The Simple Systems That Take You From Hustle to Scalable Growth with Dan Jorge

Jennie Wright [00:00:00]:
Foreign. Welcome back to the Acquire podcast where we get to talk about list building and sales, lead generation, marketing strategy, a little bit of ops dashed in there for giggles. And also a little bit of origin strategy and origin story, which you’re going to hear about today. I have an incredibly special guest that I’m excited and have been dying to get on this podcast. For months I’ve been hounding this person and to show up and I finally wrangled them. So here we go. We’re gonna have a great conversation with Dan Jorge, who is incredible marketing operations system strategist and serial entrepreneur extraordinaire. So, Dan, I’m so glad you’re here.

Dan Jorge [00:00:45]:
Thanks for having me.

Jennie Wright [00:00:46]:
Of course. Thanks for finally saying yes and like doing all the things. It’s been, it’s been fun to, to, to want to get you on this. It was a conversation I’ve been dying to have for a long time. I, um, and I’m just glad that we got it in the calendar finally.

Dan Jorge [00:01:00]:
You know, you always leave them wanting more. Right? Gotta. Gotta bait you a little bit of bait.

Jennie Wright [00:01:05]:
I can take it. It’s all good. So much fun. All right, so let’s, let’s start a little bit in the background because every time I meet somebody who does what you do, I know there’s a really cool story behind how you got here. And it’s usually not an A to B to C. It’s kind of an a wavy pattern that goes all over the place. So can you share a little bit about how you started doing this and then how are you now doing marketing ops and system strategy? And how are you constantly being a serial entrepreneur?

Dan Jorge [00:01:37]:
Yeah, for sure. I love a good puzzle. I think that’s kind of like the heart of the center of everything that I do. It’s. It’s organizing different types of mess or chaos essentially is like the one liner of what it is that I do. It started with more visual arts and graphic design is where I went. I went to school for that. I was on staff of the newspaper in high school, so laying things out was always a joy, a pastime.

Dan Jorge [00:02:13]:
And my father was also a recording artist and I would do some of his graphic design for this album release or a banner or something like that. So I’ve always had Adobe at my thing, fingertips. I’m a millennial, so I’m very much a computer kid. And yeah, it started in design. I love to get very good at things that I enjoy doing. So I learned how to really use Photoshop to the fullest of what it could do. I started on Photoshop 7. A lot of people don’t believe me, but like, how early I had it, it’s like, no, that’s a very.

Dan Jorge [00:02:52]:
I think it was released in 99. That version I don’t remember. Wow.

Jennie Wright [00:02:58]:
So you were like two.

Dan Jorge [00:03:01]:
I wasn’t using it then, but that’s what I started with. And I’ve seen the software evolve, I think like a computer does, because I’m a millennial and had that at my disposal growing up. And then the game, the computer game, the Sims was really like, what put it all together. I would hack the software essentially to upload my own music, my MP3s to play, so I could hear that while I was building and designing instead of the game music or uploading my own patterns. And I’ve just always been into boutique, custom, like one off things. Very special. And I love tech and digital things.

Jennie Wright [00:03:47]:
That is transposed incredibly well into what you do because you do boutique intrinsic designs everywhere.

Dan Jorge [00:03:56]:
Yeah. It’s little moments of magic that I love. Like it’s. That’s why we call me the wizard. It is magic.

Jennie Wright [00:04:03]:
You are the wizard. I so let me. In layman’s terms, let me explain a little bit about what I think you do. Tell me if I’m wrong. Right.

Dan Jorge [00:04:11]:
Okay, cool.

Jennie Wright [00:04:11]:
So entrepreneur person has an idea to bring something to life. A product, a program, a service, even like a, like an actual product, a physical product. You are the person that says, okay, I’m going to ask you 6,000 questions in our. In order to figure out all the permutations. And then my brain comes up with the. The clean chaos free layout plan of how to get it from ideation or from the idea all the way to implementation and creation.

Dan Jorge [00:04:44]:
Yeah. That is very succinctly what I do best. Thank you. No problem.

Jennie Wright [00:04:50]:
You can take that, put it in your resume for later. And what I like. And this is so I. I have a puzzle brain too. I love puzzles. I’m the one that you give like your running shoe with the knot that you can’t get out. And I just, I sit there with a smile on my face getting the knot out. Right.

Jennie Wright [00:05:09]:
I have the puzzle brain and I love, I love creating calm out of chaos. But you do that I find different and I can’t do is your brain thinks in code. Like your brain thinks how a computer does your brain. Like you do things that I can’t get to. But I know that at the end that’s what I want. Like, I’m like, yes, please can that be the outcome, which is so, so cool. How are you, how are, like, how are you looking at things differently and creating, I don’t know, efficiencies or just say an entrepreneur wants to bring a course from idea to getting it out in the world. What are the main things that you’re looking at that nobody else is really looking at? And the entrepreneur is going, holy crap, Dan just blew my mind.

Jennie Wright [00:06:00]:
This is cool. We’re going to make it even better than I originally thought.

Dan Jorge [00:06:04]:
Yeah, for sure. A lot of, I mean, a lot of it does come naturally to me. Like I’m very intuitive and I’m thinking through the process. Process, not just from the content side. I’m thinking about the end user experience, what maintaining the program or process is going to be long term as well. Every quiz I take, I’m like 52% left brain 48. Right. So I walk down that middle very closely of creative first, but system and order ultimately.

Jennie Wright [00:06:44]:
Yep.

Dan Jorge [00:06:46]:
I really understand where a lot of the heart and art comes from, but I also apply a very practical, logical and like prudent brain to it so I can make it a reality. And when you think or approach things from the creative first, where a lot of I think your audiences, that’s where like the heart is. Right. If you’re, if you’re a coach or you’re bringing new product or a launch, it’s. You’re driven by, there’s, there’s a seedling there that it’s a passion.

Jennie Wright [00:07:21]:
Yeah.

Dan Jorge [00:07:22]:
It’s not a, it’s not a system. It’s. It’s like, here’s what I want to bring. And just being diligent upfront, asking as many questions as you can to fully understand the scope and breadth of what it is that you want to deliver. Is it, is it a course that you want to deliver or you just want to deliver this information to them in a way that you think is digestible to them? Because it could be a different experience. It doesn’t have to be a course. And when you poke the bear up front and try to unravel the mess of what is the heart of the thought, you can then give all of the time in the world that you need to the different parts that you want to prioritize. If, if the visuals are super important to you, then you’re going to spend a lot of upfront time understanding what the content is so you can communicate with the designer, allow them the opportunity to go down multiple art directions.

Dan Jorge [00:08:25]:
If there’s more than one mood board or like that whole process, it’s like setting the tone and intention up front with as much clarity as you can. Makes the process easier. Throughout.

Jennie Wright [00:08:40]:
You came up with your own process that you run your clients through in order to get that idea like fleshed out. All the stuff you just talked about, figure it out. It’s like a, it’s a step by step process that you have. Can you kind of like go in a little bit more detail about that? Because I’ve been through it twice, three times, and it is insanely cool. And it is incredibly useful because it just, it really shines a light on all of the areas that as the idea person, the entrepreneur may not have thought of, but as the systems person and the marketing ops like wizard that you are, you see all these little permutations. What is that system?

Dan Jorge [00:09:23]:
It doesn’t have a cutesy name, but it, it’s. It’s my method. Sorry, what is your question? What are you asking? You want me to like walk through what it is or like how it came to be or.

Jennie Wright [00:09:40]:
Well, you know, I know there’s an origin story on how it came to be and I’m sure I’d like to have the tea on how that happened, but probably, yeah, a little bit of that and a little bit about what it is. Like, I mean, obviously not going into, I mean you don’t have to go into all the detail about it, but I think it’s fascinating because most people would say, I’ve got this course, it’s six modules, it’s three hours of content, you know, can you go set it up for me in whatever platform? And then Dan goes, hold on a second. Yeah, what does that look like?

Dan Jorge [00:10:16]:
Okay, so it’s part of what I was saying before, like giving the opportunity for the brainstorming, the mood boarding setting of art direction. The process was birthed out of necessity really. It’s redundancy of going through meetings over and over to get the same information that if we had articulated this up front, we would have been able to avoid. X number of hours spent on trying to find the resolution and depending on the nature of the launch or the product itself, we can go try. We try to go high level from the beginning. But it. The process of discovering everything that is involved with your product or launch, it, it can be very time consuming and labor intensive when we’re getting into the granular details.

Jennie Wright [00:11:12]:
Yeah.

Dan Jorge [00:11:15]:
It’s also the fact finding and the conversational nature. I think in the way that I’m like, I feel that one of my strengths is being Able to speak to the other stakeholders at a level that they will be able to understand what it is that I’m saying as well. There’s a level of real time translation speaking between the tech and the layman and making sure that they understand the reason we need this information as well. Because if that part gets communicated, there’s no question why I need X, Y and Z by this date, because that is going to inform this next thing, which is then going to inform this next thing. Yeah, so it, it is, it can be very specific for the project at hand. But you got to think about the entire experience, not just you delivering the product, it’s how they are receiving the product, how it’s being consumed and experienced and all of the tangent paths. If there’s a sponsor, if there’s speakers that you need to coordinate, like there’s, there’s three different than user experiences you need to think about and all of those communications and touch points and you do enough launches and, and get enough things out there that the common denominator starts to present itself. So that’s what I’ve packaged up and it’s the process that we use.

Jennie Wright [00:12:51]:
Yeah. And it is, it’s incredible. It. In the beginning it feels you’re like, why do I got to do this? But then after you, after you start doing, you’re like, oh, okay, now I get why. And this is going to create more clarity. And I, and I honestly believe this is one of the reasons I want to have this chat is I honestly believe that it creates more clarity but also more comprehension between like the two side, the two hands start talking to each other, the creative side and the, the operation side and the system side, they start talking to each other and the creative starts to understand why the operations and strategist, like the system side needs what it needs. Right. And I think that’s really cool.

Jennie Wright [00:13:35]:
But it also speeds up the process. One of the things that, one of the things that you do incredibly well that fascinates me is this whole brain thinks like code, you know, brain thinks like computer side. Because the products that I’ve seen that you’ve created, you’ve been able to create automations and systems that remove a lot of the binary, like really basic things that people do on a repetitive basis and it automates them so you don’t have to worry about it. Right? So an example would be I know an automation that you created for a podcast and I know that you made it top to bottom and at the end of the podcast, like it even goes so Far as to like create a gift card for people and it does that for you so you don’t have to, it’s not notifying you like hey so and so go create a gift card and send it to them. It actually does it and sends it. How does your brain think like that? How would you even think to do that? I mean you’re taking stuff that people normally do on a day to day and you’re like, no, no, I got this, I’m going to automate the crap out of this.

Dan Jorge [00:14:37]:
Yeah. I mean that is the beauty of a well oiled machine, right? Like you think, are you the well.

Jennie Wright [00:14:45]:
Oiled machine or is this is the product the well oiled machine?

Dan Jorge [00:14:48]:
I’m a machine making machines. Yeah, you are that like that specific example the, the podcast Gift card Automation. We went through the, the process of identifying what is the entire journey from okay, we want this guest to be, we want this person to be a guest on our podcast to how do we continually nurture the relationship afterwards? How do they get their invitation to our quarterly marketing event or network? We thought about the entire process from start to finish before building it. And when you ask all of those questions and figure out, oh okay, here’s an opportunity, me being the techie side of it, it’s like, oh, okay, that doesn’t have to be manual. It can be triggered by something that we said is already going to be happening. So now that action that you were already going to be taking is now also setting off another set of events. And that I, I love thinking that way. Like I don’t know what it is.

Jennie Wright [00:15:57]:
But well, it’s definitely surprise and delight on the other side as somebody who receives seeing that side of things and wondering how the heck it got done without anybody, you know. And I mean, I mean that is the pleasure of working in a product like the product that you work in. The product I work in, which is ghl. I’m not, you know, nobody’s paying me for this to say it, but I love it and it’s really, really cool and we can do all these automations in it. But the surprise and delight is the fact that as the, you know, as the client, the client doesn’t have to do all these things anymore and their VA doesn’t have to do it. So you’re freeing up people’s time, you’re using a bit of, you know, sometimes a bit of AI to help kind of figure out the path and then the product seems to be able to handle it and they keep adding updates which Handles even more of the stuff we want, which is super cool.

Dan Jorge [00:16:49]:
Yeah, it’s wild how quickly the software is advancing and it already is so capable. Like it’s, it’s incredible what power we have. And now with the advancement of AI, things are only getting easier and more accessible.

Jennie Wright [00:17:03]:
Yep.

Dan Jorge [00:17:04]:
But what AI still is not doing is understanding the heart of what it is that you’re trying to do. Your why, it’s, it’s, it’s thinking more about the what and the how. But when you can drive that conversation. And I use it as a tool the same way that we use any tool. Like Photoshop used to be a dark room like that. That’s what it was. And when you learn how to do analog photography, you learn how to process the photos and do all of that stuff. AI is just like another tool to help get you there.

Dan Jorge [00:17:40]:
And I like to use it to help speed up some of the technical. But also it’s only as good as you are prompting it and driving it.

Jennie Wright [00:17:53]:
Yeah, completely. I mean, same goes for, you know, building in ghl. You’re only good as the operator doing it. And trust me, I’ve worked with other operators trying to do it and it’s not nearly as good. So you know, if you haven’t figured it out, Dan and I know each other and we’ve had the chance to work together, which is super cool. But even before Dan and I had the chance to work together at this level that we are now, Dan and I got to work on a project a couple years ago. We did a summit. I did a summit for a mutual client that we had and the summit was really, really cool.

Jennie Wright [00:18:29]:
And we didn’t have GHL at the time. GHL was out, but nobody had really like it wasn’t so like totally embraced at that point. I believe we were using click funnels.

Dan Jorge [00:18:38]:
Uhuh. Now I’m remembering back. It’s like, oh yeah, that was pre.

Jennie Wright [00:18:43]:
Yep. And I remember at the end of the summit we were like, hey, there’s this new tool and we want to run the Evergreen Summit on that. But I remember running that summit on click funnels back in the day and a couple other different things. I think there was like two. Oh yeah, clickfunnels, activecampaign, Zapier, There was a affiliate software. So that was like four things and there was a couple other things that we had to use. And all of those things are now rolled into GHL and we don’t have to use them.

Dan Jorge [00:19:18]:
Yeah, Singular software tool to do all of those things.

Jennie Wright [00:19:23]:
I know Isn’t that crazy? Where do you think, where do you think this is all going with? Do you think I will eventually get the heart piece of it and sort of figure that out or do you think that’s not going to happen and never.

Dan Jorge [00:19:39]:
I will not say never. I don’t know that I really have an answer either because I. While, yes, you want to stay current and up to date, aware of what’s happening in the industry at all times, and stay relevant and an asset that people want to use, there’s, I think, a baseline level of humanity in the work that I present, at least with the graphic design background. It allows me to think and push the limit sometimes times on how something will be received, viewed even there’s tricks that I can manipulate that are not necessarily what our standard application of how you would place this photo here, but because I’ve got that experience as of right now, AI is not at a level that it’s hitting that same quality. It is quickly learning how to do a lot of things. But again, it’s only going to be as good as you are able to articulate what it is that you want from it. It’s. It’s a tool.

Dan Jorge [00:21:01]:
So if you’re okay with, and obviously this is a very different line of thought, but if you’re okay with a template, a standard, something that is going to be rinsed and repeated throughout the land, good luck standing out with it. But also that is at your discretion, you. You are fully able to do that and run a successful business that way. Yeah, I just like to make things pretty.

Jennie Wright [00:21:26]:
Yes, you do. Pretty and functional.

Dan Jorge [00:21:28]:
Yeah. And I think part of the beauty, if you will, is also in the behind the scenes. The way that it works so seamlessly is because of the time, effort and custom things in this system. Specifically.

Jennie Wright [00:21:44]:
Yeah, you are a serial entrepreneur. You work in several businesses. You have stakes in several businesses. What is the attraction to the business that you’re going to be involved in? What pulls you in and goes, oh, yeah, I want to be in this project?

Dan Jorge [00:21:59]:
That’s a good question, one that I don’t think I have asked myself.

Jennie Wright [00:22:04]:
I got you. I finally got you.

Dan Jorge [00:22:06]:
Yeah. I mean, a lot of the opportunity that I find myself with now is right place, right time and being available. Like, it’s, it’s. I had the know how to deliver what was needed and I had the time or bandwidth to commit to it. So I do think a lot of that is really like divine network, divine timing. It’s who you know as well. I’m available for the people who come and ask for things like, you have to ask, but. And it works both ways, too.

Dan Jorge [00:22:42]:
Like, there are projects where I’ve done the outreach trying to land that account. And you get it. If you do the work and try to land the account.

Jennie Wright [00:22:53]:
I.

Dan Jorge [00:22:53]:
It’s, it’s. It’s like there’s no real such thing as lucky. Right. Lucky is being prepared when the opportunity presents itself. And because you are consistent and do the work and have put in the hours, you get the opportunity. And if you succeed, then cool. And then you get to do it again.

Jennie Wright [00:23:15]:
No, true. What is your. When you’re looking at a possible project, what are the. What is the biggest red flag that you see that you’re going, I could help this maybe, but this is major red flag, like, territory.

Dan Jorge [00:23:29]:
I have learned that the way that I. Let me backtrack it. I’m a little bit of an empath in a business environment in that I am fully absorbing all of the energy of the dynamic of the environment. If it is a hostile or toxic workplace, it weighs on me in a way that is hard to really articulate, but it is a super motivator, driver of a proponent of burnout, of not feeling fulfilled. It can go spiral down a bunch of different wrong holes because of those things. Yeah, I’ve had some terrible bosses, and that’s informed a lot of what I don’t ever want to be around or working with again. And it has also informed a lot of how I lead because it’s. I want to.

Dan Jorge [00:24:36]:
I would want to feel safe calling on me if I didn’t know or had a question. Like, I don’t ever want it to be a threatening or you feel inadequate or dumb. Like, there are no dumb questions. Especially, especially in tech. Like, yes, there are questions where it’s like, okay, that is a very obvious answer, but you’re asking because you don’t know. So there’s no shame in admitting what you don’t know, that you can lead from a great place of power by just admitting. Oh, I don’t know that, but I’m happy to find out.

Jennie Wright [00:25:08]:
I love that line. That’s one of my. That’s. Yep. I don’t know the answer to that, but I will figure it out and find out for you. No problem.

Dan Jorge [00:25:15]:
Yeah, for sure.

Jennie Wright [00:25:15]:
Yeah. That’s awesome. What is it that you’re excited about? As we’re getting close to, like, the end of 2025, what projects have you been working on that just get you really, really amped?

Dan Jorge [00:25:31]:
There is one that I’m working on right now. That is, it hits close to home because it’s. It’s me and my dad who are launching this business. So it’s my mom. I work with both of them in another business, a counseling center practice there. But this product specifically was my dad’s dissertation project for his. His doctorate program.

Jennie Wright [00:25:58]:
Wow.

Dan Jorge [00:25:59]:
So he developed the idea. He went through all of that through school and then after school, after graduation. Then it became my baby to turn it into a reality, make it a real, tangible, purchasable product. This peripheral marketing around it, all the graphics, all of it. So I’ve been very busy with my head down working on that. And I’m excited because the end of this year is when it launches into the world so I get to see it for real. For real.

Jennie Wright [00:26:30]:
And how many years you’ve been working.

Dan Jorge [00:26:31]:
On it, including while he was in school developing it. That takes a long time. I. Including the schooling, I think it’s like five, six years. The, the tech build side of it, I think we’re at two years or will be by the end of this year.

Jennie Wright [00:26:52]:
Wow. So there’s going to be some relief, some happiness, a little bit of anxiety about the, you know, the birth of the new product and, and making sure it gets out in the world the way you want it to the first time, which is also really important.

Dan Jorge [00:27:06]:
For sure.

Jennie Wright [00:27:07]:
Yeah. And I know you’re pretty meticulous. So you’re going through all the things and probably triple, quadruple checking everything too many times, more times than you can count. Exactly. What is it that you’re looking forward to in order to. Do you think more people are embracing having a systems wizard like you on their team? Are you looking forward to seeing more projects with. Come across your table that are just super exciting? What. What does that all look like for you?

Dan Jorge [00:27:40]:
Yeah. I mean, people should be embracing the opportunity to work with someone like me.

Jennie Wright [00:27:47]:
Well said.

Dan Jorge [00:27:49]:
It doesn’t have to be me, but having someone who is thinking about your business the way that you need to think about it to really make sure that you’re not just putting band aids on scratches all the time, that you’re actually fixing problems, identifying real solutions and putting them in place. One of the things that kills me is when I’m brought on to do a singular focus job or project. And I see where it could be so much better if they would just like. But that’s also, that’s what I’m saying. That’s also part of what I’m saying about absorbing the energy of the environment that I’m in, if there is that much dysfunction or disorganization within or within an organization, I can’t navigate that if that’s not the scope of what you’re bringing me on to do. Like, scope creep is real and it’s very hard when it bleeds into all different directions.

Jennie Wright [00:28:56]:
Completely. Completely. I’ve had the same experience of looking at a business and going, sure, I’m going to do a summit for you, but everything else is a dumpster fire. How do you expect the summit to work? Answer me that and then maybe we can go forward. So, yeah, I totally get it. I think it’s so cool if somebody wants to get in touch and have the wizard work on their stuff, which everybody should want somebody like you, if not you in particular, to work on their incredible products and services. Where can people connect with you and find with, like, find you?

Dan Jorge [00:29:26]:
Yeah. Okay. So I’m on all of the Internet things. Anhorge, D A N J O R G E. I don’t really post or share a lot, but I am there on Instagram. I have Facebook. I don’t use it. If you want to work with me, send an email to work@danhorge.com or just go to danhorhay.com and you can contact me on there.

Dan Jorge [00:29:55]:
And then you’ll just. You won’t see me, but I’ll be on the Internet.

Jennie Wright [00:29:59]:
You’re always watching.

Dan Jorge [00:30:00]:
Yeah, I am always watching. I don’t make a lot of appearances. Jenny, this is a big deal and I am grateful.

Jennie Wright [00:30:08]:
It only took me six months to get you on here. Well worth the wait. Thank you for that. And yeah, it was awesome having you on the podcast. And you are, you are one of the episodes right before. We’re taking a bit of a break. We’re taking a little bit of end of season break before we come back fresh and renewed and with a little bit of a different direction for Acquire. So I’m excited.

Jennie Wright [00:30:32]:
I know. And you know, maybe we’re gonna put the. The Dan Jorge process to acquire and see what comes at the other end. Oh, maybe. Maybe see how that works. So thank you, Dan. It’s been amazing to have a conversation with you about all this. Appreciate it.

Jennie Wright [00:30:48]:
All of the insights and the time.

Dan Jorge [00:30:50]:
Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure to be here.

Jennie Wright [00:30:53]:
Of course. And if you’ve been listening this far, thank you so much. I really appreciate everybody who listens to acquire. I get really great comments and feedback and people from all over the world, you know, just sharing a little bit about how they’ve heard an episode or they’ve, you know, had somebody mention it to them that they should listen to it. So thank you so much. If you’re doing that, stay tuned because there’s a lot more to come. And if you haven’t already, make sure you have subscribed to the podcast so you don’t miss anything that’s coming in the future. All right, we’ll talk to you all soon.

Jennie Wright [00:31:21]:
Take care.