, whowas still in hospital, and I got
to my desk at the point thathad been my fulfillment for the
last decade and I said what thehell am I doing here while my
wife's in hospital?
And literally that was the daythat I started dabbling internet
(04:57):
marketing as well.
So interesting.
Something that you said justthen is fascinating for me,
which is we didn't have all thefancy tools that we have today
and we couldn't just watch avideo and find out how to do
stuff.
I genuinely, I look at my kidsnow and I look at this kind of
opportunity that we have at thispoint in time and I'm stunned
by the fact that we can, ondemand, learn any topic in any
(05:21):
depth that we ever want to.
How?
How do you adapt in that spacewhere learning is so quick?
And how do you, how do you findthat that drives your business
these days?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I think you know, thebiggest thing is, you know
there's so many different things, as you know, in the internet
marketing world, then you couldhave shiny object syndrome and
be taken down higher rabbittrail, right?
So for me, it's like I alwayslook at, you know, anything that
I do is like, okay, how fastcan I execute on what I'm
learning Right?
So even if I'm reading a booklike it's like, okay, I need to,
(05:50):
I'm not just reading for thesake of saying I read the book.
I want to actually apply stuffthat I'm learning right.
So anything that I'm watching,anything that I'm like it could
even come down to like moviesand or, you know, a short or
anything like.
I'm always thinking in terms of, okay, I love the way that that
plot twist was.
How could I tie that intomarketing right, and share a
message about that right toinspire people, right?
(06:12):
So there's always something tolearn.
But, more importantly, it's likeyou know, learning without
doing is, you know, not learningright.
It's like you know, and Ilearned this, interestingly
enough, in the martial arts, youknow, in the beginning, when I
was a weight belt and the masterwould tell me he's like hey, do
you want to teach class tonight?
And I'd be like teach, what amI going to teach?
Like I don't know anything yet,right.
(06:33):
He's like, well, you know morethan the guy that started today,
right.
And so for the longest time Iwouldn't actually teach because
I was like I felt like I'd getno enough, right.
Then finally got to a pointwhere it was like, okay, teach
and you learn by actually doingand teaching.
Right, you actually learn moreat another level because you get
to interpret and see how peopleare responding to what you're
(06:54):
saying.
So it's the same thing in the,you know, in anything I watch or
anything I do is like how do Iactually, you know, apply what
I'm doing, apply what I'mlearning, what I'm seeing and my
interpretation of it right, andthen, more importantly, get
some feedback on it right?
So, whether that's running anad campaign or you know a sales
process or hiring people oracquiring businesses, whatever
(07:15):
it is, I'm always putting myselfin the place of like okay, I'm
not going to learn by justtalking about it right or just
watching a video on it, right.
So many people.
You see that in the internetmarketing, where a lot of people
will watch or buy courses andthen never even finish them
right or never actually applywhat they're learning in the
process.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I've heard it said you don't get better at pushups
by watching a YouTube video onhow to do pushups right.
You need to hit the floor.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know it's interesting.
So has this become a philosophyfor you, dan, like you, learn
and implement.
This is your magic trick.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, I mean that's the key thing is like just
taking action right Is 99% ofthe battle.
I mean, so many times we've had, you know, we're all guilty of
it, saying we're going to dosomething and then, for whatever
reason, we don't do it right.
Sometimes it's not in alignmentwith what we truly want or
sometimes it's, you know, adistraction because we see
somebody else doing it, thinkingI can do that right or I should
(08:09):
be doing that right, and thereality is it might not be one
of your core strengths or mightnot even be the thing you should
be doing.
Right, but you know, whenyou're really clear on what you
want, I always kind of gauge itbased on okay, is this in
alignment with my bigger vision?
Right, and you know I eliminatea lot of stuff.
Right, and you know by a lot ofwasted time, because I won't
(08:30):
focus on things that are justgoing to distract me.
Right, and you know, I think oneof the key things and I shared
this with you on a few weeks agolast year was a rough year.
Right, and because I lost twodear friends and mentors right,
and these were like really closeguys to me.
Right, that you know throughthe past, like 15, 20 years, and
(08:50):
one of the you know they bothwere buying wanted to buy
businesses with me.
Last year we started working onthings together and they both
independently, you know,unfortunately, you know had, you
know, ailments that they didn'tsurvive from and you know, it
started to really put myself ina perspective because I didn't
take it well, like I actuallytook it harder than I thought I
(09:11):
was going to, right, and part ofit was because I saw dreams
died with people that really had, like they had great lives,
right, they were great men,great family guys, but they had,
you know, it's like theyweren't done yet.
They still wanted to dosomething bigger.
They wanted to be part ofsomething bigger and impact more
people, right, and those dreamsdied with it, right.
(09:33):
And so for me, I always think,you know, I started thinking
back to like the differentconversations I had with them
and where we could have executedfaster, right, and it created a
sense of urgency for me to say,okay, I'm only working on
things that are bigger vision,bigger things that I get to
influence others, influence theinfluencers and just really, you
know, have a bigger splash.
(09:53):
And it's not about me, it'sjust about my level of wanting
to be fulfilled in the sense of,like I feel like I actually am
making a difference and,actually, you know, leveraging
the time, because we all wastetime, right, doing stuff that
may not be that important, right, and we're not here for an
unlimited amount of time.
We all have an expiration date,and for me it kind of hit home
(10:14):
real quick.
It was like man, I was like, amI prepared?
Right, like, you know, how am Ishowing up every day?
What could I be doingdifferently?
Right, what could I be doingmore, you know, to really
empower people and help them?
See, you know, they could bebetter, you know, better
involved with their families,better involved with helping
others, connecting with peoplearound the globe and inspiring
(10:35):
them with their skill sets andhelping them achieve whatever it
is, you know, their product orservices.
So, yeah, so for me, that justreally, you know, was an
eye-opening, you know, year forme and it really helped me get
rid of some things that weredistracting me, right as well.
Right, on a whole, nother levelof like, you know, literally, I
remember the one day I cameinto the office and I literally
(10:56):
wiped off my whiteboard probablyhalf the deals that were on
there Like not doing this, notdoing this, not doing this.
This is not in alignment, thisis not aligned.
These are distractions, right,I'm even down to the number of
conversations I have ondifferent opportunities.
It's I'm very strategic withwhere I put my time, and the
problem with that is I'm thetype of person that wants to
(11:17):
help everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Right sure.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So I won't say no to people, right.
But when it comes to likesomething that might absorb my
time in the sense of you know,just putting time into, you know
, maybe you know, looking atpossibly acquiring a business,
it's like the first question Iasked myself is like what is the
size of the business, what'sthe potential?
And I'll start weeding through,checking off some boxes and
(11:40):
I'll say, you know what it's notdoesn't fit the criteria of
what I'm looking for, right.
But if I know somebody I'llpoint them in the right
direction right.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I love that.
I'd like to dive into the M&Aside of things a little bit more
, but before I do, what'sinteresting so far for me is
that you had a pivotal momentwith this this colleague, mentor
, who exited the constructionindustry and lost his son.
You pivoted at that point totake charge of your own life,
which I think is amazing.
To be able to then say what canI do in the confines of my own
(12:10):
abilities and skills to createincome and life that's gonna
allow me to live by my ownchoices Amazing, fascinating.
And then, like last year again,you had a pivotal moment or
realization where you suddenlyunderstood that life is short,
that there are dreams that needto be executed before death
(12:32):
takes us, so that things arefulfilled.
These are kind of massivemoments in your life.
But there's a comment that youmade that I just wanna drill
into, and you said more thanonce on this call already
aligning with the bigger vision.
Can I just ask you, dan, beforewe get into the techniques of
(12:52):
your agency, of affiliatemarketing, of mergers and
acquisitions, can I just ask youright now, what vision do you
have for Dan Giordano, for yourlife, for yourself and the noise
around you right now?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's a great question.
So I can tell you, like in 2019, was when I actually shut down
an agency I had right, cause Ifelt like all right, I'm called
to something bigger and I justdon't know what it is yet.
Right, like there's something Ineed to be doing and I just
need to flush out andunfortunately and unfortunately,
the world shut down in 2020.
So it gave me some time, right,to really focus in on like okay
(13:28):
, let me go down this path ofacquisitions and see where it
leads.
And one of my mentors in thatspace basically said to me one
day he's like Dan, stay in yourlane.
Right, you have this amazingskill set of being able to build
a rapport with anybody on theplanet, and for the right
reasons.
Right, you have this amazingsales skill set.
You've sold millions of dollarsin training, coaching services
over the past 20 plus years.
(13:50):
Right, and you have thismarketing background that you've
generated millions of leads.
Why would you not stay in thatindustry?
And it's like, because myperspective at the time was,
like, I needed to be in theagency running it.
Right, and now you know,acquiring this agency and other
ones I'm involved in like I'mnot involved in mainly the day
(14:11):
to day.
Like I don't know all theclients I don't I'm not involved
in, like I'm just really superhigh level helping with strategy
, strategic partnerships, youknow, and growing through
acquisition is where I focus mytime and effort, and so what
that's led to was, you know Iwas thinking in the tens of
millions, right, when I startedthis journey in 2019, then it
(14:31):
raised the bar to a hundredmillion plus.
Now I'm part of a billiondollar rollup, right that when I
look at that, you know they putme on the board last year.
You know, the end of the yearthey nominated me to be on the
board to represent the investorsand I was like I'm the dumbest
guy in the room.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It was like, and I was like, I made it right.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was like I've made it right, you know.
But you know, I wasn't thinkingthat way Initially.
It's like, you know, you becomewho you associate with.
So for me it was like, okay, Iwanna hang around people that
are much smarter than me, right,and which is most people right,
and you know, really like Ijust genuinely wanna be part of
something bigger, in a sense oflike it's not about the dollar
(15:13):
signs, it's about the impact andthe ripple effect, cause I
often say it's like okay, a lotof times you'll hear people say
it's like well, you know the whyis it always just about the
money in business, right, andit's like that's how we measure
things, right In business.
But the reality is like howmuch more impact if you had more
zeros right Behind thosenumbers, right, how much more
(15:33):
impact can you have, right?
So for me, it's about like doingthings from, you know, cause
driven.
Now, at some point in my life Ishifted.
Well, we've been some level ofcause driven, but like some
point in my life I shifted toreally being cause and, you know
, an impact driven.
And one of those things thatreally hit me was like, okay,
(15:54):
the people I get to work with,the people I get to employ, the
people I get to be around.
Like you know, not everybodyhas a great work environment,
right?
Not everybody is, you know, inalignment with what they should
be doing in their life, right?
So some of the things I've beendoing is like really making
sure people are in the rightseat, right, and really making
sure that they're buying intothe vision and it's in alignment
(16:16):
with their vision.
So for me, it's about thisbigger play being part of
something that I've never beenpart of, to the point now where
you know we have an investmentfund that just started this week
with another you know anotherpartner that I started that with
right Guys.
You know saying it's like we'regonna raise you know
significant amount of money insix months and I honestly have
(16:37):
no clue how to do that right,like I mean, I know how to go
talk to people about raisingmoney, right, but at that level
that we're playing at, it onlyhappened because I genuinely
just showed up connecting withpeople, asking questions and
eventually it led down this pathbecause I put in the time right
, and I think so many peoplefall short right Because they
(16:57):
don't put in the time.
It's kind of like the commentyou said about push-ups, right?
I always say this is likeyou're not gonna get abs, but I
go into the gym, right, yougotta do the reps right, it's
again.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The synergies are huge.
I remember I've got my blackbelt in that little counter
right there behind me with thethree little stripes on it,
which I'm extremely proud of,and I still remember walking
into the dojo as a white beltyou know, not even a white belt
dressed in sweats and a T-shirt,because I didn't have my
uniform yet.
And I remember, man, thischanged my life and it's exactly
the same messages as you justsaid.
(17:26):
It changed my life.
I remember there was this guyat the front of the room his
name was Jamie Winn, that I'vebeen strong, firm friends still
out to this day, and Jamie wasalready a black belt.
And I watched this guy honestly, dan, he could kick the doors
off a car.
You know what it's like whenyou see somebody who's just
driven and skilled in this spaceLike this man was like amazing,
just incredible.
And when they said Spire Up,partner up, literally first day
(17:48):
in the gym, I headed straightfor Jamie and I bowed to him and
he looked at me and he saidreally.
And I said hell, yeah, man, ifI wanna be where you are, I
gotta train what you do.
And he's like respect, don't goeasy on me.
We partnered up and, as I said,we became firm friends.
But what was interesting afterthat sparring session and this
is the thing that changed mylife he said to me I asked him a
question and I didn't even knowI was looking for a mentor or
(18:09):
how this would work.
But I said to Jamie how did youget here, man?
How did you get here?
I'm a fat, overweight, midtwenties, completely out of
touch with myself, male, right,how did you get there?
40 years old, able to kick thedoors of a car and absolute
weapon.
How did you get here, man?
And his answer changed my life,dude, he said I just kept
(18:32):
showing up to training.
I just kept showing up.
I just kept showing up, I justkept showing up, I just kept
trying to come to training anddoing the reps.
And, exactly as he said, youjust happen to keep showing up
and ask the right questions andsuddenly you're in a room
creating amazing things andraising capital and doing
impactful work.
(18:52):
Now, dan, I just want to drillin for a sec, if I can.
Man A lot of us in ourentrepreneurial journey.
It feels like to me we get tothis point where we say it's not
about the money Now, it's aboutthe impact and it's almost like
this is to me, anyway, thereward we get for the reps we've
done is that we kind of achievethis place where it feels just
(19:14):
the right thing to do.
But I'm also extremelyconscious of the fact that our
audience, the majority of peoplewho are starting on this
entrepreneurial journey, nomatter where it finds them, we
all start with this concept offreedom.
Right, I want to break free, Iwant to do my own thing.
We get into the valley of holycrap.
It's a lot harder work than Iever believed it was ever going
(19:36):
to be possible.
We get into, you know, maybebreaking through that into now
we're starting to get some, someruns on the board and some wins
.
But at what point for you, didit get away from being about the
money?
You know those first affiliatemarketing campaigns, that first
dollar you made online, thatfirst Facebook ad that returned
a positive row, as like therewas the times when it was about
(19:57):
the money and like, piece bypiece, the same as getting a
black belt.
You've you've done thosenumbers to the point where now
it's not about the money anymore, but the vast majority of the
audience it's about the moneyand it's about what they can,
what they can do.
How do we, how do we help anentrepreneur, how do we help
somebody who is wanting to takecharge of their own life?
(20:17):
How do we help them understandthat, whilst it's about the
money right now and you need tobe able to put runs on the board
and create value to do thatit's also about turning that
dial up in a wider, wider thingand creating more for humanity
than then take, than you'retaking out like.
How does that journey happen inyour mind?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, that's a that's a loaded question, right, and
we can take that a number ofdifferent ways, right?
So, so I think that the biggestthing is when I, when I look at
, yes, we measure businesssuccess by money, right, and yes
, we all need to make money topay the bills, keep the lights
on and provide for our families,right.
But I think you know youmentioned that, you know earlier
(20:55):
, before we started around isthere anything off limits, right
, you know?
Or anything we don't want totalk about?
And I said I'm an open book,right, so I'm going to share
something that you know may helpsome people, right?
One of them is, you know,making sure you partner with the
right people if you're going tohave partners, right.
So, one of my mentors thatpassed earlier, you know, last
year, he told me this, and thenthis was when I was going
(21:16):
through the partnership issue,right, he told me Dan, no
partners.
If you're going to have apartner, you need to have a
clear exit plan in place, right,of exactly what's going to
happen.
In writing, right, this way,there's no like, because
eventually somebody's going towant to divorce, right in the
business, right, so somethingchanges, somebody wants to do
something different, right,family stuff, whatever the thing
is right.
(21:36):
So I went through a partnershipissue that there were some
integrity issues that came upright, that I just was not
aligned with right.
And this is where the shift wasfor me around money, because I
walked away from two milliondollars, right, and it was, yes,
I needed the money.
I wanted the money right, but Iwas not willing to sell my soul
for the money, right.
(21:56):
And it was a shift for me thatmade me realize that, like, okay
, I have the knowledge to beable to create whatever I want,
and everyone listening to thishas that ability to create
whatever you want, andespecially now more than ever,
with all of the people that aresharing messages out there to
help people.
You know.
And you know you pick your lanebased on your skill sets or the
things you want to enhanceskill sets around like literally
(22:19):
anything's possible, right.
So so for me it was a shiftaround okay, I don't need
anybody else, I can do this onmy own right, I can.
You know, I can start overright.
And it was more about peace ofmind for me to know that I was
doing the right thing.
That again comes back to beingin alignment.
I often share this messagearound.
If you think about snowman,right, the head, knowledge, the
(22:40):
heart, you know knowledge.
And then connected to source orGod, right, when all of that's
in alignment, right, you know,magic happens.
Like you know.
You, literally the power ofintention is, you know, infinite
when it comes to you being inalignment.
So, for me, when I realize thatI can create whatever I want,
like, yes, it's not perfect,there's issues that come up,
(23:00):
there's challenges that happen.
You know nothing ever goes asplanned.
And business and life, right,there's always some weird stuff
that happens.
Right, but when you have that,you know understanding of what
you really want, knowing whatyou want, often share this.
Know what you want, right.
Why do you want?
It is more important, right,the why behind it is going to be
the emotion that's going tomake you want to get up out of
bed.
(23:20):
How I know I'm on the righttrack is I get up early.
If I am off track, I want tosleep in, like I don't even want
to deal with my day sometimes,right, and know that it's like
alright, there's gonna be thingsI have to do that I don't want
to do, but when I'm, when I'vebeen involved in projects or you
know different businesses thatreally weren't exciting to me,
(23:40):
right, like real estate.
Right, you know real estate,working with real estate agents.
Right, and the Legion industryright, I squashed an entire
division of my company because Iwas like I don't like realtors,
right, as an boring, I can'tspin it.
I can't spin it anyway becauseit's like you know, yeah, I can
say I'm helping people findtheir dream home.
That's not exciting to me.
I didn't wash, yeah, yeah, soso, really, you know, helping
(24:03):
you understand that, like, it'smore important to understand why
you know, why is it that youreally want this?
And really drilling deep intoit, because a lot of times,
people will give you the surfacelevel answer like I want to
make 10k a month or whatever thenumber is right, and you know I
want to be able to start anonline business, or I want to
start, you know, this thing thatI want to do, right, that I
want to make this right.
(24:23):
Then you really need tounderstand, like, why is that
number important to you?
What does it mean to you?
Right, why you know, why do youactually want that?
Because you know we see otherpeople doing stuff, right, and
then we try and mimic where wethink we can do what they're
doing.
And this is the reason why Ilike things like network
marketing.
Most people fail in it right isbecause they don't realize you
need some level of communicationskills at some type of business
(24:46):
acumen right, some type of youknow, ability to be able to
connect with people, believe inthe product that you're selling,
right, whatever the thing is,whether it's that industry or
any others, it's the same thing.
Right, you have to have thatbelief and the big thing around
this is understanding the belief, confidence, uncertainty and
what you're doing right.
And if you don't have that andin which you're attempting to do
(25:08):
right, align yourself withsomebody that does that, can
believe for you, and you canborrow their, you know their,
you know their expertise to beable to help get you over the
edge so that you build thatbelief and certainty and what
you're doing right.
And then a lot of times peoplejust don't do that right because
(25:30):
they're trying to figure it allout on their own.
Especially us guys were alittle thick headed, thinking we
can do it all ourselves right,and and you know it's hard for
guys to open up right and andjust really, you know, be real
about what's going on for them,right, and being able to, like
you know, understand that, like,okay, I can do this, right, but
it's much faster if we do ittogether, right, or if I could
do it with someone that's beendown the path already getting
(25:54):
that kind of mentorship or thatsounding board.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I mean, as you said, it's real tough, especially for
guys where, like you know,buckle down, work harder.
You know, turtle in a shell I'mjust going to not this thing
out.
Whereas sometimes it's betternot sometimes, 100% of the time
it's better to reach out, don'tgo in, reach out and and expand
your, your zone of communication.
So then let's get technical fora second arm.
(26:18):
Do you still do affiliatemarketing?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I don't do as much affiliate marketing anymore.
Right, there's days I sit thereand think, like you know,
knowing what I know now I wassharing this the other day with
somebody I was like man, withall the tools and stuff we had
today, like all the social proofstuff, like you know, I would
have done 10 times what I didback then and I was really
successful back then when I wasin the affiliate marketing space
, when I first started.
(26:43):
But like it's just amazing whatthe stuff you have today, right
, that can help accelerate thatpath.
Right, mostly what I do now isI'm working on, obviously, the
core agency and then acquiringother businesses strategic
partnerships, consulting forequity and, you know, part of
the investment group, you know,raising capital and, you know,
(27:03):
mainly focused on acquiringother businesses that are in the
marketing space, specificallyWeb three space.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So let's focus on that then.
So we don't call it affiliatemarketing anymore, but now if
you see a product that's amazing, you might shout it out you
know, that's great.
That's your version of it thesedays, so let's focus on the
agency 561 Media.
Who do you look for?
Who do you work with?
What do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
you do for them.
Yeah, that's a good question,right so, being that I, when I
acquired it right, we have headclients state of clients all
over the board.
Right so everything from thelargest stone crab distributor
in the country to, you know,impact window company.
Right, so, obviously not onspecific vertical, it truly is a
local.
You know local brandedmarketing company, right, and
you know a pretty affluent area.
(27:45):
Right so we have some reallyinteresting clients across the
board.
Right so it's mainly B2B.
Right so, businesses that areB2B and mainly focused on either
they need really good design.
Messaging and paid ads is a corestrength of what we do here.
Right so, helping them generateleads.
You know inbound right fortheir teams.
(28:06):
And you know some e-commerceclients as well related to you
know that.
But it's an interesting thingbecause it's like it truly is a
full stack agency and if youtalk to the guys that you know a
lot of times in the acquisitionspace, like we want to avoid
full stack agencies.
We really want to havespecialized knowledge type
agencies.
Right so, whether they're aYouTube agency or Google ads
(28:27):
agency, right, or design, youknow, whatever their core
competency is right, but if wehad to narrow it down, our core
thing is design and paid adsright.
That is the main thing.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And if you bought 561 Media today in its current
state, if you'd literally justput the check on the table, get
it cleared, and today was thefirst day that you own the
company.
What do you do now?
What's your next move for thisbusiness?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That's a great question.
So recently.
What's interesting is like theyhaven't been in my space, right
, say on the coaching, mentoring, training industry, right, so
it's all new to my partnerthat's you know part of this
that he's actually ran theday-to-day here for eight plus
years, and so I actuallyrecently brought in an ops guy
(29:14):
that is in the coaching space aswell and he's streamlining
everything for us.
But he also has industryexperience around high level and
automations and custom valuesthat actually build out, you
know, everything from three-daychallenges, five-day challenges
and everything in between.
He's, you know, built out theentire funnel for it and we
partnered on it and brought himin-house to support everything
(29:37):
we're doing.
So we're adding a coaching sideto it.
So, and that's really where,like I, you know, I was gonna
say I thrive, right, but I'd bemore excited about
transformational type work thanyou know.
Just generating lead for thelocal, you know.
Impact window company, right, Imean it's all fine indeed, but
there's that.
And then really consulting forequity type deals, right, so we
(29:58):
actually any of the largerclients, what I'm transitioning
into is we're taking apercentage of equity of the
company.
They're still paying theirretainers and higher end fees
for our build-outs.
But you know we have astrategic partner rate, but now
we own a part of the company, sowe are truly partners with, you
know, some of our clients nowand that's really what we prefer
to play right.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So I think that that's an incredible path for an
agency as well and that givesyou just incredible long-term
strengths and reliability andgrowth and legacy and like all
those amazing words that are atthe top end of the
entrepreneur's world.
How did you transition intoconsulting for equity?
(30:42):
Like, at what point did you go?
Wow, I can actually.
I'm not just running Facebookads for these guys, I'm coming
in taking a piece and we'rerunning it together.
Like when did that first kindof happen for you and how has
that grown since then?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So I think the key thing isthere's always been this
strategic partnership model thatI've had right.
So most of the largeropportunities that you know,
whether it's tens of millions ormulti-millions, any of those
types of businesses that I'vebeen part of I've always been
brought in from the back end.
You know lead gen marketing,you know back end type CMO, you
(31:20):
know call it fractional CMO typescenario, but I would always
come in and get a percentage ofrevenue right and or you know
some percentage of the companyright and so so what
realistically like, if you haveone of those like an example,
would be what the one company Ihad is like the deal was.
You know back then it was.
You know they paid me fivegrand a month and gave me 20% of
gross revenue right and at itsheight it was doing about 7
(31:42):
million a year right.
So you know it was a nicepayday right and it worked
really well for 10 plus yearsright.
Then I took that same model intodifferent you know arenas that
I got to work in and it's likenot every client is that a fit
for right.
It's got to be really somebodyyou know, like and trust,
somebody that you see that youcan add tremendous value, right.
(32:02):
But I believe that it's a hugeopportunity for marketing
agencies, because most and yousee this being in the agency
related space as well is, youknow, most agencies.
You know they're technicians,right, they're not true business
owners.
They might be like a Facebookads guy, might be a you know a
technician based on like hey, Ican set up ads or I can build
out funnels or whatever thething is.
They're mainly really good at,but they're not truly
(32:25):
understanding the businessesholistically, right.
And that's where, like theagencies that I've had, you know
, it's always been like aconsultative type approach where
I could actually help thebusiness.
From, you know, it's not justabout you know this from lead
gen, right, is the you knowgenerating a lead is only as
good as the person that answersthe phone, right, or the funnel
that they're going through,right.
(32:45):
So if the messaging is off, orif the sales person sucks, right
, or if the you know the offerisn't really great, like there's
a lot of variables toconverting a qualified lead,
right, yeah.
So so I've always looked ateverything holistically and when
I'm talking to a business owner, I'm looking for opportunities
to say, hey, what would it takefor us to strategically partner
(33:06):
Right If I'm really interestedin it, right it's like if I see
like there's huge value in usdoing that, that's why we could
put all our efforts and ourresources and our team on it,
versus just selling a retainerright Because you know in the
agency world a lot of retainertype models.
You know they don't last morethan like 90 days.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
As the first expense that every business is looking
to cut as soon as they can,right?
Do you strategically say no?
So let me qualify that question.
You've got this model now,where consulting for equity is
just an incredible position tobe in.
Do you open the door with thatthought, as in this is a brand
new business, you've neverspoken to the owner before.
(33:44):
The first thing I'm going tolook for is a piece, or do you
suss them out?
Do you do some work for themfirst?
And I want to add to thatquestion so do you strategically
look for that from day one?
Do you say no?
Do you literally get inside ofan organization and say no way
do I want a piece of this, andat the same time, do you have
business owners coming to yousaying please, dan, I've heard
you do this, this is my company,I'll give you some if you help
(34:06):
me.
And you say not my thing.
Like is it now?
Are you in a position wheresaying no to things is more
important?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
than saying yes, Absolutely.
So learning to say no, like Imentioned earlier, is like I'm
the type that I really want tohelp everybody.
For the reality, there's onlyso much time in a day.
I try and at least point peoplein the right direction if I can
help them, and it's not.
They're not a fit for us.
But I have said no to severalpeople, Even with an agency.
(34:32):
A local agency that was tryingto sell to us recently is like
they came in trying to pitch meon why we should buy their
business and I was like you knowwhat?
This is a distraction right now.
Right, there you go.
It would be cool to have youbecause you have some
interesting things, but likereally not interested, Whereas
maybe a year ago I might havejumped on it A couple of years
(34:53):
ago.
And really like learning to sayno to people, because this goes
back to that alignment issue wewere talking about earlier.
It's like you know what you want, why you want it, and you're
clear on what your goals are andtargets are that you're
shooting for Right.
It's very easy for you to justlook at and say, go, does this
fit Right With what I want to do?
And I'm really looking for anopportunity to create a win-win.
(35:17):
So I won't lead with like Iwant to get a percentage of your
company Right.
I really want to see, like isthis somebody I would want to
work with?
The first thing I looked for inevery sales conversation on a
had thousands of them at thispoint, Right.
I worked with you know, youprobably know Ryan Lebeck.
I've been with him for eightyears, Right, and so on the back
end of his you know mentoringprogram, you know I had
(35:37):
thousands of conversations withpeople and the same thing that I
would say all the time it'slike listen, I don't do this for
the money, it's an impactproject for me.
Like, I really enjoy havingthese conversations, Right?
So first thing I'm looking foris do I like you right?
What?
I invite you over what I inviteyou over for dinner.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Right, I hang out with you on a weekend by choice,
if money wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure what you've had some people
you've worked with that youwould probably rather not work
with and something you haven'thad a chance to that you'd love
to.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's right.
It is that game of putting theright people around the table
for you.
So so, dad, how many companiesdo you have an ownership stake
in right now?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
right now there's one , two, three, four, five.
Five companies that you have anownership, part of, and then
I'm part of, a roll-up in thecoaching space Specifically that
we have there.
There's seven companies in thatone as well.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Amazing and that's the one, though, you're saying
is the billion dollar roll-up,which is pretty cool.
How's your team like?
What's a day in the life of DanGiordano now like?
It feels to me that, havingthat level of of ownership in
that many companies, you must belike dashing left and right
trying to keep up with stuff.
But coming back to our firstpart of the conversation, where
(36:44):
you designed your business andyour life to suit what you do,
I'm kind of prefacing the factthat that might not be the case.
So what's a day in the lifelook like for you now?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, so I'm very strategic with my calendar,
right.
So I will block out a lot oftime right, and I'll be very
strategic with the conversationsI have, especially after what I
mentioned earlier about myfriends past last year on this
very cautious my calendar andone of the things I like forced
myself to do, right.
So recently my son startedplaying flag football, right,
and then I, you know they wereshort coaches and I didn't want
(37:15):
to coach this year, so I waslike, you know, I'll just attend
.
And they're like we're shortcoaches, we really need a coach.
And I was like, all right, fine, you know, I'll finally
committed to do it right.
And then one of the things Isaid to myself is like, okay,
it's, you know, about nine toten weeks right of my commitment
, three times a week, right, andit's not around the corner from
me, it is a little bit of ahaul, right, you know, I'm an
hour from home right now, right,where my office is, you know,
(37:38):
and and a half hour west from meis where football is right,
right.
So those two nights out of theweek or a haul, right, yeah, but
For me it's like a commitment,it's like okay One, it gets me
the on, plug from everything andI just get to be present with
my kid and the kids on the onthe team.
Right, it forces me to unplug,but also, like during the day
when I'm working, like I don'tphysically have to be here.
(38:01):
Like this, this business.
The reason, one of the mainreasons I acquired it was simply
because my partner, michael, isa beast, right like he.
He's been running day to dayfor years.
If I didn't come in, we'd befine, right, right.
The reality is I have a muchbigger vision for what we're
doing here, right.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
So, and I want to be here, right, gets me to unplug
from, you know, just keeping,you know, work from home, which
I haven't had.
I've worked from home for 25years, right, yeah, so you know.
So, being in an office is weird, having clients come into the
office is weird for me, right,yeah.
So so, really, you know,guarding my time, making sure
I'm home in a reasonable hourevery night, right, except for
(38:38):
today, because, you know, wehave a little bit of time
difference where we're at right,so we said it, thank you, right
, but that's all good, right,and and you know, just really
like saying, okay, here's whatI'm gonna do this week and
here's what I'm not, there'sgonna be sometimes you have to
grind and put in more time,right, you know, and there's
gonna be some sacrifices attimes, right, you know, it's
just part of the game, right.
But there's also times whereit's like, okay, why am I really
(39:00):
doing this?
Right, I'm doing all of thisfor my family, for the people I
get to work with, right, and youknow, being part of that bigger
vision to be able to, you know,live the life I want to live,
like, right now I'm in a phaseof a three to five year plan,
right.
That's very clear on this.
You know roll-up strategy andthe other things I'm doing, so
it's like, okay, it's a littlebit of a grind season right now,
(39:20):
right.
So I'm hosting events, I'mdoing things that are a little
different than I would normallydo.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So you're?
You're a cog in the wheelrather than a I don't know a
host of the engine.
Do you find yourself relying onthe management strengths of
your team?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Or are you the doer?
Yeah, no, I'm not the doerright.
I'm the guy that you know hasthe vision, the strategy.
I've gotten really good somehowwith you know.
What's interesting is theconversations that I've had with
people over the years.
I've strategically in my mindfigured out how to build a power
team right, Without actuallyeven thinking I was going to do
(40:02):
that someday, like that'sinteresting.
Yeah, the court people that workhere, the new hires that we've
had, you know, have come inspecifically because I've built
amazing relationships right withpeople over the years and and I
see where they fit, like myoperations guy, like you know,
just, you know it's like agodsend, right, because that's
not my strength, right, right,but but also like realizing that
(40:22):
, like, okay, you know, what I'mbuilding is a Delta team for
integration when we acquireother businesses, so that you
know he has everythingstreamlined and we could
duplicate, rinse and repeat whatwe've built here, right, wow.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
So if you had a like a a Thanos glove snap moment and
your entire team disappeared,would your ops guy be your first
time?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
I'd say my sales guy would be my first time.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Nice okay, so sales guys first hire.
Right, you got to get revenuethrough the door, so sales guys
gonna be your first hire.
Who's your?
Who's your next?
Key points like thechessboard's just been wiped.
You got a literally rebuild onthe fulfillment side.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yeah, yeah, second person would be the fulfillment
person, right?
Somebody that could actuallydeliver what we're, what we're
through the door, keep thecustomers happy, cool.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
So sales number one, fulfillment number two.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yep, and then then there would be various Subsets
of like, maybe a paid ads personto be, you know, depending on
the service, that were a coreservice.
Right, you know, right now,with this model of the you know
design, a designer, graphicdesigner and then a paid ads
person, Right someone to fulfillthe orders that are coming
through the door?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, and at what point would you feel comfortable
to step back into higher levelstrategy?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I Would say, knowing what I know now I have 10 I tend
to be the bottleneck, right.
I think this is a lot of youknow.
A lot of times, business owners, you know we all struggle with
this where we feel like we do itthe best.
So we we need to do it right orwe need to do it all, or we
wear too many hats right, andletting go is one of the things
that like, because I'm perfectlycapable of running ads.
(41:54):
I've run tens of millions ofdollars of ad spend over the
years.
But like I actually recentlyset up a campaign, you know,
just to test my skill sets,right, you know, last week, keep
it, and I'm like actually kindof enjoyed it, right, like I
don't.
I don't enjoy finding a pixeland all that stuff, right, right
, but I do enjoy, like, certainaspects of the psychology behind
it.
It was like just put myself inthe mindset of the person that's
(42:15):
viewing the ad, because I viewit this way the ads I place have
the ability to changesomebody's life, yeah, right, so
.
So, really, you know, when I getto do that, it's like it ties
in again with what I you knowwhat fulfills me, what, what
motivates me, what inspires meto do what I do, right, so, so
the key things would be like,definitely, I think I could step
(42:35):
out at any time and I think Iwould step out much faster
knowing what I know now, becauseI know that, like, when I walk
out the door, if I didn't comeback in here, you know, for
months, right, it still wouldrun and still be profitable and
still be growing right, withoutme, right.
And now that's one of the bigthings we're doing with the new
ops guy is installing, you know,the overall new operating
(42:58):
system, because it really didn'thave a lot of the components
you and I would know, right.
So we've been building all ofthat out the past month or two
getting straight-line meetingsin place, building the team,
like all the Things that areimportant to really be able to
scale and take it to the nextlevel with where we're going.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I love it, then I'm super grateful of your time and
appreciative of the fact thatyou've got an hour drive home.
Thank you so much for stickingaround and and spending some
time with me, so I'm gonna makethe most use of these last few
questions.
So what is your 80 year oldself Going to tell you that
they're proud of you for andthat, and that in and
(43:34):
subsequently is the follow-upquestion what is your 80 year
old self gonna tell you that youshould be doing right now?
Good?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
question.
Good questions, all right.
So I think If there's a littleslant to this, but I think the
biggest thing that I think Iwould be where I would be at
that age is saying that you didsomething that most people would
not ever attempt to do, andthat's to go after something
(44:05):
bigger than yourself and justbeing part of something that
became a movement, and justbeing willing to get on camera
and speak and being critiqued.
I'm sure you've had naysayersat times posting content or
posting something negative, andyou never had that.
So for me, knowing that I'mdoing what I know I should be
(44:31):
doing with my life and impactingothers and it ain't perfect.
There's always challenges,there's always struggles,
there's always self-doubt,there's always stuff that goes
on in my head, on my qualifiedfor this and I think you're
familiar with the movie Rocky.
But like yo, adrienne, I did it.
It's what I said when Iacquired this business to my
wife, because I worked.
(44:52):
This was not an easy deal toget done.
It was like it took me sixmonths, there was complications,
there was all kinds of stuff,but in the end, when I look at
it 30 years ahead of time fromnow, I'll be looking back saying
, okay, well, remember when weacquired that and then we went
and did this thing and we wentand had this massive exit and
(45:13):
look at the number of people weimpacted, look at how we took
care of our employees.
And I think about this oftenand I'm sure you probably heard
this.
It's not about, and I can'tremember.
I heard somebody say adifferent spin on this last week
and it was interesting to mebecause it's not just about what
people say at your funeral.
It's like what are they sayingabout you right now?
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Right when you're not in the room.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, because if you're dead, who cares what
they're saying?
Right, but you want people toat least be inspired that you
made an impact.
Right, but really thinkingabout how you show up, and
what's impactful for me is I canmake a post about hosting an
event here at my office and have20, 30 people show up.
That, to me, tells me okay, I'madding some value to people.
(45:58):
Often we doubt ourselves, right, and I just look at it as okay.
Am I doing what I'm supposed tobe doing and when I'm that age?
Right, looking at where I'm atright now, like my kids have
asked me when are you going toretire?
I say I am retired.
There's no such thing asretirement.
Retirement's a lie, right, likeretirement is like to me doing
(46:21):
what I do, like I would do this.
If I had a billion dollar exittoday, I would still be doing
this.
I might take a week or two off,right, yeah, but I get the type
that I don't know about you.
But like if I go on vacationafter like three days, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
I'm like, I'm like, I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm
like I'm like getting my own Ifit's like.
So last question.
So I I'm going to come backbecause we didn't get an answer
to the 80 year old, so I've gottwo more questions for you.
So the 80 year old has givenyou some great advice.
That proud the 80 year old Danis proud of you.
But the things that you've doneand the vision that you have in
the things you're about to do,but, what advice does your 80
(46:56):
year old self have for you rightnow?
Telling you the things you needto do between now and then?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Well, between now and then.
I mean, the key thing is someof the and the key thing is some
of the stuff we talked aboutalready is showing up every day
and doing what's required, beingwilling to do the work right
and being willing to ask forhelp right, sooner, rather than
trying to figure it all out onyour own right.
And I can say like the biggestI'd say if there was a regret at
(47:25):
this stage in my life is thefact that I didn't do it sooner.
Right, knowing what I know now,like I would never do things
the same way.
Knowing what I know now right.
And it's only because I finallymade the decision that I was
going to do something different.
I was going to put myself inrooms that made me uncomfortable
, right.
So my 80-year-old self, I wouldsay show up every day, give it
(47:48):
100%, 1,000% and do what'srequired every day to connect
with people.
I have a simple rule If I canreach out to three people every
day, I'm good.
I don't know about you, but Igo under state of depression if
I don't do that.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
So no wonder your podcast is called All In.
So my last question for youthen, coming back to where we
started our call, and againthank you so much for your time,
man.
I've really enjoyed it Comingback to that $400 million exit
with that colleague in theconstruction industry, and your
question to him was pivotal.
I'm going to ask you the samething.
Knowing what you know now, whatwould you do different?
Speaker 1 (48:29):
What I would do differently.
I would honestly put myself ina place where I could be more
present with people, because Idon't know about you, right,
with all the things we havegoing on, especially when you're
around family and you're tryingto detach and decompress, it's
hard sometimes to slow my minddown, right, and I really think
that when you can take that time, I'd try to do meditation,
(48:50):
qigong.
I do things to kind ofdecompress and unplug, right.
There's times I won't eventouch my computer, I don't even
go near it, and just reallyunplug and be present with the
family.
Fortunately I have anine-year-old that keeps me on
my toes, right, but really Iwould say if I could just be
present, not only just with thefamily, but even in
(49:11):
conversations, right, becauseour minds are racing with things
we've got to do, things thatare on our plate, things we
forgot to do, that we'rethinking about.
While we're doing stuff likethis, I was like, oh, I forgot
to do this or I got to do that,like, do you get to slow down
and take a deep breath, right,and just say, okay, what's most
important, right, and rememberwhy you're doing all of this?
I would tell myself to show upand be present in every moment.
(49:35):
Right, because for some of us,we don't know when our last
moment is, and don't let thedreams die when it happens.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dan Giordano.
You can follow Dan I'm going tomake sure his links are
everywhere on this podcast withInstagram and Facebook you can
get in touch with Dan and he'sthe host of the All In podcast
and I can think you canunderstand why this man is All
In and you'll see him standingon the sidelines of a flag
football tournament, I'm sure,with his son coming up.
But you can keep in touch withDan by any of the links below
(50:06):
and, of course, there isAllInBusinessCoachingcom, which
is Dan's primary point ofconnecting with new business
opportunities and new growth.
Ladies and gentlemen, DanGiordano, if you are on the
treadmill, you're in the car onthe way to work.
Give this man a silent thankyou and send it out there to him
May.
Thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate your wisdom andthe chance to hang out with you
a little bit.
I'm excited for what you've gotcoming up in the future and I
(50:29):
hope you check back in with usand let us know how that's all
going.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Amazing.
Thanks guys, Thank you.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank youso much for joining me.
This is Walt with the salesside, hustles and startups
podcast.
Today's special guest issomebody that really, as I look
at his history, has achievedincredible things, and yet I get
the sense that it's only justthe beginning.
As I was doing my research andI was looking at our friends in
common, I was actually stunnedthat our paths haven't crossed
(00:23):
before.
We share so many friends, butthat's not unusual, considering
what Daniel puts across as hisown message.
He's currently the CEO of 561Media.
He's a merger and acquisitionspecialist who focuses on taking
companies and helping them withgrowth strategies and helping
them achieve their goals, butnot only that.
He's been through someincredible experiences, starting
(00:44):
as an accountant straight outof school of all things, and
then he decided to I don't knowcome across to the light side
and become an entrepreneur.
So we're going to dive right inwith Dan and find out all about
how that works.
Please welcome to the show theCEO of 561 Media, mr Daniel
Giordano.
Hey, dan, thanks so much forjoining us.
Man, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
I greatly appreciate it, man.
I always have an opportunity tojust kind of share a message
and help people like I'm inAmazing.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Amazing.
How did that all come to be?
Let's dive straight in.
You've had what you wouldconsider to be a typical
schooling academic backgroundand you've pivoted to become
this kind of leader figure.
You've become this companybuilder, you've become an
empower.
How did that happen?
When did the light go on foryou?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I think at first I've been an entrepreneur pretty
much my whole life, but I was inthe construction industry up
until about 1999.
In 1999, there was somethingmagical that happened, and what
that was was I was expecting ourfirst child, nice, and I
started to question my lifechoices.
We had already moved.
(01:50):
I had sold my first business in1998.
We moved to South Florida afterthat from New Jersey and I
started to question my lifechoices and I happened to be
working for a guy that had amassive exit in the construction
space.
I was working on his home and Ikind of looked at him one day
and I said I would always become.
I was kind of podcasting backthen, long before it was called
(02:11):
podcasting, but it just weren'trecording Before.
It was cool, right.
I was just asking questionsbecause I was curious.
Everybody else would go withtheir hands out, like they get
paid, and I would go hey man,can I just ask you a question?
How did you get where you're at?
What did you do for a living?
How did you get there, right?
So I asked this guy a question.
It was like, is there anythingyou would do differently?
And he looked at me and he goesI would give it all back if I
(02:34):
could get my son back, whoa, andI said, well, what happened?
And he said, you know, his sonhad died from alcoholism at the
age of 30.
He was never home because hewas grinding and building his
company and he had a $400million exit, so it was a
massive payday private jet, thewhole thing, right, you know,
the beautiful home on the beach,multiple homes throughout the
(02:55):
world, but didn't have his kid.
And, you know, just started toreally sink into me that, you
know, I grew up with a dad thatis an awesome father, right, but
he old school, worked toprovide for the family, so he
was never at my sporting events,never played catch, you know,
never.
So I started questioning, likeI want to be the dad that gets
(03:15):
to be home, right, and so it wasa major pivot point to say,
okay, what could I dodifferently so that I'm not
working in the constructionspace seven days a week and I
could be home with my kids,right?
So that was the beginning pointof me starting to dabble online
in 1999 and figure out somethings.
You know, in the first start.
You know, try to figure outselling, you know, through eBay,
(03:39):
selling through Amazon, right,trying different things, until I
stumbled across affiliatemarketing right, and that was my
first home run.
It took me about a year and ahalf to kind of dabble around a
lot of late nights.
We didn't have all the fanciestools we have today where I
could watch a video on how to dojust about anything, right, so
I just banged my head againstthe wall till I figured some
things out, and that's what kindof led me down the path of the
(04:01):
internet marketing world andlead generation and being able
to be partners in a personaldevelopment leadership training
company for 10 years and alwayshad, you know, some form of an
agency that I was involved in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Nice, wow, amazing.
I find the pivot with childrenis such a common thread as well.
I remember when my daughter wasborn, thinking to myself I was
the ultimate employee at thatpoint.
I was in at the office at sevenin the morning and I was at the
last to leave at night,thinking that I was doing the
right thing and inverted commas.
And then my daughter was bornand I gallantly, gallantly, took
(04:35):
three days off, three wholedays, when my daughter was born,
and the morning that I wentback to work, I dropped some
croissants off to my wife, whowas still in hospital, and I got
to my desk at the point thathad been my fulfillment for the
last decade and I said what thehell am I doing here while my
wife's in hospital?
And literally that was the daythat I started dabbling internet
(04:57):
marketing as well.
So interesting.
Something that you said justthen is fascinating for me,
which is we didn't have all thefancy tools that we have today
and we couldn't just watch avideo and find out how to do
stuff.
I genuinely, I look at my kidsnow and I look at this kind of
opportunity that we have at thispoint in time and I'm stunned
by the fact that we can, ondemand, learn any topic in any
(05:21):
depth that we ever want to.
How?
How do you adapt in that spacewhere learning is so quick?
And how do you, how do you findthat that drives your business
these days?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I think you know, thebiggest thing is, you know
there's so many different things, as you know, in the internet
marketing world, then you couldhave shiny object syndrome and
be taken down higher rabbittrail, right?
So for me, it's like I alwayslook at, you know, anything that
I do is like, okay, how fastcan I execute on what I'm
learning Right?
So even if I'm reading a booklike it's like, okay, I need to,
(05:50):
I'm not just reading for thesake of saying I read the book.
I want to actually apply stuffthat I'm learning right.
So anything that I'm watching,anything that I'm like it could
even come down to like moviesand or, you know, a short or
anything like.
I'm always thinking in terms of, okay, I love the way that that
plot twist was.
How could I tie that intomarketing right, and share a
message about that right toinspire people, right?
(06:12):
So there's always something tolearn.
But, more importantly, it's likeyou know, learning without
doing is, you know, not learningright.
It's like you know, and Ilearned this, interestingly
enough, in the martial arts, youknow, in the beginning, when I
was a weight belt and the masterwould tell me he's like hey, do
you want to teach class tonight?
And I'd be like teach, what amI going to teach?
Like I don't know anything yet,right.
(06:33):
He's like, well, you know morethan the guy that started today,
right.
And so for the longest time Iwouldn't actually teach because
I was like I felt like I'd getno enough, right.
Then finally got to a pointwhere it was like, okay, teach
and you learn by actually doingand teaching.
Right, you actually learn moreat another level because you get
to interpret and see how peopleare responding to what you're
(06:54):
saying.
So it's the same thing in the,you know, in anything I watch or
anything I do is like how do Iactually, you know, apply what
I'm doing, apply what I'mlearning, what I'm seeing and my
interpretation of it right, andthen, more importantly, get
some feedback on it right?
So, whether that's running anad campaign or you know a sales
process or hiring people oracquiring businesses, whatever
(07:15):
it is, I'm always putting myselfin the place of like okay, I'm
not going to learn by justtalking about it right or just
watching a video on it, right.
So many people.
You see that in the internetmarketing, where a lot of people
will watch or buy courses andthen never even finish them
right or never actually applywhat they're learning in the
process.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I've heard it said you don't get better at pushups
by watching a YouTube video onhow to do pushups right.
You need to hit the floor.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
You know it's interesting.
So has this become a philosophyfor you, dan, like you, learn
and implement.
This is your magic trick.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah, I mean that's the key thing is like just
taking action right Is 99% ofthe battle.
I mean, so many times we've had, you know, we're all guilty of
it, saying we're going to dosomething and then, for whatever
reason, we don't do it right.
Sometimes it's not in alignmentwith what we truly want or
sometimes it's, you know, adistraction because we see
somebody else doing it, thinkingI can do that right or I should
(08:09):
be doing that right, and thereality is it might not be one
of your core strengths or mightnot even be the thing you should
be doing.
Right, but you know, whenyou're really clear on what you
want, I always kind of gauge itbased on okay, is this in
alignment with my bigger vision?
Right, and you know I eliminatea lot of stuff.
Right, and you know by a lot ofwasted time, because I won't
(08:30):
focus on things that are justgoing to distract me.
Right, and you know, I think oneof the key things and I shared
this with you on a few weeks agolast year was a rough year.
Right, and because I lost twodear friends and mentors right,
and these were like really closeguys to me.
Right, that you know throughthe past, like 15, 20 years, and
(08:50):
one of the you know they bothwere buying wanted to buy
businesses with me.
Last year we started working onthings together and they both
independently, you know,unfortunately, you know had, you
know, ailments that they didn'tsurvive from and you know, it
started to really put myself ina perspective because I didn't
take it well, like I actuallytook it harder than I thought I
(09:11):
was going to, right, and part ofit was because I saw dreams
died with people that really had, like they had great lives,
right, they were great men,great family guys, but they had,
you know, it's like theyweren't done yet.
They still wanted to dosomething bigger.
They wanted to be part ofsomething bigger and impact more
people, right, and those dreamsdied with it, right.
(09:33):
And so for me, I always think,you know, I started thinking
back to like the differentconversations I had with them
and where we could have executedfaster, right, and it created a
sense of urgency for me to say,okay, I'm only working on
things that are bigger vision,bigger things that I get to
influence others, influence theinfluencers and just really, you
know, have a bigger splash.
(09:53):
And it's not about me, it'sjust about my level of wanting
to be fulfilled in the sense of,like I feel like I actually am
making a difference and,actually, you know, leveraging
the time, because we all wastetime, right, doing stuff that
may not be that important, right, and we're not here for an
unlimited amount of time.
We all have an expiration date,and for me it kind of hit home
(10:14):
real quick.
It was like man, I was like, amI prepared?
Right, like, you know, how am Ishowing up every day?
What could I be doingdifferently?
Right, what could I be doingmore, you know, to really
empower people and help them?
See, you know, they could bebetter, you know, better
involved with their families,better involved with helping
others, connecting with peoplearound the globe and inspiring
(10:35):
them with their skill sets andhelping them achieve whatever it
is, you know, their product orservices.
So, yeah, so for me, that justreally, you know, was an
eye-opening, you know, year forme and it really helped me get
rid of some things that weredistracting me, right as well.
Right, on a whole, nother levelof like, you know, literally, I
remember the one day I cameinto the office and I literally
(10:56):
wiped off my whiteboard probablyhalf the deals that were on
there Like not doing this, notdoing this, not doing this.
This is not in alignment, thisis not aligned.
These are distractions, right,I'm even down to the number of
conversations I have ondifferent opportunities.
It's I'm very strategic withwhere I put my time, and the
problem with that is I'm thetype of person that wants to
(11:17):
help everybody.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Right sure.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So I won't say no to people, right.
But when it comes to likesomething that might absorb my
time in the sense of you know,just putting time into, you know
, maybe you know, looking atpossibly acquiring a business,
it's like the first question Iasked myself is like what is the
size of the business, what'sthe potential?
And I'll start weeding through,checking off some boxes and
(11:40):
I'll say, you know what it's notdoesn't fit the criteria of
what I'm looking for, right.
But if I know somebody I'llpoint them in the right
direction right.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I love that.
I'd like to dive into the M&Aside of things a little bit more
, but before I do, what'sinteresting so far for me is
that you had a pivotal momentwith this this colleague, mentor
, who exited the constructionindustry and lost his son.
You pivoted at that point totake charge of your own life,
which I think is amazing.
To be able to then say what canI do in the confines of my own
(12:10):
abilities and skills to createincome and life that's gonna
allow me to live by my ownchoices Amazing, fascinating.
And then, like last year again,you had a pivotal moment or
realization where you suddenlyunderstood that life is short,
that there are dreams that needto be executed before death
(12:32):
takes us, so that things arefulfilled.
These are kind of massivemoments in your life.
But there's a comment that youmade that I just wanna drill
into, and you said more thanonce on this call already
aligning with the bigger vision.
Can I just ask you, dan, beforewe get into the techniques of
(12:52):
your agency, of affiliatemarketing, of mergers and
acquisitions, can I just ask youright now, what vision do you
have for Dan Giordano, for yourlife, for yourself and the noise
around you right now?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's a great question.
So I can tell you, like in 2019, was when I actually shut down
an agency I had right, cause Ifelt like all right, I'm called
to something bigger and I justdon't know what it is yet.
Right, like there's something Ineed to be doing and I just
need to flush out andunfortunately and unfortunately,
the world shut down in 2020.
So it gave me some time, right,to really focus in on like okay
(13:28):
, let me go down this path ofacquisitions and see where it
leads.
And one of my mentors in thatspace basically said to me one
day he's like Dan, stay in yourlane.
Right, you have this amazingskill set of being able to build
a rapport with anybody on theplanet, and for the right
reasons.
Right, you have this amazingsales skill set.
You've sold millions of dollarsin training, coaching services
over the past 20 plus years.
(13:50):
Right, and you have thismarketing background that you've
generated millions of leads.
Why would you not stay in thatindustry?
And it's like, because myperspective at the time was,
like, I needed to be in theagency running it.
Right, and now you know,acquiring this agency and other
ones I'm involved in like I'mnot involved in mainly the day
(14:11):
to day.
Like I don't know all theclients I don't I'm not involved
in, like I'm just really superhigh level helping with strategy
, strategic partnerships, youknow, and growing through
acquisition is where I focus mytime and effort, and so what
that's led to was, you know Iwas thinking in the tens of
millions, right, when I startedthis journey in 2019, then it
(14:31):
raised the bar to a hundredmillion plus.
Now I'm part of a billiondollar rollup, right that when I
look at that, you know they putme on the board last year.
You know, the end of the yearthey nominated me to be on the
board to represent the investorsand I was like I'm the dumbest
guy in the room.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It was like, and I was like, I made it right.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I was like I've made it right, you know.
But you know, I wasn't thinkingthat way Initially.
It's like, you know, you becomewho you associate with.
So for me it was like, okay, Iwanna hang around people that
are much smarter than me, right,and which is most people right,
and you know, really like Ijust genuinely wanna be part of
something bigger, in a sense oflike it's not about the dollar
(15:13):
signs, it's about the impact andthe ripple effect, cause I
often say it's like okay, a lotof times you'll hear people say
it's like well, you know the whyis it always just about the
money in business, right, andit's like that's how we measure
things, right In business.
But the reality is like howmuch more impact if you had more
zeros right Behind thosenumbers, right, how much more
(15:33):
impact can you have, right?
So for me, it's about like doingthings from, you know, cause
driven.
Now, at some point in my life Ishifted.
Well, we've been some level ofcause driven, but like some
point in my life I shifted toreally being cause and, you know
, an impact driven.
And one of those things thatreally hit me was like, okay,
(15:54):
the people I get to work with,the people I get to employ, the
people I get to be around.
Like you know, not everybodyhas a great work environment,
right?
Not everybody is, you know, inalignment with what they should
be doing in their life, right?
So some of the things I've beendoing is like really making
sure people are in the rightseat, right, and really making
sure that they're buying intothe vision and it's in alignment
(16:16):
with their vision.
So for me, it's about thisbigger play being part of
something that I've never beenpart of, to the point now where
you know we have an investmentfund that just started this week
with another you know anotherpartner that I started that with
right Guys.
You know saying it's like we'regonna raise you know
significant amount of money insix months and I honestly have
(16:37):
no clue how to do that right,like I mean, I know how to go
talk to people about raisingmoney, right, but at that level
that we're playing at, it onlyhappened because I genuinely
just showed up connecting withpeople, asking questions and
eventually it led down this pathbecause I put in the time right
, and I think so many peoplefall short right Because they
(16:57):
don't put in the time.
It's kind of like the commentyou said about push-ups, right?
I always say this is likeyou're not gonna get abs, but I
go into the gym, right, yougotta do the reps right, it's
again.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
The synergies are huge.
I remember I've got my blackbelt in that little counter
right there behind me with thethree little stripes on it,
which I'm extremely proud of,and I still remember walking
into the dojo as a white beltyou know, not even a white belt
dressed in sweats and a T-shirt,because I didn't have my
uniform yet.
And I remember, man, thischanged my life and it's exactly
the same messages as you justsaid.
(17:26):
It changed my life.
I remember there was this guyat the front of the room his
name was Jamie Winn, that I'vebeen strong, firm friends still
out to this day, and Jamie wasalready a black belt.
And I watched this guy honestly, dan, he could kick the doors
off a car.
You know what it's like whenyou see somebody who's just
driven and skilled in this spaceLike this man was like amazing,
just incredible.
And when they said Spire Up,partner up, literally first day
(17:48):
in the gym, I headed straightfor Jamie and I bowed to him and
he looked at me and he saidreally.
And I said hell, yeah, man, ifI wanna be where you are, I
gotta train what you do.
And he's like respect, don't goeasy on me.
We partnered up and, as I said,we became firm friends.
But what was interesting afterthat sparring session and this
is the thing that changed mylife he said to me I asked him a
question and I didn't even knowI was looking for a mentor or
(18:09):
how this would work.
But I said to Jamie how did youget here, man?
How did you get here?
I'm a fat, overweight, midtwenties, completely out of
touch with myself, male, right,how did you get there?
40 years old, able to kick thedoors of a car and absolute
weapon.
How did you get here, man?
And his answer changed my life,dude, he said I just kept
(18:32):
showing up to training.
I just kept showing up.
I just kept showing up, I justkept showing up, I just kept
trying to come to training anddoing the reps.
And, exactly as he said, youjust happen to keep showing up
and ask the right questions andsuddenly you're in a room
creating amazing things andraising capital and doing
impactful work.
(18:52):
Now, dan, I just want to drillin for a sec, if I can.
Man A lot of us in ourentrepreneurial journey.
It feels like to me we get tothis point where we say it's not
about the money Now, it's aboutthe impact and it's almost like
this is to me, anyway, thereward we get for the reps we've
done is that we kind of achievethis place where it feels just
(19:14):
the right thing to do.
But I'm also extremelyconscious of the fact that our
audience, the majority of peoplewho are starting on this
entrepreneurial journey, nomatter where it finds them, we
all start with this concept offreedom.
Right, I want to break free, Iwant to do my own thing.
We get into the valley of holycrap.
It's a lot harder work than Iever believed it was ever going
(19:36):
to be possible.
We get into, you know, maybebreaking through that into now
we're starting to get some, someruns on the board and some wins
.
But at what point for you, didit get away from being about the
money?
You know those first affiliatemarketing campaigns, that first
dollar you made online, thatfirst Facebook ad that returned
a positive row, as like therewas the times when it was about
(19:57):
the money and like, piece bypiece, the same as getting a
black belt.
You've you've done thosenumbers to the point where now
it's not about the money anymore, but the vast majority of the
audience it's about the moneyand it's about what they can,
what they can do.
How do we, how do we help anentrepreneur, how do we help
somebody who is wanting to takecharge of their own life?
(20:17):
How do we help them understandthat, whilst it's about the
money right now and you need tobe able to put runs on the board
and create value to do thatit's also about turning that
dial up in a wider, wider thingand creating more for humanity
than then take, than you'retaking out like.
How does that journey happen inyour mind?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, that's a that's a loaded question, right, and
we can take that a number ofdifferent ways, right?
So, so I think that the biggestthing is when I, when I look at
, yes, we measure businesssuccess by money, right, and yes
, we all need to make money topay the bills, keep the lights
on and provide for our families,right.
But I think you know youmentioned that, you know earlier
(20:55):
, before we started around isthere anything off limits, right
, you know?
Or anything we don't want totalk about?
And I said I'm an open book,right, so I'm going to share
something that you know may helpsome people, right?
One of them is, you know,making sure you partner with the
right people if you're going tohave partners, right.
So, one of my mentors thatpassed earlier, you know, last
year, he told me this, and thenthis was when I was going
(21:16):
through the partnership issue,right, he told me Dan, no
partners.
If you're going to have apartner, you need to have a
clear exit plan in place, right,of exactly what's going to
happen.
In writing, right, this way,there's no like, because
eventually somebody's going towant to divorce, right in the
business, right, so somethingchanges, somebody wants to do
something different, right,family stuff, whatever the thing
is right.
(21:36):
So I went through a partnershipissue that there were some
integrity issues that came upright, that I just was not
aligned with right.
And this is where the shift wasfor me around money, because I
walked away from two milliondollars, right, and it was, yes,
I needed the money.
I wanted the money right, but Iwas not willing to sell my soul
for the money, right.
(21:56):
And it was a shift for me thatmade me realize that, like, okay
, I have the knowledge to beable to create whatever I want,
and everyone listening to thishas that ability to create
whatever you want, andespecially now more than ever,
with all of the people that aresharing messages out there to
help people.
You know.
And you know you pick your lanebased on your skill sets or the
things you want to enhanceskill sets around like literally
(22:19):
anything's possible, right.
So so for me it was a shiftaround okay, I don't need
anybody else, I can do this onmy own right, I can.
You know, I can start overright.
And it was more about peace ofmind for me to know that I was
doing the right thing.
That again comes back to beingin alignment.
I often share this messagearound.
If you think about snowman,right, the head, knowledge, the
(22:40):
heart, you know knowledge.
And then connected to source orGod, right, when all of that's
in alignment, right, you know,magic happens.
Like you know.
You, literally the power ofintention is, you know, infinite
when it comes to you being inalignment.
So, for me, when I realize thatI can create whatever I want,
like, yes, it's not perfect,there's issues that come up,
(23:00):
there's challenges that happen.
You know nothing ever goes asplanned.
And business and life, right,there's always some weird stuff
that happens.
Right, but when you have that,you know understanding of what
you really want, knowing whatyou want, often share this.
Know what you want, right.
Why do you want?
It is more important, right,the why behind it is going to be
the emotion that's going tomake you want to get up out of
bed.
(23:20):
How I know I'm on the righttrack is I get up early.
If I am off track, I want tosleep in, like I don't even want
to deal with my day sometimes,right, and know that it's like
alright, there's gonna be thingsI have to do that I don't want
to do, but when I'm, when I'vebeen involved in projects or you
know different businesses thatreally weren't exciting to me,
(23:40):
right, like real estate.
Right, you know real estate,working with real estate agents.
Right, and the Legion industryright, I squashed an entire
division of my company because Iwas like I don't like realtors,
right, as an boring, I can'tspin it.
I can't spin it anyway becauseit's like you know, yeah, I can
say I'm helping people findtheir dream home.
That's not exciting to me.
I didn't wash, yeah, yeah, soso, really, you know, helping
(24:03):
you understand that, like, it'smore important to understand why
you know, why is it that youreally want this?
And really drilling deep intoit, because a lot of times,
people will give you the surfacelevel answer like I want to
make 10k a month or whatever thenumber is right, and you know I
want to be able to start anonline business, or I want to
start, you know, this thing thatI want to do, right, that I
want to make this right.
(24:23):
Then you really need tounderstand, like, why is that
number important to you?
What does it mean to you?
Right, why you know, why do youactually want that?
Because you know we see otherpeople doing stuff, right, and
then we try and mimic where wethink we can do what they're
doing.
And this is the reason why Ilike things like network
marketing.
Most people fail in it right isbecause they don't realize you
need some level of communicationskills at some type of business
(24:46):
acumen right, some type of youknow, ability to be able to
connect with people, believe inthe product that you're selling,
right, whatever the thing is,whether it's that industry or
any others, it's the same thing.
Right, you have to have thatbelief and the big thing around
this is understanding the belief, confidence, uncertainty and
what you're doing right.
And if you don't have that andin which you're attempting to do
(25:08):
right, align yourself withsomebody that does that, can
believe for you, and you canborrow their, you know their,
you know their expertise to beable to help get you over the
edge so that you build thatbelief and certainty and what
you're doing right.
And then a lot of times peoplejust don't do that right because
(25:30):
they're trying to figure it allout on their own.
Especially us guys were alittle thick headed, thinking we
can do it all ourselves right,and and you know it's hard for
guys to open up right and andjust really, you know, be real
about what's going on for them,right, and being able to, like
you know, understand that, like,okay, I can do this, right, but
it's much faster if we do ittogether, right, or if I could
do it with someone that's beendown the path already getting
(25:54):
that kind of mentorship or thatsounding board.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I mean, as you said, it's real tough, especially for
guys where, like you know,buckle down, work harder.
You know, turtle in a shell I'mjust going to not this thing
out.
Whereas sometimes it's betternot sometimes, 100% of the time
it's better to reach out, don'tgo in, reach out and and expand
your, your zone of communication.
So then let's get technical fora second arm.
(26:18):
Do you still do affiliatemarketing?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I don't do as much affiliate marketing anymore.
Right, there's days I sit thereand think, like you know,
knowing what I know now I wassharing this the other day with
somebody I was like man, withall the tools and stuff we had
today, like all the social proofstuff, like you know, I would
have done 10 times what I didback then and I was really
successful back then when I wasin the affiliate marketing space
, when I first started.
(26:43):
But like it's just amazing whatthe stuff you have today, right
, that can help accelerate thatpath.
Right, mostly what I do now isI'm working on, obviously, the
core agency and then acquiringother businesses strategic
partnerships, consulting forequity and, you know, part of
the investment group, you know,raising capital and, you know,
(27:03):
mainly focused on acquiringother businesses that are in the
marketing space, specificallyWeb three space.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
So let's focus on that then.
So we don't call it affiliatemarketing anymore, but now if
you see a product that's amazing, you might shout it out you
know, that's great.
That's your version of it thesedays, so let's focus on the
agency 561 Media.
Who do you look for?
Who do you work with?
What do?
Speaker 1 (27:24):
you do for them.
Yeah, that's a good question,right so, being that I, when I
acquired it right, we have headclients state of clients all
over the board.
Right so everything from thelargest stone crab distributor
in the country to, you know,impact window company.
Right, so, obviously not onspecific vertical, it truly is a
local.
You know local brandedmarketing company, right, and
you know a pretty affluent area.
(27:45):
Right so we have some reallyinteresting clients across the
board.
Right so it's mainly B2B.
Right so, businesses that areB2B and mainly focused on either
they need really good design.
Messaging and paid ads is a corestrength of what we do here.
Right so, helping them generateleads.
You know inbound right fortheir teams.
(28:06):
And you know some e-commerceclients as well related to you
know that.
But it's an interesting thingbecause it's like it truly is a
full stack agency and if youtalk to the guys that you know a
lot of times in the acquisitionspace, like we want to avoid
full stack agencies.
We really want to havespecialized knowledge type
agencies.
Right so, whether they're aYouTube agency or Google ads
(28:27):
agency, right, or design, youknow, whatever their core
competency is right, but if wehad to narrow it down, our core
thing is design and paid adsright.
That is the main thing.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And if you bought 561 Media today in its current
state, if you'd literally justput the check on the table, get
it cleared, and today was thefirst day that you own the
company.
What do you do now?
What's your next move for thisbusiness?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
That's a great question.
So recently.
What's interesting is like theyhaven't been in my space, right
, say on the coaching, mentoring, training industry, right, so
it's all new to my partnerthat's you know part of this
that he's actually ran theday-to-day here for eight plus
years, and so I actuallyrecently brought in an ops guy
(29:14):
that is in the coaching space aswell and he's streamlining
everything for us.
But he also has industryexperience around high level and
automations and custom valuesthat actually build out, you
know, everything from three-daychallenges, five-day challenges
and everything in between.
He's, you know, built out theentire funnel for it and we
partnered on it and brought himin-house to support everything
(29:37):
we're doing.
So we're adding a coaching sideto it.
So, and that's really where,like I, you know, I was gonna
say I thrive, right, but I'd bemore excited about
transformational type work thanyou know.
Just generating lead for thelocal, you know.
Impact window company, right, Imean it's all fine indeed, but
there's that.
And then really consulting forequity type deals, right, so we
(29:58):
actually any of the largerclients, what I'm transitioning
into is we're taking apercentage of equity of the
company.
They're still paying theirretainers and higher end fees
for our build-outs.
But you know we have astrategic partner rate, but now
we own a part of the company, sowe are truly partners with, you
know, some of our clients nowand that's really what we prefer
to play right.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
So I think that that's an incredible path for an
agency as well and that givesyou just incredible long-term
strengths and reliability andgrowth and legacy and like all
those amazing words that are atthe top end of the
entrepreneur's world.
How did you transition intoconsulting for equity?
(30:42):
Like, at what point did you go?
Wow, I can actually.
I'm not just running Facebookads for these guys, I'm coming
in taking a piece and we'rerunning it together.
Like when did that first kindof happen for you and how has
that grown since then?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, that's a good question.
So I think the key thing isthere's always been this
strategic partnership model thatI've had right.
So most of the largeropportunities that you know,
whether it's tens of millions ormulti-millions, any of those
types of businesses that I'vebeen part of I've always been
brought in from the back end.
You know lead gen marketing,you know back end type CMO, you
(31:20):
know call it fractional CMO typescenario, but I would always
come in and get a percentage ofrevenue right and or you know
some percentage of the companyright and so so what
realistically like, if you haveone of those like an example,
would be what the one company Ihad is like the deal was.
You know back then it was.
You know they paid me fivegrand a month and gave me 20% of
gross revenue right and at itsheight it was doing about 7
(31:42):
million a year right.
So you know it was a nicepayday right and it worked
really well for 10 plus yearsright.
Then I took that same model intodifferent you know arenas that
I got to work in and it's likenot every client is that a fit
for right.
It's got to be really somebodyyou know, like and trust,
somebody that you see that youcan add tremendous value, right.
(32:02):
But I believe that it's a hugeopportunity for marketing
agencies, because most and yousee this being in the agency
related space as well is, youknow, most agencies.
You know they're technicians,right, they're not true business
owners.
They might be like a Facebookads guy, might be a you know a
technician based on like hey, Ican set up ads or I can build
out funnels or whatever thething is.
They're mainly really good at,but they're not truly
(32:25):
understanding the businessesholistically, right.
And that's where, like theagencies that I've had, you know
, it's always been like aconsultative type approach where
I could actually help thebusiness.
From, you know, it's not justabout you know this from lead
gen, right, is the you knowgenerating a lead is only as
good as the person that answersthe phone, right, or the funnel
that they're going through,right.
(32:45):
So if the messaging is off, orif the sales person sucks, right
, or if the you know the offerisn't really great, like there's
a lot of variables toconverting a qualified lead,
right, yeah.
So so I've always looked ateverything holistically and when
I'm talking to a business owner, I'm looking for opportunities
to say, hey, what would it takefor us to strategically partner
(33:06):
Right If I'm really interestedin it, right it's like if I see
like there's huge value in usdoing that, that's why we could
put all our efforts and ourresources and our team on it,
versus just selling a retainerright Because you know in the
agency world a lot of retainertype models.
You know they don't last morethan like 90 days.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
As the first expense that every business is looking
to cut as soon as they can,right?
Do you strategically say no?
So let me qualify that question.
You've got this model now,where consulting for equity is
just an incredible position tobe in.
Do you open the door with thatthought, as in this is a brand
new business, you've neverspoken to the owner before.
(33:44):
The first thing I'm going tolook for is a piece, or do you
suss them out?
Do you do some work for themfirst?
And I want to add to thatquestion so do you strategically
look for that from day one?
Do you say no?
Do you literally get inside ofan organization and say no way
do I want a piece of this, andat the same time, do you have
business owners coming to yousaying please, dan, I've heard
you do this, this is my company,I'll give you some if you help
(34:06):
me.
And you say not my thing.
Like is it now?
Are you in a position wheresaying no to things is more
important?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
than saying yes, Absolutely.
So learning to say no, like Imentioned earlier, is like I'm
the type that I really want tohelp everybody.
For the reality, there's onlyso much time in a day.
I try and at least point peoplein the right direction if I can
help them, and it's not.
They're not a fit for us.
But I have said no to severalpeople, Even with an agency.
(34:32):
A local agency that was tryingto sell to us recently is like
they came in trying to pitch meon why we should buy their
business and I was like you knowwhat?
This is a distraction right now.
Right, there you go.
It would be cool to have youbecause you have some
interesting things, but likereally not interested, Whereas
maybe a year ago I might havejumped on it A couple of years
(34:53):
ago.
And really like learning to sayno to people, because this goes
back to that alignment issue wewere talking about earlier.
It's like you know what you want, why you want it, and you're
clear on what your goals are andtargets are that you're
shooting for Right.
It's very easy for you to justlook at and say, go, does this
fit Right With what I want to do?
And I'm really looking for anopportunity to create a win-win.
(35:17):
So I won't lead with like Iwant to get a percentage of your
company Right.
I really want to see, like isthis somebody I would want to
work with?
The first thing I looked for inevery sales conversation on a
had thousands of them at thispoint, Right.
I worked with you know, youprobably know Ryan Lebeck.
I've been with him for eightyears, Right, and so on the back
end of his you know mentoringprogram, you know I had
(35:37):
thousands of conversations withpeople and the same thing that I
would say all the time it'slike listen, I don't do this for
the money, it's an impactproject for me.
Like, I really enjoy havingthese conversations, Right?
So first thing I'm looking foris do I like you right?
What?
I invite you over what I inviteyou over for dinner.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Right, I hang out with you on a weekend by choice,
if money wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure what you've had some people
you've worked with that youwould probably rather not work
with and something you haven'thad a chance to that you'd love
to.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's right.
It is that game of putting theright people around the table
for you.
So so, dad, how many companiesdo you have an ownership stake
in right now?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
right now there's one , two, three, four, five.
Five companies that you have anownership, part of, and then
I'm part of, a roll-up in thecoaching space Specifically that
we have there.
There's seven companies in thatone as well.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Amazing and that's the one, though, you're saying
is the billion dollar roll-up,which is pretty cool.
How's your team like?
What's a day in the life of DanGiordano now like?
It feels to me that, havingthat level of of ownership in
that many companies, you must belike dashing left and right
trying to keep up with stuff.
But coming back to our firstpart of the conversation, where
(36:44):
you designed your business andyour life to suit what you do,
I'm kind of prefacing the factthat that might not be the case.
So what's a day in the lifelook like for you now?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Yeah, so I'm very strategic with my calendar,
right.
So I will block out a lot oftime right, and I'll be very
strategic with the conversationsI have, especially after what I
mentioned earlier about myfriends past last year on this
very cautious my calendar andone of the things I like forced
myself to do, right.
So recently my son startedplaying flag football, right,
and then I, you know they wereshort coaches and I didn't want
(37:15):
to coach this year, so I waslike, you know, I'll just attend
.
And they're like we're shortcoaches, we really need a coach.
And I was like, all right, fine, you know, I'll finally
committed to do it right.
And then one of the things Isaid to myself is like, okay,
it's, you know, about nine toten weeks right of my commitment
, three times a week, right, andit's not around the corner from
me, it is a little bit of ahaul, right, you know, I'm an
hour from home right now, right,where my office is, you know,
(37:38):
and and a half hour west from meis where football is right,
right.
So those two nights out of theweek or a haul, right, yeah, but
For me it's like a commitment,it's like okay One, it gets me
the on, plug from everything andI just get to be present with
my kid and the kids on the onthe team.
Right, it forces me to unplug,but also, like during the day
when I'm working, like I don'tphysically have to be here.
(38:01):
Like this, this business.
The reason, one of the mainreasons I acquired it was simply
because my partner, michael, isa beast, right like he.
He's been running day to dayfor years.
If I didn't come in, we'd befine, right, right.
The reality is I have a muchbigger vision for what we're
doing here, right.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
So, and I want to be here, right, gets me to unplug
from, you know, just keeping,you know, work from home, which
I haven't had.
I've worked from home for 25years, right, yeah, so you know.
So, being in an office is weird, having clients come into the
office is weird for me, right,yeah.
So so, really, you know,guarding my time, making sure
I'm home in a reasonable hourevery night, right, except for
(38:38):
today, because, you know, wehave a little bit of time
difference where we're at right,so we said it, thank you, right
, but that's all good, right,and and you know, just really
like saying, okay, here's whatI'm gonna do this week and
here's what I'm not, there'sgonna be sometimes you have to
grind and put in more time,right, you know, and there's
gonna be some sacrifices attimes, right, you know, it's
just part of the game, right.
But there's also times whereit's like, okay, why am I really
(39:00):
doing this?
Right, I'm doing all of thisfor my family, for the people I
get to work with, right, and youknow, being part of that bigger
vision to be able to, you know,live the life I want to live,
like, right now I'm in a phaseof a three to five year plan,
right.
That's very clear on this.
You know roll-up strategy andthe other things I'm doing, so
it's like, okay, it's a littlebit of a grind season right now,
(39:20):
right.
So I'm hosting events, I'mdoing things that are a little
different than I would normallydo.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So you're?
You're a cog in the wheelrather than a I don't know a
host of the engine.
Do you find yourself relying onthe management strengths of
your team?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Or are you the doer?
Yeah, no, I'm not the doerright.
I'm the guy that you know hasthe vision, the strategy.
I've gotten really good somehowwith you know.
What's interesting is theconversations that I've had with
people over the years.
I've strategically in my mindfigured out how to build a power
team right, Without actuallyeven thinking I was going to do
(40:02):
that someday, like that'sinteresting.
Yeah, the court people that workhere, the new hires that we've
had, you know, have come inspecifically because I've built
amazing relationships right withpeople over the years and and I
see where they fit, like myoperations guy, like you know,
just, you know it's like agodsend, right, because that's
not my strength, right, right,but but also like realizing that
(40:22):
, like, okay, you know, what I'mbuilding is a Delta team for
integration when we acquireother businesses, so that you
know he has everythingstreamlined and we could
duplicate, rinse and repeat whatwe've built here, right, wow.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
So if you had a like a a Thanos glove snap moment and
your entire team disappeared,would your ops guy be your first
time?
Speaker 1 (40:43):
I'd say my sales guy would be my first time.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Nice okay, so sales guys first hire.
Right, you got to get revenuethrough the door, so sales guys
gonna be your first hire.
Who's your?
Who's your next?
Key points like thechessboard's just been wiped.
You got a literally rebuild onthe fulfillment side.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yeah, yeah, second person would be the fulfillment
person, right?
Somebody that could actuallydeliver what we're, what we're
through the door, keep thecustomers happy, cool.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
So sales number one, fulfillment number two.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Yep, and then then there would be various Subsets
of like, maybe a paid ads personto be, you know, depending on
the service, that were a coreservice.
Right, you know, right now,with this model of the you know
design, a designer, graphicdesigner and then a paid ads
person, Right someone to fulfillthe orders that are coming
through the door?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, and at what point would you feel comfortable
to step back into higher levelstrategy?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
I Would say, knowing what I know now I have 10 I tend
to be the bottleneck, right.
I think this is a lot of youknow.
A lot of times, business owners, you know we all struggle with
this where we feel like we do itthe best.
So we we need to do it right orwe need to do it all, or we
wear too many hats right, andletting go is one of the things
that like, because I'm perfectlycapable of running ads.
(41:54):
I've run tens of millions ofdollars of ad spend over the
years.
But like I actually recentlyset up a campaign, you know,
just to test my skill sets,right, you know, last week, keep
it, and I'm like actually kindof enjoyed it, right, like I
don't.
I don't enjoy finding a pixeland all that stuff, right, right
, but I do enjoy, like, certainaspects of the psychology behind
it.
It was like just put myself inthe mindset of the person that's
(42:15):
viewing the ad, because I viewit this way the ads I place have
the ability to changesomebody's life, yeah, right, so
.
So, really, you know, when I getto do that, it's like it ties
in again with what I you knowwhat fulfills me, what, what
motivates me, what inspires meto do what I do, right, so, so
the key things would be like,definitely, I think I could step
(42:35):
out at any time and I think Iwould step out much faster
knowing what I know now, becauseI know that, like, when I walk
out the door, if I didn't comeback in here, you know, for
months, right, it still wouldrun and still be profitable and
still be growing right, withoutme, right.
And now that's one of the bigthings we're doing with the new
ops guy is installing, you know,the overall new operating
(42:58):
system, because it really didn'thave a lot of the components
you and I would know, right.
So we've been building all ofthat out the past month or two
getting straight-line meetingsin place, building the team,
like all the Things that areimportant to really be able to
scale and take it to the nextlevel with where we're going.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I love it, then I'm super grateful of your time and
appreciative of the fact thatyou've got an hour drive home.
Thank you so much for stickingaround and and spending some
time with me, so I'm gonna makethe most use of these last few
questions.
So what is your 80 year oldself Going to tell you that
they're proud of you for andthat, and that in and
(43:34):
subsequently is the follow-upquestion what is your 80 year
old self gonna tell you that youshould be doing right now?
Good?
Speaker 1 (43:41):
question.
Good questions, all right.
So I think If there's a littleslant to this, but I think the
biggest thing that I think Iwould be where I would be at
that age is saying that you didsomething that most people would
not ever attempt to do, andthat's to go after something
(44:05):
bigger than yourself and justbeing part of something that
became a movement, and justbeing willing to get on camera
and speak and being critiqued.
I'm sure you've had naysayersat times posting content or
posting something negative, andyou never had that.
So for me, knowing that I'mdoing what I know I should be
(44:31):
doing with my life and impactingothers and it ain't perfect.
There's always challenges,there's always struggles,
there's always self-doubt,there's always stuff that goes
on in my head, on my qualifiedfor this and I think you're
familiar with the movie Rocky.
But like yo, adrienne, I did it.
It's what I said when Iacquired this business to my
wife, because I worked.
(44:52):
This was not an easy deal toget done.
It was like it took me sixmonths, there was complications,
there was all kinds of stuff,but in the end, when I look at
it 30 years ahead of time fromnow, I'll be looking back saying
, okay, well, remember when weacquired that and then we went
and did this thing and we wentand had this massive exit and
(45:13):
look at the number of people weimpacted, look at how we took
care of our employees.
And I think about this oftenand I'm sure you probably heard
this.
It's not about, and I can'tremember.
I heard somebody say adifferent spin on this last week
and it was interesting to mebecause it's not just about what
people say at your funeral.
It's like what are they sayingabout you right now?
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Right when you're not in the room.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, because if you're dead, who cares what
they're saying?
Right, but you want people toat least be inspired that you
made an impact.
Right, but really thinkingabout how you show up, and
what's impactful for me is I canmake a post about hosting an
event here at my office and have20, 30 people show up.
That, to me, tells me okay, I'madding some value to people.
(45:58):
Often we doubt ourselves, right, and I just look at it as okay.
Am I doing what I'm supposed tobe doing and when I'm that age?
Right, looking at where I'm atright now, like my kids have
asked me when are you going toretire?
I say I am retired.
There's no such thing asretirement.
Retirement's a lie, right, likeretirement is like to me doing
(46:21):
what I do, like I would do this.
If I had a billion dollar exittoday, I would still be doing
this.
I might take a week or two off,right, yeah, but I get the type
that I don't know about you.
But like if I go on vacationafter like three days, I'm like.
Speaker 2 (46:34):
I'm like, I'm like, I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm
like I'm like getting my own Ifit's like.
So last question.
So I I'm going to come backbecause we didn't get an answer
to the 80 year old, so I've gottwo more questions for you.
So the 80 year old has givenyou some great advice.
That proud the 80 year old Danis proud of you.
But the things that you've doneand the vision that you have in
the things you're about to do,but, what advice does your 80
(46:56):
year old self have for you rightnow?
Telling you the things you needto do between now and then?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Well, between now and then.
I mean, the key thing is someof the and the key thing is some
of the stuff we talked aboutalready is showing up every day
and doing what's required, beingwilling to do the work right
and being willing to ask forhelp right, sooner, rather than
trying to figure it all out onyour own right.
And I can say like the biggestI'd say if there was a regret at
(47:25):
this stage in my life is thefact that I didn't do it sooner.
Right, knowing what I know now,like I would never do things
the same way.
Knowing what I know now right.
And it's only because I finallymade the decision that I was
going to do something different.
I was going to put myself inrooms that made me uncomfortable
, right.
So my 80-year-old self, I wouldsay show up every day, give it
(47:48):
100%, 1,000% and do what'srequired every day to connect
with people.
I have a simple rule If I canreach out to three people every
day, I'm good.
I don't know about you, but Igo under state of depression if
I don't do that.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
So no wonder your podcast is called All In.
So my last question for youthen, coming back to where we
started our call, and againthank you so much for your time,
man.
I've really enjoyed it Comingback to that $400 million exit
with that colleague in theconstruction industry, and your
question to him was pivotal.
I'm going to ask you the samething.
Knowing what you know now, whatwould you do different?
Speaker 1 (48:29):
What I would do differently.
I would honestly put myself ina place where I could be more
present with people, because Idon't know about you, right,
with all the things we havegoing on, especially when you're
around family and you're tryingto detach and decompress, it's
hard sometimes to slow my minddown, right, and I really think
that when you can take that time, I'd try to do meditation,
(48:50):
qigong.
I do things to kind ofdecompress and unplug, right.
There's times I won't eventouch my computer, I don't even
go near it, and just reallyunplug and be present with the
family.
Fortunately I have anine-year-old that keeps me on
my toes, right, but really Iwould say if I could just be
present, not only just with thefamily, but even in
(49:11):
conversations, right, becauseour minds are racing with things
we've got to do, things thatare on our plate, things we
forgot to do, that we'rethinking about.
While we're doing stuff likethis, I was like, oh, I forgot
to do this or I got to do that,like, do you get to slow down
and take a deep breath, right,and just say, okay, what's most
important, right, and rememberwhy you're doing all of this?
I would tell myself to show upand be present in every moment.
(49:35):
Right, because for some of us,we don't know when our last
moment is, and don't let thedreams die when it happens.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dan Giordano.
You can follow Dan I'm going tomake sure his links are
everywhere on this podcast withInstagram and Facebook you can
get in touch with Dan and he'sthe host of the All In podcast
and I can think you canunderstand why this man is All
In and you'll see him standingon the sidelines of a flag
football tournament, I'm sure,with his son coming up.
But you can keep in touch withDan by any of the links below
(50:06):
and, of course, there isAllInBusinessCoachingcom, which
is Dan's primary point ofconnecting with new business
opportunities and new growth.
Ladies and gentlemen, DanGiordano, if you are on the
treadmill, you're in the car onthe way to work.
Give this man a silent thankyou and send it out there to him
May.
Thank you so much for your time.
I appreciate your wisdom andthe chance to hang out with you
a little bit.
I'm excited for what you've gotcoming up in the future and I
(50:29):
hope you check back in with usand let us know how that's all
going.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Amazing.
Thanks guys, Thank you.
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