#231 - Be Your Brand with Michael Daniels

Michael Daniels is the founder and CEO of FAYR (Family Advocacy Your Responsibility) — a groundbreaking app that seamlessly streamlines key aspects of family management for co-parents raising children together.

The creation of the app grew out of Daniels' own challenges as a divorced father of two grade-school-aged children, navigating life and the family court system. His story enables him to personally connect with end users.

FAYR debuted in beta early in 2017 and immediately drew interest from Apple TV executives who invited him to audition for their new reality series "Planet of the Apps." Daniels was selected for the show and appeared on the July 25, 2017, episode in which he secured a partnership with mentor-advisor Gwyneth Paltrow. The Academy Award-winning actress will provide guidance as FAYR's user-base grows.

A custom homebuilder by profession, Daniels, 39, created FAYR to provide parents with a simpler, more effective way to track and keep logs that are required to prove custody schedules and events, child expenses incurred, written correspondences, and timely arrivals to pickup or drop-off children all while saving time, money and anxiety. Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Daniels grew up traveling the world while his father served as a the United States Army Officer. An All-American athlete and avid outdoorsman, Daniels set a world record at age 12 as the youngest person to hike the 135 mile Philmont trail in New Mexico. He now lives in Weston, Fla.

That same drive and determination propelled him as he began his professional career — which saw his quick rise to a senior management position, VP of Construction, with the Miami-based Lennar Corp. while he was still in his mid-twenties. He has spent the past ten years creating a thriving business building and designing one-of-a-kind million dollar homes. He brings this leadership to Fayr, and the same focus on precision and quality that propelled his homebuilding career.

Yet while he was creating the perfect homes for others, his own home life was crumbling. After racking up nearly $60,000 in legal costs, and forfeiting untold hours of his time, Daniels said he was determined to not let any more of his life — or his kids' childhoods — slip away. "I was never able to be my best self for my kids, because I was consumed with mundane legal matters.