Transcription
Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am, thank you. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?
I'm not a millionaire. No. No, I'm a billionaire.
You're a billionaire. All right. How did you become a billionaire?
I run a tech company.
You run a tech company? Yes. How long have you been a business owner?
So, I left Wall Street in 2013.
You were on Wall Street? Yes. My job was to keep rich people rich for a living.
So, what was the most amount of money that you made in a single year?
A billion dollars.
A lot. Give me a range.
$1.2 billion.
1.2 billion. Are you a billionaire?
That makes me a billionaire. Yes.
Have you ever met a billionaire?
Absolutely. I've been in the bank accounts of billionaires and the homes of billionaires. Absolutely. So, where do the wealthiest people put their money? I want you to think about the richest people that you've ever met.
Okay. So, here we go. 80% of their money typically.
As a billionaire, what's the best financial advice you would give to the younger generation? If you want to start your own business, your last message to the younger generation trying to become a billionaire in today's world.
I'm about to do something insane, guys. I'm about to interview some of the richest women in the entire world, including Sarah Blakeley, the youngest self-made female billionaire in the entire world. And I'm not kidding. Right now, I am standing in Beverly Hills, one of the richest zip codes on the planet. And I'm going to be going around to find some of the richest women that live here to figure out how they built their fortunes. But we're just getting started, you guys, because after this, I'm going to be flying across the country to Atlanta to go meet and interview one of the richest female billionaires on earth to figure out how she turned just $5,000 into a billion-dollar empire, making her the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. So, this video is about to be insane from start to finish. So, stay tuned until the end. With that being said, let's go meet some billionaires.
Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am. Yes. Question for you. I'm going all over Beverly Hills asking people, "How did you get rich?"
Worked hard.
What line of business are you in?
Film. Producer, director.
What are you doing?
Producer.
What was your most proud accomplishment in the in the film industry?
Probably amassing almost $2 billion in revenue and now I got to go.
Oh, wait. Are you a business owner? Real quick, can I change my channel? That way you can see it you guys. I could not get the game from her. But she said doing $2 billion in revenue. That's just to put in perspective for you. The kind of women, the kind of people that are out here that we're going to be running into on these streets of Beverly Hills. I wanted that one back, but we couldn't get it, you guys. But I know that they're out here. And I am not going to stop until I get a billion dollars worth of game for you all. Come on.
Excuse me, ma'am. How did you get rich?
How did I get rich?
Yes.
Working really, really hard.
And what line of business? Are you a business owner?
Finance.
You were in finance on Wall Street or what?
Dad, I can't tell you. Wait, so real quick. I grew a channel to 17 million followers. I've interviewed 25 billionaires in the last four years like Mark Cuban, Michael Rubin. I ask successful people how they made it for the younger generation. So, I wanted to ask you if there's one piece of financial advice that you learned throughout your career that you could instill in the younger generation, what would that be?
Invest in things you understand.
Like what what was that for you? What was the best vehicle?
Real estate.
And do you like residential or commercial? What did you like?
Residential.
Why is that?
Because the timing was perfect for it.
And when did you buy real estate primarily?
This goes back to the '90s.
What's the best city to buy real estate in today's world?
Oh, LA. Anywhere where there's coastal properties.
A lot of people like red states are like, "Well, of course, because of politics." So, red states obviously are better because of the tax breaks.
Did you ever own a business?
Yes.
What was the big issue you had?
A billion dollars.
A billion dollars?
Yes.
Are you serious?
Yes.
Did you have anybody that doubted you in business?
No.
Nobody doubted you?
No.
Why not?
Somebody that did cost them a lot of money.
So, it's safe to say that it's not a smart idea to bet against you.
Absolutely not a good idea. Yeah. Absolutely not. Listen, all is fair and I believe in doing things fairly and that business can be a win-win for anybody, but you should never get in a situation where you think that somebody else is not worthy of whatever. Everybody deserves a break and a chance to prove themselves in business.
What was the biggest challenge that you face running companies? Cuz it's hard. You have to employees. Why it was hard to get them? Why?
Because uh employees, you have to hire people that you trust. Men are linear. They're direct. They're clear thinkers. They're easy to take care of. Women are emotional, difficult to do business with.
So, did you hire a lot?
That happens to be the truth.
So, did you not hire a lot of women employees then?
No.
Why do I? Are you serious?
Yes, I'm serious.
Even as a? Even as a boss woman?
Yes. You hire women that have men's instincts for business.
You mentioned buying real estate. Did you buy a lot of real estate?
Yes.
You did?
Yes.
With each of your properties, did you have an LLC for each property?
Yes.
How many LLC's do you own?
Over 50.
Over 50 LLC's. And how important was that?
Oh, it's critical. I mean, here's the thing. An LLC is a veil of protection and everybody should understand their taxes. It will serve you for the rest of your life. For every business that I've started and every property that I've acquired starting this year, I've been using an LLC company. The company I used to start my business and buy my properties was called Busy. I started my LLC through them and it was it was one of the smartest decisions cuz it protects you.
I'm going to look at busy. You said you're 62 today.
Yes.
If me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message for the younger generation, what would that be?
Live while you're alive.
What's that mean?
Enjoy your life.
Guys, we just interviewed I think a billionaire out here in Beverly Hills. And did you hear what she said? For every one of her businesses, for each one of her real estate properties, she has an LLC. She's got not one, not two, but 50 LLC's, you guys. That is insane. And that should tell you something because look, billionaires, they don't leave anything up to chance. They structure everything because the right entity protects their personal assets, saves them a ton of money on taxes, and sets them up to scale. And that's exactly why I used Busy when I was starting out. and it helped me build a multi-million dollar business. It make it insanely easy to start a business, you guys. Whether it's an LLC or an escort, you can literally get everything handled in like under 10 minutes. And it's super affordable. It is way cheaper and way easier than trying to go hire a super expensive lawyer or an accountant to set up your business. So guys, trust me on this. Stop what you're doing. Be like the smart entrepreneurs. Be like the rich entrepreneurs and use Busy to set up your business today. All you have to do is go down to the link in the description of this video to start your business through Busy Today. But with that being said, let's get back to the video.
All right, you guys. So, we at our next spot out here in Beverly Hills, and a Maybach just pulled up to the valet out here. So, I'm going to go up and see what they did to get rich. Let's go see who it is, you guys. Come on.
Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am, thank you. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?
I'm not a millionaire. No, no, I'm a billionaire.
You're a billionaire. Are you actually?
Yes.
How did you become a billionaire?
Well, working hard shaping eyebrows.
So, you're in the beauty business?
Yes, I'm in a beauty business. I own a company called Anastasia Beverly Hills.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
How long have you been a business owner?
Wow. I started in uh 1997.
Are you self-made?
Yes, totally.
So, you don't you don't come from a lot of money?
No, I came here from a communist regime from Romania and I didn't speak the language. I didn't have any money. I didn't know anyone and uh I really believed in eyebrows.
I go all over the world interviewing billionaires to help the younger generation. Can I get a minute with you for the channel real quick?
Absolutely.
Did you take on a lot of investors?
No. I mean when I sold in 2018 I didn't have I own 100% of the company.
Are you serious?
How much did you sell for?
The company was evaluated of three billions.
Nobody believed in Ibro business. Did you have anybody that doubted you in business?
Oh absolutely. The landlord that I wanted to rent the space. The bank didn't want to give me a credit card. Everybody my own husband didn't believe that this will be a business.
Why didn't you listen to anybody else?
You know why? Cuz I really believed it. I really believe that eyebrow is such an important feature in our face and I fixed my own eyebrow. This is how everything started. I had pencil thin eyebrows in the '80s. That was the fashion.
As a billionaire, what's the best financial advice you would give to the younger generation? If you want to start your own business, watch the cash flow. Ibida is everything. You know, it's all about the profit. It's all about the profits. Don't start spending money left and right. When I started, I was driving a beat up car that I spent $200. Okay? And it didn't matter if my daughter thought that I couldn't uh drive her to school because the kids will make fun of her or my clients. I they didn't make fun. But you know the perception of people like oh I have to fit in with everybody else. I didn't care. I had a bigger goals and it was important for me to save every penny to put into my business. And for many years this is what I did. Every money I will generate I will put back into the business.
You just kept reinvesting.
That's it. Yes. I didn't buy cars. I worked non-stop. So, I didn't have even time to spend the money I was making.
Now, when you started to generate cash flow and reinvest in the business, how did you scale?
You have to scale to produce more products, to widen the distribution, and of course, you start learning the business slowly. You make a lot of mistakes. I made many mistakes, but you learn from your mistakes. And the key is to never make the same mistake twice. Social media right now because you ask me how I scale my daughter that worked with me and we used to travel to promote the products in 2012 she came to me and she said mom maybe we'll get into this app called Instagram and we don't need to travel that much and I said okay let's try let's see anybody else like ah I don't believe it I don't want like absolutely anything I will try anything so we start posting pictures of our products and it went viral and this is how we start sending ing products to some makeup artists or women and men that love products and our makeup and they used to do tutorial on YouTube or pictures for Instagram and we're the first beauty brand having a presence on Instagram and this is how we scale. It exploded the company. So social media it changed the game for you.
Change completely the game. So you always have to be alert. Don't sit here and do the same business that you did 20 years ago. You have to adapt. You got to pivot. You have to adapt. You have to pivot. Business changes every day. Right now with AI, I I'm looking into I want to learn more. I want to implement AI as much as I can in finance, in product development, in distribution, everything.
You've already built a billion-dollar company. You've became a billionaire. Are you still motivated to keep on going?
Oh, I work like I can't pay my rent next month.
So, you're working like the rent.
Oh, yes. Yes. Like I love it. I love what I do. I don't even feel like I work. And that's the key actually. I find that I'm more successful, that I have a purpose every day, me and my daughter. Money are are great. Don't get me wrong. I love my whatever I have, what I build, I work hard for it. But that's not everything in life. My family, my clients, my friends. Every day I wake up and I love challenge. I love to solve problems. I'm competitive. So, I have a great life.
Does money buy happiness?
Depends how you define happiness. It buys freedom.
Freedom. That's Yes. I think money buys freedom. Not fulfillment though.
No fulfillment. No. Absolutely.
If me and you died tomorrow and you had one more guiding principle to leave with the younger generation, what would that be?
Oh my god. Don't be afraid to start to do whatever your heart is telling you. Believe in yourself. That's very important. And you don't need to be like somebody else. I know it's a lot of bullying right now on social media school for younger people. You don't need to be like somebody else. You don't It's okay. I was skinny in school. I was a gymnast. I was the last one. I was never like everybody else in the class. But you know what? I used to go to the library. I I used to read to do my homework and be passionate about whatever I was doing. And at the end of the day, you take all that and you could build wherever you want.
You have amazing advice. Thank you so much. I appreciate you and wish you good luck. And everybody else that is watching, believe in yourself cuz you could do whatever you want. I have to ask you. I connect with all the billionaires I interview. Can I get your contact?
Sure.
Guys, we just walked up to her. What did she say? I'm not a millionaire. I'm a billionaire. And she's a self-made one, too. Guys, she came from a communist country of Romania, came here to Beverly Hills and built a multi-billion dollar company. You guys, she just gave a fantastic interview. But the time has now come. We're about to leave Beverly Hills and head out to Atlanta, Georgia to go find the richest woman that lived there and meet up with the youngest self-made female billionaire in the entire world. So, head with us right now to the airport to go fly out to Atlanta.
All right, you guys. So, we just got through security at the Los Angeles airport, and it is time now. It's 11:00 at night, and we're about to fly out to Atlanta to go meet up with the youngest self-made female billionaire of all time, and we're going to figure out how she built her billion-dollar company, and how you watching can do the exact same thing. And since Atlanta is home to more millionaires and billionaires than most cities in the world, we're going to go see who else we can find in the richest areas in Atlanta. So, come with us right now to Atlanta, Georgia.
All right, you guys. It is 5:00 a.m. and we just landed in Atlanta, Georgia. And in just a few hours, I'm going to be heading into the richest part of Atlanta in Buckhead Village to go find some of the richest women that live out here and see if we can get their advice on how they built their wealth. So stay tuned. Let's head in and go see who we can find.
Excuse me, ma'am. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?
Um 33.
33. 33. And how did you get rich?
Um, I run a tech company.
You run a tech company? Yes. How long have you been a business owner?
So I left Wall Street in 2013.
You were on Wall Street? Yes. My job was to keep rich people rich for a living. I came up with the idea in 2013, but we didn't make our money until 2017 as a business.
So what was the most amount of money that you made in a single year?
Just shy of 10 million.
$10 million. Just shy.
I go all over the world interviewing the richest people to help the younger generation. Can I get a minute with you for our channel real quick?
Sure.
Have you ever met a billionaire?
Absolutely. I've been in the bank accounts of billionaires and the homes of billionaires. Absolutely. So where do the wealthiest people put their money? I want you to think about the richest people that you've ever met. Where are they investing their money in today's world? That's not talked about a lot.
Okay, so here we go. 80% of their money typically is in marketable securities. So stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETF, things like that. 10% of their wealth is in cash and then the other 10% is in alternative investments. Those are the investments that you can't turn into cash quickly. So things like real estate, things like private investments that can give you the ability to grow your wealth tremendously over the next 5 to 10 years, but it's all invested. Wealthy people do not put their money in cash. It's always in something that has a potential to grow their wealth.
Do they keep their money in in a savings account?
No. Wealthy people put their money to work. I think we all have job descriptions. Even me running my business, they give their money a job description. You cannot save or work your way to wealth. You can only invest your way there.
Did you come from a lot of money?
No, I did not come from a lot of money. I came from a middle-class household. Two parents. I was the first person in my family to go to college. First entrepreneur, first millionaire in my family.
You went to Howard?
I did. I grew up right outside of DC. Yes, I did. The best HBCU in the world.
What was your turning point to financial freedom?
I think one of the biggest things I learned about a 1% on Wall Street, they believe they have power. They believe they deserve to be in a room. They believe they're supposed to be wealthy. Most people don't even believe they deserve a seat at the table.
Did you ever doubt yourself?
Absolutely. I was the only black female on my floor on Wall Street. I didn't Sometimes I felt like I wasn't good enough, but in that same moment, I knew that I could be a billionaire because I was in that room.
Are you going to be a billionaire?
Absolutely. Billion-dollar CEO right here. Absolutely. Yes.
Your last message to the younger generation.
Wealth does not have a color. Therefore, it looks like you, it looks like me, and it starts in the mind. Just because you didn't grow up with wealth, just because you may not have a lot of money now, doesn't mean you can't effectively build wealth. But the key is ownership. You have to create your wealth by owning companies of that you know you use and believe in or create your own business.
You got amazing advice. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate that. I I have to ask you. I connect with all the millionaires that I interviewed. Could I get your contact?
Absolutely.
Guys, she made $10 million in a single year. She started off on Wall Street, left and built a multi-million dollar tech company. You guys, he just gave a phenomenal interview. But my favorite part was when she broke down what the richest people in the world, the billionaires do with their money. And I just got to say, you guys, you don't find this information in school or any of these online courses, you guys. Only here at the School of Hard Knocks. But as you guys know, we got to keep this one rolling cuz we got to keep going to find the richest people in Atlanta. You guys, come on.
All right, you guys. The time has now come. We're going to be heading out to go try and meet and interview the legendary, the youngest self-made female billionaire in the entire world, Sarah Blakeley, at an event that's being held about an hour south of Atlanta, Georgia. Guys, we're going to show up and see if we can actually get to her and interview her for our channel, you guys. Guys, I've interviewed like 25 plus billionaires, but she would be one of the craziest ones that I've ever done, being that she's one of the only self-made woman billionaires, you guys. So, we're going to go do our best to try and get this interview for you guys and go get a million dollars worth of game.
All right, you guys. So, we just got to our destination. We're going to be walking over right now to go meet up with and interview the legend Sarah Blakeley to go figure out how to become a billionaire. Come on.
Hello. Hello. How are you?
Hi. Hi, Sarah. How are you?
Good. It's great to meet you. Congratulations on this whole movement and, you know, success that you've had.
Thank you so much. Stopping people and asking them cool advice. We appreciate that.
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. We get to meet amazing people like you. So, it's it's all worth it.
For sure. Your story's been super inspiring to just learn about and this is one I've been wanting to do for a couple years now. So, I'm glad that we get to tell it to our audience as well and and you've had an amazing journey. So, I know that they're looking forward to it. My only request is that no holding back. We're going to give them the secrets right now on what it takes to build a billion dollar brand. Okay. Can we do that?
Well, let's do it. Perfect. I got all the secrets.
Who am I here with today?
Sarah Blakeley.
And for those that don't know, what was your business?
I make butts look better. My business was Spanx.
You're the founder of Spanx.
I'm the founder of Spanx.
What was the most amount of money that you made in a single year?
A lot.
Give me a range.
Hundreds of millions.
Hundreds of millions of dollars. And did you sell your company?
I did.
For how much?
I sold it for $1.2 billion.
You sold your company for 1.2 billion. Are you a billionaire?
That makes me a billionaire. Yes.
For the ones that don't know, did you have a lot of money when you started your business?
No. I had $5,000 that I had saved myself from selling fax machines doortodoor for seven years. Do you guys know what a fax is? I sold them and I saved my money.
Was it easy to get people to invest in your company?
It was so easy for me to get investors. You know why? I'm the only investor.
You never took on investors.
I never had a single investor in Spanx other than me.
Are you serious?
I'm serious. Self-funded the entire 21 years.
Are you serious?
I'm serious. So, it was really easy to get an investor. I sat down with myself and I was like, "Do you want to spend your five grand on a vacation or do you want to try to bet on yourself?"
And you bet on yourself.
And I bet on myself. So, so you don't think people should look to give their company away and give that ownership away to other people?
Listen, whatever you give away in your business, you have to be very willing to give up. So, you give up control.
You got to control. You got to make all the shots.
Yeah. I mean, I literally had no investors. I got to answer to my own intuition, which I really honored throughout the whole journey. I always pay attention to intuition over data, and I don't think investors really understand that. So that worked in my favor because intuition's not on a spreadsheet.
Did you face a lot of rejection?
Did I face a lot of rejection? I sold fax machines for seven years door to door. Rejection is my middle name. I actually got rejected so much people would rip up my business card in my face and they would escort me out of buildings. So by the time I started Spanx, rejection I knew was just part of the formula to success. Totally unfazed by rejection. In fact, the more I would get rejected, I'm like, "Oh, I'm closer to my yes."
What was the crazy scene that you did as a business owner when you were starting out?
Oh my god, where do I start? Well, definitely when I landed Neiman Marcus, which was such a prestigious retailer, I got a chance to be in one pocket in the store of the whole hosiery department. You know, Spanx was between like Donna and Karen and Calvin Klein and all these huge brands and no one had heard of Spanx. So, I took bins that I bought at Office Depot and stuck them at every cash register in the store, which is so not okay. Neiman Marcus has a very strict visual department, but everybody thought somebody else approved it. So, I was trying to get the product out of the sleepiest corner of the store and move it around to where the customers actually were. So, you have to do whatever it takes to to really become successful as well.
Absolutely. You do whatever it takes. And I always say ask for forgiveness, not permission. I love that. Everybody started buying it like crazy. And by the time they figured out, no one had approved that I could do that. The CEO of um Neiman said, "Whatever this girl is doing, let her keep doing it."
So, it's safe to say that nobody's going to run your business like you are, the business owner.
Yes.
I saw in a video that you did recently that you think people should wait to talk about their idea with other people, but there's other people that maybe argue that and say that you need to talk about your business and run it by as many people as possible to get your thoughts. You disagree with that?
I disagree with that. I waited a year before I told any friends or family what I was working on. And that's because I didn't want ego to have to get involved too early. When ego gets involved, you end up spending your time defending it and explaining it instead of pursuing it. So, I wanted to invest enough of my personal time in creating this crazy idea that I had. I worked at night and on the weekends on it until I knew I wouldn't turn back when I got doubt. And out of love, your loved ones will bring up things like my family was like, "Sarah, if it's such a good idea, why hasn't anybody already done it? You know, even if this is a good idea, the big guys will knock you off in 6 months and you've spent your life savings on it." Had I heard those things the moment that I had the idea, I would probably still be selling fax machines or something else cuz faxes aren't really around anymore. But it's very true because ideas are the most vulnerable in the moment you have them. And it's also people's instinct to share the idea in the most vulnerable stage because you get an idea and you turn to your co-worker, your husband, your wife, and you say, "Hey, I've got an idea." And out of love, they'll give you a list of like, "Hey, maybe you should consider this." And I didn't want that to happen. So, intuitively, I waited a year before I sat my family down, and they all thought I was crazy. They're like, "Wait, what? This is the idea you've been working on? This new type of undergarment?" I'm like, "Yes, it's going to change the way women around the world get dressed."
What did you see differently than your family? The people that were calling you crazy.
The way that I saw that it solved my problem with my clothes. So, all undergarments prior to that were too thick. They were heavy. They were made with thick material and you could see the underwear. You could see panty lines. I know you've had this problem, but anyway, you could see panty lines and I wanted a smooth look. And so, I thought of panty hose only because it's like second skin. The material is so lightweight that if I could create an undergarment out of that material, it would be breathable. It wouldn't feel bulky. it wouldn't feel constricting in the way that other traditional undergarments and girdles had. So, it really created this whole new canvas for women. And I want to mention that I went into an industry that was in a double-digit decline. And I find that fascinating. A lot of people like to chase trend and where is everybody moving. And I'm interested in like what industries are sort of dying on the vine and why? And hosiery was dying on the vine because fashion had changed, women's styles had changed and no one was solving the problem. So when I created Spanx, I created a new type of undergarment that didn't exist with the lightest weight material that was second skin in hosiery to go under women's clothes. And bam, it was like lightning in a bottle and I filled a void that women had been waiting for me to fill.
Your last message to the younger generation trying to become a billionaire in today's world.
Solve a problem, bet on yourself, and have fun.
Guys, I need you to stop what you're doing right now and like and subscribe to this channel for tons of incredible content I've got coming very, very soon because nobody is interviewing these kind of people. Nobody's making content like this. Guys, I'm 23 and I've interviewed over 25 billionaires and I've got more coming to you every single week. The craziest, the most amazing business owners in the entire world. And I need you to do yourself a favor. I want you to go down and click the link in the description of this video to become a member of the number one most powerful community for entrepreneurs in the entire world, the School of Mentors. And inside of this community, you get direct access to the multi-millionaires and the billionaires that I interview on this channel every single week, where you get to ask your questions directly to multi-millionaires and billionaires just like Sarah, where they give you actionable advice on how to build your first million dollar and maybe billion dollar business. So, I can't wait to see you on the inside. Just go down to the link in the description of this video. With that being said, I'll see you in the next.