Damian is a Highly motivated, Professional Executive with over 15 years of combined experience in Multi-Million-Dollar Client Business asset Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Project Management, Staff Management, and Finance. With this experience Damian was able to build a vast array of Professional clients across the NFL, NBA, and Entertainment industry. Damian’s experience, knowledge and relationships allowed him to successfully form long-term strategic business partnerships with Corporate CEO’s, Celebrities, Media, Television Networks, Politicians, Foreign Dignitaries and Journalists globally.
Key Moments
[00:00:00] Damian Jordan, an experienced executive, is the creator of Finally, a search engine for marijuana-friendly job opportunities. He shares his entrepreneurial journey on the Entrepreneurs Enigma podcast.
[00:05:41] Damian’s entrepreneurial journey began in college when he created a college magazine that combined the styles of InStyle, Essence, and Sports Illustrated. Recognizing a need for a platform that focused on student life, he seized the opportunity to build a magazine that showcased campus events. At just 21 years old, Damian secured distribution and publishing deals and even featured Angela Simmons on the cover of his magazine.
[00:07:21] Damian learned about relationships and fees.
[00:10:32] Damian transitions from running his own firm to considering a larger sports company. However, after his friend Jelani introduces him to marijuana, Damian starts consuming it for improved mental health, alleviating anxiety and other issues.
[00:17:14] Damian emphasizes the importance of passion and serving others through his entrepreneurial journey. Making money becomes insignificant compared to the value added through meaningful conversations and problem-solving. Loving oneself and a genuine love for learning are crucial for success in entrepreneurship and building companies, which has proven to be the best outcome for Damian.
[00:20:11] Damian finds grounding in his Bible app, staying present and learning from others.
Find Damien Online
http://voyagela.com/interview/inspiring-conversations-with-damian-jorden-of-phynally/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-jorden/
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Transcript (Provided by CastMagic.io)
Seth [00:00:00]:
Entrepreneurs Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs. How we learn from adversity. Every week I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneurs Enigma podcast. I am your host. As always, Seth. Today I have Damien Jordan, and it sounds spelled like Michael Jordan. It has an E instead of an A. Whatever. Side note there. But Damien is the brains behind Phynally with a PH, which we’ll get into what that is. He is a highly motivated professional executive with over 15 years of combined experience in multimillion dollar client business and asset management, which means he is an agent and helps people out and stuff like that. It’s a big words for saying one word. Good job, Damien. Good job. Anyhow, he’s helped professional clients across the NFL, NBA, and entertainment industries. He’s worked with corporate CEOs. The guy’s been around a bunch. And now he’s launched Phynally, which is a search engine for companies who don’t really care if you smoke marijuana because it’s technically legal in most spots and Pennsylvania is coming along. But it’s a hassle. It’s a hassle. You apply to a job, they say, oh, you guys have you pee in a oh, but we don’t care about the marijuana part. But then you get through all the explanation that you take for medical reasons. All that stuff better just apply to jobs that just don’t screen for. Easy. It’s easy. Easy, easy. So, Damien, welcome to the program, buddy. Did I pretty much sum you up that you’re pretty much an? So what is this? Business management.
Damian [00:02:07]:
So prior to starting Phynally, I did sports management for about 15 years. So I handled all the business management, marketing, public relations, and accounting for NFL players. NBA players. Yeah, I did more than that. So actually I worked with the agents. So agents, they negotiate the contracts, working.
Seth [00:02:27]:
With the oh, you’re more important then there you’ll say you do more than agents. They just get the money to get you paid.
Damian [00:02:38]:
Yeah, I help keep my clients rich.
Seth [00:02:41]:
There you go. Other rich people out there. Athletes earn it. Yeah, they earn it. I mean, the NFL guys, I think them out of all of them, they put their bias to a ringer. Tom Brady lasted till he’s 40. Is he back? I don’t know if he’s back or.
Damian [00:03:01]:
Not, but he’s out.
Seth [00:03:02]:
He’s done. He decided he’s fine. Bret Farr, we don’t like him that much, but whatever. But these guys put their bias to the ringer, especially the offensive lineman, all that stuff. I mean, they’re being a crap out of themselves. They deserve that money. Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to go into a whole politics thing, but there’s some billionaires that don’t deserve musk you know, that kind of whatever. We diverge. We diverge. Now you decided to open up Phynally, which is Philly.
Damian [00:03:36]:
Why?
Seth [00:03:37]:
Yeah, Phynally. But PH kind of for Philadelphia. Kind of because you’re Philadelphia born and bred and that kind of thing.
Damian [00:03:45]:
Yes.
Seth [00:03:46]:
So we got to put the PH in also. Phynally. Phynally. If you split it normally, it wouldn’t be as catchy. I don’t think.
Damian [00:03:52]:
It wouldn’t be as catchy. And it’s also for physicians as well, because we work with medical physicians. Yeah. We really wanted to help medical marijuana patients and cannabis consumers really get career access with employers. So it’s almost like a play on words. Like Phynally, I don’t have to stop consuming my medicine or worry about if I’m going to celebrate a bachelor party or a Bachelorete party in Vegas.
Seth [00:04:20]:
You went to go to a place and you didn’t partake. But I went to a who concert when I was a junior in high school. Let me just say I consumed without consuming. We’re going to take a quick break here from our sponsors and get right back to the show. They are quite buzzed, right? That’s the thing. It’s good for people who even don’t necessarily partake. But this is mean. A lot of these mean if you say you take it for medical reasons. If you’re in Pennsylvania or it’s not illegal in Jersey or New York or pretty much anywhere else, it’s pretty much pretty widespread mean. I hear you walking the Times Square and it smells like one giant song now.
Damian [00:05:02]:
Yeah, they say it’s crazy.
Seth [00:05:03]:
This is crazy. But the thing is that it’s just one less thing to have to explain and go through to get the job.
Damian [00:05:09]:
Absolutely.
Seth [00:05:10]:
And why not just know that the business doesn’t check for it? Says they don’t care and they like you and you can get the job and get rocking and rolling. That’s fantastic. Fantastic.
Damian [00:05:21]:
PH. Fantastic. Yeah. There we go. Fantastic. With a PH that works. There you go.
Seth [00:05:27]:
We like that. Kind of dorky. But anyhow so, Damien, how does this all get mean? How did you find your way managing marketing and all that stuff for the NFL players, NBA players? How did you find your way into that?
Damian [00:05:41]:
I’ve always loved entrepreneurship. I started my first business when I was in college. It was a college magazine. It was six different magazines wrapped in one. It was a Jet vibe. Source InStyle, Essence and Sports Illustrated So I realized when I was in college that no one was reading the school newspaper. I was like, how about I just create a magazine where it’d be an opportunity to actually talk about student life, what’s happening on our campus and other campuses, and decided to build that. And I wind up at the age of 21 going out. I got us a distribution deal, I got us a publishing deal. And then we actually had an opportunity to feature Angela Simmons, who’s run’s Daughter from Run DMC on our cover.
Seth [00:06:20]:
That’s all. Nothing big. Nothing big.
Damian [00:06:22]:
Nothing big at 21. So I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I was excited to be doing something.
Seth [00:06:26]:
The best way of doing things. A lot of entrepreneurs don’t know what they’re doing. That’s probably one of the bad things about being entrepreneur. When you start out, you don’t always know what you’re doing.
Damian [00:06:33]:
Right. It’s failing fast very quickly, and then learning from it, and then just kind of just repeating it. And then you fail enough. Then you just wake up and be like, oh, failure doesn’t really exist. So let me just kind of just keep pushing.
Seth [00:06:47]:
I love that right there. Failure does not necessarily exist. It makes you stronger, honestly. It saves you time if you fail fast. That idea didn’t work. That sucked. Whatever. Let’s move along. Yeah, let’s move along.
Damian [00:06:58]:
And then from there, I actually became really good friends with Angela. She had a publicist I didn’t know anything about PR. And the next thing I started learning about public relations, and I got to be around her management team. And next thing you know, I started getting my first clients.
Seth [00:07:12]:
Why? They saw a kid who’s hungry and wants to learn is moldable and isn’t going to ask for a crap ton of money.
Damian [00:07:21]:
Yeah. And it was all about relationships, and that was another thing that I learned. And working in entertainment, and then eventually migrating into sports, I realized that everyone wanted a fee. And my thinking at the time was, I can offer you pro bono services in the beginning. I can show you my ad value. Once you see my ad value, then you can compare it to someone that you’re already paying, and then you can bring me on for that salary. And that was one of the biggest.
Seth [00:07:49]:
And you were young.
Damian [00:07:50]:
You were young.
Seth [00:07:51]:
You were young. You’ve been able to do that stuff. You didn’t have kids or family or anything to deal with. You could live off of Ramen and just kind of roll with it. Exactly.
Damian [00:08:01]:
Just roll through it. Yeah, it was wonderful. But after doing that for so many years and working with so many different players and people, so many experiences, I really had a life event that kind of transitioned me from working in sports entertainment into technology. So yeah, in 2018, almost lost both of my parents in the same year. It was a crazy time, just going through a lot. I was in a relationship, and she had moved away, and it just was going on.
Seth [00:08:34]:
Worse than 21.
Damian [00:08:37]:
It was crazy. And this is one of the roller coasters about life, right? So it’s not just like, lows, because there’s highs within those lows.
Seth [00:08:46]:
Isn’t that weird how that is?
Damian [00:08:48]:
It’s super weird.
Seth [00:08:49]:
Oh, it’s so buggy.
Damian [00:08:50]:
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl, so it’s like, I’m going through this know, depression, trying to deal with my family and my business and a career change. And then you got your favorite team is literally you winning all these games on a path to the Super Bowl. So it was kind of like this juggling. And I went to the Super Bowl and it was just like this.
Seth [00:09:10]:
Oh, you went to the game.
Damian [00:09:12]:
Yeah, I went to the game. So it was like kind of mind.
Seth [00:09:14]:
Blowing to you probably needed that after all that crap that was going on. All right, it’s expensive. Let’s just do it.
Damian [00:09:21]:
No, I got the free ticket. I was good.
Seth [00:09:25]:
Because you knew people. You knew people.
Damian [00:09:27]:
I was good people. Listen, relationships are everything. It’s everything.
Seth [00:09:33]:
Where was it that year? Where was it that year?
Damian [00:09:35]:
Minnesota. Yeah, it was cold.
Seth [00:09:38]:
Oh, God. But it’s indoors, though.
Damian [00:09:41]:
It was indoors.
Seth [00:09:43]:
Yeah, but everything outside isn’t.
Damian [00:09:46]:
Listen, and I couldn’t find a plane ticket, so I had to drive 17 hours.
Seth [00:09:51]:
But for the Eagles, you do it.
Damian [00:09:53]:
Yeah, it was worth it. It was worth it. I’ve seen every piece of weather, so that’s kind of one of the driving.
Seth [00:09:58]:
There just alone, driving to the Super Bowl. So every piece of weather.
Damian [00:10:02]:
Every piece of weather. I’ve seen the lake effect in Chicago. It was nice. When we left here. When I left here in Philadelphia, mid.
Seth [00:10:12]:
Forty s. I remember. It wasn’t bad.
Damian [00:10:14]:
It wasn’t bad. And then I got there, it was blizzard, snow. It was crazy.
Seth [00:10:20]:
But the Eagles won, so made it worth it.
Damian [00:10:22]:
That made the drive home worth it.
Seth [00:10:24]:
Oh, my God. Went to the Super Bowl, things obviously turned around.
Damian [00:10:32]:
Yes. So essentially they started transition from running my own firm to maybe going off to work at a larger sports. And it’s never like that because I knew different people at some larger firms that I could go to. So I was like, okay, well, maybe I’ll go there. And then it hit me after my buddy, his name’s Jelani, introduced me to consuming marijuana. So I started consuming marijuana for my mental health. So now I’m feeling great, feeling better. I had anxiety. All these different things that was going on at the time.
Seth [00:11:12]:
That’s just amazing.
Damian [00:11:14]:
Yeah, it really transformative, man. And then it healed so many other childhood traumas and just different things that I didn’t even know were there. So I’m so grateful for it. In that moment when I decided to apply for those larger positions, it hit me. It was like, well, am I going to have to stop consuming something that’s helping me to go get this position? Not knowing if that company screens or not?
Seth [00:11:38]:
Or having to explain yourself.
Damian [00:11:40]:
Or having to explain yourself. Yeah. And being in college, I had a bunch of colleagues of mine, I remember because I didn’t smoke, I was an athlete. So they would essentially stop consuming their medicine to go get a job.
Seth [00:11:53]:
You would get your haircut. You would get a haircut. And I remember six weeks. Not that I took any or anything. Okay, I had fun in college. But I’m saying but you used to say, all right, I have to wait. I think it was like six weeks and a haircut and you’re good, supposedly.
Damian [00:12:10]:
Yeah. Or consuming all types of these detoxifications. Yeah.
Seth [00:12:14]:
They never were.
Damian [00:12:14]:
They never I just remember saying to myself, like, man, it’s a shame that these people have to go through all these different things, especially when it’s legal.
Seth [00:12:24]:
In almost every place. It’s legal. Legal, legal. Like legal legal. Like you can just go to the store and pick it up kind of thing.
Damian [00:12:32]:
Right.
Seth [00:12:32]:
Over 21. But it’s like going to the beer store, pretty much, and so many is going to get there. I mean, if Federman has anything to say about it, it’s going to get there. Yeah, it makes total sense. And it’s Eagles Green, which I love.
Damian [00:12:51]:
Okay. Yeah, eagles green. We love the green. Go soft on the green. And once I learned that that was the first problem with the big opportunity was that people were not trying to stop consuming their medicine to go get this job. Another issue was that employers weren’t making it transparent if they were screening versus if they weren’t screening. So what was happening was people would stop consuming marijuana to go get a job, only to get offered a position and then have to pee in a cup. And then what was interesting was you had companies who would essentially stop marijuana screening on their panel, and then next thing you know, you may not show up to the drug screening under the assumption that marijuana is on the panel. And now you lose out and the employer loses out. And they didn’t even screen for it from the beginning.
Seth [00:13:53]:
It’s so simple to say you don’t screen for it.
Damian [00:13:56]:
Yeah, that’s it. And the thing is, I think with the stigma of marijuana and people thinking that people are going to be showing up to work high, which is like the craziest thing ever. Because I always tell people there’s a Drug free Workplace Act of 1988 which says, you don’t show up to work drunk. You don’t show up to work high. But the problems is you got a group of people who are consuming marijuana.
Seth [00:14:18]:
Legally from medicinal they think Chichin Chong.
Damian [00:14:22]:
Yeah, that’s exactly what they think.
Seth [00:14:26]:
They did more damage to the whole idea of weed. I mean, they’re hilarious movies. Chichen Chong right. But they did more damage to the essence of marijuana, because there’s marijuana that doesn’t even get you high, just gets you to feel better. There’s different strains of this and all that. My mom is 74 years old and has CRPS, which is a pain disorder, and she’ll take a tincture of marijuana at night and she can go to bed then.
Damian [00:14:56]:
Exactly.
Seth [00:14:57]:
Otherwise she’s in pain and she doesn’t get high. It just gets rid of the pain. It’s like, whoa, yeah.
Damian [00:15:05]:
It’s a paradigm shift. And I always say that people have these preconceived notions about what the user is, how they’re using it or what they’re doing. It’s just like but this doesn’t stop this person from being qualified for that position to go do their job. They’re not going to be on the job high, and if they are on.
Seth [00:15:24]:
A job high, then there’s ramifications for that.
Damian [00:15:27]:
Just like if anybody was to show up drunk or anything like that. So I definitely think with transparency and clarity, this is a great opportunity for us to essentially open up for employers a whole pool of people that are now consuming marijuana on a day to day basis. Because what’s happening is you have people who want to or need to smoke or consume marijuana in whatever form that they have, whether it’s the flour or edible, but they’re not consuming it because of the career that they’re in. So for us, it’s like if we can alleviate that and say, hey man, you can consume what you’re consuming and still apply for these positions or even have the confidence to leave your position. So think about if you’re in a position exactly consuming marijuana and you’re trapped because you don’t want to apply somewhere else under the assumption or not knowing what’s out there, when you can just stay in your job, that you know, you shouldn’t be in any longer or anything like that. But it doesn’t serve you to give up your medicine for marijuana.
Seth [00:16:35]:
Awesome. So what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur? Since you’ve been an entrepreneur in multiple different industries, I will probably say the.
Damian [00:16:43]:
Best thing is freedom and helping people. I love to help people. The one thing I’ve learned over my course of my business is you treat people good, you do good business, it comes right back to you. And I love connecting people. I love being a dot connector and it served me so well. And the money just follows. If you’re someone that wants to get an entrepreneurship and you just, I want the money, I want the money, I want the money.
Seth [00:17:12]:
Don’t do entrepreneurship. Don’t do it.
Damian [00:17:14]:
Oh my God, don’t do it, don’t do it. You got to do what you love because the way I see it, it’s a form of serving because you’re creating something that can help other people. It’s like a selfless act and the money just follows. And I’ve made tons of money over the course of my career. And it’s like once you reach a certain level of making money, you know what it feels like, you know, it doesn’t change anything. But it’s like giving that add value to do it, because conversations, those are the things that really make a difference in learning. And I always tell people, like, if you want to be an entrepreneur, make sure you love yourself because you’re going to be spending a lot of time alone make sure you seriously and you love to learn and you really love to get in and problem solve. Like, I love to problem solve. I like to build things. I like to break things down. I like to reengineer things. That’s just the way my mind works in entrepreneurship and building companies, and it’s been the best outcome for me.
Seth [00:18:17]:
So what keeps you up at night with entrepreneurship?
Damian [00:18:20]:
Oh, nothing. I sleep very well at night.
Seth [00:18:22]:
There you go. Nothing worries with entrepreneurship?
Damian [00:18:27]:
No, I sleep very well at night, I think what keeps me up, I would probably see, but then again, it kind of goes against everything that I stand for, because I believe you got.
Seth [00:18:38]:
To literally keep you up. But what do you worry about? What’s the scary part of being an entrepreneur?
Damian [00:18:49]:
I would probably say not knowing, but I lean into that.
Seth [00:18:54]:
Isn’t that weird? Both sides. It’s both sides. Like, not knowing is a good thing and not knowing is a bad thing.
Damian [00:18:59]:
Yeah, because you want to know. Your mind wants to know it wants to know this step at this turn, you won’t get this result. But all the magic happens when you just kind of surrender and be like, oh, I can’t control this. If I don’t respond here, I’ll just let this hang, and then I’ll let it kind of come to me. And then when you start letting things kind of unfold for you, it then makes your job easier, because I know for me, what makes me sleep well at night knowing. If I’m stressing, if I got anxiety or worry, that means I’m not even living in the right space. You know what I mean? Anxiety is when your mind’s in the future. Depression is when your mind’s in the past. So if I’m stressing out and I got anxiety, I know I’m not even living in the present moment. That’s the only thing I can control.
Seth [00:19:44]:
You got to recenter yourself, bring yourself back. Exactly.
Damian [00:19:48]:
Yeah. And it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And I think that’s the biggest thing. You think you can get here overnight, but they say it takes, what, five years to become overnight success?
Seth [00:19:58]:
Overnight 15 year success. Yeah, that’s how my joke was, literally overnight 15 year success, and I’m still going. What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Damian [00:20:11]:
The most important thing I carry with me my Bible app. I’m always in my Bible app all the time. That’s just something that keeps me grounded. I just try to stay grounded. That’s just it just stay grounded. It just meet everybody, really try to speak to everybody, be extremely present in those conversations with people. Because I feel like when you’re doing that, you can not only give value, but you’re also receiving value. One who teaches, learns. One who learns, teaches. So I know at least every person that I’m interacting with or engaging with, either I’m teaching them something or I’m learning from them. So that’s something that kind of keeps pushing me forward.
Seth [00:20:50]:
Love it, my friend.
Damian [00:20:51]:
Love it.
Seth [00:20:52]:
So where can people find you online? Where’s your main watering hole? Is it LinkedIn? Let me guess. Yeah.
Damian [00:20:58]:
Come visit me at LinkedIn. It’s just LinkedIn.com. Damianjordan.
Seth [00:21:04]:
We’ll have a link in the show notes.
Damian [00:21:06]:
Yeah, and come check us out@Phynally.com. We’re the only job platform for medical marijuana patients and cannabis consumers where transparent employers and job seekers meet. Where on our platform, we just inclusively host employers who do not screen for marijuana or who have opted to drop marijuana screening from the drug custom panel. That way, if you’re a medical marijuana patient or recreational consumer, you can apply for a job that you’re qualified for and not have to worry about being screened for marijuana.
Seth [00:21:35]:
That’s fantastic. It’s sad that it’s needed, but it’s good that it’s needed, that you’re filling the gap. Damien, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show. Appreciate it, and we’ll see everyone next time.
Damian [00:21:48]:
Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks, Seth.
Seth [00:21:50]:
That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneurs Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the Marketing Podcast Network at Marketingpodcasts Network. Goldstein Media hopes you have enjoyed this episode. This podcast is one of the many great shows on the MPN Marketing Podcast Network.
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