daniel phillips Archives - The Presidential Hustle

Its that time again where I get to have exclusive interviews with real hustlers and entrepreneurs kicking butts around the world.I love the rush. I enjoy the interviews because I don’t just get better after each interview but I become a better hustler just by taking the advice I get from the Interview, and knowing I will post it for readers around the world to benefit from the interview makes me even more happier, lets all win godammit! 🙂

Just to give you a summary of industries Daniel has kicked butt in Publishing (king magazine and xxl), Hotels, Club promoting, Non profits, Teaching, Restaurants, and much much much more. Also, 90% of his clients are billionaires that have pretty impressive resumes. He works with everyone from the family that owns Grand Central Station, to Some of the largest hedge fund guys alive.

It was just like yesterday 3 years ago when I worked with Daniel on some projects ( website and graphics ) for his New York Fitness company. I was pretty young then, 19years old I think and I was hungry to get my skills out there. Daniel is such a humble and good hearted person even though his picture says the opposite 🙂 . I can remember the words he said to me then just like it was yesterday, He said “If you can design my website just like I have it my head, am gonna pay you top dollar for it” and to be honest, he paid me top dollar and as a young aspiring entrepreneur then, that gesture gave me hope and strengthened my believe system that I really can do this self-employment sh*t even though I hadn’t designed any professional website at that time for anyone. Since my name is also Daniel, I guess we clicked immediately.

Three years later, I moved to London and told Daniel about it and he was excited for me, I told him am getting my Masters in a course that is going to place me at a strategic position in my hustle and he cheered me on and gave me some great advice. I hit him up a week or two ago and told him I would like to interview him for my blog and he was excited about it, although very busy, He made time out to grant me this interview that is so great that am going to print out some words from it and hang it in my house. PLEASE ENJOY.

Me: When last did you collect paycheck from a boss?

Daniel: Ha! Maybe 8 or 9 years ago

Me: Interesting… So you’ve been an entrepreneur for that long? When did it all start?

Daniel: I’ve always been an entrepreneur, was born that way. It’s a blessing and a curse that I don’t sleep at night because my wheels are always turning with ideas on how to not only make my businesses better, but also entire industries. I will say this though, being an entrepreneur is just like anything else, you have to actually put foot to pavement and make things happen. You can’t just think of great ideas and do nothing with them and expect the world to recognize you as an entrepreneur.

You have to actually put foot to pavement and make things happen. You can’t just think of great ideas and do nothing with them and expect the world to recognize you as an entrepreneur.

I will also say that I started my first business venture when I was in junior high. It was a company called Navy Grey Graphics and Technical services Inc. Don’t know where the Inc came in as we were not incorporated lol, but we did do graphics for all of the surrounding schools and their computer maintenance too. I knew then that I had the ability to lead businesses and I never looked back

Infact I didn’t do graphics or computer tech stuff. I simply knew how to motivate these people and bring them together to want to work for me and split their profits with me, and they did

Me: Wow! Now, Considering the fact that you and most entrepreneurs always start very young, what’s your take on this – “Can everyone be an entrepreneur or its just in “some people” and those people always have the entrepreneurial / hustle spirit from their young age”

Daniel: I think that everyone has the ability to be an entrepreneur through the sheer fact that everyone has the ability to come up with an idea and execute that idea. I think the real question is why don’t more people realize this? You said one thing right, and that is the fact that the hustle part of entrepreneurialism is what’s going to get most people to where they want to be as entrepreneurs, but most people are not committed to the completion of their goals and dreams.

The hustle part of entrepreneurialism is what’s going to get most people to where they want to be as entrepreneurs.

I believe that although it’s clearer now more than ever that people can change their lives with an app or a simple idea, the fact that things are moving so fast in the world now makes the work that this takes almost impossible to perceive. This kind of path in life isn’t like getting a new phone when you get tired of the old one. You have to commit to the completion of what you set out to do, make a way where there is no way, and be flexible enough to change when necessary. If all understood this, all could be successful entrepreneurs if they had a good enough idea.

Me: I must admit that It’s an eye opener for me to now know that “everyone” has the potential to be an entrepreneur because I have always been of the opinion that some people are born entrepreneurs and some are not, but I guess from your answer I understand that the few who become “entrepreneurs” are those with hustling spirt.

Can you please give me a summary of industries you’ve worked in? Cos I see you as a person of different hustle! Most entrepreneurs are always one-laned, if you know what I mean.

Daniel: I always say that the best road to success is the road that is furthest away from other roads, but will still get you there if you travel it. If you give yourself no out, no other option, if you are willing to drive through the dark woods, take the chance that you might get stuck and have to get out and trek through the mud, this is the person that is 99% of the time going to make it, and I don’t care if it’s their first idea or their millionth.

I always say that the best road to success is the road that is furthest away from other roads, but will still get you there if you travel it.

I’ve always been driven as I said, but I didn’t always know what I wanted to do with my life. The only thing that I did know was that I had the ability to see things that were wrong in the world, and the ability to come up with suffice ways to fix them. So I’ve worked in everything from publishing (king magazine and xxl) to hotels, to club promoting, to non profits, teaching, restaurants, and much more. What I realized through all of that though was that all of the people who were running these places thought too small for me and were never ready for an outside perspective on things. They were all living in a cage created for people like them and I could never understand why when the cage had no gate to stop them from escaping. But I quickly learned that you can’t escape a prison if you don’t know that you’re in one!

The Ability to see things wrong in the world and the ability to come up with suffice ways to fix them.

You can’t escape a prison if you don’t know that you’re in one!

So I thought about things for a bit and decided to start a fitness company as I’ve always been into fitness and I realized that I could use this as I get to work with some of the real kind of people that I wanted to be around, people that thought like I did. Through this company and with my ability to strategize and my commitment to completing this venture, I started a small company with intent for it to go one way, and instead went straight to the 1 % of the world that everyone wants to work with. 90% of my clients are billionaires and have pretty impressive resumes. I work with everyone from the family that owns Grand Central Station, to Some of the largest hedge fund guys alive. And I have the next ten steps mapped out. I guess what makes me different is that I’ve always done this with whatever industry I’ve worked in. I’ve always known who I was and what I’d achieve and went about it fearlessly and without letting anyone ever work harder than me.

The interview gets interesting in the next page and Daniel gave me 3 Major keys to become a better hustler. The first one is ABB ( Always Be Branding ) … click the next button to continue reading.