Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset

Burn the Boats: Danny Flores on Discipline, Legacy, and Playing the Long Game

• Justin Mills • Season 1 • Episode 34

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Episode Summary:

What happens when you burn the boats and commit fully?

In this episode of Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset, Danny Flores shares how he transformed grit into generational wealth. From 16-hour days on job sites to billion-dollar loan syndications, Danny's journey is a blueprint in discipline, vision, and long-term thinking.

Whether you're chasing freedom, building legacy, or facing your own pivot point, this one’s for you.

Key Takeaways:

  • What six years of night school taught him about commitment
  • Why he raised $2M in two weeks under pressure
  • How off-market deals come from reputation, not luck
  • The mindset he uses to stay disciplined (even alone)
  • His long game strategy for generational wealth

Tools & Weapons:

  • Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell - A playbook for reclaiming your calendar and scaling smart
  • Audiobooks + Repetition - Danny listens to ~40 books a year to brainwash himself with better inputs
  • Say No to Say Yes - A mindset tool to guard time and energy
  • Reputation Capital - The invisible currency that wins off-market deals
  • Team-Building as Legacy - How investing in people multiplies your impact

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About Gold Dragon Investments:

At Gold Dragon Investments, our mission is to bring joy to others by helping them win the game of investing. Helping every client become the hero of their financial journey. We believe that wealth is a tool, but joy is the ultimate outcome.

Through meaningful partnerships, we strive to empower our investors to create freedom, and build lasting legacies of purpose, fulfillment, and wealth.

Join Us on the Adventure:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to another episode of Dragon's Gold, the magic of mindset. Today we have the pleasure of having the principal of Prime Capital Investments, Danny Flores. Danny has over 1800 units currently under management in multifamily housing. He's a podcast host of OC Power Players. 84 unit multifamily home in Tucson, Arizona, only two weeks ago. Danny, welcome to the show. Thanks, Justin. Thanks so much for having me. absolutely, my friend. I've been looking forward to it. I consider you absolutely a friend and I'm grateful for that friendship, but I'm excited to share your story and get that out there so we can inspire others together. as I love to do, let's dive in. Let's go to the origin story. Where did it all begin for Danny Flores? Well, yeah, so it's interesting. I've had an interesting career and path in getting to where I'm at now. I started in the building industry at a very young age. I became a general contractor when I was 21. So a total of about 16 years in the building industry. Then I decided I wanted to change careers. So I ended up going back to school. I was lucky enough to get into USC and got a corporate finance degree. I went to school and worked full-time both and made it through. And when I graduated, I retired out of the construction industry and became a banker. So I did loans between 25 million to over a billion dollars syndicating these loans, never knowing that I was going to use some of those skills today. So I had the building, the building and now the finance. And in 2006, I started a property management company. where I grew it from zero zero and I ended up selling it about four years ago. So I also have the property management side. Now in 2000, I was able to save and that's like 25 years ago, I saved $65,000 in about my first fourplex because my dream was always to buy multi-family. And I did that with my money for about 15 years and you can only grow so much because you don't always have the money to do acquisitions. saw a lot of good deals go by. I didn't have the money. I didn't know I can put investor groups together. So about 2018, 2019, I was introduced to syndicating. And syndicating means being able to bring groups of investors together to get a larger pool of equity to be able to do larger acquisitions. And so I needed to learn that piece. I hired a coach for a year to teach me how to raise money and to structure that. And then after that, I started buying larger deals and that's how I was able to scale up. And we've been doing that for about six years now and we're in different markets in four different markets, for different States, everything in California that I had, I sold, California is just too difficult to operate. And right now our primary market is Arizona. We continue to buy deals. We've developed great broker relationships and all the deals that we buy now are basically off market. The power of relationship, going backwards, getting the off-market deals and the opportunities because of the relationships you've cultivated with those brokers to be able to get first dibs, at first right to purchase. It's because you've proven yourself, right? It's because you've put in the time, you've put in the effort, you put in the work, and you've created that relationship, you've nurtured it, you've met the obligations that you started and set. things you said you were gonna do, did. You proved yourself to these people and now with that belief, they come to you first. I bring that up first because in the beginning of what you spoke of, having 16 years in a field, becoming a master of what you do, to make a shift, to pivot, to go back to school full-time and work full-time to be able to change your trajectory consciously with intention. That's powerful. That's discipline. That's an amazing amount of discipline that came about. so while you might be yielding and reaping the results, the benefit of all that hard work now, didn't come easy, right? It didn't come without its trials and tribulations. So speaking of those, are there any moments along that journey that jump out to you that you had to overcome in running the gauntlet? that's a good question. So the hardest thing in doing, making the career change was going to school and working at the same time. Because at that time I was lucky enough to be working with an engineering contractor on big projects in the construction field. So we were up early, very early in the morning and we were using the excavators and cranes and we were forming and pouring huge concrete structures. We worked on bridges, a lot of tunnels. And so you're tired. The point is you're tired. Then I leave work in mid afternoon and I rush to school to be in class for another four hours. And I got to rush back home to to to study and go to sleep because I want to be up again the next morning. So that was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. But but I was committed. That's one thing about me is when I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. rain or shine or whatever I have to do. So I pushed through it. And the interesting or the weirdest thing was that every day I would get a thought in my mind that would say, why are you doing this? And I would quickly follow it up with, this is my way out of what I've been doing. So I knew it was the path because I planned it. I planned every step along the way from what I was going to do. the school I was going to go to, what I was going to study, I got a finance degree, to the jobs that I was going to get once I graduated. The whole thing was mapped out and planned and I knew that as long as I followed that, I would be able to do that. Danny, how many years did you have to do that? six and a half years. Six and a half years. That's an incredible amount of dedication, right? You think about literally in the thousands of days, right? And that's going to school the fall, the spring, and summer. So I didn't take any breaks and I pushed all the way through. Yeah, it was the toughest thing I've ever done. But I don't regret it at all. And it might have hurt in the moment, right? But your why was so relevant. You knew what you wanted. You had a dream. You had an idea, an aspiration, and you knew the road, the path that you wanted to go to get there. And it wasn't without its turbulence. wasn't not difficult, right? You had to pull yourself out of bed. And it probably was incredibly hard. I can only imagine being so exhausted, right? And then going and having to stay sharp so that you can pick up. what the professor or teacher is putting out there, right? Because you'll have to bring it up again for the tests and be able to pass all those quizzes. So you can't fake it. You can't just sleep through the class, right? You had to be present. And I think that's really what I'm getting at is you have to be present in all of that. And you're working with machinery, these huge pieces of mechanical, these ingenious contraptions that have been created, but they're also incredibly dangerous. If you're not careful, you could literally kill yourself or someone else. Right? So you have to be present. And so to have in my point in all of what I'm saying right now is to be conscious of and disciplined to take the necessary action to not quit. How easy would have been to just say, this is too much and I'm done or find excuses why you could have taken a break or stepped back and pulled off the throttle. But you didn't. But you know what? Here's the result. At the end of the six and a half years, the years, the time's gonna go by no matter what, right? So I can either be standing at the end of six and a half years and turn around and look back and say, I would have been done by now if I would have done it, or am I going to say, I'm glad I did it? There was only those two choices, and I had to choose what I was going to tell myself in six and a half years. that simple and I wasn't going to tell myself I should have done it. That was not an option. I it. I love it, my friend. Well, going on that journey, we don't go it alone. Oftentimes there are people that come along with us as allies or mentors. Who might you cite as your fellowship along the journey? This one, I did it alone. Nobody understood what I was doing. I just did it quietly. I worked quietly. I knew what I was going to do, and I did it. I mean, my friends knew, my family, everybody knew what I was doing. It wasn't a secret. They knew I got into USC. I mean, that was a difficult school to get into. I got in. The curriculum wasn't easy, so everybody knew what I was doing, but... But I was my own cheerleader at the time because nobody was going to understand what I was going, what I was putting myself through. Right? And at that time also, I didn't know the power of networking either. Right? This is all things that I have learned along the years. At that time, I didn't have to network because I had built a reputation in the building industry. of what I could do so I never had a problem of looking for work or anything else like that. That was the difference and that's what the things that I had to learn in doing that, that now I have to learn how to network, I have to sell myself. I was going to go out and look for a job in the banking industry. I was going have to interview. God forbid I don't interview. People find me and keep me busy. was stuck. Whole different. turn here. Now I have to run a position and going into a different field that nobody knows me. So was basically starting all over again. That's exactly what I was doing. Well, Danny, that's awesome. The fact that being your own cheerleader in that fashion and pushing yourself forward, it's not something that is easy, right? It's in those dark moments that it's difficult. You knew what you wanted and you had a vision, but oftentimes people, when they don't understand, closed mind says no. And so when they don't understand, it's easy for them to discount or dismiss what you're doing or to question it or to... And to the same point, I think it's also difficult when you're in it and being so disciplined and you see other people just enjoying the day and wasting their money or their time on superfluous items or brain rot technology. But the idea is they're having fun, They're hitting that dopamine and they're enjoying the experience, right? And you're trudging through. But just like you said, then you look back at the end of that six years and making that transition and shift. Mm-hmm. they come? And this is not in any way criticizing those people because they're living their life in the best version of their life. To look back and see how far you've come, that's achieving the success that you set out for. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we were young, right? We were young. I was in my later 20s. I get my friends calling me and saying, hey, let's go to a party. The girls are waiting for you. All right. Like, it's so tempting. But it was like, I can't, you know, I have an exam tomorrow. I got to study. Come on, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. And yeah, I have the devil on one shoulder saying, come on, you can go. And the angels on the other side, nope, stick with it. Stick with it. You got to stick with the plan. And yeah, it was definitely difficult for sure, but you gotta stay focused in anything, right? You stay focused and you say, hey, this is what I'm gonna do and you just do it. So we talk about the darkest hour, a moment along the way that may have been so difficult you want to throw in the towel. I know you cited the schooling aspect and the grueling hours and the constant focus required. Is there a moment in your life, whether professionally or personally, that you felt just like quitting, throwing in the towel and being done? And how did you overcome that? I would say that that's very difficult because I am so disciplined in what I do. Just the thoughts enter my mind. Like when I was going to school every day I had a fight every day mentally. You know the questions was why am I doing this and the answer was keep going. I tell that to myself on a daily basis. Why did I commit to this? But there was never a point where I was not going to do it because I made that decision. Now, fast forward, I would say every time we do a deal, You had that a week before, two weeks before, a week before, and you're raising money and you're behind $2 million on your raise. You get that feeling like, damn, you feel like you're going to get beat up, feel like you're going to have to call the broker and I can't close this deal. And one of the things that's so important in this business is your reputation to be able to deliver as a closer. That's how I get these deals. I've never not been able to close on a deal. I will say that I haven't closed gracefully as I wanted to, but somehow you just gotta keep pounding and pounding and pounding and making calls and you know what? And praying, prayer helps too, right? then we just get it done. And so you feel like it, but I would never... I would never throw the towel in. I'm just not that type of a person. Just yeah, just not an option, right? Burn the boats. Yep. Yep. already. Every time they're burned, it's like there's no way out, there's no plan B, nothing. You just got to do it. And I think that focus and that mindset is what helps you deliver and then building the teams to be able to help you do that and leading them to success. Because if you're successful, they're going to be successful too. And to inspire them and keep pushing. is that's what gets me through every time. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. Teamwork, right? We don't get a job done alone, right? You have to be the person in your head to push yourself. No one's going to do it for you but you. But along the way, there are so many people that do augment or help to support, whether it's a team, whether it's a vendor, whether it's a broker, a relationship, someone who's doing their own independent job completely with their own motive and intention, but someone that you have to work with and align in order to move forward to be able to... to meet the end goal that ultimately both of you want to achieve. Danny, I like to think of passing the torture legacy as a hall of heroes, a massive statue of Danny Flores exists and on it a plaque to say anything that you would want it to say to future generations. What would it say? He changed my life. Because look at what we do. It's not about how much money I can make. How many people can we help elevate? The investors, we work for the investors. And I get, my immediate family, my friends, and then people that I don't know depend on you, right? They invest, they give you their hard earned money because they want to multiply that. and many people don't have access to the deals we have or to be able to buy large deals. So they're going to buy a piece of it and to be able to watch somebody's funds, their retirement funds, their retirement funds grow. I mean, that's kind of great motivating factor. You'll make money. If you do a good job, you're going to make money. You're to make plenty of money. That's going to come. But if you put the investors first and you're able to change their lives. deal after deal. That's good for me. awesome. Absolutely. It fills the bucket, right? Like helps fill your bucket, like brings joy. And that's really what I mean by that is it helps to bring you joy as well. When you bring joy to others. It's a personal mission of mine, and I totally resonate with that Danny. So what's next? What's the next quest for Danny Flores and prime capital investments? Well, I'm lucky enough that I have four boys and two of them want to get into the business. So potentially help them develop into it, come into it and continue to build it out. Create more of a family office structure and be able to make something that would live forever if we can. You know what I mean? Build it and leave it for the future generations. love it. Yeah, literally creating your legacy, right? To the next generation. I love it. Denny, I like to talk about resources, books, weapons. We call it tools and weapons. Books or resources, things that you've had or used, read on your journey that impacted you in your life. Is there anything you'd share with the listeners that you felt was meaningful and you would suggest? Yeah, no, I read a lot. read about 40 books a year. That's my goal, my number goal. I've been meeting that and it's a way of kind of brainwashing yourself to be able to learn more, right? You're not going to remember everything that you read or that you listen to because I do audiobooks. But if you ask me that book, that's going to change you. Number one would go to Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell because as you're building, you have to learn how to build. You're not born knowing it. You gotta learn from somebody. That book takes you step by step of being able to control your time. And as you accomplish more, your time becomes more valuable. So you have to literally pick how you spend your time. You gotta pick. which events you go to, you gotta learn to say no. I mean, is it going to add value? so you have to kind of, even though you get invited to a lot and you see a lot and you you wanna do everything, it doesn't work that way as much as you progress in the business. Yeah, I think what you say no to is just as important as what you say yes to, right? Yeah, yeah, I totally respect and appreciate that. Well, Danny, I got one more question and this is my favorite one to ask. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? You know, asking me that the first thought that comes into my mind is a flying dragon. Those are kind of cool from watching the movies that I watch with my kids or I've watched before. You know, being able to, and then the fire breathing, right? So you just got your fire. So basically you're able to go anywhere you want because you have wings and If anybody or anything gets in your way, you can burn your way through. So you're unstoppable. I love it. Granted, I'm a little biased branding wise, but very much it hits on the head, brother. I love it. Danny, I want to say thank you again so much for joining us today, for sharing some of your story and just giving some lessons and just inspiring other people. So thank you. yeah, no, you're welcome. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Danny. Appreciate it, My friends, thank you for joining us once again on our quest to inspire, educate, and empower you to turn your dreams into reality one mindset shift at a time. We'll see you next time. Thank you, Justin.

People on this episode

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Justin Mills

Host
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Aaron Iler

Producer
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Danny Flores

Guest