The making of the monster motivator.

In 1998, Dave Daley was a man on a completely different path: a high-school dropout operating a failing small business. One day he lost control of his motorcycle while riding on the back roads of Vermont. He bounced into a wall of boulders that sent him flying in the air into a tree. When the paramedics arrived, it was unclear whether he would even survive.

But survive he did. And the experience awakened him to his own, previously unrecognized potential. The day he left the hospital, he made a conscious decision to begin the amazing journey that would change the course of his entire life. Dave began to study everything he could get his hands on relating to personal development.

Twelve months after his accident, he had sold his struggling business for a profit and built a successful emergency response company and a fire restoration business at the same time.

The secret to his breakthrough success? He learned to identify the fears that were holding him back from taking action—and he discovered the way to break through them, one barrier at a time.

An entrepreneur is born.

In his 25 years as a businessman/entrepreneur, Dave has built and sold three successful companies and crashed one into the ground. In the mid-’90s he co-founded a public adjusting firm in Philadelphia, which he grew into a profitable business and sold in just five years. In 2000, he entered the fire restoration industry, establishing a thriving business and selling his stake for a profit in 2007.

In November 2008, he acquired a struggling sports nutrition store in San Diego and, despite the ongoing national financial crisis, revived it through an innovative combination of marketing and branding efforts. In 2012, he sold it for a profit, and in 2013 opened his second fire restoration business, which he still operates today in California.

At the end of 2014, the doors of his restaurant Bully Burgz were opened. By April 2015 the doors were closed for good, leaving him with more real world wisdom and experience than any university in the world could provide.

Dave has experienced first-hand the power of leadership—at every level of an organization—to drive success or invite failure. He also understands the pressures of the commission-based salesperson, having spent eight years working for 100 percent commission in outside sales before he founded his first business.

For anyone in that situation, as is equally true for the C-suite or for the self-employed go-getter, being your own leader is essential. Dave lives out the proven approach he shares with his audiences and followers every day: Leadership through motivation, inspiration, and perspiration.