Yesterday was my 24th birthday and 5 years ago, on this very day, I began my entrepreneurial journey.
My old roommate, his brother and I caught smiling at NMMI.
I returned home to Brooklyn, NY from New Mexico Military Institute in December of 2012. Within 6 days of my return, I was offered an entrepreneurial opportunity as I walked off the campus of Brooklyn College. I had zero experience or understanding of anything related to business but I had an open mind and extremely strong desire to succeed. I ended up joining a Direct Sales company, dropping out of college in the first week and moving to California the day after my 19th birthday on February 27th, 2013. I was only supposed to go to Sacramento for a 1-month business trip but I ended up moving into a house with 4 friends/business partners after we decided on a whim that we would move to LA as we climbed the Hollywood Hills. I was already planning to stay in LA since I loved California so much and craved independence but it was my friend Jason who randomly mentioned the idea to our group, everyone instantly agreed to relocate. I was shocked because they all quit their jobs, ended their leases and were ready to move within weeks. We were homeless for the first 10 days and had no credit so we would stay in hostels or Jason’s van. For the first time, I experienced what it’s like to sleep outside in a gutter and take a “shower” inside of a Starbucks bathroom amongst other things. During those 10 days, we visited a church and befriended the pastor who coincidentally was also a Real Estate agent. He managed to get us an ideal 3 bedroom home in the Tarzana even though we didn’t have any credit or jobs and were all in our early 20s. Being in that situation was a very enlightening experience and I am grateful for it.
The group of friends that I moved in with as well as some of our other mates who lived in Brooklyn at the time.
2013 was the first real year I began the journey to design my life instead of following the usual status quo. I spent most of that year reading and working on improving my mind. I struggled with depression from 19 to 21 years of age but my hunger to win kept me alive when everything was dark. By February of 2014, I moved back to NYC to really take time and figure out what I was interested in and wanted to build a career on. I discovered I was interested in software and rapping but felt they were not related. By the time I was 21, I had 15 jobs and failed at 3 businesses. I quickly realized that the normal job world wasn’t going to work for me. One day in January 2015, while working my very last “job” at the Potbelly Sandwich shop on Wall Street, I sat down on a table and made a plan to become independent and job free. I stuck to the plan and have been the President of Dan San International Inc. ever since then. I focused on rap for the first year and put out my first EP called Dan San: Reborn in June 2015. I eventually decided it was best for me to build my foundation as a businessman in tech first then do rap later, not the other way around. After failing at building my own tech startup, I took the advice of a successful tech founder who worked at multiple startups and looked for a great startup to join where I can earn while I learn. I eventually became Director of Sales at Meural, a company I am honored to be a part of that is making a real difference in the world of art, technology, and culture. However, as an S-Corp entity, I have more control over my finances, time and lifestyle than I would as a regular employee. This autonomy was always and still is extremely important to me. Now I get to travel, close 6+ figure deals, use business strategy skills and meet amazing people from awesome companies on a regular basis. I went from dreaming about my ideal life to living more of my ideal life fast because I put in a concentrated effort for years.
Hanging out with a bunch of music artists at a cypher we did in front of Biggie Smalls memorial mural in Bedstuy.
As I look back on my insane 5-year journey, I realized that I met over 15,000 people, went through homelessness, had 15 jobs, created a rap album, got engaged, traveled over 100,000 miles and even met dozens of millionaires and even some billionaires along the way. Who I was when I began the journey and who I am now are completely different. I have evolved in many ways and am evolving now more and more every day. If you are reading this and wondering if all the hardship and the learning curve of becoming an entrepreneur are worth it, all I can say is, if you value your freedom and ability to make a difference enough, then you will do whatever it takes. Becoming an entrepreneur is one of, if not, the very best way to design your life and accumulate the attention and resources you need to create the change you want to see in the world. I hope you can get inspiration from my journey and really consider the path of the entrepreneur.
Question of The Week: Have you ever considered becoming an entrepreneur? Why?