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Danijel Velicki  4:18  

So my parents were, since I was little pretty much telling me hey, you need to get out of here. Right? You need to go somewhere else. At one point, we were actually looking for me to go to University of Vienna, and actually took a trip there and check that out and stuff. But then this exchange student program thing came up. So that’s the way that we went. So they just said hey, figure out a way to stay figure out a way to, you know, not come back. And that was you know, that’s a tough thing to hear when you’re 17/18 years old. But you know, I was thinking about that since I was a kid. And so yeah, that’s obviously what happened.

Chad Franzen  4:54  

And then what did you Where did you go to school?

Danijel Velicki  4:57  

So I went to school in Fairmont. East Fairmont, West Virginia High School. And, you know, my life is, you know, only in America as they say, right. So, you know, I hate the fact that people wonder and question whether there’s the American dream, you know, idea Does it still exist and I called him up full heartedly. Absolutely. Live it and have have done it. And I know people that are still doing it. So it’s just a I believe it’s it’s it’s still there and strong. I went to West Virginia did a one year and exchange student program I got, you know, to be 4.0 again, got it to all colleges and, you know, had no money had nothing but I found out that there was a gentleman whose father came from Italy and started a little restaurant in Fairmont, West Virginia. So I walked to the restaurant and sat down with Mr. Rocco. And I said, Hey, you don’t know me, you know, I’m from Croatia, we just finished a war. I have a preposition. And he’s like, Okay, what is it? I was like, Well, I don’t have any money, I really want to go to college, I gave him my acceptance letters to colleges, and I don’t have a work permit or green card, any of that stuff. So would you consider, you know, potentially hiring me, and, you know, maybe under the table or whatever, until I get my papers done and stuff, and, you know, I’ll cook clean paint, whatever, and for you to pay for my school, and then I’ll pay you back with whatever I earned, and your restaurant. And this man looked at me and said, Okay. And, you know, took me by the hand to the university, got me enrolled, got all the paperwork done. And I went home to my parents, and I said, Hey, Mom, Dad, I did it. I figured it out. I found a place to stay. He helped me out with that. And, you know, the hardest thing ever was the fact that when I came home, my parents looked at me and said, Oh, congratulations, but we don’t want you to go, we missed you. We really want you to stay and not, you know, not leave again. And that was probably the biggest crossroads that I’ve ever been to at that point. You know, I was 19 years old. And I left I went to visit a friend in Austria in Vienna. And as I said, Mom, Dad had to think about this. And I walked the streets while she was at work for three days. And I’ve finally came to the conclusion that I couldn’t live what what if, you know, what if I do go, what kind of life I could have? What could I do? You know, compared to if I stay, and I came home and, you know, tell my parents, I gotta go, I gotta figure it out. You know, you’ve told me this. This is my goal since I was little, and now I somehow miraculously made it happen. And now you, you know, tell me that you don’t want me to go. Like, that’s just it was it was a was a tough thing to hear. But so yeah, I came back and went to school.

Chad Franzen  7:43  

And they gave you their blessing then.

Danijel Velicki  7:46  

Blessing is a is a strong word. That said, Okay. I’m pretty sure that knew that. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t take anything else as as an answer. So yeah. They said they said, Okay.

Chad Franzen  7:59  

Were you confident that when you asked the gentleman who was starting that business that he would say, yes,

Danijel Velicki  8:07  

no, no, I was not confident. I, I just figured that, you know, you miss 100% of shots that you don’t take. So I figured I might as well, you know, it was a Hail Mary, I went to talk to the guy that could relate somehow, you know, because his dad and he’s that still worked at the restaurant. He was there. Frank, he was amazing. So I just figured I would ask, the worst thing that could happen would be, you know, he says, You’re crazy out of your mind. Here’s some spaghetti to be on your way, you know, but he didn’t. And, you know, till this day, we go there. Quite often when we go to West Virginia, that’s where my wife’s family’s from. And I thank him every time because because he you know, he gave me the life the opportunity at a life that I have today.

Chad Franzen  8:50  

What kinds of things did you end up doing there?

Danijel Velicki  8:53  

Oh, you know, seating, waiting tables, bussing cleaning. Everything. I worked there for four and a half years. Never went home. I went home one time and my grandfather passed away. So I you know, during the summer, I worked seven days a week. And then my last two semesters, I took 25 and 26 hours plus worked 60 hours a week, the restaurant closed and, you know, graduated in three and a half, four years with double major, and paid them the last bit of money that I owed him that summer of 2000 and paid everything in cash from working at the restaurant.

Chad Franzen  9:26  

So you you ended up going to Fairmont State while working at that restaurant and taking a massive course load. How did you get all that done?

Danijel Velicki  9:35  

You know, it’s funny, my wife and I live together that point and we still you know, when I tell my daughters now in college, right? So she’s taken like 16 hours and 15 hours and stuff. And I told her though, took 25 and 26 and still worked full time and she was like, how did you do that? Like I was busy at 16 hours. I was like, I don’t remember. I just know that I would close come home at 11 work till three, you know and then go to sleep and wake up The class at eight and I had a class every day and I had the eight, the nine to 1011. I had the 12 to three and three to six. And then Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I worked from four to close. Tuesday and Thursday was an all day class. And then I worked all day, Saturday, all day, Sunday, close those days. So it was just I mean, I would just come home and work and then go to work and then go to class and then work and there was nothing else

Chad Franzen  10:25  

to do that was it. Sleep was not asleep was not a huge priority.

Danijel Velicki  10:29  

Yeah, who sleeps when they’re 2022?

Chad Franzen  10:32  

You had a you’re like you said you had a double major? I believe marketing and finance at Fairmont State. Yeah, what was your, what were your goals when you started? started there.

Danijel Velicki  10:42  

So I wanted to be a doctor, just because I’ve been helped so much in my career. In the beginning of life, I mean, people. I just, I mean, that was against me for clumps, just because people are so amazing. I mean, you know, at the restaurant, people would, would, you know, beginning of the school year, they would come, I just had regulars because I, you know, I just did a really good job. And they would give me $100 tips, just because they knew I needed to buy books or you know, pay for rent or whatever. And just, they helped me so much. So I really wanted to potentially be a doctor to help. And then I figured out how much money I didn’t have and how much time that takes and stuff. So then I was like, Okay, I thought about his thought, Okay, what’s the second most important thing to people, which was finance, you know, finance, bad finance can cause that health, from stress and everything. So I switched my major was business and marketing and switch to finance and just loved that fell in love with it. And, you know, that’s where came out of the college and started in the finance industry right after,

Chad Franzen  11:42  

you know, you in many ways, you were kind of lucky because you you it was kind of serendipitous that you’ve met the guy who was starting the restaurant, but at the same time, you put a lot of you know, blood, sweat and tears into this effort. What about your upbringing, do you think helped you realize that I mean, a lot of kids go to college, they don’t work. They don’t take that much class. And they don’t end up doing as well. In all those areas.

Danijel Velicki  12:09  

Yes. So my parents were amazing. And I mean, I hope that I missed half as good parents, as they were, first of the really built a understanding of responsibility. And when it came to just about everything, you know, when I was 14, I asked my parents, like, Hey, can I go out to this nightclub in the city? You know, we lived in the center of the city, and my mom looked at me, she was like, Sure, you gotta be home at 1130. So I came home at 1125. Next weekend, she was like, Okay, you can come home at 12, I came home and you know, 10 till 12. And she said, as long as you build the trust, and I know that I can trust you, and I know that you understand that. You don’t have everything, but as soon as you back that down, it’s gone. And you have to build it up again. So I learned that, you know, what you say is what you do number one second, they were extremely hard workers, my dad, you know, had his own shop, or mom was, you know, the main woman, and mostly men’s, you know, worlds and she was tough. So I saw them working as hard as they did. And then the biggest thing that that really set me the way I lived the rest of my life. So in Croatia when you when you are first you have to apply for high schools. So I got into the best high schools second best high school in Croatia, my best friend will argue that his high school was the best. But you know, there were like one in one and a half. But it was critical for tourism and hotel management. But at any point, a teacher can tell you, hey, you know, Chad, stand up, I got three or four questions for you and give you a grade. So it’s an oral examination in front of everybody. And it’s just as big as a written test. So my name is Velicki, which is at the end of this book that they would carry, right, all the kids would stay together and the teachers would come and go. And you know, in order to flip to my page, they usually always flip the book and we end up with an S or T note that they had to really look for me at the end of the book, while this lady came in information technology freshman year, month into the school and she flipped to my side and said, Danijel stand up. I knew nothing. And I got an F first F ever came home was scared to tell my parents. I come home and tell my dad he was home. He gave me a hug and a kiss. He was like You are my son after all, because he flunked like fifth grade. You know, he went into trade, he hated school, he loved working with his hands, he was an artist. And then I was really afraid of my mom because she was the one that worked my butt. She was the Enforcer at the house. And she came home and said, Okay, that’s fine. It’s yours. And I was like, What do you mean you’re not gonna hit me and beat me. She was like, this is high school. This is the rest of your life like me and your dad, we have the house, we have the cars, we have our jobs, we have our life. We are fine. You are building your life. So if you want to have F’s and be a, you know, whatever Trashman or you know, cook, that’s totally fine. We’re going to love you, you’re going to be your son, and your life is going to depend on what kind of decisions you make if you want to have an A and B Uh, you know, a boss and a CEO and a business owner, whatever, that’s on you. So, I love you no matter what, this doesn’t concern me, this concerns the rest of your life. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I mean that that, you know, too many conversation has set me up for exactly how I lived from that point on. It was, you know, you think about it, we always do stuff for other people, right? You know, hey, you know, give me this report. Okay, here, I got it for you give me you know, set this up. Okay, I got it for you. It’s always like, for somebody else? Well, no, it’s for us, right? We are the ones that are going to work and do things that are going to benefit us. So as soon as I learned that lesson, which was the best thing that my mom could have ever done, like I’ve never, ever had to, she never had to worry about anything. I mean, I was always prepared, I was always ready. Because I knew that any action that I have is going to depend on what the rest of my life is going to look like. So that’s that was huge.

Chad Franzen  15:57  

Yeah, wow, that’s an amazing lesson. So you did great, you did great in school, you got a double major, you worked hard for this restaurant, and then you’re out of school, tell me about some of the positions you had before you founded your own business, you receive some serious recognition to not long

Danijel Velicki  16:13  

I did I was I was I was lucky. But you know, I was always taught that when you when you do something, try to lead because that’s the best place to be. And you know, you’re going to do the most, you know, learn the most. But, you know, I got to college, and I interviewed with a bunch of companies, financial companies up in Pittsburgh area. And I actually was quit the finances just because I was just told how I’m going to sell this, and I’m going to make this much money. And this is what you’re going to sell is what you’re going to do. And you know, here’s a phone book, I was like, listen, I just, my heart just couldn’t do that. I just, I wanted to help people that sell people. So quit. And I actually moved down to Virginia Beach. Because I got a job at 711 as a management consultant, that I was like, I can do this, you know, my thought of finance was completely different, what the reality was out in the world. But I thought up to that point, what reality was in the world. And then I played basketball at this church one morning, all mornings. And this one guy came up to me and said, hey, you know, what do you work? And I told him, we talked, he was a little bit older than me. And I was like, let me take your lunch. You know, I’m a financial advisor, I like to tell you what to do. And I was like, dude, like, I interview with all these companies, like, I got my finance degree here. I just, I’m good. Like, you just tried to sell me something. It was like, no is different. And this guy was awesome. I’ll never forget him. And I went to lunch with him. And he took me through this process that was education, all those multiple meetings, we talked about all this stuff, and not at one point. And I felt sold, I felt empowered. And he gave me education and all the options and everything. And I was like, Holy crap, I didn’t know this existed. I wanted this is what I thought finances were. And I went to the company. It was here in Virginia Beach, back in 2000. I was like, I want to work for you guys. And they were like, Okay, well, here’s a, you know, a list of 100 You know, numbers and you got to come up with 100 names. That’s it’s called a they give you that any financial company that you start, but we just move to Virginia Beach six months before that. So I had 20 people on that less than I made up six. Yeah, because I didn’t know anybody. And they came back to me were like, Yeah, we can’t hire you. Like you don’t know anybody. You don’t have a market you don’t have anybody to talk to. And I begged this lady, I still see around town and I was give her a hug. Debbie O’Neill, she went to bat for me from with the owners, they’re like, hey, this kid is different. And I came and within my first full 12 months, I was the top agent of all the people wanting to hire 22 that year. And, you know, from Croatia, second language, went to West Virginia, and came to Virginia Beach, I was, you know, there for a year where everybody else was, you know, from Virginia Tech, they were from Virginia Beach, Norfolk went to, you know, all the colleges and families and everything. But just like I told you, you know, I’m tell me what to do. Tell me how to be successful. And I will I’m the dumb smart guy, I will just do it. Like, I won’t question. I don’t need a 26 page business plan, like, do this and this and this. It’s like dance, you know, here’s the steps. Go ahead, dumb, you know, dumb guys do it. And I just did that. And that was easy to me. You know, just so

Chad Franzen  19:23  

you simply you simply took their instruction and overcame whatever you lacked, in terms of, you know, familiar idea with the area or your market that they said you didn’t?

Danijel Velicki  19:34  

Absolutely, absolutely, I just I just did what they told me to do. And the first year I made one of the clubs that you know, talking about, and there was a there was a guy that was the number one guy in the whole United States and he was a speaker and I went up to him afterwards and I was like, hey, I want to be like you one day. Like, could I you know, come up to your office. He was in New Jersey, and you know, talk to you and you can teach me what to do and he was like, Sure, give me a cell phone number and stuff. And I called him next week as a hey, I’m the kid that, you know came up to you and talk to you. I was like, Hey, come on on Thursday. And you know, you’ll work with me on Friday, you’ll see how to run meetings and stuff. I drove up to Paramus near New Jersey. And he had four meetings with guys from like, you know, crazy. In a Wall Street dudes did amazing job. I was in every meeting, went to dinner with them met his family spent the night we talked to three o’clock in the morning, and he told me, there was like, you know that it was 6000 people in that room, you’re the only one that came up to me talk to me, and actually showed up and learned this, like wanting to learn how I do it. It was like out of anybody. And what I learned at that point, they gave me two pieces of advice. First off, ask successful people how they got successful, because they will always share it, they all want to tell you, but nobody ever asks and nobody does what they tell you. Then second, learn about people not about selling learn about psychology, body language, you know, communication styles, all the you know, personality types, because you’re for the rest of your life, you’re going to be working with people, the more you know them, and the more you can communicate the right way, the more they will feel like they’ll heard which most people don’t, the more you will understand how to listen and the more you will be able to help them. And it was probably the best advice ever. His name is Jack up in New Jersey, and he’s just, uh, you know, I’ve had so many individuals along the way that have just made such a huge impact on my life. And that’s why I’m such a huge believer in mentorship and, you know, following. I was follow somebody because, you know, I was looking at it as a as a my life as a tunnel, I got to where I am because I’m, you know, I saw some kind of light to get to where I am. But then there’s darkness. And I was trying to find somebody that’s ahead, that can shine the light and tell me how to get there because they’ve been there. I feel like a lot of people don’t do that often enough.

Chad Franzen  21:56  

Sure. So you you wonder how and when did you figure out kind of your your life’s goal or your mission in life? And and if you could just tell us what that is. That’d be great.

Danijel Velicki  22:07  

I was working with a really close friend of mine to write a book for my kids was because I would make my kids pancakes, you know, on Saturday mornings, Croatian pancakes, the crepes. When I tell my daughter, I think she was eight at the time. Now she’s 18. She was like, Hey, how did you come to America? How did you, you know, do what you doing? I called my buddy. I was like, I think he was bugging me for years to write a book. And I did. And as we were talking through the book, and you know, this kind of conversations of where I came from, and everything. He was like, you know, it’s funny, there’s a common thread, I don’t know, if you recognize His name is Derek. I was like, no, what is it, he was like, you constantly want to help people, you constantly want to do something for somebody else. Because you feel like you’ve been helped so much, which I have. I mean, there I mean, I just named for people that have made such an impact in my life. But I wouldn’t be without them where I am today. And I was like, well, that’s probably right. So like, if you look at, in the financial field, I love to teach, I just don’t care what people do. As long as they know what they’re doing. That’s, that’s my success. You know, we got lucky and got into a CrossFit gym. Because I just felt like, you know, again, human, human body and wellness, and everything was near and dear to my heart. You know, I lost my dad when he was 64, just because he never took care of himself. And I don’t want to repeat that mistake, because I want to be there for my kids. It was like you help and you teach and you run the gym the right way. You want to make sure that you impact people’s lives. And then as I started building Sqwire, and I do the speaking who’s like you just want to give and want to coach and you want to tell people how to get there because of everything that you’ve been through. And I always tell people, yeah, because if if dumbass like me can do it, anybody can do it. It just takes you know, a little bit of consistency and persistency and work and you know, falling forward kind of attitude. But I feel like a lot of people don’t think that they can, where they it’s just a just a dude. It’s not a thing.

Chad Franzen  24:07  

Yeah, you mentioned you had a 4500 foot CrossFit facility for about six years. How was that experience for you?

Danijel Velicki  24:15  

It was amazing. It was the best thing ever. I mean, the best friendships that came out of it. Were just God, I mean, really lucky. And, you know, again, I feel like God puts puts you in positions to make the decisions if you just listen. And that was one of them, for sure did amazing things for a family from understanding what fitness and you know, good, healthy life look like for my kids. The owners of the gym were amazing, great weight lifters. I mean, the actually Kane was just on the Olympics representing the United States of America. But you know, there were so passionate about weightlifting that they didn’t care as much about the business and they wanted to move to Charlotte. So they were going to close the gym. And I was like, Well, I want to find another gym. And that’s this discussion about it or not, but about a corner. So I walked Up to coach and I said, Hey, can I buy it, so we don’t have to close it. And you know, there’s people that love it and would love to come here. And it’s a sure. And we came up with a number. And I was lucky enough, I there was another gentleman in the gym that, that I approached about being a partner. And he’s a police officer and Chesapeake. That’s fantastic, guys. So we partnered up and branded gym and just, I can’t tell you, you know, when you sweat, and you feel like you’ve got to die, how, you know, bond is formed to so many people. And for them to be there and be a part of that, that journey. And then we were able to last year transition to a young couple that is extremely passionate about the wellness and what they were going to do with the gym. So it’s it’s in great hands, and they’re continuing just awesome work. It was it was one of the best experiences.

Chad Franzen  25:50  

So you founded the Opus Group of Virginia in 2010, and then renamed it to Opus, well, strategies, LLC 2017. Why did you decide to start your own company?

Danijel Velicki  26:01  

Just so what? So one of the things that I’ve found in, in the financial world is that there’s two camps, there’s the insurance and investment camp. And insurance people don’t like investment, people invest and people don’t like insurance people which both are needed in a situation to be successful when it comes to financial future and dependents. So I found that to be a very big problem with the industry. So I sought people that thought like me that, you know, I I learned a lot about insurance and investments. There were gentlemen that learn more about the investments in insurance. And I found two guys that were incredible Jim and Forrest, and we decided to form the company. And he was very much a macro. Look at everything that somebody is doing. And I, you know, I was talking about that’s a Sqwire named Chrome. I was always talking about, you know, medieval times, you know, who had the most money that a big old castle, we build the castle, but then they also had a moat. So nobody came in and stole stuff, which is, you know, car insurance and wills and disabilities and life insurance and health and all the things that are needed, but nobody teaches about right. So we formed a company in 2010. And did great. And then Jim had to move and Forrest kind of wanted to semi retire. And really, we renamed the company because because so many people are like, Oh, you guys just work in Virginia, like now, like we were, you know, we applied to San Diego, and you know, I mean, all over the place. So I renamed it to office wall strategies, just because it wasn’t geographically kind of, you know, limiting.

Chad Franzen  27:35  

So you are, you’re also the CEO at Sqwire, who you’ve mentioned a couple of times, what, what does Sqwire do? And why did you decide to create Sgwre.

Danijel Velicki  27:45  

And so, you know, 20 years working with individuals and business owners, you know, sitting across from them. And it didn’t matter what school they went to didn’t matter how much money they made, didn’t matter what kind of degrees they held. If I ask them enough questions, they most of the time had no clue what they were doing financially, and just goofy stuff like, you know, umbrella policies, or, you know, the ductable and car insurance or eliminate some car insurance or wills, or just just, I would ask questions that it just didn’t know what I was talking about. So I had to teach and teach and teach. I was like, How is it this, you know, possible that just so many people that are so intelligent, so successful, so great, just don’t know. And I did a bit of research, a couple of providers out there that I really didn’t care for, from the way that the business started writing curriculum for true financial education. And that’s a second problem with the whole financial world is everybody’s selling something. So a lot of individuals feel like, and again, doing a lot of research, post Sqwire development, a lot of individuals feel like especially they get into 30s and 40s, that they are embarrassed to ask questions, they’re embarrassed to, you know, where they potentially are, they don’t want to be sold in interest to many people. And they feel silly that they don’t know what they should know. So they just kind of, you know, stick their head in the sand and don’t do anything about it, which is a decision in itself, right? So I started writing curriculum that would be allowing people to put themselves in a position of knowledge rather than, you know, being being sold you know that that’s a position of weakness just because you don’t know enough you don’t know what questions to ask you don’t know the options and everything and then you depending on a person across from you, to either be a good person or a bad person, and they’re both obviously. So really, that’s what Sqwire was, was was formed. And it’s funny, the story that kind of hit home for me, one of my really good friends, he was a surgeon, fantastic guy, kind of random surgery department and stuff. And he took a job of being a CEO of an of a hospital and in a different state. And we had dinner and I was like, John, you love surgery? Like what? What the heck are you doing? He was like Daniel, listen, you and I love the hugs. And he was my client for a long time. He is like, we love The fact that we get to sit across from somebody tell them it’s going to be okay. Right? I get them to to fix them. And then I assume and post op and give me a hug. And like, we can only do that so many hours a day, we’re very limited, right? We’re technicians. But now I get to go into hospital impact the procedures, the systems, the quality of the whole, the whole entity, which means I’m impacting the whole community that this hospital touches, which means I’m now impacting 1000s of people’s lives rather than one at a time. So whenever I started Sqwire, he said, Hey, doing the same thing. Because you know, I love the hugs that we that we have when you’re sitting across from somebody, and we’re talking about stuff personally. But now, I can put it into an organization and I can put it into their employees hands and members. And given just knowledge that you’re not going to be sold, you’re going to be empowered, you’re going to be put in a place where understanding things that you need to understand. And whenever the decision comes to do whatever you need to do, you’re going to know exactly what it is you want to know where to go, you’re going to know who to call, and you’re going to know what to do. So it’s it’s that empowerment piece, but now I can do it on a large scale. And it just, I just feel like felt like a call, like I just had to do it.

Chad Franzen  31:12  

Sure, sure. What what type of client would likely benefit from the services that Sqwire provides?

Danijel Velicki  31:20  

You know, it’s, it’s, it’s the biggest problem. And the biggest benefit that we have that we face is that the market is so huge, right? So there’s, every employer can have squires an employee benefit for their employees. When I did all the research, I took about to about 18 months of research. And, you know, read all the surveys read all the results of just you know, reviews and surveys of employees, people lose about a trillion dollars a year in efficiency, effectiveness, absenteeism, just because of stress, financial issues, dealing with household dealing with everything that they’re dealing with, especially Covid gotten even worse. So you know, that’s true dollars from the bottom line of the employers, if we can just help them to figure things out and set them up, right, so they don’t have to take days off, they don’t have to stress they can actually, you know, do well, that would that would save a lot of money and make people better people, but not just employees, it will also make them better fathers better husbands better. Brothers and sisters to be prudent men when it comes to the financial world that they live in. Organizations like we are honored to have to be a partner with somebody like the Honor Foundation, which are helping the transitioning Special Warfare warriors to get into the civilian world, and we teach them everything they need to know. So you know, it’s such a large market with so many potential people that could use this, really so though, what we’re doing now is teaching, teaching that this is something that’s available teaching that it’s not expensive and teaching that it’s really something that should be had. But it’s it’s quite a quite a large marketplace.

Chad Franzen  32:59  

So why are you You know, I would think that most people who pursue finance degrees, they’re kind of just money driven, you know, they’re interested in money, you seem like you’re more interested in helping people and money is just kind of part of it. What sets you apart? Why are you that way?

Danijel Velicki  33:16  

Just, you know, from from the genesis of me coming to America and sleeping on people’s couches and people giving me $100 tips to be able to, you know, pay for my books and Rocco taking care of, you know, given me the shot that he gave me, I’ve just been helped so much I have I feel like I have such a debt to pay to this country and to the people that have taken care of me. And I’m sorry. It’s it’s it’s just something that I could do a little part, you know, that I could have been my The reason the company that the first company was named Opus is because when we were coming up with a name, we couldn’t come up with one unless my wife said, well, listen, you’re like, you’re the only person I know that can’t wait to get up in the morning and Monday and go to work. Because it’s not work. You’re you. You’re like, you’re meant to do this crap. Like your this is your second language. And she knows some of my clients that say that I explained and taught better than most that they’ve heard before. She was like, It’s not supposed to be that way. I was like, Yeah, it’s like, you know, Mr. Holland’s Opus, my life’s work my life symphony. And so Opus name came from the fact that I feel like, for some reason, I was meant to do this. This is my life’s work. I was, you know, I can I can understand it and tell it and teach it and preach it better than most. And I just felt like there was a higher impact to be done. And I learned early in my career. As soon as I didn’t give a crap about the money I made. I made more money, because I just truly care about the outcome for the person I’m teaching and talking to, because I want them you know, there’s nothing like just seeing that aha moment and hearing that oh my god. I finally get it and we’re gonna be okay. Like that’s, there’s no price tag to that. There’s just nothing and then being a part of somebody’s life and you see all that stuff happening and things that you’re working on are coming to real realization. If I can do that on a grander scale and be able to give that would, by way of Sqwire and give that gift to more people that would be like, they want to talk about, you know, successful life, that would be the ultimate success from my standpoint.

Chad Franzen  35:29  

Yeah, wow. Well, hey, you really have an inspiring story. And it’s been a pleasure speaking with you. I wish you’ll find out where can people find out more about everything you have going on?

Danijel Velicki  35:38  

So I mean, the website is good sqwire.com, and it’s SQW IRE and then my LinkedIn page, if anybody wants to reach out and say hi, and chat, I love doing those. But it’s just Danijel Velicki can you can put it up in your thing. It’s DANIJEL, my dad, you know, added the J which was great. That’s the Croatian way of spelling it. I love to people that reach out and I love anybody that wants to, you know, learn anything that I can teach them. That’s like I said, that’s my passion.

Chad Franzen  36:08  

Okay. Hey, that sounds great. Thank you so much, Danijel. I really appreciate your time.

Danijel Velicki  36:12  

Chad, appreciate it, man

Chad Franzen  36:13  

Thank you. Thanks. So long, everybody.

Outro  36:15  

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