Today, we're diving into the idea that personal sacrifice today can lead to a much brighter tomorrow. Dan Sachowsky, our guest, emphasizes the importance of being willing to let go of what no longer serves us for our growth.

He shares candid insights about how many people cling to relationships or situations that hold them back, often out of fear of outgrowing others.

This episode is all about recognizing that sometimes, being selfish in a positive way—taking care of ourselves first—is crucial to being able to help others effectively. Through his own journey, Dan illustrates how a heart attack served as a wake-up call for him to focus on what truly matters, highlighting the need to live in a way that not only benefits ourselves but also positively impacts those around us.

Takeaways:

• Embracing the journey of personal growth means being willing to sacrifice today for a brighter tomorrow.
• It's vital to outgrow unhealthy relationships and prioritize self-care to thrive in life.
• True success is measured not just in financial gain, but in the positive impact we have on others.
• Being selfish can actually be an important aspect of self-care and personal development.
• Building relationships and sharing knowledge is essential for creating a legacy that outlives us.
• The warrior spirit is about facing battles without protection, relying on faith and inner strength to guide us.

Links referenced in this episode:

• DanSachowsky.com
• Praxis33.com
• breakthroughradio.net

You can connect with Dan on his website: https://dansachkowsky.com

And on his social media accounts:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/dan.sachkowsky.3

Instagram: @big_dan_official

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dan-sachkowsky

YouTube: youtube.com/@dansachkowskyofficial

A Warrior’s Spirit can be found on all the major platforms at lnk.bio/daryl_praxis33 as well as on ROKU via the ProsperaTV Network app. Be sure to like or subscribe so you never miss an episode!

The music in this video is copyrighted and used with permission from Raquel & The Joshua 1:8 project © 2025 All Rights Reserved. All rights to the music are owned by Raquel & The Joshua 1:8 project © 2025 All Rights Reserved. You can contact Raquel at https://YourGPSForSuccess.Net

Coming up on this edition of A Warrior Spirit.

You have to be willing to sacrifice yourself today for a greater tomorrow and allow life to lead you where it's supposed to go so that you can continue to live in the blessing versus living a curse.

The problem is people don't want to outgrow people so they want to stay stuck and people feel too entrapped and most people don't realize that being selfish is a wonderful thing.

You have to take care of you first.

A Warrior Spirit provides a platform for independent voices, professionals and thought leaders to share their insights, experiences and perspectives.

The views and opinions expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Praxis 33 or its affiliates.

Content shared within this program is intended for informational education, educational and inspirational purposes only.

While the host and some guests may be professionals or subject matter experts, the information presented is general in nature and should not replace personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding your individual circumstances.

By viewing this program, you acknowledge that any decisions or actions taken based on the content are your own responsibility.

I've walked through fire with shadows on my heels Scars turned to stories that taught me to feel lost in the silence found in the flame now we're my battle cry without shame this isn't the end it's where I begin A soul that remembers the fire.

Welcome back to another episode of A Warrior Spirit brought to you by Praxis33.

I'm your host, Darrell Snow.

Let's dive in.

Today I have the pleasure of hosting a real powerhouse in all aspects.

Dan Szukowski, known as Big D, is a business coach, entrepreneur, speaker, and podcast host dedicated to helping business owners scale their companies and operate like true CEOs.

As host of the Big D Podcast and Intrepidus Podcast, Dan delivers real world strategies, mindset shifts, and tough conversations that challenge entrepreneurs to step into their higher levels of performance.

Known for his direct, no excuse approach, Big D's mission is to help leaders build lasting impact, strengthen their legacy, and create businesses that outlive them.

Dan, I appreciate you joining me today and thank you for your time.

Yeah, man, I appreciate you having me on.

I know that you do several of your own shows and you do hundreds of other, you know, podcasts.

You're pretty well out there.

So anyone who follows you or knows your platforms knows Big D. I'm today kind of interested in who the real D is, who the man behind the the, you know, success is, and how you actually got there.

So I know that you kind of had some of your own challenges to overcome.

And I know God's been a very big partner in your success.

So I know you're in the east coast now.

I think it's Jersey, correct?

Yeah, I live in Jersey and Florida both.

Okay, so where did you actually get your start?

Where did you, the real D, kind of grow up?

The real D?

We started in Jersey.

That's where I grew up.

Spent almost my entire life in Jersey.

And just in the last couple years, I've made the shift to Florida as well.

And I say the real.

The.

The real D, because Big D is larger than life.

And I've seen your platforms, I've seen what you do, I've seen what you built and truly is dynamic.

And you.

You go out of your way to help others get there, too.

But what created this desire to actually be the person that you are today?

I had a heart attack almost five years ago, four and a half years ago.

And I realized I was really good at building business.

I was really good at making money.

But the one thing I didn't do is share it.

And information not shared is kind of being selfish.

And I was at a point where I realized if I were to pass away at that point in my life, I really didn't build anything valuable for my kids and anything to be talked about in the next 10, 15 years.

I just built a whole bunch of houses, built a whole.

Did a whole bunch of developing, and wasn't really known for anything on making an impact on other people.

When you had your heart attack, how old were you?

40.

Pretty young for a heart attack.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So were you as close to God back then as you are now?

I would say yes, but I would say I didn't lean on him as hard.

I didn't ask him to direct my path and follow it as much.

But I was still very much involved in my faith and making sure that I was leading.

I mean, I'm not going to say that I wasn't sinning because we all sin every single day, but I was always making sure that I was trying to walk as best as I can in his light and just make sure how I showed up wasn't gonna make him upset, you know?

Did you grow up in a religious household?

Yeah.

So I'm not religious now.

I just believe.

I just have a relationship with Jesus.

But I grew up Catholic.

And funny thing, some people get pissed when I say.

I say I'm a recovering Catholic.

I say it all the time.

I'm a reformed Catholic, and people get upset about that.

And I said, well, the problem with that is that it's like tradition.

You know, it's like getting together every holiday.

It's like, you know, the things that our family has done for a number of years, and we continue to do it, but most people don't understand why.

And I went to Catholic school.

I was an altar boy, and it was just something that I was supposed to do.

But if you talk to 90% of people who are supposed to do something, they really have no idea what they're doing.

So I really didn't go to church or do anything, like, in my teenage years and, you know, into my early 20s, and I didn't have a relationship with God.

I would just say, yeah, I'm Catholic, and if we had to go to church on Christmas, that's what we have to do.

My life shifted many times in that year.

I think it's important for people to.

Like I said a minute ago, I'm a reformed Catholic, too, and I say that openly because I have a more connection with God and Spirit now than I did all those years in Catholicism.

And we would see the holiday Catholics come through because my family was, like, devout.

Every Saturday we were in Mass, and, you know, we'd see the ones that would just come through on the holidays.

You know, the pews would be empty, you know, 90% of the year.

And then holidays would roll around and the pews would be full.

And I think that says a lot about the Catholic Church, in the fact that it's my opinion whoever's listening can take it however they want.

But my opinion, the Catholic Church rules by fear and not by connection.

People are taught to fear God instead of how to connect with God.

And we all, I believe, whether we're Catholic or not Catholic, have to come to a point where it doesn't become tradition.

It becomes our own personal connection with whatever we want to call God at.

At the moment.

So you said you went through some things in that year.

What were some of the ups and downs you were experiencing and what actually led you to say, I choose Christ?

From 17 to 24, I built a massive business.

I made about $4 million net at the young age.

And then the economy crashed.

I had no value.

No.

I had no respect for money.

I didn't know what was going on and really humbled myself to realize that in life, we didn't get stuck chasing the wrong things.

So that wasn't where I came to Christ.

I actually got involved in another opportunity and started making money right away.

But I was still chasing the dollar, still fighting to fight.

And one morning, it was a Saturday morning, it was like 6:30 in the morning.

My son was about 18 months old.

I was leaving the house.

I had a pretty big house, 20 foot ceilings in a garage.

And above the garage there was a bedroom.

And my son was saying bye to me, looking out the window.

There was a couch against the wall where the window was.

And he pushed against the screen and he fell out the window.

So he fell to the floor.

I mean, he turned as white as those cabinets.

And I thought he was dead.

I had no idea what was going on.

He know, fast forward.

We go to the hospital.

I was supposed to meet a whole bunch of people that day.

And a couple of the guys I was supposed to meet were Christians.

I've only known them for probably, I don't know, a couple weeks.

They showed up to the hospital and they stayed there for like three days.

And they brought us food, they did all this stuff and they just started just spreading the word.

And I just didn't understand.

I wasn't really open to it.

But my thank you to them was, hey, what can I do for you for anything you've done for me?

They go, just come to church.

So I went to their church and I was not excited at all.

I went out of honor for them, but still with a closed mind.

Their church was wild, man.

People were speaking in tongues, people were falling down.

There were some crazy shit going on, dude.

And I was like, I can't, I cannot do this.

This is not my environment.

I am not doing this.

And so then I ended up talking to my mom about it and she's like, we'll just come back to the Catholic church.

So that next weekend I went to the Catholic church and I sat upstairs.

You know, we still always like to sit upstairs because we knew we would fall asleep and nobody would see us.

And I went upstairs and probably within the first 10 minutes I passed out.

Catholic church is extremely boring.

It always has been to me.

I was an altar boy and I used to fall asleep on the altar and my mom used to have to come wake me up.

So still to this day in my life, if something's not appealing to me, I can't.

I can't even watch movies.

I'll fall asleep because I'm not interested.

So I continue to say, okay, you know what?

Like I tried this one.

I tried this one.

It's not there.

Like, let me give you another one a shot.

So we went to a couple different more churches, and by the time we left to the fourth one, it felt good.

It felt like home.

And what was the most appealing to me was I sat for 20 plus years of my life listening to a man who never had a family, who learned everything he's talking about out of a book.

And he talks out of a book, but his context and his relation to the book has no value.

And when I stood in front of this church after going, and I see the pastor who had a business, he had a family, he had children, he had finances, he had everything that I had going on in my life, and he started talking and he started relating scripture to everyday life.

In 20 something years, I've never heard that before.

I did love worship, though.

Like, that was so cool.

Like, I literally listened to Christian music all the time still to this day.

But I thought the worship was super cool.

But when the pastor was talking and he was really explaining what biblical text was about in everyday life, it made me desire it more.

So from that point, moving forward, we continue to go to that church.

And I got saved probably, like, within a couple months of being there.

And that's another thing.

You know, kids get baptized at birth, like, when they're, you know, tiny and they have no idea what they're doing.

And the same thing with confirmation.

Like, you're forced to go there.

These kids don't want to learn that stuff.

They can care less, you know, and at the end of the day, it's just all about money and the Catholic Church.

I remember, like, you know, the boxes of envelopes coming in the mail.

It's like, here's your duty.

It's labeled every single week.

Make sure you don't miss.

And on these times, there's two envelopes.

Like, and then you go to a Christian church, and it's like, all right, listen, if you want to give, you give.

There's a little basket over here, or there's a little place to drop an envelope over here.

You can give online.

You can do whatever you want to do.

We don't care.

And you know what?

Have some coffee and some cake when you're done, too.

You know what I mean?

I used to remember at the Catholic church, like, they made so much money, but then they would have, like, coffee and cake, but you'd have to pay for the coffee and cookies.

Yeah.

You know, whatever that was called.

Yeah.

So I just saw a whole different side.

And I was involved in the relationship with Christ then, and I was still trying to understand it.

But then throughout my life, for the next however many years, still, until today, you know, we're still just trying to be as good as we can and still trying to figure it out.

When you were talking about the envelopes, I vividly remember having to write those down.

But you reminded me of an interview I did with a guy last year, and when he was little, the Catholic priest would actually come to his house and sit down with his mom and dad and go over what they were going to give that following year.

Like it was an accountant coming in.

Like, you know, we're here to collect for next year, sign you up.

Yeah, it was pretty wild.

So I want to circle back to a couple things because you have a very deep life and I don't think we're going to fit it all in in this hour.

But first off, the amount of money you made as a kid is mind blowing.

Can I ask what the business was that was so lucrative?

Yeah, I was doing construction.

I was.

I started like just doing renovation work.

17 By the time I was 20, I started building houses.

Wow.

I mean, a.

It takes a lot of determination and then business sense to keep it all going, especially at a young age.

You know, it's hard to believe in today's society that people would hire a 17 year old to start building their house.

So it was my dad's business and, you know, I was just doing what I had to do.

But I didn't start building businesses, building houses until I was 20.

And dude, I was jacked.

I mean, I was a big bodybuilder kid, so, like, you know, people thought I was older and like, I held myself very well.

And dude, we had.

By the time I was 20 years old, I think we had six trucks already.

By the time I was 24, I had 10 trucks and 20 guys, you know, so, like, I was steamrolling.

I had equipment, I had heavy machines, I had everything.

And I always just reinvested in the company to make the company bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

But when the economy crashed, it was like, wow, you know, like, you're not going to roll on this money forever.

There's a.

There's a lot to unpack there, and I want to do that.

But first, can I take this commercial break and we come back and get into that deep stuff?

Yeah, Absolutely.

All right, we'll be back in a moment.

So when did you realize the noise in your head wasn't actually your voice?

When I noticed every thought sounded borrowed.

Fear, pressure.

Old scripts just running on repeat.

That's why I listen to breakthrough radio.

Scripture, truth conversations that actually reset the way you think.

Breakthrough radio.

Because what you hear shapes who you become.

Listen daily.

Hey, welcome back to the show.

We're talking with Dan Schakowski today.

And we were talking about how he had built his empire at such a young age.

Construction when it crashed after rolling in that kind of money was that obviously difficult, but was it eye opening to what the real world is?

I didn't know any different.

So I grew up extremely poor.

And I read the book Rich Dad.

Poor Dad.

I found my rich dad when I was 16.

I leased onto him.

He told me he believed in me.

And, you know, he gave me kind of like, okay, yeah, you can go do it.

And I did it.

And you know, back in that time, you had the lifestyles that are rich and famous.

You had MTV Cribs.

Like, this was all the stuff that was on tv.

So you picture wealth as like all this stuff.

And I, I had all this stuff.

I'm 24 years old in a 5,000 square foot house.

I got two Escalades.

I mean, back then Escalades were cheap, right?

They were probably 50 grand back then.

Now they're 150 grand.

But I had two Escalades.

I had a Mercedes AMG.

I think it was probably back then, it was probably 100 grand.

Now they're like 200 grand.

But like, my neighbor's kids were literally older than me living at home.

And everyone on my block thought I was a drug dealer.

But what separated separated me was drive.

I got a burning desire to become wealthy, and I thought that wealth was money and it was stuff.

So I had all that stuff.

And then when the money ran out, I was like, wow, like, that sucks.

I guess this isn't wealth.

But they don't really tell you the backside of it that, like, you know, most people who are successful lose it all.

They get it all back.

You know, that all the stuff that we're reading on and watching on those shows and the rich and famous and all these people, like, half that stuff's rented anyway for the video.

You know, they don't even own it.

I wish they would have told me that I would have rented my house for a couple years, you know what I mean?

I read that same book and I didn't quite get to the million dollar part yet.

I'm still working on that.

But rich dad, poor dad was one of the first ones that I ever read when I was coming up as a young kid.

You said something that I really love and I'm going to pull this quote up for you.

I'm certified by experience and results, like a lot of coaches, and I've been in the coaching industry for a long time and I've helped people for the last 45 years.

A lot of people in this industry, it's a sharky, shitty thing.

But to be certified in experience and results, that sets you apart and makes you a little unique.

So I. I think that's really important of.

Of what Big D is.

And do you feel the same way?

Yeah.

You guys send me that photo.

I don't care.

I can't even tell you where that photo is.

It's probably so deep.

It's on your.

No, I have it.

Well, I can send it to you because I had to dig to find it.

Yeah, I mean, it's so there's like five or six posts a day, so it's like I would take forever to find it.

So.

Yeah, because I talk about that because so many people want to be business coaches.

So many people want to help people, but people can't even help themselves.

Like, dude, I've made all the money, I've lost all the money.

I've owned the shovel, sold the shovel, broke the shovel, rebuilt the shovel.

Like, I know everything that there is to know.

But the problem is everybody's a guru.

I posted something today, actually.

I posted a picture of me in a Lambo and I said, this is what all of you want to see.

All of you want to see the flash.

All of you want to see the car.

All of you want to see that stuff.

I don't post this stuff because if I post this stuff, this is what you guys tie success to.

That's where I was.

What I do is I post a real deal.

I tell you what it's like.

And I can't get as many people to want to coach with me because I'm not hanging the flashy stuff.

But I do get the right people to coach with me because they know that that stuff's irrelevant.

So, so many coaches out there or people who call themselves coaches or influencers or whatever you want to call them, they lead with hype.

You know, for me, it's about being result and goal oriented and being able to drive results.

And most people don't realize that, like all that other stuff is a byproduct.

I've got a garage full of cars I don't even drive.

I don't even look at them.

I don't even care.

I just have to buy them because I need a tax write off at the end of the day.

Like, that stuff doesn't define me.

But when I was younger, it defined in me.

Yeah, bro, I walked around, I was just this big guy, like, look at me, you know, you should be proud of me.

Look what I'm killing it.

And you know your ego will get the best of you and your pride will destroy you.

So I've realized throughout my entire life, I chased validation when I was younger and it was because of the way I grew up.

And then I realized it was self sabotaging.

Every single time I got to a place in my life, I would self sabotage myself because, like, I wouldn't get what I needed.

And now I just make money secondary.

I don't even care about money.

I just become.

Became a servant.

And I. I serve people, I help people, and I deliver.

And the money just somehow ends up being.

Being there.

Like, I don't look at my bank account like, oh my God, like I'm.

I don't have any money.

I'm just like, oh, there's more money in there today.

There's two reasons I. I grew up, you know, I'm considerably older than you, and I grew up in the Zig Ziglar era.

And you know, Zig would always say, you help get it.

Help enough people get what they want, and you'll get what you want.

Yeah.

So Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn, man, those are the two guys I learned from.

And, and that's.

And that goes to being a servant and a servant heart.

And.

And you do that because you realize what it.

You, you came from nothing.

You know what it's like to have both ends of the spectrum just like I do.

I know what it's like to live homeless on the streets, and I know what it's like to be on the top of the mountain.

Neither place defines who I am.

My servant's heart does.

And that's what I find in you is a servant's heart who's out there willing to do it.

And you, you have this other picture.

I don't know.

This is your.

That's a clothing line.

Yeah, this is a clothing line.

Yeah.

I'm launching that clothing line this year.

Yeah.

And.

And the reason I love this particular photo, the world stacked the deck against me.

I still play my Hand and won.

And the reason I love that is because I've told my kids for a very long time, it doesn't matter what cards are dealt with you, it's how you play them.

And every hand can be a winning hand and every hand can be a losing hand.

It's up to you to play it.

And you know, that's that shirt.

I love that shirt.

And when it comes out, I will buy one of those.

Well, I'll buy multiple.

The site's almost done.

Yeah.

So I'm launching a book.

So I'm launching the clothing line and a never broken book at the same time.

Well, you're.

You're definitely a busy, busy man.

And the other quote that I love for you, the grind is a trap.

You're not lazy, you're just stuck in the wrong gear.

No one builds real wealth by doing it all themselves, forever.

That is such a frickin spot on quote.

Because everybody I know thinks that they have to hustle their way to success.

They have to grind and grind and grind forever.

And a solopreneur is not, as, you know, you're gonna have to wear every hat.

But it shouldn't be your goal.

Your goal should be to work your way out of a job so that it runs without you and get off the hamster wheel.

I think should be an important part of your goal.

Right?

Most people think that.

And we live in a hustle culture.

So most people think it's, how hard can I work and how much can I do?

Being successful is the complete opposite.

Delegation is key to success.

Because at the end of the day, when you hustle, you lose the value.

And the value is time.

Time doesn't come back.

Okay?

You can exhaust yourself and try to be the best at everything you want to be the best at, but if you have no time to enjoy it, what's the point?

Like, I'm about to go away in a few days for two whole weeks with all three of my kids, just us, to Aruba.

And, like, I don't have to worry about anything, you know?

Like, my guy who builds my funnels and stuff, he's like, bro, get some content while you're there.

I go, dude, I'm not even bringing my camera.

Like, at the end of the day, like, I'm not bringing my camera guy.

He's like, just shoot some stuff.

Like, and I don't do that.

Like, I don't go there and shoot stuff while I'm at the beach or while I'm at the pool or while I'm away or doing what I'm doing because at the end of the day, like, it's irrelevant and I want to just, like, cut my time out.

Like, it's fun.

I took my wife to Lisbon in Madrid last year for our 10 year anniversary.

And we're walking around these beautiful places and you got these quote unquote influencers setting up their freaking ring light, setting up their shot, making sure that they're perfectly framed in the archway with the mountains behind them.

It's like, okay, the 20 minutes it took you to do that, 15 other people could have viewed what you're trying to shoot and enjoyed it.

Like, quit trying to be a.

You know, just go enjoy life.

And I'm old enough that we didn't take pictures of our food.

We just ate it.

Like, that's so annoying, dude.

That's so annoying.

You can have a real nice steak and a fancy spaghetti, but just eat the freaking food.

Here's another part of giving back that I want to talk about.

The same mission, better energy, different scenery, higher clarity.

This is how leaders stay sharp year after year.

This is your business growth mission.

Tell me about this mission.

Well, no.

So these are some of the guys that, you know, I do business with and some of the guys that are, you know, coaches in the space that are really doing stuff.

And over here, we're in Dana Point in California, like, close to Laguna beach, and we're just taking an early morning walk and we're just talking about, you know, how you just connect with the right people.

And so we.

When you're around the right people, you have the right energy.

Your proximity creates so many different things.

And we all come from a different place.

Like Sean on the right, he's from Long Island, Me, Florida, and New Jersey.

And then Steve in the middle, he's from originally New Jersey, but he lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

So, like, it's a different scenery for all of us, you know, but it gives clarity because we're walking and we're talking and we sharpen ourselves, you know, and by doing that and surrounding yourself with the right people, you allow yourself to get better every year.

The problem is people don't want to outgrow people, so they want to stay stuck and people feel too entrapped.

And most people don't realize that being selfish is a wonderful thing.

You have to take care of you first.

And I always tell people, like, when you're on the airplane and they're doing an annoying thing before you take off.

If you got to pull your oxygen, who gets the Oxygen first.

You do.

Why?

Because at the end of the day, you have to make sure you're okay before you can make sure anyone else is okay.

So there will be selfish people.

If that plane does go down, it's going to try and rip their things and do their things just as if you're sitting in an emergency role.

I always think about this.

People who are sitting in an emergency room, how many of them are going to actually help anybody?

Most people sit there for more leg room and they're going to be the first ones off the plane.

Like, you know what I mean?

At the end of the day, nobody's helping anybody.

And this is the problem, is that people can't get out of their own way and realize that once they make their self better by the things that they're doing and they show up better for themselves, then they can show up better for everybody else.

And I think your faith, I'm going to circle this back to faith because it's an important part of living life and giving back.

It's an important part of a person's give back mentality.

You know, we, we both have come from nothing.

But the give back is because we know what it took to rise up.

You know, and sometimes the best help you can give is pulling up your own bootstraps.

But without, without the belief that, you know, we're here for a bigger purpose.

I mean, I've said this before.

I don't know any successful person who had a thought, idea or product or a purpose that was designed specifically just for them.

Like it's given to you to be brought out for others to be blessed by.

Yeah.

Do you find that to be commonality in where you're at?

Yeah.

Think about this.

If I know all the information I don't share, what good am I?

But the problem is everybody looks at everyone as competition.

There's enough money and movement in the world for us all to become great at whatever we do because there's too much money out there and there's too much out there for us to be able to absorb within our own family for an entire lifetime.

So when you look at some of the most wealthiest families in the world, they keep it in house and they.

But what happens is generationally the families fall apart because they're just not willing to do the same things and they're not conditioned the same way.

So why, when I had a heart attack, I realized that, like, hey, like I know how to make seven figures.

It's super easy, you know, the average person, like, they can make six figures.

Seven figures is easy.

So there's a book behind me, it says 10x is easier than 2x, right?

So I read that book a long time ago and what I can tell you is like, if I lost everything today, I can make a million dollars in the next 12 months easy, because I've already done it.

So I can stop working out today and go back to the gym in a year and I'll come back and I'll be fit, like I'm in great shape right now.

I got 16 body fat, like I'm super lean.

And just in the last three months I've literally just like leaned down like crazy.

Even though I was working out before.

The mental capacity of what I'm doing right now, being able to share it online and show people the possibility, hey, look what I'm doing.

Look at this vas, look at the veins now compared to where they were 90 days ago.

You know, most people want to do everything for themselves.

So it's exactly why I built a seven figure blueprint syndicate is what, what I have.

I founded that.

And you know, I bring in entrepreneurs and we teach other people how to go from stuck to good and stuck to striving, survival to striving.

And most people never get out of that operator mode.

So that was me being a CEO, watching all the other operators saying, haha, they're stuck, look at me, I'm making it happen.

And then my heart attack was a wake up call to be like, hey, why don't you just help Those people.

Become CEOs and the library that you're sitting in front of them is a great example of exactly what you're talking about.

A lot of your knowledge and information came from those books you've read.

But if those people who had that knowledge didn't write the book and didn't share it, I mean, yeah, you probably would have still succeeded, but not as easily because you had the information.

What's interesting, out of 960 something books that I have here, I guarantee at least 800 of them reference somebody else that they learned from or they did.

And 900 something books here, I could tell you about at least 10% of them.

There's a co mingle between what they're talking about because most people think if they read a book, man, this guy's a genius.

People think I'm Smart.

I said, I haven't had an original thought since the day I decided to get into personal development.

I love what everyone else is doing, so I just decided to do it and I just put my own twist to it.

And that's the problem, is that in school we're taught not to plagiarize and we get in trouble.

You can't copy somebody else.

You're a copycat or you'll get in trouble.

But in a world of success, it's encouraged.

Go follow the people who've already done it.

All they've done was either set the tone or lay the map for you to be able to do it.

And you probably can do it better and faster because you're not going to have to go through the problems that they did.

And you mentioned Jim Rohn.

And Tony Robbins openly admits that he plagiarized Jim Rohn for years.

And he said, I played Jim Rohn's music until I could find my own note.

Like that is like the ultimate, you know, success.

And speaking of room for everyone, you have these two podcasts, why Strong Men Still Matter and the Intrepidus podcast.

Can you tell us why Strong Men Still Matter?

That's just an episode.

That's a big, deep podcast.

That's episode 54, I think we just put out episode 75.

And then the Intrepidus podcast, I have a co host, that's Anthony on.

On the right side, intrepidness is the Latin word of fearless.

So we bring on business owners and we interview them.

We talk about fear, the inception of business, what they go through, what they go through every day.

What do they still fear, what keeps them up at night, how do they, you know, deal with business pressure and their family?

So this is kind of what we do.

We interview people so that the next business owner goes, wow, like, this isn't just me, somebody else is going through it.

Because so many business owners self sabotage themselves and, you know, they put themselves in this victim place where, you know, this whole identity crisis is only happening to them, but it happens to you as you start shifting and you have to go through these problems.

So we just help business owners share with other business owners what's really going on versus what's not going on.

Yeah, and I apologize.

Big D podcast.

I was looking at the big logos instead of the name of the podcast.

As I mentioned on the opening, you've done a lot of your own podcast and guesting on other people's podcast.

You mentioned earlier that, you know, you tend to fall asleep if you're not interested in what's going on.

So what is something that you want people to know about Dan, that other podcast hosts or other shows haven't made them aware of?

Well, number one, I think a lot of people, like, think that my business is just a success story.

There's so many different pillars in my life.

I've got childhood trauma, I've got addiction.

I've got, you know, my heart issue.

I've got success, I've got failure, I've got divorce.

I've got a kid, a child that didn't talk to me for four years.

So I've been through so many things, and all of those things have shaped me into the man I am today.

And, you know, I dealt with addiction as well from my.

My father and my brother.

I wasn't addicted to hard drugs.

I was addicted to steroids because of my daddy issues, which turned into steroid abuse, which turned into my heart issue because my dad called me a fat kid when I was young.

So I didn't want to be fat anymore.

So I became a bodybuilder.

And then I just would do steroids.

Like, unbelievable.

It didn't stop what I was doing.

It just helped me feel better about myself.

But it was to a point where I was just never looking good enough for myself, and some people weren't validating me anymore.

So if I just got a little bit bigger, maybe I get that validation.

And the issues with your father, I mean, he had a successful company that you made?

No, no, no, no, no, no.

My dad never had a company.

I used to tell people it was my dad's company.

Oh, did.

My dad is a couch potato, man.

My dad used to deliver furniture.

He got hurt delivering furniture, fell down the stairs, and he's been milking disability for, I don't know, probably 30 something years.

And, I mean, he had the ability to go back to work, probably not doing what he was doing, but he's one of those guys who's been trying to sue workman's comp for 30 years, and they keep making him go through surgery and surgery and surgery, and he's killing himself slowly and destroying his body because he's looking for that check.

I mean, bro, you're almost 70 years old, and even if you do cash out, what is it going to do for you?

I mean, you could have changed your life.

So I don't like watching people destroy their life like that because I watched my own father do it.

So when other people go through situations like that, but they decide to Become better and come back stronger and not, you know, cheat the system.

You know, there's a difference.

But I use my dad as a vehicle to say that it was his company so I could build trust in people.

I'd just be like, oh, yeah, he has a bad back.

He's home.

I'm just out doing all the work right now.

But I was just BSing people to get the word.

Okay, well, the daddy issues that you spoke about, how does someone who's raised in those environments.

And it's been my experience that people who.

I don't care what their parents do, if they're, as you said, couch potato, or whether it be an alcoholic or, in my case, an abusive mom, we either follow that path or we say that path is not for me, but we have some other mentor that guides us out of that path.

And you mentioned a mentor earlier.

So how did you get yourself on the success track and not on the couch potato track?

So my dad was actually an addict as well.

He was alcoholic and a drug addict.

I didn't realize that until, like, in my 30s in life when my brother became an addict.

Well, my brother was an addict for many years, but when my brother went to rehab and he got the n. A book triggered me back to childhood when my dad used to give me keychains that were all different colors that said NA on them.

And I had no idea.

I didn't know what it was.

It never stood out because my mom kept it a secret.

Like, yeah, dad's in a hospital.

He'd come out in a white suit.

You wouldn't know.

Like, you're just visiting them.

So my dad was in rehab as a kid.

I didn't realize that till later on in life.

When I talked to my mom about it, my mom's, like, you know, just was doing my thing as a mom and not saying what I just, you know, shouldn't be saying.

But my daddy issues came from when I was, like, seven years old till I was about 13.

My mom's Portuguese.

So you went to Lisbon, Right?

So Portugal.

So my mom's Portuguese, and the word for fat in Portuguese is gordo.

So my dad used my wife's Portuguese, too.

Just so.

Okay, all right.

So my dad used to call me Danny Gordo, and if he were to introduce me to you, he'd be like, this is Danny Gordo.

So he's basically, here's Fat Dan.

So that's a seven plus years of my life.

So for seven years of my life, I'm like, just trying to be Good enough for my dad.

I have the same name as him.

You know, my brother's taller, my brother's skinny.

Maybe just like, hey, I'm just a wrong person here.

So chasing that validation at 14 years old, I gave up.

I was just like, you know what?

I'm done with you.

Like, I'm not even trying anymore.

And I went my own way and I found my mentor.

First job I ever had, this guy Dave.

I was 16 years old.

Only job I ever had was in construction with Dave.

And I used to go to his house.

He had a beautiful house, beautiful family, three kids.

You know, multiple homes, nice cars.

This guy was living, like the total opposite life that I was from.

I used to go to his house on Saturdays and Sundays, rake his leave sweeps his garage, Just ask him a lot of questions, go to the bagel shop with him in the morning.

Actually, it was like a coffee shop where you buy your coffee and your buttered roll.

And when I used to walk in there, it's like all these people used to say hi to him.

And all these guys were sitting around the table, and we would just sit there, and they almost, like, saved his seat, and they were like, oh, man, you're so lucky to be around Dave.

So I absorbed everything I could.

And at 17 years old, I told Dave I wanted to start my own company.

And one day I wanted to be like him.

So.

I wrote about Dave in his book Over Here.

And I didn't see.

I didn't see Dave for many, many years.

And what Dave didn't know was that.

Let me tell you what my book title is.

Hold on.

My chapter is called.

This was like something I did a long time ago.

From Borrowed Belief to no Limits is what my chapter is called.

And it talks about Dave.

You know, Dave was 30 years old.

He.

He came from a poor family as well.

But he had a dream.

And somebody told me accomplish anything he wanted to do that was just like myself.

And Dave told me he believed in me.

And when he told me that, that's all I heard.

He did say after that that I wasn't ready yet, but I didn't hear that.

So my daddy issues from rich dad, poor dad, to meeting my rich dad, to Dave telling me what I can do, you know, and showing me what's possible, giving me the validation I never got as a kid, pushed me into the world that I became a business owner because Dave told me it was possible.

And if it wasn't for Dave, I don't know where I would be today.

Isn't it funny that.

I mean, it's almost like, you know, desert looking for drops of water.

I live here in Arizona and we just, like my wife and I will go out and dance in the rain.

Cause it's so rare, you know, and you were just so thin, thirsty for validation, that whatever he said afterwards didn't really matter.

I believe in you.

Was your quenching your thirst, and you drank from that.

You know, no one's ever.

No one's ever said that to me.

In Jersey and in construction, the image comes to mafia.

Was that any part of what you saw or.

Or was that just a myth?

No, it's all, I think, like, the garbage business is mafia.

And like, you know, you could see like some.

The other stuff.

I mean, I had some friends who were connected to mafia.

But the best thing for you to do is not ask questions.

But it's really, it's really like the garbage business to unions, all that kind of stuff.

But residential construction wasn't mafia.

And I think the no excuses approach is inherently East Coast.

My wife is Portuguese, grew up, was born in the Azores, moved to Boston when they were three.

And Bostonians and Jersey and New Yorkers, they're all grit and determination and no excuses.

And I also think that's why people don't want to work with you for those that don't want to work with you, because they can't handle the straightforward no excuse.

And I found part of that in my own coaching.

People didn't want to work with me when you actually held their feet to accountability.

They wanted the fluff and the easy path.

But guys like you and I who've come up the hard way, we tend to be even less open to other people's bullshit because we know what it took to get out of our own.

So when you're with these people and have someone who wants to work with Dan, what's the first thing you tell these guys?

I do, I do.

I do a deep dive into them and I ask them like 10 to 15 questions about themselves, their business and their future.

And based on how they're they answer those questions will tell me if I want to work with them or not.

Short answers, I won't work with you.

Quick answers, I won't work with you.

If they're not deep and vulnerable, I don't even want to deal with you because again, I need to cut through the real quick.

And that's what a lot of people don't like about me.

Like, I could read the right off their face.

Like, dude, that's the world I come from.

I mean, at the end of the day, like, I was a kid once, and even my kids are like, how do you know everything?

Like, every time we're going to do so how do you know?

I'm like, because I know.

That's just how my brain operates.

I grew up in the streets, you know, like, that's how I know.

And I just really spend a little bit of time with people before they actually hire me to see if I want them to hire me.

Everyone else just wants to be hired.

I want to know if I want them to hire me.

Well, you're trading your time and from.

From your family and your activities and stuff, and it's got to be worth your time to help them get their goals.

Otherwise you're just, you know, wasting your time when it could be spent with your kids or anywhere else.

So, you know, people don't.

People don't understand that.

You talk about how you want to strengthen legacy.

How do you want Dan's legacy to read when it's all said and done?

So when I look at what I'm doing right now, the platforms I'm creating, the YouTubes, the Instagrams, all that stuff, you know, that's great, but what's more important is that when these videos pop up in 15 years, hey, it was because of that guy that my dad was able to be home more and I was able to do this.

It was because of that guy that my, you know, family was saved.

It was because of that guy that we were able to move out of this zip code.

It was because of that guy, you know, that we were able to do that.

And sitting around the table in 15 years with my kids and my grandkids and somebody saying, hey, you know Sikowski?

Like, I know that name.

And I changed generations.

I trained.

I changed all these trajectories because of someone making a decision, but falling back to me making a decision.

That's what it's all about.

Like, be something that's going to outlive me, but not only impact me, but impact other people around me.

It's easy to see who Dan is today versus who Dan was, you know, pre.

Pre heart attack.

But who is Dan today versus who Dan was three years ago?

So Dan is still surrendering, right?

Dan is still trying to figure out where he should be guided and what he should be doing.

I don't make a plan for my future anymore.

I just let my future show up.

Meaning I know where I should be and I know what I can do.

But Instead of saying I want to move here, instead of saying I want to do this or instead of saying I want to make all this or I want to create this, I say, God, here's what I think, here's what I believe.

You know, this will go.

I need you to direct me to tell me if that's the way.

And I just wait for him to talk to me and say, yep, confirmed or denied?

One thing, I do appreciate you, and I haven't known you for more than an hour and a half because we spoke a little bit before we agreed to do this interview.

But one thing that I, because I've researched since then, I also want to know that I want to have someone on my show.

But one thing I like about what you post, and like you said, you don't post the Lambos and the houses and all that stuff, but you post you reading your scripture, you post you sitting on a couch with the Bible open or your book open and learning and growing.

And in spite of all you've done and in spite of all you've known and in spite of all that 900 books of knowledge you have in you, you're still open to learning more and taking directive not from the world, but from God.

And I think that's what's going to keep you head and shoulders above the world and keep you giving back to the world.

I can't stand when these coaches, when these guys out there, they praise God, but they don't really follow God.

So what I'm seeing right now in the industry of influencers is car thing isn't working anymore.

The airplane thing isn't working.

People are getting smart.

Too many guys have sold programs and taking people's money, and it's just not working anymore.

Now these guys are saying, oh, God's grace, this, that, God, God, God, God, God.

So, all right, we had those bunch of people.

Now we're going to go to these bunch of people.

And it irks me so bad.

Like, at the end of the day, man, you can't be blessed if you're not blessable.

It just doesn't.

It just doesn't work.

And you may go out there and steal people's money and continue to steal people's money, but what's going to happen when you're gone and what's going to be said and how do you feel about that?

Because you're still driving your cars, you're still doing this, you're still acting the fool, but you're just putting God's name in it.

So they're not changing the person they are.

They're just changing the postcard that they're holding.

And it's really pissing me off.

But again, listen, that's not for me.

Like, they're gonna do what they're gonna do.

I just know what I can do.

And I'm never gonna do something outside of that.

Like, I'm going to meet with my guy who builds all my funnels tomorrow and builds all my stuff, and.

And we have complete direction on what we're doing.

And, you know, a couple guys that I'm building something big with that's gonna be coming out this year.

Like, all this stuff is exclusive to the right people.

We don't want everybody.

What we've seen is there's seminars going on across the world, live events going on across the world.

And the whole idea for these events is to pay big speakers to come in so they can sell all their little things.

So people gotta pay for these things every month so they can make a bunch of money on the back end.

I've got big speakers coming to all my events, and I'm not paying anything.

It's because we value each other, we respect each other, and we're collaborating to grow together, number one.

Number two, what we're going to do from that event to the next event is create proximity and create change with real value.

And we're going to guarantee that people are going to shift their life as long as they participate in what we're doing.

We're not just going to take people's money.

It's going to be exclusive.

And it's really not about the money.

It's about the transformation.

And people go, oh, it's not about the money.

Listen, you still got to make money, but you can't lead with it.

All our events that we do cost us money to put on, but we know that the value coming from that event is going to pay us.

But more importantly, it's going to pay the people who are involved way more than it's going to pay.

It's got to be about transformation.

Transformation is one of the pillars that my business is founded on.

You.

But you said something that really caught my attention.

You can't be blessed if you're not blessable.

Can you explain?

Yes.

Dan Sikowski, can you expand on that a little bit?

Because it's a really interesting quote.

So you could do things in the moment to make you feel good and make others feel good, but what happens when that moment is over?

What about the shame?

What about the guilt?

And the place that you live and you got to continue to do it.

So I totally believe that people do things for right now, they don't do things for tomorrow.

So meaning that you can't get blessed if you're not blessable is like, hey, you might experience something right now, but you're probably going to chase that for the rest of your life and it's not going to be a forever thing.

And most of the time that's money.

So for me, I'm blessed with relationships, I'm blessed with my kids, I'm blessed financially that I don't have to worry about money.

Am I making some of the money these influencers are making?

Absolutely not.

These guys make more money a month than I make a year.

But you know what?

I'm extremely happy.

I'm not selling.

And I know that I can live with myself and that as my kids are being seen and as people are out there, I don't gotta look behind me because nobody's coming to jump me.

So you may have a short term gain, but it's going to be a long term pain.

You have to be willing to sacrifice yourself today for a greater tomorrow and allow life to lead you where it's supposed to go so that you can continue to live in the blessing versus living a curse.

Because all these guys who are getting all these short wins, they're just going to be cursed for the rest of their life.

They're.

Everything's going to fall apart.

It's happening right now.

A number of these influencers are getting arrested, they're getting shut down.

You know, their jerseys, Instagram pages that are like blasting.

All these guys that are just doing this false.

And I love it because at the end of the day, these guys need to be called out.

Well, I, I'm glad that you're out there calling this stuff out and I'm also glad that you took an hour out of your day to spend with me and my audience.

And I'm going to ask you the final question that I ask every guest.

What does a warrior spirit or having a warrior spirit mean to Dan Sakowski?

Well, to me, a warrior spirit is making sure that you could fight without the armor.

Most people want to be protected.

Most people, if they have armor on, if they have a shield on, they're going to fight, run in a battle.

But if you're a good enough person and you're a strong enough person, you'll be willing to walk in the battle with no armor on.

So you go back to David, right?

When David fought Goliath.

At the end of the day, everyone thought he would lose, but all he needed was a stone.

So when you look at life, Jesus will protect you.

And as long as you're willing to walk into the fire, as long as you're willing to walk into the battle without the armor that's going to protect you and use the armor of God versus the armor of what can ever protect you underneath your flesh, I really think and believe that you're going to have a way better life.

So having a warrior spirit is like allowing God to live inside of you and bring you through situations as you grow through these situations versus just trying to win the battle of today.

Well, I absolutely love that.

And again, thank you for joining me today and continue.

Blessings to you and your family and, you know, hope to see you on the battlefield where we're not battling.

Appreciate you.

All right.

And if you'd like to connect with Dan, you can do so at his website, Dan Sakowski.com also on his social media accounts, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

And as always, thank you for joining.

Us on this edition of A Warrior Spirit.

We're now on all the major platforms as well as on roku via the ProsperITV app and at breakthroughradio.net so be sure to like or subscribe to catch all the episodes.

As always, the journey is sacred.

The warrior is you.

So remember to be inspired, be empowered, and embrace the spirit of the warrior within.

It's not just about the fight.

It's how we rise from it.