Daniel Booter of Manhattan on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Daniel Booter and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I’m most proud of the systems behind D.B. Marketing Group. People see polished campaigns and client wins, but they don’t see the playbook I had to build from scratch, client acquisition, financial management, scaling workflows, and a pipeline of creative assets that run without breaking.

Most agencies show off the campaigns. What I’m proud of is the machine underneath, built to handle pressure and complexity while keeping quality high. That structure is what makes the work look effortless from the outside.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Daniel Booter and I am the founder and CEO of D.B. Marketing Group. We are a boutique agency that specializes in social media management, public relations, and consulting with CMOs to help strengthen business structure. Alongside strategy, we also produce high-quality photo and video content that gives brands the creative edge they need in today’s fast-moving market.

What makes us unique is the balance we strike between strategy and execution. We work at the intersection of marketing leadership and creative production, so we are able to advise executives on big-picture decisions while also handling the day-to-day storytelling that connects businesses to their audiences.

I started D.B. Marketing Group to fill a gap I saw in the industry: too many agencies focused on flashy creative without building the systems to sustain growth. Our focus is not only on generating visibility, but also on creating the structure and content that makes that visibility last. Right now, we are working on expanding our client base while continuing to refine the blend of PR, SMM, consulting, and production that has made us effective for the businesses we serve.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
A moment that really shaped how I see the world happened back in school, when I was asked to create a video project. I had no idea where to start, and when I turned to my teacher for help, he was too busy to guide me. At first I felt stuck, but that moment forced me to figure it out on my own. I learned quickly that if I wanted something done, I could not wait on someone else. I had to teach myself, experiment, and push through the uncertainty.

That experience stuck with me. It showed me that growth comes from taking ownership, even when resources or guidance are limited. It is the same lesson I carried into building D.B. Marketing Group. As an entrepreneur, I realized that nobody was going to hand me a roadmap. I had to build it myself, just like I did with that first video. Now, every challenge I face is less about waiting for the right answer to appear, and more about creating the structure and solutions that make progress possible.

That moment in school may have seemed small at the time, but it completely shifted how I see the world. It taught me independence, resilience, and the value of building systems from scratch. Those lessons still drive how I lead and create today.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, there was. When I first started building D.B. Marketing Group, there were moments when the weight of running everything alone nearly broke me. I was wearing every hat at once, strategist, creative, accountant, salesperson, and there were times when the results did not match the effort I was putting in. I questioned whether it was worth continuing, or if I should just walk away and take a safer path.

What stopped me from giving up was realizing that the struggle itself was shaping me into the kind of entrepreneur I wanted to be. I began to see that setbacks were not signals to quit, but signals to adapt. Every failure forced me to refine my systems, every rejection pushed me to sharpen my approach, and every overwhelming moment taught me resilience.

Looking back, those near breaking points became turning points. They taught me that success in business is not about avoiding struggle, it is about outlasting it and building the structure that allows you to keep going. That lesson stays with me today, and it is why I trust the process even when it feels heavy.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
In marketing, everything can look like a breakthrough when it first arrives, but not everything lasts. The way I separate fads from foundational shifts is by asking one simple question: does this trend solve a real problem for people or businesses, or is it just noise?

A fad usually spikes in attention but dies out when the hype fades. A foundational shift changes how people communicate, consume, or make decisions at scale. For example, a viral challenge might drive temporary engagement, but the rise of short-form video as a dominant format was a true foundational shift because it changed user behavior across every platform.

I have been studying social media since 2012, which has given me more than a decade of insight into how these patterns rise and fall. That perspective allows me to see where real shifts are happening before most of my competition, and it gives D.B. Marketing Group an edge when guiding clients. We pay attention to trends, but we do not chase them blindly. We focus on the ones that align with lasting changes in user behavior and brand strategy.

That discipline, combined with years of pattern recognition, is what makes our work effective and future proof in a constantly shifting industry.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I am doing what I was born to do, not what I was told to do. From a young age, I had a strong sense of independence. I was never afraid to go my own way, even when it meant taking a harder path. What set me apart was not just choosing my own direction, but pushing myself further than anyone expected. That drive to outperform and excel became a core part of who I am.

D.B. Marketing Group is a big part of that journey. I built it from the ground up, and it has given me the space to prove my ability to create systems, deliver results, and compete at a high level. But I do not see it as my end point. I see it as one chapter in a bigger story.

So while D.B. Marketing Group is a vehicle for my vision today, what matters most to me is the mindset behind it, building, innovating, and refusing to settle for what I was told life should look like. That is the part I was born to do.

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