Daniel Milstein

Daniel Milstein (born November 8, 1975), is a Ukrainian American entrepreneur and writer. In 2000, he founded Gold Star Financial Group, a financial services company that specializes in prime mortgages. Milstein's books include the bestseller 17 Cents and a Dream about his family's escape from Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union, to the United States.

Daniel Milstein was born in Kiev, Ukraine, which was then known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. He and his family suffered government oppression and anti-Semitism. After the death of his grandparents as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the family made the decision to emigrate. Following years of planning, Milstein's family landed in the United States in December 1991 just as Ukraine was affirming independence from the USSR. Granted political asylum, they settled with distant relatives in Michigan where Milstein attended high school at Huron High School while working part-time at a local McDonalds to help support the family. He attended Eastern Michigan University and received a BBA with honors in business management and finance from Cleary University. In 2012, Cleary awarded Milstein an honorary Doctor of Business Administration and he later served on the school's Board of Trustees. Milstein and his brother, Alex Milshteyn, both went into different areas of the housing business. Milshteyn (a different spelling of the family name) became a real estate agent, then started his own real estate company.

After college graduation, Milstein worked for various financial institutions starting with TCF Bank. He later worked for Comerica Bank, where he failed twice at becoming a loan officer because of inexperience. Milstein learned the mortgage business while working at ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, starting as an underwriter.

Gold Star Financial Group

In 1999, Milstein started a branch of Golden Rule mortgage, which he later changed to Gold Star Financial in 2000. The company's model is high-volume discount mortgages with low risk, using relationship marketing. By 2002, Milstein agreed with industry experts that a market correction would happen eventually in the housing industry. He expanded Gold Star nationally and diversified but did not enter the subprime market. The expected United States housing market correction began in 2005 which fed into the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007.

Between 2005-2011, Milstein led a major expansion of Gold Star into the vacuum where companies involved in the subprime market had shut down. This grew the company over 700%, moving into an additional 11 states. When regulations around the mortgage industry changed in 2009, loan officers needed to pass through more rigorous testing in each state; "the landscape of (the) industry changed completely." Milstein invested in training and hired experienced staff from shuttered companies, pushing a collaborative workplace model based on the open door policy. The Detroit Free Press named Gold Star to its Top Workplaces" list four times from 2011-2014. Gold Star was named to Inc. Magazine's 500 list of fastest-growing companies in the United States in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, Gold Star was named one of Michigan's "Economic Bright Spots".

In 2009 and 2010, Scotsman Guide named Milstein as their Top Originator in their annual rankings and in 2013 and 2015, Gold Star was named to the Ellie Mae Hall of Fame for "Outstanding Loan Origination Process". In 2009, Crain's Detroit Business recognized Milstein as one of their "40 Under 40" - people who have made their marks in business before age 40. The following year, DBusiness named Milstein as one of their "30 in their 30s".

Books

In 2011, Milstein started his writing career by publishing his first book through his own publishing company, The ABC of Sales. A non-fiction primer for aspiring salespeople, he spelled out the basic tools he used to make himself a success. Milstein discussed the impact Ray Kroc’s philosophies had on him when he was a teenager working at McDonalds and how he grew to love sales. The bestselling book was generally well received. Kirkus Reviews stated that the book's enthusiasm was infectious; “Milstein’s ideas are easy to grasp (and) his message is clear: love the product, love the customer and do whatever it takes to close the sale.” The book received several awards for sales and content, including honorable mentions at the San Francisco and New England literary festivals.

Milstein's second book was a memoir, 17 Cents and a Dream: My Incredible Journey from the USSR to Living the American Dream, published in 2013. The book related his family's escape from Ukraine in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, living in subsidized housing and learning English, to his pursuit of the American Dream and forming Gold Star. Labelled part memoir and part "motivational manual", the title refers to the seventeen cents Milstein had in his pocket when he arrived in the United States, which had been given to him by a friend to cover the expense of a postage stamp so that Daniel could send him a letter. The book was well received; it was awarded an ‘Honorable Mention’ by the Paris Book Festival in May 2013 and ranked No. 1 on Amazon’s list of Kindle eBooks in its category.

Street Smart Selling: How to Be a Sales Superstar, Milstein's third book, was published in 2014. The book uses examples from Milstein's company for advice on how to succeed in sales. Reviews called the book authentic and uplifting.

Miscellaneous

Milstein is also the agent for hockey player Pavel Datsyuk, Pavel Datsyuk, who recently announced his intention to retire from the NHL in April 2016.