South Magazine Winter 2022/Spring 2023

ELIZABETH FEIRSTEIN
When Dan was alone in Virginia, traveling the state as a
salesman, he read about the art of manifestation. That
is, how to create a successful life from a place within,
where joy, peace and true love reside. Dan realized
success lies in how you move forward and create it for
yourself.
“I think it is important for students at South
Alabama to know, and what I would want to say, is you
don’t know where that road is going to take you. You
have to have your eyes wide open. Once you start living,
thinking, doing that, you become magnetic to things.
Each of you are equal to what could be for you.”
Dan and Hal both feverishly agree that their desire
never wavered to do something bigger and better, even
as the world around them changed drastically. One
thing Dan said he learned in business school is the
ability to remain fexible, regardless of your industry.
“We didn’t anticipate September 11, the recession,
COVID. We continually had to reinvent ourselves.”
During the COVID lockdown in the U.S., Dan and
Hal knew they would have to not only be fexible but
remain vigilant as to how their market and industry
would be afected.
“The super wealthy were buying second and third
homes in areas that had private security and fve-star
chefs in their private clubhouses. They could have
these places to go where they could get to and have
all their luxuries and not have to be around any other
people. But they also wanted to be next to world-class
medical care should they need it.”
While most of their friends are downsizing and
settling in, Dan and Hal say they have never been
more excited to do everything they want to do in
“You have to have your eyes wide open.
Once you start living, thinking, doing
that, you become magnetic to things.”
– DAN OLLIS
life. Through the frm, the pair are working in the
U.S. Virgin Islands to develop a private, gated, remote
community, away from crime and whatever the “next
pandemic” will be.
They are also beginning to transition to living
part-time in France and have found a chateau in Nice.
“We love antiquities,” Dan said. “There is something
about seeing an object that is centuries-old, that is just
beautiful. We wanted something that has history in it.
“My whole life philosophy has become ‘Je dois
habiter Paris ou Nice,’” Dan quipped. Translation: I have
to live in Paris or Nice.
“Each project of ours has joy, frustration,
everything in between,” Hal said. “Every day is
unique and very diferent. We have all kinds of projects
and clients.”
Overall, arriving at South Alabama with a
major that did not excite him taught Dan one of his
most important lessons in life. “You have to have an
imagination. In that, you have to create something.
There is success there.”
12 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA