Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: You're listening to Selling the Dream. This isn't an interview and we're not journalists. But each week we'll ask our guests to open up and share their secrets to business success. Let's have a conversation and have some fun.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Selling the Dream. I am Ken Jordan. I'm joined, as always, my co host, Joe Iredell. We have a really cool show for you today, a very, a very interesting guest. I think you guys are going to get a kick out of this conversation. But before we begin, Joe, how's everything going over there in California?
[00:00:44] Speaker C: It's going great, man. It's going great.
One of the things about being on the west coast is the time difference with your Google Calendar can get a little tricky, especially when there's cancellations and changes in the calendar. And so. So if you're watching, you can see that I'm actually in a car because I totally forgot that we had this and I was out.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: It's not a, it's not a police car though, just for the record, right?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: It's not. My hands are. I'm good. But no, I was out. I was out with some of the, my partners on my nonprofit and we were doing some really cool stuff, promoting our next event. And then it occurred to me like, oh, shoot, I gotta do this. But that's the key to having great team members, great people that you work with, because they said, you go do your thing and we'll take care of this. So kudos to those guys and I'm glad to be here.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Cool, man. Yeah. How's the weather out there? We're just starting to break spring here a little bit. Feels a little nice out there out here, but, you know, same thing.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: It's, it's pretty much the same temperature here all year. It was a little, it's been a little more rainy than normal, but that's why I moved here.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Man, that's terribly boring.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: It really is, actually.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Give me my seasons. Give me my seasons. Anyway, let's introduce our guest. We are very fortunate and excited to have a very good friend of mine, Danielle Pisalis. Danielle is an attorney, a real estate top producing real estate agent, a mother, an entrepreneur, a leader, an author, wears many hats, as do most impressive women. And we are super duper excited to have you here today. Danielle, thank you very, very much for hanging out and chatting with us.
[00:02:37] Speaker D: No, thank you, Ken and Joe, for having me. It's nice to meet you, Joe. I'm happy to be here. I'm excited to talk to you. I Haven't talked to you in a while, so this is great.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Now, where. Where are you right now, Danielle?
[00:02:51] Speaker D: Right now I am in Madrid.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Madrid, Spain.
How's your Google calendar? I mean, is Joe bullshitting here, or is there issues with the Google?
[00:03:02] Speaker D: You know what, it's funny that you said that. I smiled when you said it, Joe, because I. So when I travel to the US Because I travel quite often, that's when I get all messed up. So I will, like, if I put something on my calendar while I'm there, it registers there. And when I come back here, everything's all screwed up. So that's. He's not, he's not BSing you.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: This is.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: No, because you, you don't. You're not sure if, like, when I put this in, did I put it in as east coast time or did it go in as west coast time? And then the person sending the request, are they on the East Coast? Are they on the West Coast? And it's a total. It's, you know, it can, it can screw you up. It's usually good, but every now and then it's. It's not. But. So, yeah.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: And for the record, Danielle is not in the back of a car. So, Danielle, I'd love for you to share with our audience a little bit, a lot, actually, of your backstory, because so much of, you know, what I want to talk today with you about has a lot to do with where you've been. Because I, you know, for, for some folks, like, and, and I look at this, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll bring it back full circle in a few minutes, so I'll just let you go. So why don't you tell a little bit about. A little bit about, you know, kind of your background, not, you know, kind of your education and, and, and, and where you started in business.
[00:04:26] Speaker D: Sure thing. So I am like Ken Jordan. I'm a Philly girl, and I went to school local, so I went to St. Joe's for undergrad and, and then eventually on to Villanova for law school. And right out of law school, I worked for a few years, about five years as an attorney.
However, you know, back in 2008, 2009, we all know the real estate sort of went to crap. And I was pregnant at the time with my number two. I have four children, by the way.
And I decided because at the time, my husband and I were buying real estate, investment properties, and we were doing little flips here and there, and we're just doing it really for fun and to make extra money. So I got my real estate license at the time. So when I left my legal job, Guillermo said to me, why don't you just sell some real estate? And I started out actually as a commercial broker, and I worked at a big firm, commercial brokerage firm, as a marketing director or managing director. And I just didn't really like it. But. But in the meantime, my friends were coming to me, and they're like, well, you have your real estate license. Can you help me sell my house? Can you help me buy my house? And can you help me rent my place? Can you help me buy an investment property? And it just started to flow from there. So I was making so much money that I was like, well, I'm not going to go back to being a lawyer, because I was working crazy hours, had two kids, and, you know, it wasn't. It was like, wow, I could make more money doing this.
And so I did. So we. I switched my career to. To become a real estate agent at first, and then ultimately GU joined me. We started a team. That's when we met you, Ken.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: And so wait, so you started. You started in real estate first, and Guo jumped on your coattails and was like, you know, I want to. I want to play this game too. Right? Is that how that went down?
[00:06:25] Speaker D: Sort of. Not really.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: Actually.
[00:06:26] Speaker D: He got his license first. I will give him some credit. He got his license first, but he was working full time, and he wasn't using it. So I used my license. And then he saw how much fun I was having selling real estate and making money, that he quit his legal job to join me. So when he quit, he joined me. I actually already. I had already started the team before he came on board, so that's kind of interesting. And then we grew from there. So then from there, we. We were a big team, you know, just like realtors do. And then we bought a brokerage, and we owned. We grew the brokerage. We had five offices at one point. It was six offices at one point.
And now we're back to not owning a brokerage, which is nice, and working virtually through exp, which is easy and great. And I really do enjoy working with exp. I still. So I still have my license and I still work with exp.
But we recently moved to Spain, so we came here for a year to, you know, get some culture and get our kids over here so they could learn to speak Spanish, because Guillermo and I both already knew how to speak Spanish. And after a year, we said, oh, let's do another year. One year wasn't enough. Then we'll go back and then we're like, nah, we're gonna stay.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: So.
[00:07:54] Speaker D: So that's how we ended up here in Spain.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Very, very cool. I want to ask you some questions about your early days in real, earlier days in real estate. You know, were you.
What was your ambition when. When you guys started your. Your team? Like, was that just something you were doing? Because people were saying, hey, this is what you to do at this time. Or, or. Or did you guys have a vision or. Or a plan, a goal, a set of goals in place.
[00:08:29] Speaker D: So what I'll say is to. To be honest, Guerrero and I had different visions. So my initial vision was I had, at the time, two children, and I thought being a realtor would give me more time to be at home with my kids, which is not necessarily true. You do have time, but you don't have time because people are calling you non stop all hours of the day, and you're working on the weekends.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: So.
[00:08:57] Speaker D: So that was kind of a disillusion for me. But I started a small team. I hired a marketing person and assistant and one other agent to work with me. And for me, that was good. I like that because I like working with individual client. I am very client base. So being one on one with my client was great. Then Gary joined me and he's like, no, no, we need to scale this. Like, we make a lot more money. And so he really did have the vision. So he came in with the vision, and then that's when we blew up. And so my role changed a bit, which in the beginning I was sort of not happy about because I liked real estate. I liked going to houses. I liked. I liked showing houses. I liked working with people. I like taking the pictures. Like, I'm very creative. And we hired a coach, my man Clement, right? And he said, friend of the show.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Friend of the show.
[00:09:57] Speaker D: Clement's my man. We hired Clement. And he says to me, by the way, if you don't have a business coach and you are serious about being a business person, you need a coach. So that's one thing I always say is that changed everything for me.
And I made all the money that I spent on my coaching in one year on one deal just by the advice that climate gave me. But anyway, that is a sidebar, but I don't know. I don't know where I was going with that.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Let's talk about that for a second, because I do love that. I do love that topic. And Joe And I sometimes we have differing views on that. But you know, you say if you're in business, if you're a serious business person, you need a coach. Share with our audience. Why do you think it's so important that you have a coach?
[00:10:47] Speaker D: Well, because, listen, I'm an educated woman. I work really hard and nobody really needs to tell me to do my job. However, having somebody to talk to you to keep you accountable to what you say you're going to do because you know, we all say we're going to do things and then you're like, I want to watch the game, I'm not going to do that. Or maybe I'll just do it tomorrow. But having to basically to come back to somebody and say, yeah, I didn't do it and Clement never made me feel bad about it. A good coach doesn't make you feel bad about what you don't do, but just helps you to remember your why. Why are you here? Why are you doing this? What is your purpose? And really just keeping you on your toes.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: So, Joe, accountability is a huge factor when it comes to, to, to hiring a coach.
I think you, you have a, you have an interesting take on coaches, A little bit cynical if some of our previous conversations, you know, if I'm remembering, remembering correctly. What's your take on coaches, Joe?
[00:11:56] Speaker C: It's not cynical in the sense that the business coaches aren't very important to business owners and people.
My contention is the people who seek out business coaches are the people who probably need the business coaches the least. So someone who has the, like, it's the same with like self help books and all of these business books and everything like that. Like, like there's a certain type of person that's trying, like their, their thirst to learn more is such that they seek out these books and they're the ones that probably need it least than someone who's just a woeful idiot that kind of goes through and does things and you know, fails and doesn't understand why. So it's not so the, the effectiveness or maybe like there's a, a diminished return I guess on what a business coach can do for, for someone who's already pretty much there and just needs a little bit more than someone who doesn't even acknowledge that they need a business coach. So I think that that was some of the discussions we were talking about, but I've been fortunate enough. I've never had a business coach, but I've had a lot of very cynical people around me telling me that one of Them went wrong all the time. And so that motivates me to like do better. So, you know, I kind of have the bargain basement business coaches around me, life coaches, everybody telling me, you know.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: What I'm doing, what not to do, what you should do while you're an idiot.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: I, I, I, I think coaching is, is critical. I, and, and it, I, so, so I feel like coaching is starting to take on a new connotation, unfortunately. Like kind of like a weird like life coach. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't know why that I feel like society is taking on a little bit of a different connotation when it comes to coaching. But, but if you don't have someone there who is, who has the outside perspective, like, like you're, you know, Clement always says your best thinking got you here. Right? So, so if you're just relying on what it is, you know, you're, all you have is, is your own life experience. You know, I think you're, you're selling yourself short. You're limiting what, what you're capable of without being, having someone coming in that, that, that's smart enough, that's done a lot of work on themselves, that's done a lot of work in, in, in the field that you're looking to excel in. You know, to give you the outside perspective. You know, the, the, the, the, the, the saying a fish doesn't see water I think is very real.
And, and I think that, I think that a coach is, is critical to help you see those blind spots and, and, and hold you accountable. Right. Like, you know, accountability is, is important. You know, Clement talks about integrity.
[00:14:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: And when you're not doing what you're supposed to do and you know that, that little feeling you get like, you know, you're not doing it right. You know, you know we're supposed to be doing, you're not doing it. But as long as it's just you, yourself and I, you know, what is me, myself and I in the room, I can keep lying to myself. But when there's that outside person, it's kind of hard to like, you know, play it off. Like, like, like you don't know. You know what I mean?
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:15:03] Speaker D: And, and you know, sometimes you change coaches and like, you know, I've had different coaches throughout my career and you know, it's, sometimes you just need to change it up a little bit. But surrounding yourself with like minded individuals and people who are going to promote you and help you remember and help keep you accountable Keep. Remember your why and keep you accountable is. Is really important.
[00:15:30] Speaker C: So hold on. So let me. Have you had a different business coach than Clement ever?
[00:15:36] Speaker D: I have, yes.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Okay. Because. Because I think what. What KJ was alluding to in the beginning was how cynical I am to actual business coaches. Not the process of having a business coach, but the individual business coach. Because that industry has become commoditized where they have, like, you can be some dude off the street and pay and take some course and buy into, like, a franchise. And now all of a sudden, you're a business coach. And I see them in, like, networking events and things. Like, these guys would be like, oh, yeah, I'm the business coach and I do this. And then you come to find out they, you know, rent a trailer on the outside of town and they're, you know, in debt and all this stuff. Like, how are you going to tell me how to do stuff where. So that. That is the. That's why. Where I'm cynical with business coaches to begin with. You're like, Clement, he's the. He's the goat of business coaches. So that. That's a different scenario. We're not talking. We're not comparing apples to apples here.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I'm not even exaggerating. We went to Florida week, and we. We flew out on Thursday morning. No, Saturday morning. Excuse me. And literally my Uber driver was. You know, we were just. I, of course I talked to everybody getting the Uber. I start a conversation. Amy rolls her eyes like, can we just have one ride where you're not sparking up a conversation? Because some of those conversations get weird when you get the right.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: Real quick.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: He. He was telling all this. I said, so what do you do when you're not driving cars? He's like, oh, well, I'm a rapper and a business and a life coach. And I was like, really? He's like, oh, yeah, absolutely. He starts telling me about how his wife, his ex wife, almost killed him and, you know, set him up, you know, to be arrested and all this. I was like, wow, man. Like, I didn't. Now that you say that, Joe, I'm thinking, all right, I get.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Sign me up, dog.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: So how do you. How do you evaluate a coach then, Danielle? What do you think the best way to do it is?
[00:17:35] Speaker D: So. So it's funny because I had. I had hired or I was on the verge of hiring a coach, and I had like, one, maybe two sessions. It was a woman, so I was excited. I wanted to have, you know, I like to surround myself with positive and successful women as well. So I sat in like a half an hour with her and I was.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: Like, she's an idiot.
[00:17:56] Speaker D: This lady is a complete idiot. Like I know more than her, like how I'm gonna sit here and listen to her, tell me what to do when I feel like, you know, I'm more experienced than her. So I, I ended up, I didn't hire her and, and then I just, I had interviewed other people. Clement, obviously he's got years and years of experience in sales and he was the right fit at that time when I was selling. And now I have a different business coach who's more about this wealth and success. And so, you know, we're gonna see where that goes with this, with this guy. But you know, it's just about getting, having a good feeling too. You know, get, check their background, make sure you respect this person. Because if you don't respect this person, you're not gonna listen to them.
[00:18:46] Speaker C: So they should be wealthy and successful, right? Yeah. Like you would, you would want them to be at a higher level operating than you are in the moment, hopefully.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: I think that's true for business coaches. I do think that's true. I think that, that there are, you know, mindset coaches that don't necessarily have to be more successful than you, that can, that can still help you with some of your self limiting beliefs and mindset stuff. And you know, it would be much harder to kind of pick them out of a crowd based on credentials. But at the same time I think there's some really wise people out there that maybe aren't, you know, financially, successfully.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: LA Fitness looking for a personal trainer and they're morbidly obese. All right, that's like, like do what I say, don't do what I do. Okay.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Like, I'm just saying that not everybody's materialistic, man. Like, like you can't, you can't go by who to listen to on, on some stuff on. If you're trying to structure a business, you're trying to, to build wealth, whatever, then yeah, of course. But I do believe that there are some very wise people that, that can be helpful in, in some of the, some of the mindset stuff that aren't necessarily driving a McLaren or, or you know, rocking 25000 Rolexes.
[00:20:06] Speaker D: No, I, I agree. I have a friend who is in, into what is now called mind shift. So not a mindset, but a mind shift coach. And she's just amazing. So when you sit next to her you just get like, you're like, excited. Like, you feel good. Like, that's the kind of people I want to be around. I want, I want to feel good, and I want to be inspired. And she's just amazing. And, and, you know, she's, she's, she's doing well for herself, but she's not all about the money. It's about being positive. She's actually blind in one eye to just, you know, like. And she's still powered through all that, so it's, it's. Yeah, you know, you're right. It's not always about money, but it's a feeling, I think.
[00:20:53] Speaker B: Yeah, they're harder to pin, harder to, to necessarily pick out. All right, I, I, I broke my rule again. Joe is supposed to remind me. And we talk too fast. Why don't you just say stop? Just yell, yo, just tell me y'all.
[00:21:06] Speaker C: Get on a roll. And it's like this guy Cook, you.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Know, we forgot to do two truths and a lie. So I'm going to stop here.
[00:21:14] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: All right, we're going to do two truths and a lie, and then we're going to jump into our next topic. So, Danielle, give us. So Joe is going to take the first crack at it. I'll put my guess in there, too, after we're all done. But tell us what your two truths and a lie are.
[00:21:28] Speaker D: Okay. Number one is that I was born in Germany.
Number two is that I have traveled to 24 different countries.
And number three is that I have been on three different television shows.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: I like that.
And we'll see. I know a little more than Joe based on our background. So we'll see what, we'll see what he comes up with. You good, Joe, you need to jot that down. Are you good?
[00:22:04] Speaker C: I got it.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: You got it? I know. I got it.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, she's gotta tell.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Let's talk about.
You were a successful attorney, right? You were. You had a thriving career. You know, you were working a lot of hours, but you were, you know, you were doing well, making a name for yourself in the, in the community. And then, you know, take a break for family and decide, okay, I'm gonna stick around, do this real estate thing. Then you start doing really, really well in real estate, and then so well that you start your own brokerage. And then you decide, hey, from here, we want to, we want to move to Spain. Like, talk to me about when it comes to setting goals, how do you guys leave so much room for change? Like to say, all right, here's our. These goals are super. And this is something a lot of salespeople, a lot of. A lot of leaders and entrepreneurs struggle with is they become. So their identity gets tied to their goals, so much so they miss opportunities. And if your identity was so tied to being a top producing real estate team or running a brokerage, you never would have saw these other opportunities when they existed. So. So tell me about that experience where you're like, hey, all this work we put in up to now and we're going to shift. Tell me about that.
[00:23:21] Speaker D: So, you know, these things don't happen overnight. That's the one thing I want to say is when we decided to move to Spain, it was a work in the making. It was six to eight months of research and planning and coordinating. And frankly, it was Covid that helped us prepare for this trip. Because when everything shut down and we had to go completely remote, we changed everything. We changed our whole business to go remote. And we're like, wow, this is amazing. We. Because we were working in New Jersey, but I was working from my house in the Poconos. I was working for my. I rented a house in Florida during COVID So this is. This is amazing. We can do this, and we have a team and we have support. And so. So it was a lot of planning, and it didn't just happen. So I put a lot of thought towards these things that I do, and I have to plan around it. So. So Covid helped us decide, okay, we could do this remotely. We decided we're going to go to Spain, and we planned that for a year so that that was a big thing in the making. And then as we were here, we're like, well, it's working. We're making it work. We're still selling real estate.
Guillermo still had his job, and we still have the team, and everything was going fine. So.
So you pivot, and that's. And that's how, you know, my goal is always fluctuating. Like, like I said, now I still sell real estate, I still work as an attorney. But my. My life in Spain has changed my thought about what I can accomplish and what I can offer other people. And maybe being a realtor is not the best use of my time when I can offer so many other services. So that's why I'm like, I wrote a book about moving to Spain and how I can help other people make their dream come true. And like I said, all this comes with lots of thought and lots of time and effort. So it's not something that I just do overnight.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: But I feel like you're. You're. You're. And this is a concept that I'm really starting to hash out for myself, and that is that, you know, the difference between ideals and goals. And. And they're. They're similar, right? They're similar in a way where, like, you know, an ideal life might be, you know, someone visualize your ideal life or someone might say, all right, tell me what your goals are. And you might think that's the same request, right, because of the similarities and maybe what those things mean. But really, the idea an ideal life is to me is like something that's on the horizon, right? And. And you always move towards your ideal life. And as you know about the horizon, the closer you get, the further it gets. Like, you're never. It's always going to be outside arm's reach, but it doesn't mean that you stop moving towards it. Like, you still have that ideal and you accomplish goals along the way. And I. And I see. I see so many people, like I said, tie their identity to their goals that they lose sight of the ideal. And like you said, you kind of. When we first started, there's a little bit of the why factor in that as well, you know, Tell me how, like, what is your why? What is your. What are your ideals that allow you to remain untied to your goals from an identity standpoint and allow you to continue to push forward towards what I consider to be a very big life? I think what you guys are doing is awesome. And it's. It's. It takes courage, it takes vision, but it takes, like I said, a commitment to your ideals. So what are you and Guillermo as a family, as business partners, what are your ideals and what is it that. That, you know, what are you moving towards?
[00:27:26] Speaker D: So I wanted a life where I can be around my children, we can travel, we enjoy one another. We spent a lot of time. We were just in Dubai last week for a week. It was amazing. We had an incredible time together. We were in Vienna a couple weeks ago. I'm heading to London in a few weeks. Was in the US So it's. These are the things that I love. I love to travel. I want to be with my kids. And as long as I have them and, you know, with me, and eventually they're gonna leave the roost or whatever, but.
And that's what it is. And so all of the things that I do are focused on that. Like, okay, money. Yes, obviously you. I need money to make all this a reality. So I have to do Something. Right. And. And I want to do something that I enjoy, and I want to do something that I'm good at, and I want to do something that I can help others. So everything that I do is always tied with helping other people. That's just part of me and who I am.
So, like you said, I don't want to be the top real estate agent in all of Pennsylvania. Whatever. I don't tie my goals to a thing. I tie my goals to my. Like you said, the. Why. Why do. Like, if I can. If I have to pivot my business in order to get that thing that I want, then I'll do that and I'll make it successful because I'm a planner and I know how to. And I'm not afraid to change.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: That's a huge part of it, not being afraid of change. I mean, planning is important, and I think that over planning sometimes can be a detriment, but. Yeah, and it's really like, you know, you. When. When you. When you stay tied to your. Why all the saying, you can have everything, you can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want. Some people view that as a limiting belief, but it's really not. It's. It's. It's a way for you to analyze and put it. Put it through a prism. Like, if you want something, you want it, but you just have to know what it is you're. You're kind of saying yes or no to. And if you don't have a set of ideals, then you could. You run the risk of making a mistake on your evaluation of what you're saying yes to. And what you're saying no to is that, you know, tell me a little bit about that. What do you. What do you think about.
About what I just said.
[00:30:03] Speaker D: No, I agree with you. I.
And you're right, like, over planning can be detrimental, too.
But it, you know, I really just think about my family. That's what's so important to me. And I. And. And you know me, Ken. I've lost. I've had loss in my life. I've lost a sister. I've lost a niece. I lost my father. And so those things put my life into perspective and my family into perspective. And so everything I do is to, you know, make sure of it. We're just all happy, and we don't have a lot of time on this earth, so I'm gonna make the best of it. I want to have some fun, and I want to learn. I love to learn. So that. That's my goal.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: That's awesome. And Joe. I think Joe's very similar. You know, Joe and I grow up. Both of us grew up in Delaware County. Joe, you never tied your.
You never tied your identity to any one particular thing, right? Like, you know, you went from selling ads in a phone book to other technology advertising platforms to move into Florida, moving to Maryland, and eventually to California. And I admire you for that, too. That. That courage it takes to just up and move your entire family across the country because, again, you were staying true to your ideals and not necessarily to a set of goals that you put in place for yourself.
[00:31:26] Speaker C: Well, I think a lot has to do with, like, a couple things. Number one, your job is not your identity. So, like, what you do is simply if you just look at it as a vehicle to generate, you know, whatever to facilitate the things that you want to do in life, then that's a huge thing that most people can't grasp. So, like, you get out of college, they get a job, and then the next thing they want to do is, like, I want a promotion and this job's everything, and they'll move somewhere because of that job and so forth. So if you invert it and say, these are the things I want to do and this is how much I need to make, or this is what I have to do in order to do these things, then the job isn't as important. And the skill sets that you create around facilitating the life that you're trying to be, that becomes what your focus is. But then the other thing that's important with that is, is somebody told me a long time ago, they're like, when I wanted to move somewhere, they said, if you can be a big shot in Philly, like, why, you know, why don't you be a big shot anywhere else? So with that, it kind of takes that fear factor off of moving or going somewhere else. And I used to, when I would fly out to California for business and I would look around and everybody's, oh, it's so expensive here. And whatever. I'd see people on the freeway, well, I wonder what they do to live here. Like, they're no different than you and I. Anywhere you go, everyone's all the same. And the cost of living gets. It's. It's pretty thick. So, like, it's. It's not as daunting of a task to move somewhere else if you have the skill sets and you don't have attachments or things like that to where you're at. And, you know, so it's more of a. Not to be cliche, but it's a. It's a frame of mind as opposed to anything that's physically limiting you from. From doing it.
[00:33:24] Speaker D: I agree with that. Yeah.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Try telling a business owner, though. Try telling someone who built this, you know, like. Like that they're. That their. Their business is not their identity. That's really difficult.
[00:33:36] Speaker C: So that's. But that's. This is the problem, though. The business isn't your identity, and you shouldn't even focus on that business because you're insecure. You're insecure at how you built that business if you can't pick up and do it again. So if you didn't learn anything by building that business that you can't take and go do the same thing on the moon, then you need to take a hard look in the mirror and say, am I really legit, or was this all just an accident? And I tell, you know, maybe this is arrogant of me, but if you strip everything away that I have right now and you put me in the middle of somewhere, I could build it back up. It would take me a quarter of the time that it did right now. And I. And that's. That's the confidence that you get when you move, when you start over and you rip stuff down and say, all right, let's do this again, and you'll learn. So once you have. It's invincible, like, you. It's like having a superpower. But to your point, people who build a business, they get so thrown, they flip from aggressive to defensive. And it's like, you're aggressive when you're building the business. You're taking risks. And people say, like, I risked $100 to make $1,000, and I risk $1,000 to make $100,000, $100,000 to make a million. But then you make a million, they're like, whoop, stop. I won't risk anything because I don't want to lose it all. Like, well, you forgot, dude, that, like, you took those risks to get where you are, and you should have learned something along the way, and you can do it from scratch again. So it's. It's portable. Portable success.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: It's true success, I think, being the key word. And, Danielle, just even in your. In your background, you know, graduating from St. Joe's and graduating from Villanova with a law degree, like, I. I think that those successes, those early successes in your young adult life kind of gave you a certain level of confidence too. Like, winning along the way matters. Right?
You Know, it's kind of hard to stack up loss after loss after loss and then say, let's go do it again. Like, that takes a special kind of person. But at the same time, I'm sure you had losses along the way.
What. What kind of adversity? Effort. I get effort. You know, months of planning and this. That. What kind of adversity did you face along the way? Whether it was in your transitions from, you know, the legal field to the real estate field, from real estate to, you know, to. To moving, like, what kind of stuff did you guys face?
[00:35:59] Speaker D: Wow. So, I mean, from the beginning, I mean, I'm. I'm just a poor girl from the city, really. Honestly, I mean, my. I'm first generation going to college, so my parents didn't go to college.
My sister was my inspiration. She went to temple part time and worked. And then that was the next one in my entire family of, like, 45 cousins and, you know, big Irish family. So that's the first step. But the thing is, it's something I knew I always wanted. And so with me, it's like, you can't tell me no, if there's something I want, I'm gonna go get it. And it doesn't matter. Like you said, Joe, if I'm here, California, Spain, I will build it and I'll make it happen, because that's. That's in me.
St. Joe's I love St. Joe's I lived at home, and my sister was dying from cancer. I don't know if you knew that about. My sister passed away from cancer. She was pretty young. She had three children, and they live at home with me and my parents. And so I was a big part of their lives, and I helped raise those kids as well as my other sisters. But adversity is like, you know, you can't tell me no, I'll get it done. So. And then when I went to Villanova, I actually transferred. So my I. I went to Widener, transferred to Villanova, and I didn't get a job right away out of a law school because of. I was a transfer student, so my credits didn't transfer over, So I had to get my own job. I had to go out there and find my own job. And guess what? I worked at the top law firm in the city, so with no help from Villanova, so they won't be getting my money.
That's who I am as a person. So you can't tell me no, I will get it done. I will work hard and I'll do and come here to Spain.
You know, Guillermo Gamble will challenge me all the time. And he. He does it on purpose. He knows that I. If I. If he tells me no, that I will make it happen.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: That is awesome.
[00:38:09] Speaker D: You know, I did From Soup to Nuts. I found our rental house from the US from there. I did video walk through tours with random people while they were in Spain and I was in the U.S. i filed for all of our visas for six people. Not just me and my husband, but all the kids. We all had to do that. I got our dog her passport. Like, a dog has to get a passport.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Dog needs a passport.
[00:38:38] Speaker C: Yes, I've heard everything.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: I thought it was weird that my wife got my dog a baseball hat.
[00:38:46] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. In order to.
[00:38:47] Speaker C: That is weird. Hold on. For the record, that is weird. Yes, that is weird.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: I got a picture. I'll send it to passport.
[00:38:54] Speaker C: That's an interesting. That's interesting. The hat's weird, right?
[00:38:58] Speaker D: That's weird.
[00:38:59] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:39:00] Speaker D: But yeah, so, I mean, that's what makes me successful, I think.
And I just keep going. I keep charging. So the things that I'm passionate about, I'm going to make it happen.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: I think that Danielle, I think that Guillermo, myself, and Joe all have one thing in common, and that is absolutely amazing. Women that just accomplish things that amazes me every day. And I already know that 90% of Joe's success comes from Laura. Like, I'm not arguing, I just know it. And, And I know you're the same way, Danielle. Just. I love that he challenges you, though. That's. That's a riot. I got to try that with Amy.
That's. That's. That's hilarious, though, the challenges.
[00:39:48] Speaker D: So.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: So tell me, tell me about Dubai. What's Dubai like?
[00:39:52] Speaker D: Amazing. We have.
You know, I never would have thought.
Have you lived here? We meet so many international people in Spain. And this woman, she's German woman. She's. She used to live in Dubai. And she's telling me all about Dubai. And I'm like, you know, my. My brain is like, Dubai. Like, what's there to do there? It's like the desert. Like, why would. But it's beautiful. Absolutely stunning. There's so many. I told my. I was telling my mom about it. She asked me and I was like, imagine Vegas, but clean. Like, with no, like, beautiful streets and like, no riff raff, no gambling, just a clean Vegas. That's. That's sort of what Dubai is.
[00:40:38] Speaker B: So. And the kids liked it.
[00:40:41] Speaker D: They had so much fun. They want to go back. I mean, of course we stayed at a really nice resort and had so much fun. We did the sand dunes and we did ATVs in the, in the desert and rode camels. It was really amazing.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: So that's great. That, that's, that, that's, that's living a big life. I love that.
[00:40:59] Speaker D: I mean, and I do that if I wasn't here. So it's all part of it.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Tell me about the book you're writing.
[00:41:08] Speaker D: Okay, so I, I already wrote it. It's actually just hasn't been officially published yet. I'm trying to get my pictures on there, on the COVID But I wrote a book about how to move to Spain. It's called Moving to Spain. So pretty self explanatory.
Yeah. Part of it is tips and, you know, on how to get here. But the other part is just anecdotes, you know, things that I personally had to go through to get here. It was a challenge. I mean, every day is a challenge. Even like going to the grocery store, you know, and having to speak another language or looking for your products because they put products in weird places in the grocery store. So like flour is not with sugar, so really it's weird. But like stupid things like that or. Guillermo ruptured his Achilles here in Spain. So we had, he had to have surgery and we had to take him to emergency and translate, you know, all these big terms about health and then he had, you know. So every day is a challenge.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: But it's worth it.
[00:42:19] Speaker D: It's totally worth it. I'll do it again over and over.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: Where? A real quick commercial. Where can they get the book if they want it? Is it available yet?
[00:42:28] Speaker D: No, I have a waiting list and I sent you a QR code. They can scan the QR code to get on my waiting list. And then the book should be out about like four weeks.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: Cool. All right, now, do you think you are ready for the. The two. The two truths and a lie?
[00:42:45] Speaker C: I. I believe that I am.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: Do you think your WI FI signal is ready?
[00:42:51] Speaker C: Do you want to hear something nuts, dude? It's not my WI FI signal. My phone keeps overheating, it keeps shutting down, and it says it's too hot. So then I have to like turn it back on. It's weird, but yeah, I think I'm good. I should be good.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: Fingers crossed we get through this segment.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: I think we'll be all right. I figured, I figured I'd work around.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Here, so let's review.
Born in Germany, traveled to 24 countries and was on three different television shows.
I think I know. Have at it, Joe.
[00:43:26] Speaker C: You go first, then. You go first.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: This is your job. This is your gig, man. This is your part.
I know more about Danielle.
[00:43:34] Speaker C: So born in Germany. Born in Germany. She's Irish or from an Irish family. So she said she's first generation to get to go to college, but she didn't say she's a first generation.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Is that what you're gonna go with?
[00:44:01] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: All right, Just in time.
All right, so I.
I feel like I remember hearing something because I was born in Hawaii, and I feel like I remember some. Something about. About that fact, you being born in Germany from. From a previous conversation. I totally believe the 24 countries. And I'm going to go with Joe, but I'm going to. His philosophy that he's used in the past is people get super specific about the lie where there's a lot of truth to it, but maybe the lie is the number. So I'm going to agree with Joe. It's not three television shows, but I think it was at least one. So what's the right answer?
[00:44:40] Speaker D: The lie is that I was born in Germany. I was not born in Germany.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: I really was born in Hawaii.
[00:44:51] Speaker D: I thought maybe I would get you on that because my dad was in the navy and we traveled all around, so. But I was born in Philadelphia just like the rest of my sisters, randomly.
[00:45:01] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:45:02] Speaker D: Same hospital, same doctor at different years. Even though we lived all around the U. S. We were all born in the same hospital.
[00:45:11] Speaker C: What hospital?
[00:45:12] Speaker D: Philadelphia. Naval.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Oh, okay. All right.
[00:45:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: I was born in Honolulu naval hospital. So Navy brat, too.
All right, so what TV shows?
[00:45:27] Speaker D: So one was my first place. I was a realtor. I was the realtor representing the. The people who were picking a house.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:45:39] Speaker D: The other one was extreme home makeover, the Philadelphia edition.
[00:45:45] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:45:46] Speaker D: That was my family. You got the makeover. And then the other show was. I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was on a comcast show about breast cancer. So I did a segment on. I was a board member of breast cancer.org. so I did a segment on breast cancer and awareness.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Wow. Can you name. Can you rattle off the 24 countries?
[00:46:10] Speaker D: I had to write them down now, but.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: All right, let me ask you this. Have you been to more countries or more states in the United States?
[00:46:20] Speaker D: I think I've been the worst days.
No. Maybe. I don't know. It's close. I've been to a lot of states, but the middle. The middle of the US not so much.
[00:46:32] Speaker C: You're Not.
Yeah, they're the flyover states.
[00:46:36] Speaker D: Yeah. Like Kansas. You know those places.
[00:46:41] Speaker B: No offense to our listeners in Kansas.
[00:46:44] Speaker C: Shout out. Shout out to Topeka.
[00:46:51] Speaker D: It's on the list.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: West. Wait, my. My. My former boss used to say west of Exton, east of Vegas. It's a whole different country.
[00:47:02] Speaker D: It's true. I don't know why. I just, you know, I actually. I'm a new South Dakota resident. Did I tell you that?
[00:47:10] Speaker B: No. That's pretty cool. So that's part. Now, is that going to be in your book?
[00:47:16] Speaker D: No. Maybe the next one, though, because I.
[00:47:18] Speaker C: Didn'T know there was a new South Dakota.
[00:47:22] Speaker D: South Dakota.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: Way better than the old South Dakota.
[00:47:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:30] Speaker B: Wow. That's pretty cool. Well, Danielle, thank you so much for hanging out with us today. As. As I expected, I really, really enjoyed it and got a lot of. A lot of really good conversation. I hope the people that were listening, you know, pulled some wisdom, because that's ultimately what we're about. Have a little bit of fun, teach a little bit. Not take ourselves too seriously. But I hope you will be on again. Well, I'll definitely put that QR code out there so that anybody that's looking to. To think about moving to Spain or. I'm sure there's some valuable information there about moving to any, you know, European country, potentially.
[00:48:06] Speaker D: That's my next move.
[00:48:07] Speaker B: Ken.
[00:48:07] Speaker D: You know, I'm always thinking, right? So I want to be able to help people take them from where they are to where they want to be.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: That's it. That's an ideal.
That's an ideal.
[00:48:20] Speaker C: Right There it is.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: All right, Danielle, thank you very much.
[00:48:24] Speaker D: Thank you. Thank you, Joe.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to Selling the Dream. We know you don't want to miss a single episode, so go subscribe today, wherever you get your podcasts, and then make sure to share the show with your friends and leave us a review.
