6 – He Created a Brand: Tom interviews Daniel Hall

Danial Hall

[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:27] Welcome everybody to Episode six of screw the commute podcast. And we got a great guest today a prolific serial entrepreneur Daniel Hall tell you about him in a second. Let me tell you about today's sponsor it's the distance learning school the Internet Marketing Training Center of Virginia. Don't even think about retraining yourself or sending your kids to college until you check out our webinar. I don't want your waste and hundreds of thousands of dollars putting yourself and your kids under crushing debt. We'll have the Webinar in the show notes at screwthecommute.com.

[00:01:06] All right. Let's get to the main event. Daniel Hall is a best selling author speaker publisher. He's a nurse and attorney. Now you don't hear that everyday. I was thinking about that like if I got run over by a bus or something I'd want him standing there because he could save me and it would save me running around looking for an attorney.

[00:01:26] You know it's just perfect.

[00:01:30] He's the host of Realfastresults.com podcast. He's also the creator of the highly popular real fast brand of training products. He left law practice ten years ago to build his publishing business and has never looked back. Daniel is a true serial entrepreneur. And his list of URLs is longer than this piece of paper I'm holding and it's a legal size. So check out Daniel's hub at DanielHallpresents.com or check out his realfastresults.com podcast on iTunes. DANIEL, are you ready to screw the commute?

[00:02:16] The answer is have been there done that. That's my current thing, man. I walk four minutes between my house and my office.

[00:02:27] Oh that's too far, man. Mine is only I don't know maybe 37 seconds. So you'll have to work to get it down a little better. So tell everybody a little bit about who you are and what you're doing.

[00:02:44] So as you know I primarily help the folks that want to get their message out to a wider audience. So I loved working with the authors and folks that want to create courses because they know they have a solution that will help other people and they want to obviously make money in that process so that's primarily the group of people that I work with and I enjoy working with its prime primarily content creators in all their forms.

[00:03:24] And now I know being a nurse and an attorney you probably had a job at one point. Can you remember the turning point in your life when you decided you know what I'm going to make money for me and my family and not not make everybody else for it?

[00:03:41] Yes I do. There's a distinct memory I have. I was practicing law and I was away for a trial which was pretty frequently and we were trying cases all over. And I was away on this particular trip for seven weeks didn't come home for seven weeks and I had missed a major sort of landmark in my child's development and was basically his first couple steps.

[00:04:22] And I you know of course my wife was telling me about this and it was at that point and I'm thinking to myself I've got to figure out some other way to make a living than this.

[00:04:37] I know I wasn't happy being a lawyer anyway. I was making good money but I much more collegial and less confrontational than what it really requires.

[00:04:48] And it was at that moment when I was having this conversation with my wife that I just I had to figure out some other way. This was not going to cut it. And that's when I made the decision.

[00:05:02] And what would you tell people that are in that situation now they may feel like they're tied to that paycheck. What advice would you give them to make that leap if they want to start their own business.

[00:05:16] Well the important thing I believe is to start taking the action now while you are still working. So that means if you need to start moonlighting start taking work or starting a business on the side. I would definitely recommend doing that before and seeing revenue. OK. Before you actually take the plunge and leave that environment that's essentially what I did is it took me probably another two years maybe two and a half three years before I actually left from that point.

[00:06:02] So your family was in any jeopardy then that's not like you just one day quit and then no income and everybody's screaming.

[00:06:09] No I couldn't do that because I'm the primary bread writer and you know I had to keep a roof and food and taxes paid and all that stuff. So yeah. I'm not an advocate of being irresponsible in these decisions. But strategically planning for your you know your exit and entrance into this new life.

[00:06:35] Yeah and so give us some tips. You know both of us sell information basically. I guess that's how you would characterize it. So give us some tips on how people could get into that kind of business and also some of the tips of actually working your own business when you're the boss.

[00:06:56] Yes so I'll start with that second question first because what is really required is a mind set shift in most cases because it's foreign if you are in a sort of an employee mentality to actually be the boss. So that means that you have primary responsibility for everything in your business. And that takes some sort of growing into and it's in my opinion it's not a good idea to just jump in without kind of easing in and understanding what where your strengths are and where your weaknesses are. Because as I sort of transitioned out of law and into my own business my income did absolutely plummet. But it wasn't zero I had some money coming in from some of these other enterprises and the hing that I think is really important that folks really understand is that you are going to be good in certain things and you're going to suck in other things and do not wait to get help to get people into your business. And I'm thinking primarily of outsourcers.

[00:08:43] People that can help you do the things you suck at while you sort of focus on those things that you're really good at that where it's easy to do. And I think I remember I was kind of bee-bopping along at about eight thousand dollars a month and within three months of hiring my first assistant we went from 8000 dollars a month to consistently over 30000 dollars a month. And that's just been on an upward trend since then. And in a lot of that is because I was trying to do everything myself and not doing a very good job at doing everything. And as I as I sort of brought more help in and I'm not talking about big help I think my first person was being paid 250 300 dollars a week you know to help me. That's a big big thing as soon as you make the transition is to find people that you could sort of offload some of the work on that you need to offload while still focusing on your giftedness.

[00:09:57] Yeah and I'm totally in agreement with that. I just want to caution people when they delegate stuff. It's still a great idea for the principal to have an understanding of what's going on.

[00:10:09] Without a doubt that's true.

[00:10:09] Some of these you know you luckily have Anthony your son working with you now. But if somebody comes off the street even these young people that I love to hire. I mean they could be doing stuff and I'm clueless of what they're doing and 99 percent of the hour they're playing on Facebook. I wouldn't even know it. So yes you have to. You can't just divorce your self as the owner of the company from everything.

[00:10:35] Oh no no no I'm not. Exactly. You've got to you definitely have to stay involved. But it's like I remember when I had my first seven figure year and I'm thinking to myself oh my god. Especially I got hit with this huge tax bill. With that tax bill I could send my kid to all four years of Harvard with what I paid to the IRS and I'm like this is never going to happen again. Why? Because I had not outsourced the bookkeeping part of it. I was just keeping all that in you know in house and I wasn't properly preparing. You know so yeah I got hit. Hopefully that won't happen to you.

[00:11:22] Well the thing is I think again I vividly remember getting a call from my accountant and I was doing years. I mean not too long after I first started. When I get the one point two million dollars a year with one part time temp person and my accountant called me up and he says hey Tom Hey you got too much retained earnings and I said what. They said yeah you got too much retained earnings you're going have to pay a lot of tax. I said You mean because I've been keeping my nose clean and not buying airplanes and hookers and everything else. I've got to pay more taxes? He said yeah that's how it works.

[00:11:59] And so that's when I started hired a bunch of people you know I think you know anywhere from seven to ten full time people we have here. So I get that. But I would you know unless he hadn't call me you know I'd be wondering wow my god I just just paid all this money in taxes. I'd rather I personally Daniel would rather make jobs than pay for bombs. Amen to that brother. So what should people do if they want to get in our type of business what would you recommend?

[00:12:31] Well yes. So two things. The first thing is look at what solutions you have in your head right now that really solve big problems or potentially big problems or any problems really. They can be they can be just about any kind of problem as long as there's a pretty big market for it. So that's the second thing is what you know are people buying other products that addressed the same problem or there are a lot of those because you know some people say well that's been done a bazillion different times. Well that might be true but it also says that there's a market there's people willing to whip out their credit card and actually pay for that kind of solution. So that's the first thing. And then you want to look at those things that you're passionate about the things that you love and the things that keep you energized in your business. And if you are thinking about as a Venn diagram it's where those topics sort of intersect. So passionate about it on one hand and on the other hand have a proven market.

[00:13:51] Because a lot of people are pushing just do your passion and the money will come. No no that's not always true. There's plenty of broke people that are passionate about stuff that nobody else wants or was willing to pay for it.

[00:14:08] So that's a really really important thing. And then the other thing that's really really super important is the fact that you start I would start small I would start probably with a simple e-book and it's sort of like when I think that's how you and I met my very first information product was one called speak on cruise ships 8 Easy Steps to a lifetime of free luxury cruises. And that started out to be essentially a five page checklist that turned into a 132 page PDF document which I went on to sell over a quarter of a million dollars worth. In fact it's still selling on Amazon today. And I put together the product and it started to sell.

[00:15:04] So then I started to kind of build out of business around it because it was proven there was traction there. There was interest and people willing to pull out their credit card and pay for this information which again goes back to this sort of the intersection of these Venn diagrams and start small with an easy like a PDF it's easy to deliver. It's easy to sell. No one's going to be you know messaging you in the middle of the night because they lost their password into your membership site or something like that.

[00:15:36] It's very low risk. So you can create this thing in a word document and turn it into a PDF and have no expense whatsoever.

[00:15:49] Practically about you know minus out your or subtract out your merchant fees. It's you know it's in the 90th percentile profitability.

[00:16:03] I say kind of a smart aleck. You almost have to be a moron not to be able to make money at 97 percent profit. So did you ever get screwed in business? What did you do about it? You're a lawyer. You should be able to sue them.

[00:16:24] Yeah well that's just it. You know so here's the thing. The really really important thing is sort of easing in with relationships so that you're not like all in or all out you kind of it's like you and I Tom trust each other implicitly. We know that we've done business together for a long time. Yeah. And you know that I'm not going to screw your folks and you know that I'm not going to screw you. You know the opposite. So we trust one another but that trust was built over time and that's what I'm saying is that to not get screwed. Yes. If you're getting screwed from the very get go to end that relationship ASAP.

[00:17:20] That goes with your outsourcing tip. You know you don't give them the keys to the castle right off the bat you know if you are using an outsourced or virtual assistant you know see if they're professional. See if they do their work on time. If you can trust what they say is true because you don't want to give them everything and just throw your hands up and cross your fingers.

[00:17:42] Yeah I mean exactly. And not only that you'll find that there is a pattern in integrity. If somebody says they're going to be and do something. You know and it's a small thing and they do that and then the next time they do it and then it's a little bit bigger thing and they perform on that. You know it I'm not saying you can't get hoodwinked. But there are definitely telltale signs that you know this person probably is. We don't want to deal with them long term because they missed something they colored something you know it wasn't quite right. You've got to have your eyes and ears open for that kind of thing sort of your antenna kind of attuned to that until they've proven themselves.

[00:18:37] Yeah that's what I'm saying but you can't divorce yourself. And you know I get a lot of professionals doctors and so forth that just want somebody to do it for him. Well they might as well put a big target on themselves and pay I mean literally up to 100 times what it would cost for certain things because they don't know any better. Exactly.

[00:18:57] Ok so anything funny happened to you? In your business or your life lately?

[00:19:05] Well I went to a nude beach for the first time. How's that?

[00:19:13] It's very interesting to hear that here.

[00:19:15] Yeah. We were here in Austin Texas and there's only one legal sort of nude beach here it's a place called Hippie Hollow. And he was like hey let's stop in there. Clothing optional.

[00:19:36] Ok. You know it seems to me I've never been to one but from what I've heard the people that go to these places aren't necessarily people you'd want to see naked anyway.

[00:19:51] I would definitely second that. But that is that's not true across the board.

[00:19:57] Ok. All right. Well maybe you could sell a product that was the best nude beaches for Birdwatching. So what's the thing you like best. I think you've kind of mentioned that about working for yourself and what's the worst part about working for yourself.

[00:20:15] So it's sometimes gets onerous especially if you don't take breaks that to just realize and when you realize that you're the only horse pulling the plow. I mean it all comes down to you right in that could get tiresome and you know you can let that really pressure you in bad ways. And in how I sort of deal with that is first off I try to get outside you know at least once a day. My wife and I like to walk on the trails and you know we take our dogs to the dog park and you know just get out and kind of clear your mind. So it's not so heavy on you.

[00:21:17] You're walking down the trail looking at your cell phones? I went over to Mount Trashmore park and we have this park in Virginia Beach called Mount Trashmore. It used to be the garbage dump. It's a beautiful park. I went over there the other day I would say 95 percent of the people were not looking at the lake the ducks anything they were walking the trails looking at cell phones.

[00:21:44] That does not surprise me and probably won't change.

[00:21:49] Well I had to make it a point to look up a little bit to count the people. So what are you promoting nowadays? What some of the things that our listeners could take advantage of yours maybe get started or help them out.

[00:22:07] Well one of the cool things that I put together. If you have any kind of blog. There is a pathway to actually set up a micro mini membership site with your blog using Amazon's Kindle. And I have a complete and free training on exactly how to do that. It's at DanielHallpresents.com/getcode.

[00:22:45] Yeah we'll have that in the show notes for you.

[00:22:49] And by the way you don't even need to opt in. The video is on that page the page I just gave it. You just go to that page and it's about a 20 minute video and it will actually teach you how to in one step by the way or only has to be done once so that every time you post to your blog it actually gets published on the Amazon Kindle platform and people pay you for access through Amazon. So it's pretty cool.

[00:23:24] That's cool. So check that out in the show notes folks because all of Daniel's stuff is cutting edge and inexpensive. I mean compared to the value. I mean it's just unbelievably inexpensive any of his real fast brand. And he brings in a lot of super experts to collaborate with. It's just I've never seen anything that wasn't amazing come out of Daniel. Thank you.

[00:23:55] We got to take a brief sponsored break and we will be right back and Daniel is going to tell you what a typical day is like for him and how he stays motivated.

[00:24:05] Today, almost two billion of you will go online retrieving over 100 billion searches for information, goods and services, and 6 million of you will view a page on the internet before this commercial is over. The world has changed and so is the way we do business. At the Internet Marketing Training Center, you can study online at your pace to fit your schedule, and you can graduate with the skills and knowledge to compete in the global marketplace or start your own home based business. Call us today or go online at IMTCVA.org. Because, it's about time. Yours.

[00:24:37] All right. We're back. So Daniel tell them what a typical day is like for a massive screw the commuter like you.

[00:24:46] Well usually we get up get our boy to school. I have two three bedroom condos one of which I live in one of which I office out of. I walk. I get up and shower. That's why it takes me four minutes. Yeah it's all the same complex but I walk four minutes from one condo to another and turn on the computer. Usually I walk the dogs before that all happens. And we turn on the computer, check my e-mail, write the next day's e-mail I'm primarily an e-mail marketer so I try to keep one day ahead in sending out an e-mail. So I usually then write that email. I spend most days touching base with at least one and probably up to 3 4 different joint venture partners for whatever promotion I happen to be working now or at the time. Usually around lunch we my gorgeous wife usually brings in lunch usually a salad and we eat together. And then in the afternoon I work on whatever big projects that happen to be working on because I do a lot of as you know a lot of joint ventures and a lot of collaborative products so I'd be in the afternoon usually working on one of those and then on the evenings particularly on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. I am usually doing a live webinar live promotional webinar and that pretty much fills out the day and so it can be some long days sometimes.

[00:26:47] But you know if something came up you could just say you know what I'm going to go do it today. Right. And I do. Yeah exactly. So that's the beauty of it.

[00:26:58] Even with all that heavy schedule that you're imposing on yourself basically because you're a go getter. It's flexible you know there's all kinds of things. I remember when I had to move my mother out of our family home after 50 years because it was kind of getting too dangerous for her to stay there. I took off three months and had more money when I came back then when I left. You know this is a great business for when life gets in the way, isn't it Daniel.

[00:27:26] Oh without a doubt that's true. And I'll tell you it's like this summer for example we're in this the other beautiful thing about our business the business that you and I are in especially is we could pick up and go and be somewhere you know anywhere that has Internet access so typically I live in Austin Texas and it gets pretty steamy here in the summer so we had to go some place that's cooler where we try to for at least one month out of the summer so this summer we're actually going to spend the month of July in Marin County you know and in summers past Marin County outside of San Francisco and in summers past you know we've spent in Vail we've spent them in Lake Tahoe we've gone to spend the summer in Europe. So you know that's the beautiful thing about this is that we can pick up and go and our business goes with us.

[00:28:28] Yeah it's a beautiful thing. I was answering questions off a webinar sitting against a tree deer hunting on my cell phone. It's just beautiful. I don't know if I had internet access. Technically it was just cell phone access and I was still able to stay in business while I was doing something else out in the woods. So any parting thoughts for our screwballs thinking about hey I want to do business. I want to increase my business. What would you tell then?

[00:29:00] Well going back to make sure whatever it is that you're going into business that you are personally passionate about because there are ups and there are downs and if you are not really passionate about what it is you're doing you will lose faith and you're likely to lose faith before you see the significant success that I know that you could achieve if you were actually you know had a passion for you know the underline thing that you are doing.

[00:29:31] That's beautiful advice that's for sure. So tell everybody what's the best way to get in touch with your organization. And like I said we'll have everything in the show notes for everybody listening. But what's the best way to get in touch with you.

[00:29:44] Well I would if you have not heard the interview that Tom and I did together in our realfastresults.com podcast, Tom did a great job in a podcast called Five quick and easy ways to automate your business. So you work less and make more. That's available at Realfastresults.com/38. Free. There's no opt in just go listen it's an excellent show. Is 3 8 my age?

[00:30:17] Yeah well why not. Let's just call it that then as I said DanielHallpresents.com/getcode if you are interested in hooking up your blog and making it a micro membership site through Amazon Kindle.

[00:30:41] Beautiful beautiful beautiful. Daniel thanks so much for visiting with us today. It's just been beautiful to watch your rise to stardom. And so everybody. Make sure you check the show notes out. Check all the links to Daniel's stuff and you can go to screwthecommute.com the Web site for this podcast that we show you how to subscribe to podcasts, how to watch webinars. All kinds of good information over there for you. And you'll see episode number six is Daniel Hall. So if you want to relisten to this and then visit all this stuff we recommend that you do. Don't forget to check out IMTCVA.org if you'd like to take advantage of higher education without crushing debt for either you or your children. Even your nephews and nieces.

[00:31:32] May I just say one last thing. It's a pretty important thing that I do owe a great deal of my success in this business to you Tom. I wanted listeners of this show to know that I was a Tom Antion mentee and I was much better for it. So yeah it is good I can just say good on you for following Tom and for following this podcast because in me doing that I know that I've become significantly wealthier and happier as a result. So I just want to leave folks with that.

[00:32:15] Well I appreciate that and I'll tell them on another episode about how you kicked my butt into starting webinars. How about that. All right everybody. Great that you stopped by and watch for our next wonderful episode. We do a training episode on Mondays and currently the schedule is Wednesdays and Fridays we do interviews with great people like Daniel. All right. Bye everybody.

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