Facts about Daniel Priestley
Daniel Priestley
Daniel Priestley is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker renowned for his expertise in business growth and entrepreneurship. He co-founded Dent Global, a company that supports entrepreneurs in scaling their ventures. Priestley is acclaimed for books like "Key Person of Influence" and "Oversubscribed," which offer strategies for building influential businesses and personal brands. He's a sought-after speaker globally, sharing insights on entrepreneurship and marketing. His work has inspired countless entrepreneurs to achieve success by becoming key figures in their industries.
Q&a
Personal branding is widely discussed now, but your book and methodology predate the term and its internet prevalence. How did you come to understand and write about these concepts before they became mainstream? Did people grasp branding back then, or were you pioneering in this area?
I wrote the book in 2009, and it was published in 2010, well before anyone was seriously discussing personal branding. I noticed that U.S. presidential elections often signal upcoming trends in marketing, much like how Formula One previews future car technology. For example, in the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chats marked the rise of national radio over print. In 1963, JFK’s televised debate with Nixon highlighted television’s importance.
Fast forward to 2008, Obama’s social media campaign was pivotal in his election victory, signalling a social media revolution in marketing. This realisation led me to deeply explore how social media could be leveraged effectively. I began giving talks, workshops, and writing articles about positioning oneself as a key person of influence, emphasising personal branding over company or product brands. The book’s opening line underscores this idea: in every industry, key people of influence stand out, achieve more, and have greater impact. Thus, I advocated for personal branding as a crucial marketing strategy.
Do you think that many influencers today, despite having large followings and recognition, lack the necessary skills and substance beyond their public persona to truly be considered key people of influence?
The distinction lies between being an influencer and being a key person of influence. Influencers often have massive followings based on their appearance or lifestyle, but lack substantial business acumen or impact beyond their online presence. They may struggle to convert their popularity into meaningful business ventures or influence in the marketplace. On the other hand, a key person of influence uses their personal brand to build businesses, attract talent, forge partnerships, and mobilise resources effectively. People like Tim Cook and Ryan Reynolds exemplify how one can evolve from celebrity status to influential figures with substantial business empires. This underscores the importance of building a robust personal brand anchored in business leadership and impact.
Do you think the principles of personal branding and becoming a key person of influence should extend beyond CEOs and entrepreneurs to apply to everyone within a business? Should individuals in any role strive to cultivate their personal brand for future opportunities and career advancement?
It’s beneficial to capture a bit of brand equity, but not everyone needs to have a personal brand. Take my co-founder at Score App, Steve, for instance. Steve excels in technology development, managing talented teams, and solving complex issues behind the scenes. His focus on these tasks is crucial for our company’s success. While I handle other aspects like public engagements and partnerships, our collaboration works seamlessly because we complement each other’s strengths without overlapping. This synergy contributes directly to the company’s overall value. If you’re fortunate to partner with someone who has a strong personal brand, it can enhance the business significantly, particularly if you hold equity in the company.
I heard you mention on the podcast the other day that a key person of influence shouldn’t be running their business. Recently, I also heard someone say that a good CEO doesn’t do any work, which seems related. If you achieve true influence, do you believe the ultimate goal is to delegate all operational tasks and focus solely on promoting, connecting, and representing the business?
Absolutely. I believe the true value of a great CEO lies in their ability to attract talented individuals, foster team alignment, promote the business effectively, open doors to opportunities, and generate demand. In business, the most challenging aspect is creating demand. Every business operates at the intersection of supply and demand. For instance, airlines focus heavily on the supply side—ensuring planes are safe and flights are punctual. However, businesses like Rolex excel in generating demand by strategically aligning with top athletes and events to reinforce their brand’s prominence.
In today’s market, creating demand is far more challenging than producing goods. During the industrial era, simply manufacturing a product guaranteed sales. Today, with thousands of options available on platforms like Amazon, the real challenge lies in effectively marketing and selling products. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of focusing solely on the operational aspects they enjoy, such as coaching or organising health retreats, without a solid plan for attracting clients or filling their programs. This emphasis on the demand side is crucial because businesses rarely fail due to an inability to produce—they fail because they struggle to sell effectively.
In today’s world where it seems like there are no new products left to create, how can someone effectively generate demand and establish distribution channels?
It’s about personal brand and building a relationship with the marketplace. For instance, when I launch a new piece of software, a few thousand people will attend the launch event just because it’s my product. However, if someone without a personal brand launches the same product, very few people will show up. Conversely, if someone with a bigger brand launches it, they would likely see even better results.
For a new business without a figurehead with a personal brand, what unbranded, cost-effective lead generation methods can effectively work in today’s oversaturated market?
There’s not much out there. Most marketing campaigns see a significant rise in cost per lead without a personal brand. It doesn’t have to be a well-known figure, just the founder speaking on camera can make a big difference. From my experience running about $100,000 in ads monthly, I’ve seen that ads featuring the founder’s face significantly lower the cost per click. A founder talking directly to the camera can generate leads for £4-£5, whereas company-branded ads can cost three times as much.
I’ve read that with Facebook ads or Google ads, it’s nearly impossible to be profitable on the front end unless you have substantial back-end sales or high customer lifetime value. Do you agree with this?
Absolutely. Businesses are ecosystems, and oversimplified approaches don’t work anymore. Running ads and generating leads for a single product won’t be profitable on its own. You need an entire ecosystem. Take Gordon Ramsay, for example—he has books, TV shows, restaurants, and retail products, creating a comprehensive network. Similarly, I have eight different companies ranging from software and services to education and training. It’s the integration of all these elements that makes the whole system work.
Do those eight businesses support each other and have interconnected relationships?
Exactly. At the core of all our businesses is the idea of developing entrepreneurs who stand out, scale up, and make a positive impact. Everything we do ties into that theme and works together seamlessly.
In a small business, I recommend having four types of products: a free gift, an inexpensive product for prospects to test you, your core product or service, and a product for clients that provides ongoing value.
When acquiring businesses, I often buy those with a strong core product but weaknesses in other areas. We then develop a gift or product for prospects, like a book or an introductory workshop, and create additional content such as online masterclasses, YouTube videos, and podcasts. Finally, we introduce a continuity subscription product on the back end.
This strategy has allowed me to take several businesses from about $500,000 in revenue to $1.5 to $2 million within the first year by building out a comprehensive product ecosystem.
Do you foresee the world getting even noisier than it is now, or do you think some of this noise might eventually fade away?
The noise level in our world is only going to escalate, especially with AI now generating copious amounts of content. Social media acts like a megaphone for anyone, and when you add AI into the mix, it becomes an automated noise amplifier. Even influencers and speakers benefit from AI by speeding up scriptwriting, video production, editing, and overall content creation. For those who haven’t started yet, it may feel like they’re already too far behind to catch up. They might need to align themselves with established brands, join entrepreneurial teams with traction, or integrate their company into a larger group to keep pace. Others can either embrace AI and personal branding to stay competitive or risk falling behind in managing their businesses. For those already with a brand, there’s the opportunity to scale it up rapidly, potentially reaching millions within just a year or two.
Having both bought and started businesses, do you lean towards one or the other? For someone who hasn’t ventured into either yet, would you recommend pursuing a specific path?
Sure, I really enjoy acquiring businesses. Buying a business is great because it takes about the same effort to go from zero to half a million as it does to go from half a million to two million. Apply that same energy and effort again, and you’ll see exponential growth. Another thing I love is bringing a fresh perspective to a business. When you’re deeply involved day-to-day, you can lose sight of its potential. It’s like owning a watch for years—you stop noticing its details. But with fresh eyes, I see untapped potential, intellectual property that can be leveraged into software or technology. Ultimately, my passion lies in building tech companies, especially AI-enabled SaaS products. Software allows you to build something once and sell it repeatedly, scaling globally at a fraction of the cost of traditional businesses.
I heard you discussing on your podcast recently that you’re enthusiastic about SaaS businesses. Given that interest, do you typically segment investments into 20 portions of 12.5K each? Also, do you rely on a recurring investor base across different projects, or do you leverage your status as a key person of influence to attract investment for each new venture?
Both. I have around 40 investors who are successful entrepreneurs with ample post-exit resources and experience. They typically invest in my projects quickly. When I’m ready to launch something new, I host an investor zoom call to expedite the process. Even though I already know who will likely invest, I invite around 80 to 100 people to the call to generate excitement and interest. During the call, I ask attendees to fill out an application for shares and indicate their investment amount, usually ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dollars.
However, I ultimately limit each investor to 12,500 dollars. This approach diverges from the norm where most seek larger sums from fewer investors. Instead, I prefer more angel investors, ideally 20 to 30, as each brings unique connections and support. Some potential investors express surprise at the capped investment amount, initially wanting to contribute more. Despite this, it seldom leads to anyone backing out; rather, it fuels a sense of urgency among investors who want to secure their spot.
As someone with children and experience in education, what are your thoughts on the current educational system and how it could be improved? From your perspective, what are three or four key skills or topics you think parents should focus on teaching their children from a young age?
To step back about three or four centuries, consider the agricultural age when skilled labour wasn’t a priority—just having people to handle basic tasks sufficed. Then came the industrial age, where capital and skilled labour became crucial, leading to the rise of systems like capitalism and labour creation. Schools were designed to produce the necessary labour for factories, focusing on fundamental skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic.
As we progressed into the late 2000s, most educational paths led to job opportunities. Degrees in diverse fields like history or geography could land you roles in banking or agencies, showing how much the system had evolved. However, with the advent of digital technologies and AI, the need for extensive capital and labour has diminished drastically.
Today, even small teams can manage global operations, and traditional skilled labour is less in demand. This shift highlights a move towards valuing enterprise skills—the ability to seize opportunities and bring ideas to market. Unfortunately, our schooling system hasn’t adapted to foster these entrepreneurial skills. It tends to penalise disruptive behaviour, which is often celebrated in entrepreneurial circles.
Looking back to its origins in the early 19th century, the schooling system was fundamentally designed to prepare individuals for factory work—a paradigm that no longer resonates with our current economic landscape. There’s no longer a societal guarantee that traditional schooling will secure a fulfilling career path. Whether opting for traditional schooling or homeschooling, understanding this context can help parents navigate their children’s education.
While schools provide essential social interactions and teamwork opportunities through music, sports, and interpersonal relationships, the focus has shifted away from purely skills-based education. Tasks like computer programming, once highly valued, are now being automated by advanced AI systems like ChatGPT.
Moving forward, blue-collar skills such as plumbing and construction will remain indispensable, but the most valuable skills will increasingly be those related to enterprise—seizing opportunities, mobilising resources, and navigating a dynamic business landscape.