Building Businesses By Doing Things Many Don’t Do
Early in my career, I realized that I had a very in-demand skill, something that people really needed in the business. I knew how to use Microsoft Excel. The ability to make spreadsheets and turn them into reports and to do analysis, surprisingly, was something I had a natural talent for.
It’s actually quite amusing to think how my entire career trajectory benefited from my innate ability makes sense of large files of numbers in a speadsheet. I was able to start doing that on a regular basis, making reports and doing different types of business analysis work that added a lot of value to the bank. Making sure we targeted the marketing of our products to specific, much more likely to buy, geographic and demographic groups accelerated the adoption rate and drove up cross sell of additional products.
Before I knew it I had a 15 year career with Wells Fargo and in that time, I got to do all kinds of analytics from end to end. Bringing in new data, structuring it, putting it in databases, and figuring out how to extract insight and report to senior management was something I got really, really good at.
After years of great experiences, working on huge data science projects and working across various teams to roll out complex analytics solutions. So, after doing that for the bank, I went into business myself as an analytics expert. I’ve spent the last decade working with a wide range of companies helping them level up their use of data.
Now, I am working small business owner and entrepreneurs as Icoach them into how to look at their data the same way Wells Fargo looks at its data. I help them implement analytics systems and processes — solutions that will help them mimic what the big successful multinational companies are doing with their data —so then they can be more competitive. That opportunity to coach them and give them a chance to be successful is what’s driving me.
It all starts with a commitment to start doing things that most other businesses aren’t doing very well or even at all.
Francisco Bay Area and as of February 2019, Ocala, FL. With over 20 years in Big Data, Dan is one of the most sought-after public speakers in Asia and offers big data coaching and analytics training seminarson both sides of the Pacific. Dan has also recently joined the Powerteam International family as a small business analytics resource speaker.
Sonic Analytics(www.sonicanalytics.com) brings big data analytics solutions like business intelligence, business dashboards and data storytelling to small and medium sized organizations looking to enhance their data-driven decision-making capabilities. We also advocate the use of analytics for civic responsibility through training, consulting and education.
As citizens of this great democracy, we need to look at the data (analytics), plan a course of action (strategy) and share our data-driven viewpoints (presentation). This approach to a data savvy work force starts in school. So, we started an internship program to empower our youth to use Analytics, plan Strategy and Present their insights… ASP!
When not training current and future analysts, you can find Dan championing the use of analytics to empower data-driven citizenship by volunteering his expertise with schools and non-profits dedicated to evidence-based social progress like Saint Leo University’s Women in Data + Science Program and the Data + Women of Tampa Meet Up Group.
