Daniel Mangena Of Dreamer HQ: Five Strategies I Used To Grow My Business To Reach Seven Figures In Revenue
An Interview With Sara Connell
Success, ultimately, should be about changing you into the type of person you want to be. Not surrounding yourself with the trappings of what you’ve been told success is.
As a part of my series called “Five Strategies I Used To Grow My Business To Reach Seven Figures In Revenue”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Mangena.
Daniel Mangena is a self-made millionaire, entrepreneur, film-maker, coach and podcast host. Through his work, he seeks to awaken as many people as possible to their true, natural state of abundance. He offers them the tools necessary to step into their own, unique life of abundance.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I was born in the UK as the son of Zimbabwe immigrants. I grew up in a very conservative, christian household, which gave me something solid to rebel against. Having fallen afoul of the grade scandal in the early 2000s, I set out to prove them all wrong by becoming a “self-made” millionaire. Which I duly did by the time I was 19.
As quickly as it came though, it went. I lost it all in fairly short order. Undeterred, I managed to build another multi-million dollar fortune by my mid-twenties. But I lost it all again. This time I hit rock bottom and was considering suicide.
It was in my obsession with finding an effective means to do so (something that stems from my Asperger’s syndrome, as I would later find out) that I actually shifted my mindset and became aware of my roll in it all.
From there I built myself back up, but with foundations that could support me in my journey. I now life an incredible, abundant life. I am a proud father and husband. I travel the globe with my work and I live in beautiful Cabo, New Mexico.
What brings me to you wonderful people at Authority Magazine, is a desire to teach others how to avoid the pitfalls I encountered, and build exactly the life for themselves that they desire.
Can you share the most interesting or funniest story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I don’t know if it’s the ‘funniest’ story, but a funny story is when we first got to six figures, which we did in four and a half months. A friend invited me to speak at their conference, and asked about my email list. When I told them that I only had 500 people on it, they were shocked and confused as to how we were making so much money.
We didn’t end up speaking on that conference. But they did actually end up finding out a bit more about the work that I do with Money DNA (because that’s how I actually grew the business). So a lesson I’ve learned from that is; some people have ideas about why things are supposed to be done a specific way and they can’t see past it.
There are a lot of people have a lot of big email lists, or a lot of big social media that aren’t financially successful. But when you actually understand the true mechanics of how to be successful for you, and I mean ‘you’ as an individual, you don’t need all that other fluff.
I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
I actually have five books that I live by. Those five books are tied to the five core areas of my life. The one’s that are important to me. And so what I’m always doing, is looking at which books are the best embodiment of those areas.
One book that really gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation, especially in very dark times, was “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It’s not actually on my list of five books, but it’s definitely one that just reminds the importance of coming back home. And that what we need is really here for us all the time.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I have an original documentary currently in production called “Manifestnation”. We’re exploring the whole world of manifesting, how it is packaged and sold to us, and what is scientifically possible. We’ve interviewed some incredible people including neuroscientists, bio-chemists and the co-inventor of the MRI Prof Keith Straughn.
I know this documentary is really going to help people, because it’s shedding light on what manifesting actually is scientifically. It’ll help them avoid those preying on their ignorance, but also it will give them explanations and practical information on how they can manifest more abundance in their lives.
You and your readers can learn more at (www.manifestnationfilm.com).
Awesome! Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s talk about what you are doing now, and how you achieved the success that you currently enjoy. Can you tell our readers about the business you’ve created?
I have personally achieved the success that I have, because I learned how to understand what I truly desire, who to seek council from and how to identify the strategies/actions most aligned with me and the outcomes I wanted to experience.
This is where Dream With Dan (www.dreamwithdan.com) was born. I wanted to create a community around giving people the necessary resources to uncover the right path to abundance for them. It’s not just about money and in many instances actually, having more money isn’t a priority. It’s perfectly possible to be rich and still living a life of ‘lack’.
We’ve built an incredible space for people to share their journeys and support each other. We’ve also created a vast array of different programs, courses and materials, all designed to cater to different stages, needs and budgets. I’m very proud of the achievements we’ve all made.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I think what makes us stand out is that we’ve been been very clear from the start, that the ‘cookie-cutter’ approach doesn’t work. In fact, the only thing that it is good for is cutting cookies.
So many programs, courses, bootcamps etc… fail the participants because they don’t treat them as individuals. A lot of the time I think this is done to indemnify the people selling it, cynical as that may sound. If you fail to become a millionaire, it’s because you didn’t do the course right…but it’s a course for someone else!
For us, it’s about offering different strategies for people to try. We train people on how to tell if something isn’t a fit for them, but more than that; we help them identify their own ‘Money DNA’, their innate creative power that will then inform exactly which strategies are right for them. Creating your own abundant life should feel like it flows to you with ease, and not like you’re trying to force anything.
I had a lady came to me wanting to create her dream life, but she said that it would be a tall order because it required her to earn $100,00 per month! I got her to write down everything that she would possibly want on an average day, in her dream life. Then we costed it up. It turned out that, in order to have everything she wanted (travel, to be driven rather than drive, all the bills paid, meals out etc…) she only needed $3,500 per month. From there we helped her create that income passively, and now she lives her life of abundance without the need to work. She chooses to work on what he wants to.
That’s a great example of how approaching this on an individual basis can really turn things around for someone and give them everything that they desire, in a very short space of time.
What was your vision when you started this business? What’s the WHY behind the work that you do?
The ‘why’ behind what I do is that far too many people are living in fear and lack. They’re not living life on their own terms and that number of people actually is contributing to the world just being in a crappy place. So I wanted to create a tipping point of people who are living a life of joy, happiness and abundance. So that the world at large can be in a much better place.
I believe if we take one life at a time and impact that, it can help the world.
We’d love to explore the traits that help you achieve your success. What were the mindset obstacles that you had to overcome in order to reach the place of earning a million dollars? Can you tell us what you did to overcome them?
External obstacles have definitely been there, on our journey of building an audience and building credibility. Some because it’s quite a busy industry, and some have come from dealing with the fact that a lot of people are fearful of change. Holding their hand and supporting them in that can be tough.
What were the external obstacles that you had to overcome in reaching these milestones? And how specifically did you overcome them?
We had to work hard from the outset on showing how we were different from all the other ‘cookie-cutter’ programs. It took me a while too, to realize that not everyone actually wants to be a millionaire. That I would be helping people more, by enabling them to properly identify what ‘abundance’ looked like for them.
So that’s what we did: we made it our focus to just help those in our orbit achieve a life of abundance. From there it has grown so fast. That’s why I believe that the size of our mailing list was not relevant to our success.
Was there ever a point where you wanted to give up on your journey to creating a million dollar business? How did you work through that panic point? Please share a story.
There wasn’t a point when I wanted to give up on my journey though. I’ve been quite blessed that I’ve actually had multi million dollar businesses in the past, so I already have that ‘muscle memory’ (so to speak). I know that it can be done. That’s not the case for many folks though, so they need convincing that it is out there for them.
There have been times when I’ve wanted to pivot on how I delivered the service, and we have done that a few times, but thankfully I haven’t actually had a panic point, because building a million dollar business in this instance wasn’t the first time. Sustaining it and actually being an abundant person (rather than just having a million dollars) is where the real work is done. Luckily I’ve had enough practice in this area that I know just how to do that.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
When I say that I’m “self-made” I am simply referring to the fact that I did not receive a leg up by dint of birth. I want to be lear about that.
Nobody is truly “self-made”. That’s simply impossible.
Along my journey, I couldn’t point to any one person who I’m more grateful for than another. I’ve had, and continue to have, some incredible mentors and guides. Greg Reid is one. He helped me become a best-selling author and is absolutely full of incredible advice. “Seek council not opinions” is one, and he’s absolutely right!
As I’ve begun moving into filmmaking in earnest this year, I’ve been hugely grateful to be able to partner with multi-Emmy award winning Director Nick Nanton. He’s been a guiding light for me in the entertainment industry.
My pal Yannick Silver has been instrumental in getting me into various mastermind groups and has vouched for me more times than I can remember. He’s been such a champion of mine and I can’t thank him enough.
My whole team in general have really kept me on track, bringing their expertise and experience to my various ventures. They too have been able to open doors for me and bring growth from places that I would never have expected!
Great! Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Five Strategies I Used To Grow My Business To Reach Seven Figures In Revenue”. Please share a story or an example for each.
- Money DNA
This is absolutely vital to your success and through various processes of discovery, I can safely say that with certainty.
You have your own, unique creative power encoded within you. I call it “Money” DNA, because that’s the most universal marker of productivity, but it speaks to all areas of your life. How you create is as unique as your fingerprints and therefore you need to be able to find strategies that will work with that. Trying to force stuff that doesn’t won’t work.
2. Micro-shifting
A big reason why people don’t get to where they want to in life, is because they try to take huge leaps. Sometimes, they even try to do it in one big jump!
This can only lead to overwhelm and shutdown, once the full breadth of the task that lies before them becomes clear.
Micro-shifting is about breaking things down into manageable baby-steps, that don’t overwhelm you and therefore enable to you make unstoppable progress towards your goals.
3. A clear ‘Why?’
You need something that is a strong enough ‘pull’ to get you through the hard times.
I don’t care what your aims are, you are going to be met with adversity at some point along the way. If you don’t have a strong, or clear enough ‘why’ you will not have the motivation to get you through.
If this is something that you were born to do, and you know you’ll never stop moving towards it because it is you: then you’ll have all of the motivation you need.
A big ‘why’ for me was to give away 10% of everything I make, and therefore concentrating on maximizing that also brought huge growth across my various businesses.
4. Understanding your identity
I’m talking more (I suppose) about your superego here. That is to say: the version of yourself that you want to be and whom you would judge to be a good/successful representation of you.
If you can get clear on who that is, you can start to build an emotional connection to the person you want to become. This will give you not only an intellectual connection to your goals, but a subconscious one as well. This will give you not only a much clearer, instinctive path to follow, but you’ll also be able to check in with yourself on how much progress you’re making.
Success, ultimately, should be about changing you into the type of person you want to be. Not surrounding yourself with the trappings of what you’ve been told success is.
5. Emotional resilience
Do you set up your day to support you in feeling the emotions that are going to be compatible with achieving your goals?
If not, you need to.
Your emotional state dictates the outcomes that you’re going to experience throughout your day. Get out of the wrong side of the bed, and you’ll likely see every hill as a mountain. Start off feeling energized and resourced to meet any challenge head on, and it’ll all seem like child’s play.
So do the work of understanding yourself first, and then work on your needs. Put in place the practices that get you to where you need to be, and then witness the effects. I mean it: write them down! If you can see them documented like that, you’ll recognize the power of it and be compelled to make it part of your daily routine.
We are sure that you are not done. What comes next? What’s your next big goal and why? What plan have you put in place to achieve it? Why is it a stretch for you? What will achieving it represent for you and for others?
Well of course, I’ve always got new goals and milestones that I want to hit. These are always broken down into micro-shifts though.
In so far as revenue goals go: the main one has been to move to consistent $100k weeks, which we’ve done now. The next one is $200k weeks and then $100k days. These are of course broken down into baby-steps though. If the only next goal was 100% of what we’re currently doing, then we’d spend a lot of time not having achieved it. Much better to spend more time in a state of achievement and therefore: progress!
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
The movement I would like to inspire, is getting people to stop throughout the day, and to do the check-ins exercise that we teach. This involves just setting an alarm so that every every few hours, you pause for a moment and just ask yourself, what are you thinking? What you’re feeling? Is it aligning you with where you want to be?
If more people were taking time to pause, I think fewer would be taking actions that impact others in a negative way.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I’m actually laughing because I did get the chance to play chess with Richard Branson on Necker Island, and he was on my list. But I think now it would definitely be Tony Robbins. Even though he’s vegan. I’m sure we’d find something to eat or lunch about. Only because when it comes down to global impact of sharing new ideas about how people can be successful and create change in their lives, he’s one of the most renowned in the world.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us and our readers. We know that it will make a tremendous difference and impact thousands of lives. We are excited to connect further and we wish you so much joy in your next success.
