Dan Koe’s journey began at a young age. He was raised in a religious household. As he was forced to attend church, many teachings didn’t sit right with him. This was the start of his questioning, but not limited to religion. The questioning extended into his family life, observations of society, and why people seemed so miserable, both on the surface and in their souls.
He continued to ask these questions: Why does everyone regurgitate the same dodgy answer when I ask a valid question about their beliefs? Why is everyone unhealthy, overweight, and angry when the actions to prevent that are obvious? Why does everyone choose to work a dead-end job, then go on to complain about it in their free time? Just like anyone else, they have the ability to learn about new skills and opportunities, right? Why do couples argue, resent each other, and allow that to infect the minds of their children who go on to do the same? Why do so few people achieve greatness? What is the primary dysfunction holding them back from changing their identity, beliefs, and actions? Why does everyone follow the same path of going to school, getting a job, and retiring with just enough money to survive? Can’t they see that they are being trained into the same life as everyone else?
At an early age, Dan became obsessed with self-education. The first topic was fitness. He saw that if he lived in his body, it only made sense to make it his full-time job to learn about it. Dan found solace and community in the online fitness space. He learned from those posting internet content.
As you can tell, Dan took it on as his responsibility to determine his own future. He did go to a 4-year university, but that didn’t work out too well. After switching his area of study multiple times, he wasted tens of thousands of dollars after 4 years. Not to mention he still had 2 years left to complete his degree. It was at this point that he took an introduction to web development class. The tech industry was promising at this point in time. Dan could either get a high-paying job with (or without) a degree, build his own software business, or freelance for those that needed that service. These options sparked enough excitement for Dan to resort to online courses. He spent hours outside of class learning web development and building projects. In the span of 2 weeks, he had learned the entire college course curriculum. He was able to ace the class without showing up for it.
Now, Dan was disillusioned with the conventional education system. He proceeded to drop out of university and make a promise to himself. He would either forge his own path or die trying. Getting a traditional 9–5 job became the bane of his existence and fueled his vision.
Over the next few years, Dan attempted to build a sustainable income source with fitness coaching, photography, digital art, search engine optimization, multiple e-commerce stores (that his father helped him invest thousands of dollars in, but he lost that money), social media marketing, web design, and a handful of other side hustles that sounded promising.
Dan had been working part-time at fast food chains, commercial gyms, and a local print shop during this period. Toward the end, he began to lose his wits due to not making any meaningful money from his pursuits. Did he go against his values, accept his fate, and become a cog in the machine? Or does he push through and potentially become homeless? He was living with 7 other guys in an old house at this time. Rent was low, so he was okay, but the pressure was growing. After consulting with confidants, he decided to apply to a web design job with the skills he had acquired through previous self-education. He got the first job he applied to.
What Dan thought to be the end of his life was just the beginning. The job revealed his business blind spots. He studied what they did differently and was able to discern why the business was successful. With a newfound fire in the belly, he pushed all of his projects on the job to the end of the week. Every morning, he would show up and work on acquiring customers for his own web design agency. Nothing happened, then everything happened, and Dan began to see his investment of failures pay off. He grew his business to 6 figures as one person in less than 12 months.
Since that time, Dan quit his job and expanded his business. He distilled the lessons he learned in business, self-development, and the spirituality necessary to navigate hardship via internet content. As he grew a following, he made new discoveries. The internet had evolved in a way that would shake the old economy as we know it. Dan saw the potential of education as a means to positive human behavior change. He built an education business around his story, grew to millions of followers, and still felt as if he was misunderstood.
The modern business landscape is shallow and manipulative. The future belongs to purpose-driven individuals that raise the collective consciousness. Social media is the collective consciousness being documented in real time. Business is no longer a vessel for only money, but purpose and impact. Dan’s one-person business philosophy is holistic. It has gone on to change the perspectives of those that want to build their ideal future doing what they love. What used to be an old marketing tactic is now a possibility for many. Doing what you love is no longer a pipedream, and Dan has proven that with his students’ results.
These discoveries led to Dan writing his first book, The Art of Focus, to tackle the connections between self-development, modern entrepreneurship, metaphysics, mechanics, and psychology. Dan continues to push into the unknown so he can shape the future of work, rest, and play.
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