How To Build a Life That Works As Hard As You Do | Dan “Big D” Sachkowsky | Ep. 51

Dan “Big D” Sachkowsky went from filing bankruptcy at 24 to rebuilding a multimillion-dollar construction and coaching empire rooted in faith, structure, and the discipline to say no.

Raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey by immigrant parents who taught him to work hard but think small, Dan learned early that breaking generational limits meant unlearning everything he’d been told. At 15, his father told him, “we’ll never be rich.” That moment lit a fire that would define his life.

Today, he’s a serial entrepreneur, real-estate investor, and performance coach known for helping business owners buy back their time, build real systems, and lead with purpose.

This episode explores:

• Growing up in Elizabeth, NJ and discovering the gap between survival and success
• The 15-year-old moment that redefined his belief in what was possible
• Finding mentors who said “I believe in you” and how that changed everything
• Building a thriving construction business—then losing it all at 24 during the 2007 crash
• Lessons from bankruptcy, humility, and rebuilding with five income streams
• Faith through crisis: his son’s near-death accident and rediscovering God
• Why failure tolerance is the ultimate entrepreneurial skill
• Competing with yourself, not others, and designing a “life blueprint” instead of just a business plan
• The power of saying no—and how discipline and structure create more yeses
• Fatherhood, responsibility, and teaching kids gratitude in a world of excess

This episode is about breaking cycles, redefining wealth, and learning that saying no isn’t rejection, it’s alignment. Dan’s story will challenge you to trade busyness for balance, ego for faith, and comfort for calling.

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🔗 Connect with Dan “Big D” Sachkowsky

Website: dansachkowsky.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_big_dan_official/

🎙️ Follow REAL Mentors Podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realmentorspodcast/

Host Sean Martin: https://www.instagram.com/theseanmartin/

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🔥 About the Guest – Dan “Big D” Sachkowsky

Dan Sachkowsky is an entrepreneur, investor, and business coach who built and scaled multiple construction companies before launching Big D Coaching, a platform that helps business owners regain focus, systemize growth, and live with intention. His coaching philosophy blends faith, structure, and high-performance strategy—teaching that true freedom comes from discipline, not hustle. Through his story of failure, faith, and rebuilding, Dan helps others design lives that work as hard as they do.

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Tags & Keywords

Dan Sachkowsky, Big D, Sean Martin, REAL Mentors Podcast, entrepreneurship, business coaching, mindset, discipline, faith and success, bankruptcy recovery, time management, systems and processes, construction business, leadership, mentorship, resilience, the power of saying no, legacy building, fatherhood, immigrant mentality, self-development, personal growth, real estate investing, purpose over profit