Meet Dave D’Aoust
I know what it’s like
to want another way.
To come home tired—and still want something more.
I went straight into construction after high school because I didn’t know what else to do. Two years later, I wanted another option. After work, still wearing my work clothes and boots, I went to night school and earned my qualification to teach English overseas.
That took me to South Korea. Four months later, I came home to care for my mother. She needed me, so I returned—and went back into construction.
Building outside working hours
The plans changed.
The drive stayed.
Over the years, I kept building ideas outside working hours. One became Espree, a digital advertising business I developed with support from Algonquin College while studying business management and entrepreneurship. My business plan earned an award, and I graduated on the Dean’s Honour List.
Then my marriage ended, and I became my son’s sole caregiver. We shared a one-bedroom apartment: he had the bedroom; I slept in the living room. From there, I built Primed for Life, a program to help people break unhealthy gaming habits.
I wrote a book, made videos, and recorded a podcast. But the income wasn’t enough to support us, and I returned to the trades.
I’ve started things. I’ve had to stop things. I’ve learned that effort alone doesn’t remove every obstacle.
Still working. Still building.
I’m 54.
I’m not finished.
After more than thirty years of physical work, much of it as a skilled granite countertop craftsman, my body needed a different direction. I qualified to sell insurance, discovered office life wasn’t the right fit, and moved on. Today, I deliver auto parts to garages around Ottawa.
I earned my degree in Business Management & Entrepreneurship at Algonquin College and kept learning from there. I completed Marie Forleo’s B-School, a program focused on building and marketing a business, and the Knowledge Broker program from Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi, which teaches how to turn knowledge and experience into workshops and group learning experiences. Today, I’m using AI to help bring that education and my working-life experience together in Samuden.
Ideas put to work
Philosophy belongs
in everyday life.
I’ve spent years reading business books and exploring philosophy. Marcus Aurelius and Miyamoto Musashi have been strong influences on my thinking and on Samuden. What matters to me is putting those ideas to work in everyday life.
“What gets in the way becomes the way.” That principle helps me keep moving. An obstacle can give you something to work with—a skill to learn, a habit to change, or a different direction to try.
Then there’s memento mori—remember that you will die. To me, that isn’t gloomy. It’s a reminder that life matters, and the time we spend living it isn’t something we get back.
“It’s better to be a samurai in a garden than a gardener in a war.” That image sits at the heart of Samuden. We prepare even when there is no war: building our skills, strengthening our foundations, and giving ourselves more choices before difficult times arrive. The garden is the life we build. The preparation helps us protect it—and keep growing.
Why I’m building Samuden
Put the experience to work.
Pass something useful on.
Samuden comes from that working life, those attempts, and the people I see trying to get ahead every day. It’s where I’m bringing philosophy, business, and practical learning together.
I’m building it to help hardworking people create more choices for themselves—and learn to help others do the same.
I know the path, and I’ll walk it with you. We’ll put these ideas to work, one step at a time.
As I learn, so shall I teach.