Daniel Hansen

Think bigger! Creating a company, engaging the right team, sourcing financing and funding is easier with higher ambitions.

 

Entrepreneur Daniel Hansen has a unique outlook on the world of work, surrounding his business, collaborators and clients with people who are innovative, creative and as passionate about work as they are about quality of life. He has been building businesses his whole life, and he knows the mindset of entrepreneurs and the challenges they face.

Daniel founded OMNIA Global as an innovative investment house, which looks at the market in a unique way, with clients who have a mindset of freedom and financial independence.

He believes in challenging conventional thinking across financial markets, enabling growth for like-minded entrepreneurial people and projects. He creates smart financial solutions for people who want to do better – from family office services, equity leasing, asset-backed financing to funding film productions. “At OMNIA Global, we take nothing more seriously than the business of investing other people’s money, and treat it as if it is our own.”

His vision for the future is to expand the brand, using its own financial tools to expand the business through its subsidiaries, and to invest in other companies, which fit the OMNIA mindset. He’s also committed to developing the Omnia Foundation. For Daniel, the Omnia Foundation is personal, improving quality of life for people and animals that need help.

A Danish native living in Switzerland, Daniel is not your typical businessman. You will rarely see him in a suit and tie, and he prefers to hold meetings outside of traditional meeting room settings. He created his first company aged just 16, selling computers to farmers. He then ran a business making booking systems for the hospitality industry. Later Daniel worked in IP telephony, before turning his attention and business acumen to investments and creating OMNIA.

Where did the idea for your company come from?

My main interest is business development and improving entrepreneurial companies. By being an investment company, we have the opportunity to influence a company, which we have not build up from scratch. It’s more fun to be part of something that’s already working and then accelerate growth by a multiple. Also, it is the only way to get access to many different sectors at once, and thereby be inspired, as it provides diversified days with people looking at things differently than myself.

To me, it is not about building a company, having funding rounds, and then selling the company to build up a new company. It is about getting companies to work together, having constant development, and thereby putting the pieces of the puzzle together in new ways, and in ways that make us less dependent on other investors and their deadlines. For OMNIA, alternative financing is a way of becoming part of something without the investors we are trying to avoid.

Finally, focus is on enjoying the journey, rather than depending on a hedge fund manager’s deadline – especially after reading The 4-hour work week by Timothy Ferriss. At OMNIA, we have a lifestyle-oriented focus.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I have four main philosophies when it come to a productive day:

1. The book Getting things done by David Allen – divide your projects into mini projects and actions that are easy to overcome
2. The Pomodoro Technique – a time management method where focus is 100% on a project for 25 minutes with no disturbances
3. The book Eat that frog! by Brian Tracy – start with the most boring tasks, as it will give you more energy for the rest of the day to be creative
4. Proactive vs. reactive – the more proactive I am, the more I am in control of my day. I focus on my own priorities rather than others’ ideas of priorities. It’s a conscious decision about what is most important each day

How do you bring ideas to life?

First of all, you do not get ideas in a dark room – get out, meet people, travel, read and reflect. Meeting different cultures and business areas spark new ideas.

Rather than completely new ideas, I get ideas on how to improve already existing things. My ideas are often a 20% improvement of current working ideas.

I constantly reflect on why things are the way they are and on the reason why it is not done better.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Alternative financing! Easier access to financing for entrepreneurs, as it is simply just easier to succeed if you have funding. Today, there are some many options to start your business without the banks – crowd founding, equity funding, lending funds, mini bonds, etc. It makes it easier for entrepreneurs to be independent of fund managers and thereby creating a better world, more freedom and more focus on better products and services. .

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Being proactive vs reactive. By choosing what my main priorities are, I decide where we as a company and myself as a person are going.

Ideally, I spend two to three hours a day on reactive things responding to e-mails, meetings and calls and the remaining time on proactive prioritised and planned activities

What advice would you give your younger self?

Think bigger! Creating a company, engaging the right team, sourcing financing and funding is easier with higher ambitions.

People you meet all have different ambition levels and mirror themselves in the same kinds of people. You have to engage yourself with people that either are or aiming for the same level as you, whether that be personal development or business goals – otherwise they will drag you down.

Therefore, do not take advice from people who are not as ambitious as yourself – they will only tell you that your dreams are impossible.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

You have to act and operate on the level you are aiming for, as it engages the people you need to get there. In my opinion, people are too focused on the present.

You should sell your ambition and look ahead. Tell people about the journey you are on and let them be part of that journey. Use it as your marketing strategy, but be aware that it is a strategy that requires high ambitions.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Structure your bigger plans into small executional projects or actions – even a call, an e-mail, reflection etc. No project is too big if the actions are small enough. Using the methodology of the book Getting things done makes every project manageable and easy to overcome. Make sure to have deadlines on the small projects to control and handle timing.

And remember rewards – when you’re done go do something fun! Focus is on quality of life!

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

For me, solving a difficult problem makes you more unique in the market, so you don’t have to focus on pricing or how to get clients. People pay more for quality and with less supply and competitors your margins are higher. It is difficult to create asset-backed bonds – therefore we are unique, and people are willing to pay for our services.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Trusting the wrong investors or partners can make your company sinkable even though you are running a good business. Something good can go wrong with trusting the wrong investor.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

It is easier to get involved in a business that is already running than to start something from scratch

But also: A bad idea that is executed well, is better than a good idea that is never executed.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Definitely books: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, Measure What Matters by John Doerr and Powerful by Patty McCord.

Books are the best way for the smallest amount of money to get inputs and be inspired.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

OmniFocus for my personal tasks and time management (based on “Getting things done”)

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Getting things done by David Allen! I’ve read it several time since I read it the first time about 15
years ago. The main thing is to do your daily tasks before noon and use the afternoon on thoughts
that move your business and life forward.

What is your favorite quote?

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever”

Steve Jobs

Key Learnings:

• Focus is on the journey, not a specific end goal
• Be proactive rather than reactive
• Read “Getting things done” by David Allen

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