Street Fighter Turned $4 Million CEO | Danny Calafell

Most businesses are doomed from the start.

From fighting in boxing rings to leading a multimillion-dollar business, Danny Calafell is here to warn you: if you don’t know how to fight, your business is doomed to fail.

Danny, the CEO of TriWorld Consulting, didn’t start with a silver spoon. He started with nothing and built a $4 million worth of business through sheer determination and smart strategies.

Now, he’s on a mission to help businesses scale, but he’s not sugarcoating it.

In this episode, Danny unpacks the brutal truth about why most businesses fail within 10 years and what you can do to defy those odds.

Danny’s not giving the same old business advice so if you want the real deal, hit play.

Follow Danny Calafell at:

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https://triworldinc.com/
https://dannycalafelltv.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@dannycalafell
https://www.instagram.com/iamdchamp/

Follow Ken Okazaki at: 

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https://www.youtube.com/c/KenOkazaki
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-content-capitalists-with-ken-okazaki/id1634328251
https://open.spotify.com/show/09IzKghscecbI7jPDVBJTw

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Transcript

Danny: 90 percent of businesses fail within 10 years and it's no wonder that ends up happening because if you don't have access to the right information to repeat the things that you need to repeat, you're set up for disaster. 

Ken Okazaki: The Content Capitalist Podcast.

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Content Capitalist Podcast. Today, my guest is somebody who's done a lot of things and had multiple careers, like as if he lived multiple lives. He's the CEO of TriWorld, business consulting firm. He specializes in scaling companies and is involved in acquisitions.

He's collaborated with Fortune 500 companies, help businesses expand, improve profitability, reduce turnover. Now, if that wasn't enough, before he did this, he was a professional boxer. He was featured on ESPN, HBO, Telemundo. Started at 17 years old, quite a career. Welcome to the show, Danny. 

Danny: Thank you for having me, man. Thank you.

Ken Okazaki: I want to make sure I'm getting your last name pronounced right. Calafel or Calafel? Just say the way it sounds. Calafel. Calafel. Surround it out. Calafel. All right. Danny Calafel. Welcome. Welcome. Now, Danny, I want to kick this off with asking you a question, and this is the first time we're speaking and, I'm looking at you online.

You're working with Grant Cardone. You're really.

I want to talk a bit about your boxing career, because I looked it up, you started at 17, super young, worked super hard, 2008 to 2018, right? 10 years. 

Danny: Actually, 18 years. 18 years if you want to count the amateurs. 

Ken Okazaki: There you go. And you did six professional fights, right? Yeah, I had six pro fights. Those didn't exactly go your way.

So I want you to kind of get me into the psychology of like, how does that work? And how did that affect what you're doing right now? And tell me a bit about the boxing career and then that pivot to what you're doing. 

Danny: Yeah, great. So you want me to go like back into it in time. You want me to take you back in time?

Ken Okazaki: Yeah, a little bit. Cause I think a lot of people would see that as a career failure. It looks like you have taken a different meaning to that. 

Danny: There's losses in the eye of the public and there's losses in the eye of, you know, behind the scenes. you know, I, I had bad management coming up, so when you say things didn't exactly go my way, it was actually put on me in that way, you know, so, a lot of people in the entertainment industry know, like, when you don't have good management, you don't have people behind you, you fall victim to the industry and that's exactly what happened to me, but, you know, I wouldn't have been able to be put in the positions that I was in.

Uh, throughout my career, had, you know, things not been in the favor that, I, like, I know that I was it. Uh, for example, I've been in there with the best in the world. I had three camps coming up and, every other week it was pay per viewing in and out of that gym.

everybody was in the top five, top eight in the world. all the way up to, you know, current world champions, hall of famers. So you name it, I was in there with him and, like I said, my first fight was on ESPN, Friday Night Fights. I was on, uh, HBO, Telemundo, like you said, Univision, Showtime. Well, my manager at the time was, uh, Nate Campbell, former three time world champion, Hall of Famer. but before that, what got me into boxing was, you know, I, I mean, out front of streets. So, you know, I, I came up rough, in Miami and I have family in New York. And, from an early age, like since I was 14, I've been on my own and, I didn't really have the right guidance cause I was on my own.

And what do kids normally do when they feel like they don't fit in society, they try to do things to try to fit in society. So they try to connect with people that they're, that they relate with, that they can connect with, that they can, you know, You know, feel, that sense of comfort where they're, they're not getting from other places, which in my case, I wasn't getting anywhere.

I didn't have anybody to guide me out of, you know, I mean, my family was there, but they weren't, uh, you know, my father was always traveling. he saw me when he could, my mother was always working. I grew up, you know, bottom, middle class poverty.

I found myself in the streets 14 and, you know, I, I was joined two gangs, I used to get picked on as a kid, so, I wanted to be around people that not only would protect me, but would teach me things to, to be able to defend myself and then be there for me when I, you know, when the time came and that led to drugs, you know, Uh, you name it.

I did it. only thing I didn't do was shoot up everything under the sun you can name. I did. And I tried. And, you know, um, I died at,uh, at fifth. I think I was 15. They had to bring me back to life. So I, I, I OD'd and I was, uh, it was alcohol mixed with drugs. And, uh, I was in a coma for two days.

They had to revive me and, like two weeks later, I'm right back and doing the same thing. So I say this to say that I got it as a sport of boxing, the same way that a lot of the elite athletes that you see in that sport, they get in, you know, we grow up rough. We don't go to Harvard or Yale, we come from a rough upbringing and that's what brings the beast out of us that needs to be brought out to put on a show for the world to be able to see.

my first time I stepped in the gym, I was 17 and my father was always trying to get me in, you know, in there. every time that he would see me, he was always trying to convince me, but I wouldn't listen to him. I wasn't listening to anybody, but,finally, I told him, I was like, all right, you know, I'm tired of this route.

Show me what the gym's all about. let's see what happens. So we went to the gym down in, uh, Miami South beach. Muhammad Ali had a gym, he used to train on 7th street and what 7th and Washington and Southeast. And, uh, I ended up meeting, actually it was 5th street gym and I ended up going over to 7th street.

And, the owner, she actually opened up that gym. I'm still friends with her to this day. She opened that gym up where Mohammed Ali and Angelo dadi which was Ali's trainer. And the moment I stepped foot in the gym, I fell in love with the sport. And then at that moment, no more drugs, no more street life, no more, none of that.

It was just a hundred percent dedication to the sport. I fell in love with it. And at that moment, I was like, all right, if I'm going to get good, I need to be around people that are much, much better than me. So I started connecting with people with pros at the time, because I didn't want to, I didn't want to be around the people that were like me, that were just learning.

So I thought I knew how to fight till I got in the ring and I found that I didn't. and then as I started leveling my game up, I found myself, getting beat up a lot more, but I was actually learning stuff. And from that moment on, it started becoming an addiction to, to want to be around people better than me you know, want to be around that type of environment that was real tough.

Cause that's the way that I grew up. So, I went from that gym and that circumstance to then being around, like I mentioned, you know, world champions, guys doing, pay per view fights and all of that. And, working my way up to turning pro now at the time that I was amateur and I was doing that, I was also doing club promotions.

I was part of a promotional company down here in Miami. We're the biggest promotion company down here. And, I was doing a lot of networking. I was,you know, we were book artists at that time. It was, mainly hip hop. And, I was connecting with the artists because I, knew that that was something that I I've always had a passion for music.

I played, five instruments by ear before I learned how to read music. So like music's always been a passion, but I was connecting with the artists because I was like, you know, maybe we could do something, when I ended up taking this career wise and they loved that I was a So it just, the synergy was always there and I, I made a lot of connections, great contacts, and fast forward, when I got into, when I started boxing professionally, that was actually my first business, which was in the music industry.

I got really close with a lot, Mr. Cheeks from the Lost Boys. he's a rapper up in New York. that's my older brother. He, he introduced me to the Marley's, my Marley's sons. And I remember I was in the studio with Steven. And, you know, he's recording the album and he looked at me and, you know, they all call me champ.

And he was like, champ, what do you want to do after the sport? And I'm 24 years old, man. I was like, I don't know. I just want to go out and be the best that I could be, you know, I just want to put on shows and win a couple of titles and just, you know, make a ton of money and.

And that's it. And he was like, yeah, but then what? And I didn't have a response. I remember one of his shows, it was a, big show. They did a reggae fest down here and we were backstage and a photographer came up to me and he was taking pictures. He recognized me. He was like, I think I saw one of your fights and whatnot.

And, uh, you know, we exchanged information. He wanted to open up a record label. And I said, man, all I gotta do is pick up my phone and just make, you tell me who to call and I can get in contact with them. And that was actually my first business. Uh, didn't work out the way that we wanted it to. We lost a lot of money, lost a lot of time.

I learned a lot. And, that's when I, decided I was like, I I'm tired of putting, my future in the hands of other people. It's time that I take control. So that's when I started the consulting business, TryWorld. And I started that because I was like, I wanted to do something for businesses.

Actually, it was originally aimed for entertainment. But then I switched over to corporate, like more of the corp, on the corporate side of business and that's it. I mean, I, don't have a story like, like you typically hear for, for, you know, people saying, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

And look, man, I started that business. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was knocking on doors getting thrown out. I was making phone calls getting hug up on. I was like, this is the most frustrated thing I've ever experienced. Cause I'm so used to picking up the phone, talking to people, connecting with people and going in wherever it is because I had contacts. And for the first time it was so most frustrating because for the first time I was up against resistance that I wasn't really used to. I was always embraced by a lot of, people and this time it was like, shut the door, hang the phone up, push me out, you know, tell me I have to leave and that's when I learned I had to understand sales and I had to understand business I thought that I knew what I was doing and I realized that I didn't.

So when I started the company, we were making, I was making nothing and then I started surrounded myself around the right people. I know that's thrown out there a lot, but you know, I was, I started reach out to my contacts and getting in contact with people that I knew that new business, learning from them.

my father's always been behind me. He didn't really understand a lot of what it was that I was doing. Cause he comes from a different background. but he's worked with some of the largest companies. I mean, he's done, you know, I'm sure you saw his background, you know, he's done mergers acquisitions with, companies doing, you know, four, five, 600 million.

He's bought companies, 800 million, 900 million reached. So, you know, I had him to lean on. My uncle was VP of Exxon Mobile. He just retired. you know, I come from that background and that's when I started just going into my power base. Learning stuff as well as starting to codify what it was that I was experiencing. And what I didn't realize at the time was I was actually codifying sales. So I would actually record myself making a call. I would actually like, I knew that I was supposed to do that, but I did it anyways. And, uh, I'd have like a little microphone in my pocket. So when I'd walk in places, I'd record the conversation just to hear myself.

I didn't do it for solicitation, anything. I mean, this is 2010, 2011. This is when Facebook first came out. I was basically just, you know, not only self taught, but I used the power base that I had to really just start building that momentum up and fast forward, I mean, here I am today, did a little over 4 million last year, I got over a hundred people under me and growing. And, now I own three businesses instead of just one. I have my workshop at seminar business, which is Danny Kalafel, the brand, and I have Calmore Ventures with another partner of mine. it's the acquisition company where we buy companies north of 10 million, hand it to TriWorld to scale them up and then go back over to Calmore and resell them, hold them.

And the goal for that business is we're going to start taking companies. I'd like to have the experience to take a company public. So that's the, goal I have for the Acquisition Cup. I hope I didn't, I hope I didn't stretch it out too much, man. 

Ken Okazaki: No, I think we got a pretty, you know, good idea of what you're up to and the kind of the path that took us there.

And at what point did you start identifying yourself not as a pro boxer, but as a business person? Like, was there a trigger, a decision? 

Danny: You know, what's funny when you say that for a long time, I was worried to express that I used to fight, because of the criticism that some athletes get when they step away from whatever sport they're stepping away from and they're going into the business world.

and yeah, I'm sure you could, understand that. Like, there's a lot of criticism that comes on with that, like, it's the criticism because. Most of the time when you hear about stuff like that, it doesn't end up being very successful. So, I was very hesitant to say that, but then I started realizing like I'm not being myself and I didn't like that because I felt very authentic and I felt like I was lying to people. So when I ended up dropping that idea and I just started embracing, look, look, this is my background. This is where I come from. you know, I used to fight and now, I'm going head into business. Why did you learn business? Oh, great question. I got around people that know what the hell they're doing and that are the best of the best. And I kept leveling my game up by being around people like that. So that started giving me a lot more credibility because they're like, okay, this is not a guy who's coming in acting like he knows everything. This is a guy who's coming in wanting to learn from people that are a hell of a lot better than him.

And in much higher stages. Taking that and now applying it to what he's got going on. So I started getting a lot more people embracing, you know, that. So I don't not identify myself as I'll always be a fighter. I'm always going to be, I never forget where I came from. You know, I'm a street guy first, I'm a fighter second, and I'm a businessman third.

And that's, I tell that to people all the time, and. I'm me. I'm as real as they come, man. I'm authentic. 

Ken Okazaki: Thanks for that. And I was looking through some of the stuff you published, right? I see photos of you in your studio. I see, you know, different situations. and there seems to be a lot of influence and collaboration with Grant Cardone.

Can you tell me how you kind of came into his world or he came into yours and what's that relationship with you guys right now? 

Danny: Yeah, man. So I had the time, I think we had, what was it? I had 19 employees, when I had the record company and then when I dropped that, we ended up picking up about eight people after a while of,the momentum I was trying to bring up with dry world. And I remember at the time I wanted to run some motivational meetings. So I get in a phone with my father and I was like, I'm trying to find some inspiration for these guys. He's like, just go on YouTube. And I was like, Oh yeah. All right. Let me go on YouTube. So I went on YouTube and sure enough, I found Grant.

And like for a little bit, I was like, okay, I like what he's saying. I like what's going on. I started, understanding a little bit more, ended up buying one of the programs, which is Cardinal University at the time. And I started subversing myself a little bit in the material. And I was at that time, I was also doing sales training.

So I was doing sales training, consulting, and we were selling, marketing and software service. And I would go to businesses and I was doing in person training similar to what Grant was doing. So I was doing seminars, workshops, and live training, one on one with companies, with, service based business, commercial businesses.

So, you know, landscaping companies, plumbers, contractors, real estate, all that stuff. And As I was doing that, I started building up a nice little arsenal cause as I was learning sales, I was like, man, I could teach this stuff because this is different. This is something like nobody else is doing stuff like this.

I'm realizing, and I was like, okay, so I started building out like in person courses with material and stuff like that. I got up to about 463 courses. And then I was like, man, I want to scale this thing out because we do business globally. So, I mean, I have customers in South America, Europe, India, Asia. And I was like, man, to really scale this thing out, it's going to take me forever to do this by myself. And I was like, I gotta collaborate with somebody. I'm a very big advocate cause I got, I've gotten screwed over in the past, including the ex partner of mine that I lost over a million with him. And, I'm a very big advocate on, I only want to work with the best.

And that came from my boxing career. Okay. Because I do working with the best brings the best out of me. And working with the best gives me the ability to deliver the best to my customers. So I was like, I only want to work with the best. So I started researching companies that were doing sales training.

And I was like, I don't like, I grew up a certain way, as far as with my core values, as far as honesty, transparency, straightforwardness, I'm very big on that. And I didn't want to just deal with anybody. I don't like the styles that a lot of these sales methods, have.

You know, folding your arms when a customer folds their arms, asking questions in order to answer a question they have, you know, they ask you. And I didn't like that. And as I was looking, Grant was right in front of my face the whole time. So I was like, you know what? All right. So we went to an event. I brought my father with me.

He's VP of my company. And I, within five minutes, I was like, what do you think of him? He was like, I like him. I was like, good. Cause I want to partner with him. He was like, go for it. I was like, okay, so, uh, one thing led to another and, the partner I have now, we, got together and, so if you ask the relationship, I'm a partners with Roy Cardone, so like, that's an add on. So it's basically, you know, we're an extension of Grant and Zeap and it's an add on to the arsenal services. We have 26 services that we inject into businesses to scale up.

and you know, we're working with fortune 500s, the companies that are just a thought, and, a lot of the services, everything 10x from Cardone University. a lot of the material on the business side, marketing side, stuff like that. So, we inject a lot of the stuff into businesses and, and scale them up.

Ken Okazaki: That's cool. Thanks for getting us up to date on that. Now I've gone through and I found a few things that you put out online and I'm going to read them to you. And, I want to hear your kind of expansion on these. So here's something you put out. Repetition breeds habit. Habit breeds instinct. And the right instincts breed greatness.

Danny: Yeah, it's a chain reaction. I mean, we always talk about a lot of things like that, that we talk about when it comes to confidence, like there's a lot of cases where people don't really understand where they get that confidence from. And what we always say is it's the repetition, both the right information.

Ken Okazaki: So repetition in terms of like, uh, sales calls in terms of. 

Danny: It's everything. Everything. The way you do anything is the way you do everything. Right? So like, you know, it's repetition in all areas. if I'm repetitive in the mistakes that I'm making, if I'm, let's say it's a personal relationship, romantic relationship, if I'm repetitive in the mistakes that I'm making, and I'm not willing to try to correct those mistakes, and the only way I could correct them is getting access to the right information to understand what it is I'm doing wrong.

So I can start doing things right. That repetition is going to create habits. That's going to create instincts. That's then going to create a failed relationship. And if you tie that into business, it's the same concept. Most people that start a business, you don't, but people go to school for business. School is not, does not teach the things that businesses are hit with after a certain point, school only teaches so much. And I have a big problem. I'm not, I have a big problem with the education system when it comes to that, because, you know, I know a lot of people, I'm going to get a lot of backlash for this, but a lot of people learn business and they're learning from college professor that never started a business. And if he did, it wasn't as successful as a business that they're trying to build because if it was, he wouldn't be working for the college. He'd have his own college. So like you're learning. So we start off learning the wrong information, try to apply it to what it is we're doing. And then wonder why we fail. And then we're repetitive. at doing the wrong information. And then can't understand why we continue to fail and why we can't continue to grow this. If we're looking at stats, you got, I mean, you got to look at it. 64 percent of businesses out there. Either make no money or break even. 54 percent of businesses make less than 40, 000 a year.

three out of four businesses fail within five years. 90 percent of businesses, fail within 10 years. And it's no wonder that ends up happening because if you don't have access to the right information to repeat the things that you need to repeat. You're set up for disaster.

Ken Okazaki: Thanks for that. Appreciate it. That actually segues really well into the next one I've got. Here's something else you put out there online. Make success your duty, responsibility, and obligation. 

Danny: It's a responsibility to be successful. I'm a big believer in that. And I took that for granted. 

Ken Okazaki: Responsible to who? 

Danny: It's a responsibility to society. I think it's very selfish for people to get information and want to keep it to themselves. And not be able to give opportunities to others to be able to flourish and grow like that. I think it's a very selfish move I see people do that.

you ask a lot of times people as far as like what they want in their life success wise. And most of the time you hear them talking about themselves and they don't talk about the contribution that they want to make. And I think that the whole con and I say, I think, because, you know, I'm growing still, you know, I have a long way to go.

a lot of people tell me that, I'm all this and all that and I'm very hard on myself. So I, I don't feel like I've accomplished much, to be honest with you. that's just the way I view it. Cause I'm always pushing, but the point I'm making here is, is that, you know, I've, learned so much over the years.

Grant's not the only billionaire I've been around. I've been around three others. and being around tons of success since I was 17. it's taught me. That, I'm learning all this stuff what good is all the information that I have, what good is it if if I can't spread it out, I got an aunt she's, uh, Cindy Stumpo.

She's one of the biggest developers in, the U S female. And, she's big on giving back. And she told me, she was like, Danny, you know, what good is all the money that I have if I can't, help the people that I want to help and, and share it with, with my loved ones. And I was like, you're so right. so that, that's that responsibility that comes in. It's, you know, I mean, one of my goals is to impact a billion people. you know, I I'm very big on give it back. I'm going to turn the tri world. Uh, this will be a, this will be a hundred million dollar business within the next six years. 

that's the viewpoint. and I don't want hundreds of people. I want thousands of people to be working for, because I want to be able to open up the door to be able to create opportunities for people. To be able to make money, help their families. and change their circumstances.

that's where the responsibility comes in. 

Ken Okazaki: So tell me about this then to get to your goal, you said a hundred million in five years, right? But six years, where are you now? And how are you going to bridge that gap? 

Danny: We're at, like I said, we're at over 4 million. I took a little bit of a hit last year.

how I'm going to bridge that gap, driving more revenue in. getting my name out there more, doing things like this, connecting with more people, it continuing to invest in myself to show up places, to figure out what it is that I don't know, to see if I can even make that six year gap even shorter. 

that's what it's all about. I tell this to people all the time, they always ask me as, as far as, Hey, Danny, you know, I got a bunch of money. What, where can I put this money? My first question to them is, okay, well, how much are you making right now?

And how much did you make last year? Because if you're only making, and I say only because I used to think a hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money until I got around a hundred grand, until I started making that. I used to think a million dollars was a lot of money until I got around a million.

I used to think 10 million was a lot of money until I got around that. And, you know, as I continue going up that ladder, I start to realize and understand money a lot more. And. You know, I understand what it is that's needed in order to continue to grow. And in order to hit the goals that I have, which is the number one goal is to be able to create opportunity, to be able to help a lot more people.

And you need a lot of money to be able to do that. and I think that's a lot of people's goal. I think deep down inside, everybody wants to help people. It's just the circumstances that they're in. They have no choice, but to have to think about themselves. they get trapped, So like going back to what I said, as far as, That answer that I give people, it's, you got to put it back into yourself.

I put hundreds of thousands of dollars into myself, you know, to understand what I understand now, to be able to grow my business the way that I've grown it today. and there's still things that I know that I need to understand in order to, like I said, to shorten that gap up. And I look at somebody like Grant, who is not only a partner, but, a huge mentor of mine.

like he's to this day, he surrounds himself with people where he's the smallest guy in the room and he's dumping in tons of money to continue to learn. And he's sitting in the front row with his notepad up and, you know, taking notes. I think that's what it's all about. Cause he understands that there's things that he doesn't understand that he doesn't know.

And there's a lot, there's maybe quicker ways that he could be doing things. So I look at people like that and I'm a very big, I'm very big on studying and learning and, you know, I study the wealthy and I mean, I just see that's the common denominator for them all, it's just. What can I do to make an impact and who do I need to learn from and what do I need to understand that I don't understand right now?

How much money is that going to cost me to understand that? And that's that direction. so to answer your question, I got to dump a hell of a lot more into myself so I could make that gap a lot shorter. 

Ken Okazaki: Yeah. You know, I was with Tony Robbins for a while doing, his platinum partnership program.

And I think that the one thing that really was the biggest mover, like as far as moving the needle and my success that he told me was, proximity is power. And you're saying the same thing here, just in different words. Getting around the right kind of people that have the influence gives you power.

In two ways, there's the osmosis. You kind of start to see how they behave, how they operate, how they think, how they make decisions, how they move, how they communicate, right? And it rubs off on you, number one. And number two is if you are on their radar, then there's a high chance that in some level, they're going to be able to help you or going to want to help you.

to succeed, whether through advice, through resources, through connections, through anything. So, for me, yeah. 

Danny: There's, there's a, there's a piece to that I, I want to add in. You're dead on. There's a piece to that. And, proximity is power. Knowledge needs to be fit in there as well. Because, I tell this to people all the time.

Everybody's always, Oh, you're, it's your, your network is your net worth. Okay, that gets thrown out there a lot. Okay, to a degree, it's your net worth because there's certain people that you can have a very close connection with but if they don't have enough trust and faith that by them either investing in you or Lending you some money or doing business with you.

They don't have enough faith that you're able to carry that torch They're going to hold back a little bit. So I always tell people, you've got to put yourself in a position where your network is going to want to do business with you, especially when you're dealing with people that are much, much, much more successful. So I always look to offer and to try to ask that type of question, like, Hey, listen, what's it going to take for me to do business with you? You know, where do I need to be at? What do I need to do? What do you expect to, you know, these are questions that I'm looking to get answers to. So I know it more or less like where I need to be.

And then it's like, all right, I need 2 million. let's throw it towards this, and that's the, that's the thing that a lot of people scratch their heads on. You know, you look at like, these big, big, like the monsters in, the world, as far as, successful people.

And you know, you see them in this network where it's like to them borrowing, 10, 20 million, 5 million, it's like, okay, yeah. I just borrowed that to go ahead and do this. And then people are scratching their heads, why I, damn, I'd like to borrow 5 million. Yeah. But those people have already proven themselves.

They're in a position where it's like, you give me the money. I know what to do with it and I'll pay you back. always going to be risks. But. There's a smaller risk there because it's already been proven. That 

Ken Okazaki: make sense? It's that repetition thing again, coming, you know, that we talked about just earlier.

That's it. Okay. You, you put out content on, uh, online, right? You've got your, you know, Danny Calafel TV, you've got YouTube, you've got, Instagram and, Here I picked up a quote you said. It says, I deliver content to inspire, educate, and motivate those that want more out of business and life. When did you start producing content and when did you like really dive in and start making it a big part of your, strategy? 

Danny: That's a good question. I don't know. I've never been shy in front of the camera. I just turn on the camera on and I just roll. Like, you know, I mean, sometimes. there's some cases where I get like a loss of words in the beginning.

It was like a loss of words. I didn't really know. I had to like repeat things a couple of times to like really catch it. But I just, you know, this is like way back. And even in the music industry, I was putting out videos for like talent searches and stuff like that, that I would just, push out.

But content for like business, I don't know. I was just like, let me just start doing some stuff and put some stuff out there so I could show a little bit of credibility. And, you know, maybe this could help inspire or this can help, teach some of the tricks that I've learned that's worked for me.

I don't really like to say tricks. It is some of the techniques or some of the strategies that's worked for me. And it's just something that I just started, you know, really getting into. then I did a show, it was called the corner which I might, start bringing that back.

it was just, you know, just giving free advice. Like, you know, 20 minutes, I pick a topic and just run with it. a lot of times, like I call up businesses, I'd say, Hey, listen, you know, if you don't want to do business with me right now, I ain't no problem. Why don't we do this? Let me go ahead and send you one of my videos, run a meeting with, uh, with your guys using some of the strategies, you know, if it worked, I'll give you a call back and, uh, we take it from there if you like it. So I would use that forms of followup and techniques , 

And stuff like that. 

So, 

Ken Okazaki: and I know that, you know, with, Grant, for example, he uses his social media to, you know, really generate a lot of leads sometimes when he's looking for investors, when he's looking for people to join his different programs, like he, he works that thing and he runs ads like crazy.

Is there any of that promotional advertising marketing happening for you on social media as well? 

Danny: Yeah. Yeah. 

Ken Okazaki: So tell me about that. What kind of results are we getting with social media and how's that? 

Danny: obviously I don't have as big of a name as, and I don't have as big of a budget yet as grant.

So I use that as momentum. I remember the last meeting, he was saying, he was like, you know, you guys need to use, the momentum I have and push out, like, that's what, I mean, that's, what's this all about. So like we just talked about as far as collaboration. So collaboration is the new currency. I'm looking at it where, I mean, whatever he pushes out of the, I'll, I'll repost, I'll, I'll push out as well. I mean, it, it's all going to the same place. Yeah. You know, whether people are going to buy from me or they're going to call, they're going to call HQ and they're going to go ahead and buy from, uh, from the office.

they're buying the same stuff. we're all on the same mission here and that's to help people. So, I mean, that's why I got with Grant and, so I don't look at necessarily as competition. I look at it as, as opportunity. The more he's out there, the more it helps me and people like me. And then that way it, gives me the ability to be able to help out others. He pushes our content. I'm sharing it. I'll, I'll pull it out and I'll send it to a customer and say, Hey, listen, look at what we got coming up right now. He's got a webinar coming up. It's free. He says one hour and he'll probably be on there for three hours.

Guarantee you're going to learn something. you're going to have that aha moment. There's probably going to be some notes you're going to write down and we can have a discussion about that and let's see what we could do business wise for you. after that said and done, and then, you know, a lot of times 

It's like Clockwork, it works! to answer your question, right now, I'm just riding on a coattail until, you know, my name starts becoming a lot more popular and then I could start, you know, then it, makes more sense for me to, you know, start pushing my name as well.

Ken Okazaki: So what's happening is like, he's kind of the face and the brand, and when people buy the program, then like the partnership you have is that you're actually the one, like, that delivers the program itself. Is that kind of how it works? 

Danny: Yeah, in some 

Ken Okazaki: cases 

Danny: there's also hybrids where like, I threw a lot of my stuff on top as well.

So it's like a mixture of Grant and Danny. 

Ken Okazaki: And when people find you directly and they want to work with you, like, what's the typical path from when like never heard of Danny to happily paying customer slash client? Can you kind of paint that picture for us? What are the dots that we can connect?

Danny: We have a process. So we have what's called the sales process. 

Ken Okazaki: I'm so glad that we got to this. 

Danny: Yeah. We have what's called the sales process. So like, there's a sequence that a lot of people fail to follow. And it's just like anything else. It's like a recipe, you know, Grant likes to call it a recipe.

So like you're making a cake, you miss a step. The cake's not going to come out right. You miss an ingredient. The cake's not, it could not going to come out right. Not going to taste right. You know, so there's a certain sequence of things that need to be in there as well as, you know, a certain type of ingredients, you could say that need to be, that need to be put in that.

Ken Okazaki: Not only that, there's timing, temperature, everything, you know? 

Danny: Right. So from start to finish, I mean, it's really just, you know, showing, really finding out what's going to solve the customer's problem. But 

Ken Okazaki: how do they find you in the first place? How do people first find out about you? 

Danny: All through online or we're, making calls.

Ken Okazaki: So it's outbound. 

Danny: Oh yeah. Majority of the business that I get right now is all outbound. prospect 80%. 80, and this is what we tell the customers. 80% of our time is, is dedicated to prospect. 80% of our spent a day 

Ken Okazaki: and nowadays, like what's the typical pickup rate? 

Danny: you mean as far as chart? Like what do, what do you mean pickup rate?

Ken Okazaki: well, you're, you're calling out, right, and a lot, people don't like picking up their phones anymore. So out of like every 10 calls or a hundred calls, like how many people actually pick up? It varies. I guess because I've, hired other agencies that did this in the past. Right. So you know, like sometimes you have, you know, like 5%, you know, it's like 1 out of 20, right.

Sometimes, you know, it's 10 percent and like, yeah, different sectors vary and things like that. But, you know, like, I'm just kind of curious in your industry. 

Danny: With us, they always pick up, Yeah. Cause we call them until they do. Yeah. 

Ken Okazaki: Oh, that's one way to look at it. Like either will or they did.

Right? 

Danny: No, they will. look, there's business owners out there that, you know,they're busy. They're busy. Just like everybody else. Like a lot of people take this stuff personally. I've learned, I've been doing this 15 years. So like, you know, over the course, like, I've listened, I've been calling every name you could think of.

I've taken everything personal that you could think of. I've been embarrassed. I've been humiliated. I've been in front of customers with my sales guy or our sales guys been embarrassed, been told to leave, been forced to leave, had a security called, not that I was even doing anything wrong, they just wanted to make a scene and, you know, so at this point, man, like none of this stuff fades.

Ken Okazaki: You got pretty thick skin. Just doesn't bother you. Right. 

Danny: And I don't take it personal because I understand, like you call Somebody Especially when it's an outbound call, they're interrupt you, stopping them for what they're doing. They're normal people. you know, a lot of people think that, like, you know, huh, I'm, I'm calling this person and they're running a 50 or a hundred or $200 million business.

They got, you know, they're normal people. They got kids, they gotta go to the bathroom, they gotta eat food. You know, they got a life of their own outside of business. So like they're living their lives. So, I mean, I just, I go at it with, you know, with that mentality, as far as like, all right, well, look, I'm interrupting you.

Let me tell you why, you know, I'm stopping you from doing what you think is important, right? Let me tell you why this call is more important than what you're doing. Right. it's that back and forth pull, knowing what to say, knowing how to respond, which is the reason why a lot of salespeople fail.

They fail for two reasons. They don't know what to say. They don't know how to respond. And, uh, you know, once you get back and forth that back and forth, that it's finding out, you know, what's important to that customer, What problem are you looking to solve for them and how can you show them that? And that's what it really comes down to, you know? So I mean, that's that whole ping pong game or, or tennis match we always talk about, 

Ken Okazaki: you know, so we're connecting the dots here. It's outbound. You connect with them, you find someone, they're qualified, they can use service.

Do you schedule a, like a, presentation or like, or do you, do you try to. Make the sale right there on that first call. 

Danny: No, no, no, no, no. If anybody's doing that, they got it all wrong. Like you have to set up an appointment because you're catching that person at the wrong time.

they're not going to give you the attention that you need. They're, they've most likely, depending on the business and depending on the circumstance of the situation. I mean, we're, we're calling on, I mean, I call on companies doing, you know. three, four, 500 million, all the way down to companies that are just, like I said, an idea or, you know, a dealership or a, or a landscaping company that did a million or whatever the case is, right?

So there's different layers. There's. Sometimes you have multiple bigger, the company, the more decision makers. So it's more people that you have to get involved in order to even have a decision that's made. sometimes there are long cycles. So you don't only want to depend on the bigger companies, because a lot of times, like that's a long cycle.

It takes a lot of. You know, back and forth and more. politics. and that, then when you come on down, then it's still like there, they don't have time right then. And there, you're again, you're interrupting their day. If it's out loud, so it's, hey, how do I get this guy to be interested enough so he can give me some time so I could show them what I can do to help a bop, I need to find out what it is that he has going on.

What's a problem is, what's he got going on right now. And then I could start, you know, get to the point where I could, I could offer something that, you know, he'd take the bait on and he wouldn't bite. If you want to relate it to phishing, 

Ken Okazaki: got it, got it. And what's the average, you know, package that's that you're selling these days is in the, you know, 10 K range, 20, 30, a hundred, 

Danny: man, I got, we got one program.

That's 450 a dollars. 

Ken Okazaki: So pretty much you just evaluate what's going to work best for that prospect and then present them with the product at price point. 

Danny: It's gotta, it's gotta be that way. Cause I have so much and we're continuing to push out more stuff. Like, look, I mentioned 463 courses. We're now up to 4, 022.

Ken Okazaki: So, you know, I mean, we're doing everything. So pretty much there's a solution for everybody who's on the call and you just got to match the solution to the person. 

Danny: That's, that's it. like, there'll be showing you the connection here, right? So it's. Like we're doing everything from sales training, marketing, business programs.

Okay. That include people. So it's, you know, hiring, onboarding, training people. And then you have, on the software side, implementation to enhance productivity and, just, you know, get the company to the stage where they're at a scaling stage, and they're not at a survival stage, they're actually starting to grow, but then as they grow, come more problems, they need to, you Bring on more people.

They need to open up departments. They need to add people to those departments. Those, those departments didn't need to be able to communicate with the other departments, everybody's sick. it's a process, right? I mean, we have stuff all the way down to somebody. a sales guy. And, you know, all the way down to, you know, people that are, that are employees in the business, all the way down to somebody who's just starting a business, they have an idea and they just need to become the leader that they need to become and understand like all the positions of a business.

So they understand as they're growing their business, how to start putting people in the right place. And then from that point, then I have the acquisition company where we get up to the stage. And they're a customer and, or not, and we're like, Hey, listen, look, you get big enough, we'll just buy the company from you.

And now we just start formulating an exit strategy for you, which most people also don't think about the most disappointing thing. I could tell you, Ken, the most frustrating and difficult thing and the most heartbreaking thing that I see is I see a lot of people when they built businesses, people need to understand a business owner is not like an employee.

Like you don't have social security. You don't have 401k. You don't have money being put in where when you retire. You're good. Like all you have is your blood, sweat, and tears of what it is that you created and hope that you create it big enough. So when you retire, you got enough money to be able to live comfortably, or you got enough money to be able to do the things that you want to do and live the rest of your life. And the problem is most businesses don't hit that. And it's the most heartbreaking thing because they put in all that work. And their business becomes worth nothing. So like we do is we get a company to that stage to be able to get them to the point where they can have something profitable enough to be able to sell either to us or to somebody else and actually get something so they can say, Hey, you know what, I'm going to invest some of my money into investment.

That's going to pay me, some passive income, which is really the reason for starting a business in the first place. And then I have some money to be able to do the things that I want to do it and take care of my family. and take care of my loved ones and, and enjoy life. So like that's the setup that we do.

And like I said, sometimes it's just, Hey, read a book. We had a kid who read one of Grant's books. He was sleeping in his car. And you know, he was in a room and he talked about this. He was like, and I was sleeping in my car. I read one of Grant's books. What, when, you know, in one year, I, became a salesperson at a company making 150 grand. And then I got involved in the programs that you guys got my second year. I did 352, 000 most money I made in, in my family. I mean, those to me are a huge wins because I mean, you know, the two years, the guy went from sleeping in a cup, he went from sleeping in his car to making 300, 000 more money than somebody in his family's paid.

That's a huge accomplishment. And that, that to me, that's the win, 

Ken Okazaki: you know? we've got to wrap this up soon, but I have one final thing. It's something you said. I'm also going to twist it into a question here. So what you said is success is your birthright. Make the most out of it and stop leaving money on the table.

How are people. Leaving money on the table. And I know that this is probably gonna be a hundred ways, but I'd like to hear the one that you see happen the most and that you can give us some advice on how to fix that. 

Danny: People leave money on the table because they're, instead of spending the money, this goes right back to what I just said as far as the reason of starting a business.

So most people start a business because it's a passion or it's something they want to do.

And if the business starts to really build up traction and take off, it's not that they know what they're doing. It's, they just got a good product or service that's selling off the shelves. Okay. Now here's the mistake that a lot of people make that I see leaving money on the table is they start living this lifestyle because the business is making the money that it's making. And the business is feeding their lifestyle and the business is feeding what it is that they're doing. They're taking trips to go in places to buy nice things, doing nice stuff. They're there. They're enjoying life until they're not because something ends up happening and their product or service stops up. And at that moment, their life goes into a chaotic spiral and they start experiencing fear. Because they're like, okay, here we go again. And they don't know what to do. The money that's being left on the table is that's not the reason for a business. The business is how much do I need to put back in the business to continue to grow the business, to understand the things that I don't know, invest in it, in the people that can teach me the things that I don't know.

So I continue to either scale or I can bring people on that can help me scale.

Then the money that I make off of that, take that and start putting it to work to, to an asset, something that's going to pay me passive income over time, whether it's real estate, stock, buying business, whatever the case, investing in companies, whatever the case is, that's the money that you're supposed to use to live the life that you want to live and go on the trips that you want to go on and stuff like that, because that's not earned income.

That's passive income at that point. What I see, the problem that most people do is they're using it, spending their earned income, which is a big mistake. So that's where the money that's being left on the table is talked about. Like you gotta take the money, you put it towards something, make the passive income, and then you can live the life you want because.

That money's gonna keep coming to you. If you were talking about real estate, most real estate, you're, you're signing a 20 year, a 25 year deal. So for the next 20, 25 years, you're getting paid and the amount of money that you're putting in keeps going up. 

Ken Okazaki: I lied.

I have one more question and then I promise it's the last one. Okay, you having been a professional athlete and, uh, obviously you probably heard something's coming up, Jake Paul or Tyson? 

Danny: Uh, I knew you were going to say that. 

Ken Okazaki: So let's get it on record here. I want to hear it anyway, then we'll circle back and see you afterwards.

Danny: No, we'll put it, we'll, uh, yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll do it. Okay. Look, just 

Ken Okazaki: a guess. It's interesting, 

Danny: man. Like I, I know the, like, you know, uh, and, and, you know, having, having, I run the same circle as Mike. I met him a couple of times. You know, I, I know him personally. I know both sides of Mike.

There's a playful and, and fun. And he is, I tell people all the time, like, you want to know about, like, you want to know the insides of a fighter for real, listen to Mike Tucks. That guy is the most authentic, open book that you'll ever come across in a person and the biggest heart, okay? There's another side of Mike though, and it's the side that you don't want to piss off because there's a side of all, and this is, this is, I'm speaking as a fighter.

There was two sides of me. There was the side of Danny that would go in and he becomes champ. And at that moment, all I see is. I just see through a person. I don't see emotion. I don't see none of that. Only emotion I feel is mine. And it's pain, anger, and I'm just there. And then after, afterwards I snap out of it and I'm just like, all right, cool.

I hope I didn't hurt you too bad. Like, you know, that's Mike. The difference is you've got a heavyweight, you've got a guy who's been, he's been doing this a while. So to answer your question, it goes in the direction that Jake wants it to go. If Jake pisses Mike off, I pray that, that Jake makes it out of there.

you know, not too hurt. If he does it, it could be a fun fight.

Ken Okazaki: Yeah. I'm really hoping for Mike, but I've just never seen such a big age difference in any match. So I think it go either way. I'll 

Danny: tell you 

Ken Okazaki: this. 

Danny: Power's the last thing that leave a fighter.

The stamina. it's power. it's power. Power is the last thing to leave a fighter. Like you may lose timing. You may lose speed. But that power, Mike still has power. He still has power, big power. 

Ken Okazaki: Well, thanks for that. Thanks for your opinion. so we're, we got to wrap this up. I just want to thank you so much for coming on and sharing all this.

And, if for everybody who's listening, if you're watching on YouTube, then please. Look down at the links below. There'll be links to connect with Danny across his social media and his websites. And if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you check out the show notes. We're going to include everything there as well.

Danny, any last words you want to leave us with before we peace out? 

Danny: Oh man. I mean, I think I spoke enough. I have these long winded responses. I honestly, man, like I said, I'm just a big advocate on, just trying to give people the keys to be able to accomplish the things that they want to accomplish.

So. Thank you for having me on here and introducing me to the audience. And I hope that everybody got at least something out of this, that they can, you know, they could take home and they could really, uh, put the use and, I'm here man, I'm here. Anytime you want to do this again.

You know, we could, we can roll. I can give you updates and, to the audience, not hard to get in contact with if there's anything I can do to help any of you guys out, I'm here. that's what this is all about. 

Ken Okazaki: All right. I appreciate that. Guys do make sure to check out the links and, uh, also I'll see you next week.

No hassle, worship here, we're a different breed. Action is what we got if action is what you need. Us content capitalists, we're breaking the flow. Cuz the old ways stay, new stories to be told. So content capitalists, get to the press.