DANNY MIRANDA

Storytellers are exceptional and for a reason. Impacting the lives around them with their stories, they can light up someone's world. But, what motivates them to wake up and show up every day — well, that's what piques our curiosity, isn’t it? Today, we'll discover one such storyteller who values life and strives to maintain quality and discipline throughout.

A famous podcaster and writer, Danny Miranda, says he is a staunch lover of life. His friends introduce him as someone who's always looking at the bright side. On a regular day, you'll find him writing, recording videos, and podcasting. But who is Danny Miranda really? At the core, he is a communicator who aims to empower people to pursue the highest versions of themselves and raise the consciousness of humanity — one person and one day at a time.

An eternal optimist with infectious positivity, Danny has been blogging ever since he was 13. From a blogger to a podcaster, his life is a fascinating illustration of how a creator can craft his journey with self-awareness. Let's unearth some of his early influences and what makes Danny authentic and committed.

Danny started relatively young! He was only 13 when he observed how bloggers around him accessed the internet, which inspired him to write and start a blog. 

"The blog was similar to what I do today, but at 13, very few took me seriously. After two months, I stopped blogging as I didn't have the consistency or discipline to keep going. But I also wanted to be a kid and experience middle school. Remarkably, my early internet days were about realizing the internet's power to a level that no kid around me grasped."

Danny's curiosity as a child sowed the ideas he could reap as he grew older. One of his early influences, Darren Rowse, the creator behind Pro Blogger, was a solid nod in the right direction. When Danny read his work, he dreamt of becoming like him one day. Gary Vaynerchuk was another influence, and Danny recalls a piece he wrote about Gary in 2009. Although Danny knew him, the world was yet to know him. When he was 15, he decided it was about time to start another blog, and start he did — with a blog on an NBA team.

Although he enjoyed the power of creating, he pursued the blog only for a year and a half before dropping it.

After college, Danny floated an e-commerce store and started documenting his experience with it. He also created a Twitter profile in June 2018 to tweet his learnings. While a college graduate's fundamental thought is to take up a job, Danny was keener on his dropshipping venture.

"I knew the internet works, and I wanted to do something similar to what I did when I was 13-15. I thought I've tasted success with it, and if I put my mind to what I do, I'll make it successful. I was confident!"

In those days, Danny spent hours on Twitter seeking feedback on his first advertisement and sought advice on his next step after setting up the e-commerce store. He maintained his connections by updating them about the progress to keep them involved. While his first store was a golf equipment store, later, he transitioned into a gifting store where customers could buy personalized gifts like key chains or anniversary presents. 

"I used to check out the best selling items on AliExpress or look at different advertisements on Facebook to understand what worked."

Both the dropshipping ventures were successful from Danny's perspective — he moved to San Diego, got to work with the guy who brought him into dropshipping and learned a great deal. After working in dropshipping for a couple of months, his heart wasn't really in it as it felt like he was doing it only for money. So, after dropshipping, he moved on to fitness, and got a personal training certification and was contemplating whether he should put his services out there — but COVID hit, and the world went into a lockdown.

"I told myself there won't be any personal training jobs and wasn't sure if I wanted to take that route. Instead, I decided to create content as I used to when I was 13."

Internally, Danny had transitioned — from reading to meditating first thing in the morning — he began to witness a personality shift. 

Danny expresses how he discovered certain compassion towards others and the urge to uplift people through pure optimism and energy. He remarks how he identified his negative traits, acknowledged them, looked at death in the face for the first time, and slowly began to heal. As a matter of fact, Danny compares this journey to going into a cocoon and emerging as a butterfly, which we think is beautiful and applies to every human who transitions. Another creator, Tej Dosa, was who inspired Danny's transition.

"When I saw Tej's tweets, I used to think he was different and that there was something about his energy. I wondered how he got to that point and desired getting there too. I knew he used to meditate, and after following him for more than a year, I started meditating. He was the nudge that helped me get into that level of introspection."

Danny signed up for the 75 Hard Program with Tej during a dark time, where he fostered positive habits like working out, hydrating, reading, and maintaining a clean diet. Apart from meditation, he also began to connect with more people. During those 75 days, he wasn't on Twitter, maintained a notebook to jot down his insights and aha moments!

"I had content ideas and was pumped to do a bunch of things; the program also helped me develop a discipline which enables me to create three podcasts every week. Whether I am feeling it or not — I imbibed the discipline to create and that if I commit, I should honor it."

Danny accumulated about 7,000 Twitter followers during his dropshipping days, and people cared about his thoughts. However, his follower count dropped to 6,000 in three months.

While he started with fitness-related content, he moved on to his interests. Eventually, he started reaching out to his Twitter followers because he was curious about their lives and wanted to know them better. After some phone calls with his followers, he was blown away and realized how much he enjoyed talking to strangers. 

"I thought I should record these conversations as someone might find them valuable in 2031 — my kids may love to hear them; I'd like to get to these conversations 20 years from now. So, that's how I started recording and making the podcast. The rest is history."

Also, Danny doesn't focus on metrics as much — it rarely bothers him if he's losing followers; what matters are his learnings and progression.

When Danny floated the podcast, he was sure he wanted to keep his theme quite broad for flexibility. Besides, he aspired to structure the content around himself like Tim Ferris or Joe Rogan.

"Those two are my favorites, and their podcasts follow the host's passions. Although it's tricky to grow a podcast around yourself as it's challenging to get people to trust you, I was confident I could convince people."

More exciting things were on the cards! In 2020, Danny tweeted to Gary Vee that he was on my dream guest list, and Gary liked it. Danny went back to a 2009 post where he wrote about Gary and plugged that tweet in — in no time, Gary followed him back.

It was easier for Danny to get guests on the podcasts as Gary Vee was on it after 39 episodes. But, one thing is for sure — Danny felt like it was a sign from God that he was on the right path.

Right now, The Danny Miranda Podcast is in the top 1% of podcasts in the world, and he drops a new episode on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Danny handles recording, hosting, research and production on his own. Apart from the podcast, he's exploring Instagram and YouTube too. 

Danny focuses on things that bring him joy, and if he's committed to something, he lives up to it. His newsletter The Tuesday Treasure started in May 2020, and while Danny hasn't been consistent in the previous month due to the lack of bandwidth, he intends to get back to it as he enjoys it. 

"I started the newsletter to create content around my thoughts and what I was reading in the quarantine. I was reading many interesting things that I was keen on sharing with the world, but I haven't been consistent, so shame on me!"

He stayed away from creating his newsletter when he was no longer enjoying it, but he loves creating his podcasts, so he focuses on what brings him joy to avoid burnouts.

Lucky Trader, an upcoming NFT platform, hired Danny to help with their podcast. While Danny intends to launch that podcast, he remembers starting the podcast to fetch him more work and connections. 

For now, he is keen on accumulating a following with great content, which will eventually bring more work and money.

Danny says he wants to be one of the biggest podcasts globally, and that is his calling. He is also excited to launch Lucky Trader's NFT podcast as it's an incredible opportunity to explore the NFT world on a deeper level. 

"With the world moving towards the NFTs, it's a way to be on the cutting edge. Besides, I can get better as an interviewer and connect with smart and interesting people. It'll also allow me to keep doing my podcast, which is my pride and joy; I'm excited about life, and my optimism is just through the roof."

In ten years, Danny intends to help other creators rise to his level. But in ten years, he also wants to grow to the magnitude of Gary Vaynerchuk's level or Joe Rogan's.

With his contagious optimism and vigor for creation, we're confident Danny will create opportunities for those around him. There shall be more stories brewing hot with his rich experiences — and we can't wait to hear them.