“Far From a Harvard Student — Just Had the Balls to Do It”

If You Want Something You’ve Never Had, You Have To Do Something You’ve Never Done

One of my best friends literally talked his way into being named a majority owner of a real estate investment startup, without having to risk a dollar of his own money. He stands to make $28,000 off their first flip, if and when the property sells. Five years ago, he was making $8 an hour at his sales job. Three years before that, he was in State Prison.

One of the most successful general contractors I know, one I work for on a very regular basis, started his own shop well before he was qualified. He got tired of working for others and decided to become his own boss. He felt there was more of a lucrative opportunity in starting a general contracting/home remodeling company than in remaining in the specialized and specific industry of construction he came from and the one he was experienced in. He began watching do it yourself videos on YouTube and home improvement shows.

He started with putting his newly found and self taught skills to the test on his own house first and then an investment property of his. While his work may not have been top of the line when he first started up five years ago, he now runs a moderately successful home remodeling company, is his own boss, makes his own schedule — and about $100,000 a year doing something he more or less taught himself to do and learned as he went.