Who is Darren Finkelstein, and why is accountability so important to reach your goals?
Darren Finkelstein is known as The Accountability Guy®, something he’s quite proud of due to being known for something so crucial to a business’s success. By holding people to account he genuinely enjoys making a difference in people’s businesses and personal lives.
For 10 years Darren worked for Apple Inc. as ‘Manager of Commercial Markets’ under the inspirational leadership of Steve Jobs. During his time there, he won the prestigious ‘Golden Apple Award’ for the Asia-Pacific region. He regularly hosted senior executives and VIPs from Australian businesses to visit the Apple HQ in Cupertino, California for technology tours and meetings with the Apple Executive Team. This is an amazing outcome for a high school dropout from suburban Doncaster, Melbourne – playing on the biggest technology stage in the heart of Silicon Valley. Darren often pinched himself to see if he was dreaming.
After a decade of incredible experiences, inspirational knowledge, and even a few battle scars from his time at Apple Inc. (Darren was a genuine corporate escapee), he felt the need for a change – an actual ‘sea change’, so that is what he did!
Together with a business partner, Darren helped create a boutique entrepreneurial ‘lifestyle business’ in the marine industry. The business started small but then snowballed to meet the needs of the market. 15 years later the team successfully sold and exited the business.
Darren’s next challenge was as a Marina Manager and Ambassador for Wyndham Harbour. This was a new residential marina and harbour development for approximately 1,500 people (kids, dogs, and boats) located on the north-western shores of Port Phillip in Melbourne’s west.
Darren has written three award-winning, bestselling books on boating, family, and lifestyle. During that time, he developed ‘The Boat Guy’ as a brand, becoming an ambassador and industry expert, regularly presenting at boat shows and industry events. His first book entitled, ‘Honey, Let’s Buy A Boat!’ made it into the Top 5 on iTunes. He built a strong community on social media and has a growing media profile widely respected within many entrepreneurial circles. He’s seen as someone who constantly innovates, doesn’t stand still, and who “Gets Sh!t Done”.
A seasoned presenter with Radio 3AW part of Nine Media, Darren presents the ‘Beach and Bay Reports’ over summer and has done so professionally since 2014. He revels in the challenge of live radio, and it aligns well with his passion for the outdoors, lifestyle, and the ocean. Truth be told, he’s a wannabe pro surfer (and pro golfer) with little ability, but that’s never stopped him!
Next, Darren graduated from the Dent Global ‘Key Person of Influence’ entrepreneurial accelerator program in 2012 where he was the first back-to-back winner of the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award for Australia. In 2021 he was invited to join the team at Dent Global to coach, mentor, and work closely with their current students and alumni.
Now you know all about Darren. It’s time to create your amazing story too!
Being ‘The Accountability Guy®’, naturally he’s focused on making a business work by eliminating any obstacles or distractions standing in the way of reaching the goals that have been set.
Darren is confident that his knowledge, experience, and through the support of his community and mentors, he can make a business succeed.
As an entrepreneur he realises every circumstance, event, and situation is a potential business opportunity. This means there is a constant flow of ideas about workflows, efficiency, people skills, product ecosystems, and potential new business prospects. He is great at looking at everything around and focusing it all on his goals.
If something needs to be done Darren gets in and start its himself, as there is no better time than the present to ‘just do it’. He sets clear parameters and makes sure projects follow their projected path. Being proactive and intuitive, he doesn’t like waiting for permission, so prefers to ask for forgiveness instead.
Darren has formed businesses where he could see a growing opportunity to do something better than it was being done before. Tick Those Boxes is a perfect example. There are plenty of ‘Business Coaches’ in the market, however, rarely do they focus on ‘Accountability’. This is why Darren works with clients of business coaches, to offer hands-on implementation of what has been agreed upon by the client and their coach.
Darren formed Tick Those Boxes because he knew with his knowledge, experience, and energy he could do a better job of solving a client’s real problems, making a quantifiable difference through delivery of a much better outcome. He’s incredibly competitive and respects his competition, knowing their role is to largely keep him accountable, and this makes him even better.
Darren is great at making connections between seemingly unrelated events or situations. He does so in a creative and commercially focused manner. As an entrepreneur, he often comes up with solutions that are the synthesis of other items. He’s also known to repurpose products to market them to new industries and clients.
Darren looks at defeat as an opportunity for success and a learning experience. He’s determined to make all of his endeavours succeed, so he tries and tries again until they do. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you cannot believe anything is impossible, and one should at least try so many times that every opportunity has been explored.
We must understand the importance of people, as they are an asset to any business. Darren has strong communication skills and likes to motivate employees as they work together towards a common goal. This ensures the business grows. He’s great at highlighting the benefits of any situation, naturally coaching others to their own success.
Darren leads from the front. He’s often the first person to arrive and the last one to leave the office. He’ll go in on his days off to make sure an outcome meets (or exceeds) expectations. His mind is constantly focussed on delivering products to fix customer problems.
Passion and Energy is one of Darren’s most important traits. Genuine love for the work is why he’s willing to put in extra hours to make the business succeed. This passion goes beyond making money. He’s constantly reading and researching new ways to make businesses better.
Having worked in both BIG business (Apple Inc.) and as an entrepreneur, Darren has built several businesses throughout his career. Largely in the service and lifestyle industries, he also acquired businesses as part of a strategy to achieve growth and market share.
He knows what you’re going through, has walked in your footsteps, and has also been a ‘solopreneur’, so is aware of the rollercoaster journey ahead of you.
Dent Global develops entrepreneurs who stand out, scale up, and make a positive impact in the world.
Dent has worked directly with 3,500 + businesses around the world to help them become more visible, valuable, and scalable.
Dent Global is a leader in strategy and technology for entrepreneurial businesses. Since 2010 they have opened up Head Offices in London, Sydney, and Toronto. Their company values are to be brave, have fun, and make a ‘dent’.
As a Dent Coach Darren works with current student intake groups to ensure students stay on track and successfully implement and execute Dent’s processes and frameworks. He also privately coaches many Dent alumni.
He delivers on what he promises:
Over the 12-month period from 1/2/19 to 30/1/20 these amazing results were achieved:
Darren Gets Sh!t Done!
– RADIO 3AW ~ NINE MEDIA
– LIFE’S BETTER WITH A BOAT
– MIRVAC
– ALL ABOUT BOATS for Ch7 and Foxtel
– DENT GLOBAL ~ Key Person of Influence
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