Dr Daniel Moses’s Road to Success

What does a typical day look like for Dr Daniel Moses?

I think over the years, one thing I did actually struggle with was how to really structure myself. How I have learned to structure myself is by getting into a very serious morning routine. So normally, when I get out of bed in the morning, I say my prayers to God, for giving me another opportunity to live my life to wake up to see my lovely wife and my kids. After I will just go downstairs, have a sit down by the dining table, whilst I have a glass of water. I will then get a 5k run in and by the time I’m done, what I used to do until recently was to get my daughter ready for school and drop her off there. As of April however, when my wife quit her 9-5 job after a 25-year career she now does the morning school drop-offs, I get some extra time to listen to a podcast, watch a motivational video on YouTube, or anything else that will feed my mind. I tend to also map out the five major tasks to complete for the day and plan my delegation to my team. So this is how I normally start my busy day. Once in a while, every other three months, I usually will have a property project ongoing. Most of my projects are very local to where I live. So normally I would visit my sites three times a week as well. A typical day in my life is usually very hectic but I think at the moment I’m trying to get into speaking with investors almost every single day and doing sales calls every other day. But for now, it’s basically still me on the come up where I’m really trying to structure myself to have a more productive day.

What do you think is the biggest reason for your success?

I think the biggest reason for my success is my family. I’m one of the youngest in my family (brothers and sisters) and in the past few years a lot of them look up to me, even the older ones. I’ve also got my amazing son and daughter and of course, my wife who is the greatest human I’ve ever come across. People say that charity begins at home, right? If you’re not able to inspire those that are very close to you, then who are you going to inspire outside? Success is something I’m very passionate about and I’m so glad that I can show my family that if I can achieve it, they can achieve it too.

Why do you think people fail?

I think the reason why people fail in life is a lack of purpose. Purpose has always been very important to me. I’ve been on an entrepreneurial journey for 17 years now. For the very first 12 years, I did not have clarity. I did a little bit of anything that anyone can think of – from selling cars to selling clothes, to having an internet café, to working as an Uber driver. I lost my business in the oil & gas sector in Nigeria but I think losing everything back in 2015 is what

motivated me to seek clarity and purpose. My faith in God helped me majorly. I did not know exactly who or what I wanted to become. I wanted to be successful but initially, I didn’t understand the vehicle that was going to lead me there. But then I discovered property. I started with rent to rent – or renting other people’s property with their permission. I also began deal sourcing, where you find people who are looking for property opportunities and you trade it for cash. Then I started acquiring properties by learning how to find investors’ finance, and through that process, I was able to buy, refurbish and refinance properties which allowed me to pay my investors and continue buying properties. Which very quickly allowed me to grow my property portfolio from £1.5 million to £2 million, and then from £2 million to £2.5 million. Gradually, the numbers just kept increasing and increasing, and they keep increasing as we speak. I think a lot of entrepreneurs make that same mistake all the time, because most of them start off doing too much and not focusing on one particular business for long enough. They’re never giving one thing enough time to actually make it a success.

How do you balance family life and running a business?

First of all, I need to give my wife a lot of credit and thank her for everything she does. My busy life means I’m always somewhere and she’s had to sacrifice a lot to make it all work. I discovered the true meaning of work-life balance in 2021 and the thing is that it looks different for different people. After 17 years of grafting, I now have my goals aligned with being able to enjoy my life too. I’m starting to introduce my family to the business too – after 25 years in the corporate world, my wife has now joined my company. My children on the other hand come to business meetings, dinners and networking events with me and so I’m able to interact with the even more on a daily basis. The delegation of tasks to my growing team means that I get some of my weekends and evenings back, and I even get to enjoy important date nights or frequent short breaks away with my beautiful wife, and family time away with the kids doing what they want to do.

Has there been a time when you were ready to give up? What kept you going?

Absolutely. Many times. In 2015, after losing my business, I nearly gave up and became a delivery driver. I felt like I’d tried so many times and I felt defeated. I felt like someone who’s gone to battle and lost everything. I was in that job for about two months and I then became an Uber driver. I kept asking God to show me the way and after some time, I suddenly got my fire back to look for new opportunities. And the rest is history. Keep believing and keep fighting – I promise you’ll get to where you want to be eventually.

What’s a lesson you learned in 2021 that you have brought with you into 2022?

2022 is a massive year for me and it will be a year of reset. We went crazy during all the lockdowns. We worked extremely long hours with no breaks and it did pay off. 2021 was extremely successful but we had to sacrifice our sanity. Because of how hectic everything was, we never revisited things so this year, we need to focus on playing catch-up with our success.

2022 is the year of revisiting and remapping for greater success in 2023. 2021 showed me that planning and structure are key, and this is what we’re doing now – restructuring and revamping our operations in preparation for bigger things.

If you had to start all over again, what is the one thing you’d change?

Personal development – spiritually, physically and mentally. I never understood the importance of personal development until I started developing myself as an individual. Everything changed.

What’s your biggest regret in business?

My biggest regret in business was not knowing that successful people buy themselves a seat on the table. And it took me a long, long, long time to discover that successful people don’t wait to become successful. They make success happen.

Why did you choose property as a vehicle for wealth?

It’s so simple. Property is the one thing that stands the test of time – we all need a house to live in.

Is there another sector you’re interested in?

I’m passionate about speaking about success and I’m very passionate about talking about wealth. I would love to be a keynote speaker talking about how anyone can become successful in life, the core principles of success, family well-being, health, spirituality and freedom.

What motivates you?

The very first thing that motivates me is being able to wake up every morning next to my wife and see my kids around me. This motivates me to do something more creative every day that will challenge me so that I come back home and feel fulfilled. I also love to create opportunities. I’m a creator. So being able to have a conversation that leads to something that creates an opportunity or a great relationship is something I’m very passionate about. And finally, what motivates me every day is the people outside of my family who support me, especially on social media. Me and my business partner connected through social media. A lot of my friends today are people I met thanks to social media. So being able to inspire these people every single day to be the best version of themselves is the reason why I do what I do. My biggest goal in life is to grow myself to become one of the biggest and most influential Nigerians to inspire and transform others’ lives.

What’s your favourite book?

The best book I’ve read is the 10x Rule. It’s a book that tells you that everything you do in life is good, if you really want to be successful, you should do it 10 times better. If you’re thinking about something once, think about it 10 times. Think about the effort you put into it and multiply it by 10. This is when success will find you. It’s a great book and a great life rule to live by.

What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

Don’t be in a rush and develop yourself. Learn from successful people and ask questions about what they did to become successful and how they did it.

What’s one thing that you wish you were better at?

I wish I could streamline everything I do and delegate more so other people can fully run my business. I am working hard at trying to remove myself from being so hands-on. I’m finding it difficult but I’ll get there.

Does money equal happiness?

Well, I think it’s quite a contradicting topic. The truth is that it’s a no and a yes. The obvious truth is we all get up in the morning, have our showers and go to work to get paid. Right? An entrepreneur sells their product to get paid. So, the realistic truth is that money plays a huge part in your happiness. But I do believe that money has a significant part to play if you want to be happy because you’re not happy when you can’t afford the basic things in life. Nobody’s ever happy that they can’t buy the truly deserved meal that they actually wanted to eat. So overall money plays a part in your happiness but it should never be the end goal. Money can buy you a house but a wife, children, laughter and love are what make it a home.

You can find Daniel on Instagram @dr.danielmoses and find out more about what he does at www.propertywealthcorp.com