About Dante St James
G'day. I'm Dante.
Coach, speaker, trainer and proud Territorian. Bald head, green glasses, a fair bit of ink and a soft spot for blokes who are doing it harder than they let on.
I've repositioned my own business three times, through shifts like full-time jobs turning into contracts and retail moving online. Each time I knew what I was doing on paper, and each time I spent months wondering if I'd got it badly wrong. That stretch between deciding and seeing it work is where a lot of men quietly fall apart. I've been there more than once.
For years I've trained small business owners in digital marketing and AI, plus the nuts and bolts of running a business. I'm one of five Meta-contracted Lead Trainers across Australia and New Zealand, and more than 20,000 people have sat in my sessions.
In those rooms I kept seeing the same thing. Capable men holding back. Skills weren't the problem. They'd been sold a version of success built on grinding and posturing with no room for doubt, and it didn't fit them. Some had burnt out trying to make it fit.
You can hold high standards and still be kind to the bloke trying to meet them.
So that's what I do now. I coach men in business who want someone honest in their corner, and I speak to rooms that are tired of being shouted at from a stage.
What I believe
A few things I'll argue about over a coffee.
01
Strong and soft can live in the same bloke.
Backbone and tenderness aren't a trade-off. The men people trust most usually have both.
02
Good feedback leaves you taller.
If someone needs to humiliate you to help you, they're helping themselves.
03
Busy is a lousy business strategy.
Hours worked is the easiest number to brag about and the least useful one to track.
04
Your family is the point.
Anyone telling you to sacrifice them for the grind has never sat at the end of that road.
Background
The day job behind the coaching.
- Founder
- Clickstarter Education
- Entrepreneur in Residence
- Darwin Innovation Hub
- Lead Trainer
- One of five Meta-contracted trainers across Australia and New Zealand
- Reach
- 20,000+ people trained, 10+ years on stage
- Writer
- The Saturday Sprint, 15,000+ readers
- Clients
- Government and private sector clients, plus education providers
- Programs delivered with
- BECNT, Business Station, the Australian Government's Digital Solutions Program and others