When you look at successful people online what do you see?
Do you see their cars, houses, clothes, and lifestyle and think…
“How did they even get started?”
“How hard did they have to work, or did they work smart instead?”
“What skills did they acquire to get to where they are?”
Well, if you had similar thoughts to those above, you’ll love this week’s newsletter…
Because today, you’ll discover how well-known influencers got their start in business and the skills they developed to achieve great success.
So, let’s get started.
How a Former Drug Addict Became a $600 Million Real Estate Tycoon
After losing his father and his older brother, a young Italian man from Lake Charles, Louisiana turned to drugs and alcohol at age 16.
Despite life’s many challenges being thrown at him he graduated high school and earned a university degree in accounting.
He got his start as a salesman in car dealerships, located throughout Texas and California.
It wouldn’t be until age 25 that he began to seek help and get his life together.
He attended rehab, where his counselor told him he’d “fail in the real world.”
This only pushed him to prove his counselor wrong.
He first saw success as a Consultant to car dealerships helping them with their sales and marketing, and he used this money to branch out into real estate.
Today, he’s the CEO of multiple companies, has a net worth of around $600 million, and is a world-renowned author, speaker, investor, coach, and sales trainer.
His name is Grant Cardone, and his first high income skill was closing.
How A Shy Student Built an 8 Figure Online Empire
After nearly flunking out of a United Kingdom college due to a gaming addiction, a young Malaysian man returned home unemployed, broke, and $42,200 in debt.
He managed to land a job paying $330 per month.
One day while showering he had a stark realization.
There was no way he’d be able to pay off his college debt on his salary.
He searched “How to make money online”, and began implementing some of what he’d learned.
After 7 months, he made his first $7 dollars online.
After receiving the Paypal notification he rushed into his mother’s room to tell her the great news.
“It’s only $7. You’ve been at this for 7 months already.”
She was right but he knew that if he could repeat this over and over again then this was just the beginning.
What happened over the next 7 years was nothing short of amazing.
He built an 8 figure empire that continues to grow.
Today he is an author, speaker, and on stage closer, but his first high income skill was digital marketing.
His name is Peng Joon, and in his words “Marketing is the skill that pays the bills.”
How a Belarusian Immigrant Became a Digital Marketing Mogul
After immigrating to the US from Belarus in 1978 a young boy lived in a studio apartment in Queens, New York with eight family members.
He started his first business (a lemonade franchise) at age 7 and sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards during high school.
While working at his father’s liquor store he took over operations and launched it online in the mid 2000’s
He grew the liquor store from $4 million to $60 million a year.
He co-founded VaynerMedia with his brother in 2009, without raising startup capital.
In 9 years they grew their company to 800 employees, servicing large companies such as PepsiCo, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Chase, and many more.
He is of course Gary Vee, and today he is an serial entrepreneur, influencer, highly paid speaker, angel investor, 5x NYT bestselling author, and CEO.
He describes himself as a “purebred entrepreneur” and his first skill was sales.
How a Kid From the Ghetto Became Known as The Trillion Dollar Man
Growing up in the tough Varrios of East Los Angeles, Daniel was in and out of trouble.
His father believed in tough love, and never accepted any nonsense from his kids.
Dan spent many nights in jail for various alcoholic incidents, and his father once instructed his friends in the police force to beat Dan and teach him a lesson.
He got his start as a financial analyst on Wall Street and went on to become the president of Houston-based oil company, Western Resources Inc. A company which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984.
He grew Western Resources to $450 million at a time when oil prices had collapsed.
Throughout his career, he’s had many great achievements including being number #1 in real estate sales while still in graduate school.
He’s been a speaker and business coach for many years and lives in Guthrie Castle in Scotland.
He is none other than my second mentor, The 1 Trillion Dollar man, Mr. Dan Peña.
His first high income skill was closing.
How a Chinese Immigrant Who Couldn’t Speak English Become a World-class Speaker
I’ll spare you the suspense here because this next story is mine.
If you don’t know my full story, I immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong with my mother at 14.
I couldn’t speak a word of English.
I was shy, introverted, and unconfident.
I was bullied often.
I got into business out of necessity to provide for my mom when my father went bankrupt and could no longer send us money.
But, things weren’t all smooth sailing.
I failed at 13 businesses and amassed $150K of debt by the time I hit my late teens.
I had a chance meeting with my first mentor and successful entrepreneur Alan Jacques at one of his events.
He taught me my first high income skill, which was Copywriting.
Over the years I would add consulting, closing, digital marketing, and speaking to my toolbelt.
I’d make multiple six figures in my early twenties.
I’d speak all over North America to thousands of people.
I started multiple online businesses, some of which were extremely successful.
I retired twice at age 27 and 30 and got bored fast.
I started an education business in 2017 that hit 8 figures in under 10 months.
Today, I’m the Chairman of Dragon 100™, and the managing partner of the DragonX Capital venture capital firm.
I’m also a professional speaker and online influencer with tens of millions of followers.
My first high income skill as I mentioned was Copywriting…
And I write this newsletter to you today to show you that none of the people featured here were born into money.
None of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouths.
We all worked extremely hard to get to where we are, but we’ve all achieved something amazing and continue to impact millions with our message.
We all started with a skill, and then added more skills as we progressed on our journey.
And if we can do it, so can you.
But you have to start somewhere.
If you’re yet to develop your first high income skill, that’s a great place to start.
Click here to check out some of my high income skill trainings at the Dan Lok Shop >>
To your success,
Dan Lok
P.S. – If you ever want to start a business there’s no way you’ll succeed without at least one high income skill.
Truthfully, the more skills you have the better your chances of successs.
So, don’t take business skills lightly.
