65: How Do You Define Success in Your Business Beyond Profit?

Behind Their Success: Ep 65

Paden: Daniel N

Paden: [00:00:00] if you're happy with your life, day to day, you're successful Hello, everybody.

Welcome to behind their success podcast. I'm Peyton Squires, the host. And today we have on

Daniel Nickick. He is a global investment research expert and founder of coherent research with

over a decade of experience. Daniel has analyzed more than 15, 000 companies in sectors like

AI software and data, helping venture capitalists and high net worth individuals make

He was raised in Canada, but now lives in Croatia where he specializes in the U. S. European

and Middle Eastern markets. Daniel, welcome on Behind Their Success.

Daniel: tell us a little bit more about you, you know, you kind of grew up in Canada, right?

Yep. My parents are originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina present day, which was Yugoslavia

back in the late 60s. And then they went to Canada. And I grew up in a pretty small town called

Alton Hill. So it's outside of Toronto. I went to school, educated everything in Canada. And then

once I finished university. In [00:01:00] 2009, it was kind of when the financial crisis happened.

So it was like, what are you going to do? And I think when you're younger, you're more willing to

take risks.

Roll the dice. And I thought, why not see how life is in Europe? And then I ended up moving to

Europe and I ended up staying. And I've been here for over, it's going to be 16 years

Paden: you know, interesting enough, you know, me, it sounds like me and you are about the

same age. I kind of came out of college that same time period, like oh nine, 2010. I just went to

grad school because like I couldn't get a job. So like coming out and amazingly enough, you

know, I'm coming out of college or undergrad with a finance and accounting degree in the

middle of, you know, the entire financial markets just melting down.

All these people getting fired and laid off and me who knows nothing. Obviously didn't have a

great chance to get a job.

Daniel: Well, interesting enough. I did accounting too. Yeah. Oh yeah. I started off in

accounting. I switched to international business in 2007. I'm like, Oh, the markets are going

[00:02:00] good international.

And then the crisis came. I'm like, Oh, I should've stuck to accounting. Debit equals credit.

Paden: You know, amazingly enough, it's like accounting. I didn't really enjoy it that much in

undergrad. It was really, yeah. And they're really the only. The only reason I got the major is

because it was just easy to combine with the finance major.

Like, I love finance a whole lot more. I like investments, the stock market, all that kind of stuff.

and ultimately ended up down the accounting track because, okay, it was easy to double major

and, So, um, that's, you know, kind of the track I went down. So, you know, big decision there to

move to Europe, what do you think has been like the biggest benefit of some of the experiences

and stuff you've had.

Daniel: So, um, I think it goes with a lot of people who come from, uh, who are first generation,

say if they're Italian American, Irish American or Indian, et cetera, you kind of have like a culture,

like, are you more Indian or American? I think I went through that definitely when I was, uh,

growing up in Canada, but you realize how more Canadian you are when you leave a country.

there was [00:03:00] definitely a cultural difference because at that time technology, yeah, there

was, it's quite a.

It wasn't that advanced as it is today, and I'm not into social media, but social media wasn't as

popular. Facebook was still like, so so, I guess. you definitely see a difference because

obviously Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, which is a former communist country. And it was weird

for me when I heard like people saying, Oh, the government should pay for this.

The government, and you're not used to it really in North America as much.

so definitely you see the difference in also, uh, economic strategies, but also law because it's

civil law. We have common law in North America, especially Canada. I would say it opened my

eyes because you also see what, uh, how willing people are willing to fight to survive.

Because you don't have as many resources and even entrepreneurs, I think. Eastern Europe is

quite underrated in terms of, opportunity. When you think about it, the first AI company to go

public in the stock market was UiPath, and they're from Romania, [00:04:00] the founder. So it's

quite interesting when you hear stories.

And I think you also see a difference in upbringing, just the education system, etc. Because For

example, in university, if you want to go in Croatia, it's free if you get good grades and Canada

and the States, unless you got scholarship, you have to pay.

Paden: it's the difference of the education systems. Because I think, uh, I would say in North

America, because I'll put Canada and Americas in that category, we're more pushed in terms of

marketing, sales, and even different programs. And I think they have really good technical skills.

And Eastern Europe, I'm saying like in terms of mathematics and IT experts a lot.

Daniel: And I know a lot of companies in America and Canada, they outsource to Eastern

Europe and we see with hackers too. They're smart. They're smart. one thing I would say, which

is really rare, that I've talked to a lot of people who've lived throughout the world, say Germany,

Asia, they said the one good benefit coming to like, I would put [00:05:00] UK in that category to

UK, Canada and America.

It didn't matter where you came from. You had an opportunity to provide. Which was quite rare,

especially now it's changed a bit, but back like 30 years ago, 40, 50 years ago when my parents

immigrated, I think that's quite notable to mention.

Paden: So, you know, kind of turning it back to you, Daniel, you know, and what's your kind of

top skill that allows you to be, successful at work?

Daniel: I think it's always being responsive, always doing what the client wants. I always

customize my work to what a client wants. So say if they want it in a simple email, they know I

want bullet points email. I don't need a nice report. I don't need Excel. I don't need PDF. Put in

an email like I am like.

Just do it like that. Send it to me so I can read it quickly because I'm busy with beatings and etc.

And I'm always responsive. People know me personally. They know if I don't respond within an

hour, I get messages like, are you okay? Are you safe and stuff? So are you sleeping? What's

going on? So that's one thing and [00:06:00] I'm willing to adjust to what the client needs and

want.

I'm not stubborn in my ways because I've worked with quite successful individuals, especially

who are

And I think I've learned to be humble and to keep my mouth quiet, and that's the best way to

learn. And you just see from them. They're the most responsive. From my experience, the most

successful people are responsive, and they're willing to learn from others.

Paden: Yeah, I, I 100 percent agree. I mean, it's the people that are most successful aren't the,

you know, the arrogant, brash, people like that.

It's, and, and people like that can have a level of success or whatnot, but that usually, you know,

that type of attitude is certainly going to limit you. Um, you know, the ego is like the success

inhibitor, um, if anything. I trashing and getting rid of your ego. Um, I mean, that's the only way

you can be open to actually learn anything new and to be able to develop and be, you know,

these successful type people that you're working with.

Daniel: Definitely. And one thing I noticed, [00:07:00] um, if you know someone's from a certain

area or location, or if they have certain interests, and if you have common interests, they like

you a lot more.

You want to work with people that you kind of like. So say if you like hockey, and I like hockey,

we'll talk a bit to St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado, whatever. You just have a

common theme. And I see that at the end of the day, everyone's human, right?

Paden: Yeah.

People just want to know you're competent, like we work in the wealth and tax area, but they

don't want to know that you know what you're doing. other than that, just give them a good

experience. Like seriously, you know, it's like give them a good experience, make them feel

good.

That's really our job, right? Just give them confidence and make them feel good about what is

occurring. it's big. Yeah, and relational, right? Like, I'm really fairly skilled at and developed, you

know, through all my years working with all these different people is to be able to connect with

people and be able to connect with people quickly.

And yeah, first thing I do when I meet somebody, and this is not even like conscious, it's such a

habit at this point, it's like, yeah, I'm sizing them up, right? And like, okay, noticing what

[00:08:00] they're wearing or what they have and like where they're from It's finding some way

where you can connect and really build that trust.

Daniel: Definitely. And it's interesting what you said, what the person is wearing. So not to get

too sidetracked. I remember when I was in university, I had like a summer job working at a local

accounting shop.

And I remember I didn't dress that like formal. And the person said to me, dress like it's a

uniform. It's a sign of respect. And it drilled in my head. And it does matter. You might not think

about it, but even I've worked with people who are successful tech. Entrepreneurs and stuff. And

they're like, they might be wearing a t shirt or a baseball hat, but they're looking at what you're

wearing.

They don't need to dress up. There's they're successful.

Paden: And no, a hundred percent. And I, I've gone through a lot of that transition in my life,

right? Like in the beginning of starting my own business, yeah. I used to dress, really up.

but absolutely you're a hundred percent correct. It, it matters.

And yeah, how you present yourself. Absolutely. but [00:09:00] me, it's like I try to at this point,

my career is just be even more unique. I'm just trying to be myself, right? And I'm a bit more of a

casual type person. and, you know, that's just me being my authentic self.

Daniel: No, I think that's fair to people like authenticity.

Definitely. And I noticed that when I would like work with a lot of VCs, investors, and They would

be like, what's your insight? And they're like, I want what you read in the article or from this

report. What do you believe in? Cause that's what they're paying you for. Yeah. They can use

chat GPT for that now.

Paden: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good stuff. So, you know, do you define success, right?

Like, so how do you define success in your life and kind of what you're doing? Um, just in

general

Daniel: in terms of success in life? I think you have to be content with yourself.

One thing I would say, even in relation, personal life or in business, if you're happy with where

you are, you're not thinking, I wish I could do what that person's doing. Yeah. If you can say, I'm

happy with what [00:10:00] I'm doing, I think that's success. I don't care what you do or what

your salary is or. And I think you have to have a purpose, you have to enjoy it.

I wouldn't say you can't enjoy everything what you're doing. That's impossible. That's fantasy

land. but you should be happy with the vision that you have of what you're doing. I would say

that. And I don't think everyone's fortunate to have that, to be realistic.

Paden: 1 percent of the population may be in my opinion and just in my experience.

And yeah, you're right. Like it's, yeah, when talking about success and whatnot, and it's like,

Yeah, it doesn't even matter how that materially, like, expresses itself in if you're happy with your

life, day to day, you're successful in your life. Because these other people you're looking at that

you may think are success, most people don't have that, right?

Where they're happy day to day. you know, human motivation and purpose. A lot of that just

comes from finding something that, working on something that you're good at. And, and the only

way to get good at [00:11:00] something is to spend a lot of time in it and practice and get reps.

But you have to be, it has to be something that you're good at and you have a bigger, like a, a

bigger vision for it. Like you said, it can't just be about you. It can't just be about making money.

It has to be serving some other human being. Right. and that's really, you know, in my

experience where people actually find fulfillment and success and constant energy to keep

going.

Daniel: I agree. And I think. One thing that defines a person from achieving their goals and not

is getting over their barriers,

Paden: because

Daniel: based on my experience, the most successful I've been with goals or projects is when

it's been the toughest and I grind through it. It's like, okay, I've got to grind through work till like

five o'clock in the morning, just get over this hump.

And then you feel so happy. You feel like Hercules, King Kong.

Paden: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And that's because you broke through something you never broke

through. You [00:12:00] had some major problem, And the only way to solve that is to just sit

there and wrestle with it, right?

And struggle with it until you figure it out. and you're like, you're amazing once you do that and

do that several times. And then you, you, you start to train your brain of like, I can do stuff. I can

figure out stuff. And you have the evidence of it now, right? Which gives you even more fuel to

just kind of keep going

Daniel: Oh, definitely. And the most successful people that I've worked with, they're hard

workers, like they're working weekends and stuff. And it depends. Some people don't want that

life. So everyone has their choice, right? and they're focused, they don't get distracted. I think

you have to have that discipline and routine and not get distracted.

Paden: Distractions are the number one thing. almost everybody every time we have a

conversation with somebody about their business, like when they're presenting, you know,

what's going on in their business, every time it comes back to you need to get more focused and

more clear on what you're trying to even accomplish.

And it's like almost always the [00:13:00] issue, right? It's like people are not focused because if

they got just laser focus on like one area of their business or one area of making money. and get

that in such a great place and then finally move on to that next new shiny object. Right?

Daniel: No, I agree. And I think the other thing is some people when they're building a business

idea, I'm saying this like based on my own experience and working with, uh, founders. I think

they want quick success.

I think the one good thing about life is experience, even in personal and business.

And you have great stories from it too.

Paden: There's many times we have conversations here in the office where I'm like, Oh crap,

something's going wrong. Or like, Oh, this is a big problem. I'm like, well, at least it'll make a

great story someday.

Exactly.

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Paden: back to kind of the beginning, Daniel, like early in your life. So you're leaving, you know,

you're leaving Canada right now and going to Europe.

If you could talk to that guy, that kid, what is one piece of advice you

Daniel: you're not as smart as you think you are. You're not the Wayne [00:15:00] Gretzky or,

uh, Palais. I think I underestimated how, uh, successful and tough it is to move to a different

country. And I would also say that success doesn't come quick.

I grew up quite quickly and you have to be resilient. But I think. I don't regret it because I'm

happy with the person I am today, and I think you really have to be open minded to other

people's thoughts or opinions. And at the end of the day, some people are going to say things

that you don't like, but you shouldn't be too reactive.

I think it's kind of a maturity thing also.

Paden: Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, and it's a maturity thing of, talked about on here. Uh, Viktor

Frankl wrote the book, Man's Search for Meaning. He was a guy that very famous book. He

was, you know, Auschwitz during, during the war and whatnot. And, very profound book.

I think everybody should read it, but it, it talks about the only thing a person can control is the

[00:16:00] response to their, and that gap, that tiny amount of time between. Some stimulus that

answers your brain. Maybe it's somebody saying something to you and your response is about

the only thing you can control and it's, it's becoming more and more aware and becoming more

and more self aware and becoming more and more of like a third party observer, right?

Not being the person in the body that you are. Just reacts naturally, right? Or whatever train

response we have, like somebody yells at you, you know, you may just have a training response

to yell back and it's, it's trying to control that gap to where you can get stimulus and then control

your actual response to,

Daniel: No, I definitely agree. And I think it goes in terms of business too, because you're going

to deal with problems and how you respond to it matters a lot. And I think. I've been the most

inspired by people who know how to deal with stress. You might not like the person, but you'll

respect them at the end.

Paden: Yeah, and, you know, in my experience and stuff I've been through, it's, [00:17:00] the

ability to take on more and more stress or more and more responsibility. It's just a training thing,

right? it's like climbing a mountain, right? Like they climb a mountain in stages, right?

Because as you go up, the oxygen gets worse and worse, right? You get less and less oxygen.

And so it's kind of like that, you know, maybe you have a little success in one area of your

business and the business jumps up. It's amazing how much that can like freak you out because

you're not used to breathing that, like that Lack of oxygen, right? but the amazing thing is once

you stay at that level for a little while, it becomes normal, right? And that's where people that are

able to take on that much trust and responsibility.

Is because it's just normal to them and because they've been exposed to it so much. It's just

their day to day life and, um, they can handle it easily with somebody like me may just get ran

over.

Daniel: I think people who know how to deal with stress and stuff, they seem to be the most

positive just being positive and just thinking, okay, what's the solution.

Okay. We've got a problem. Let's not jump to the first [00:18:00] solution because I used to be

like that hence experience. Oh, the first solution is the best one layer. Like, Oh, I got another

three problems. Now I should have brainstormed a bit better.

Paden: Yeah. And it's, finding the actual linchpin and the actual issue there is, um, yeah, it takes

a little discovery and, and entrepreneurs often want to avoid the actual linchpin issue, right? Like

the biggest issue that's holding back the business because it's probably don't want to solve,

right? Otherwise they already solved it and then they waste all their time.

solving all these smaller problems that they know how to solve because that feels good. And,

and, and amazing enough is like, you know, you may have a list of like one through five of your

priorities that you need to work on your business. And number one is this massive thing that you

don't know how to solve.

And then you got to say two through five, you'll work on two through five because that's easy

stuff for you. But amazingly enough is like, if you can fix number one, maybe two through five

don't even matter. Right? So it's, Because like if you fix one, maybe two, three, and four are like,

well, those go away at problems anyway.

it's always trying to get more [00:19:00] focus in fixing the one issue, the one bottleneck, um, the

most major bottleneck and open that up.

Daniel: No, I agree. Definitely.

Paden: One last question for you. So, What have you found is like your most rewarding

experience kind of, kind of on your journey here?

Daniel: I got to experience a lot of different cultures. I don't think I would have experienced that

if I stayed in Canada. I probably would have worked corporate. I'm not making fun of corporate

or anything. But I wouldn't want the entrepreneurial right? Because I think in, uh, there's a lot

more opportunities to work corporate in Canada compared to, uh, Europe, and I went, I traveled

throughout Central Eastern Europe, went to UK, Germany, Spain, Middle East, I never would

probably went to UAE or Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

And one thing I was shocked when I was in Saudi Arabia, I was like, it's so clean I did not see

one piece of garbage And the hospitality. I felt like a king there. I'm like, well, I might as well

move here now, I think it's also learning about, um, you get different [00:20:00] opinions, you

learn about how people operate because I would say in the Middle East, they're very polite, very

respectful in Eastern Europe. They're more direct. What's the point that, uh, in UK, they're more

like, okay, let's build business relationships in America.

It's like, let's find a solution. Let's move fast. So you learn a bit, a lot of different cultures in a

way. And then you incorporate all and formulate your own strategy.

Paden: Yeah. And I think that's insanely valuable, right? Like to, to get involved in all these

different cultures. Cause like in reality, like, you know, obviously no culture has the a hundred

percent truth, right.

Of And it's cool to get exposed to all these different business people and how all these people

just go about living life. Right. And then you can just take whatever makes sense to you. Right.

And, and I think getting exposed and, and, I'm a guy from a small town in central Missouri.

So like, you know, my experience in life of growing up is such a tiny experience compared to

what the whole planet is. Right. And in, you know, [00:21:00] we all, as humans take our,

experiences as kids and like. We just naturally think, okay, that's how the whole world works.

and it's wrong. It's not, and how you view the world is not holistic truth.

And you talk about, you know, humility. It's, I love the analogy of like, you know, your view of the

world, your experiences of the world. It's almost like looking out like the peephole and your front

door. Yeah. And that's like the percentage of the world you're, you're actually seeing and

experienced. And I think that's just important to remember from like a humility standpoint, like we

talked about humble earlier.

man, I wish people would understand that politics, especially Hey, just because you believe

something doesn't necessarily make it true. and, and long story short, it just comes back to

humility and being able to realize that you don't know exactly how the world works. And the only

way to do is to, learn more stuff from other people.

Daniel: Yeah, definitely. And people have different experiences. And you can't judge a book by

its cover. That's one thing I [00:22:00] would say. Because you might think, oh, this person might

not have knowledge about this, da da da. They'll shock you with their health and you're like, you

think you're eating healthy? They're like, you're not eating that healthy, da da da.

It's like, okay. And then you take something from them. You learn, you keep on growing.

Paden: Yeah, absolutely. And it's fine in people, you know, anywhere in your life that, you know,

maybe a few steps ahead of you in some sort of area, like maybe health or whatever. Wealth or

business or whatever it is. And like, Hey, kind of being curious and be like, Hey, I wonder what

these are people do and they have something that I would like to have in my life.

Let me learn from them how they got that. And maybe I can implement it. Yeah, definitely. So,

Daniel, it's been a great conversation, man. Like, uh, what is the best way people can connect

with you and get to know more about you?

Daniel: Sure. Uh, the best go to, uh, my website, danielnickick. com and, uh, you can see the

companies I'm working with and you can send me email.

People will know me. I respond to emails, even cold emails. [00:23:00] I'm an email type of

person. I haven't adjusted to, uh, other, uh, social network and I like emails. I'm just used to it

and yeah. So, um, or you can send me a message on LinkedIn and stuff too. You'll see all my

contact details on the website.

Paden: Yeah. Awesome. So it's, you know, look him up guys. Daniel Nick is N I K I C, uh, spell

his last name. but yeah, connect with him, Daniel, man. This is a great, uh, great conversation.

Anything else you want to leave for the listeners before we go?

Daniel: I would just say, uh, be open minded. When, uh, learning about other people's

experiences and when you read something, hence investment research, what's the always

looking at both sides of the story and for having me.

Paden: Yeah, absolutely, man. You know, and, and, it's a guy that also kind of works in the

financial world. Yes, you're right. You should always be looking for evidence that. against what

you believe in your investment, uh, uh, selection. Right. so make sure you get the whole story.

Yeah, definitely.

Awesome. Daniel, man. I [00:24:00] appreciate you coming on and listeners. We will catch you

next time.

Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. If you found it valuable, please rate,

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com. On the website and social media, we're always sharing tips of personal growth, and there

we can actually interact. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks guys.