Steven Ng was an undergraduate student at UCLA when he first discovered Kickstarter. This seemed like the perfect outlet for his creative side, so he dove headfirst into coming up with a product that he wanted to make. At that time Kickstarter was still relatively new, so there were a lot fewer campaigns that existed, which meant fewer competitors for similar products. Steven launched a minimalistic wallet called the Dash Wallet, and was able to reach his goal within one week. Realizing there was a demand for newer versions of his wallet and other mens fashion items, he launched Elliot Havok, a mens fashion accessories company that provides quality craftsmanship at wholesale prices.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Scott Zankl
Scott Zankl used his passion for finance and teaching people everything there is to know about the process and started an automotive leasing and financing business with his wife in 2000. Excell Auto Leasing and Finance was started out of his desire to give people who had difficulties acquiring auto loans the opportunity to purchase a car they could easily afford, but just had a few minor setbacks to their credit scores. They started by contacting all of the car dealerships in their area asking if they had customers who didn’t get approved for loans, and if they would consider using them. After much persistence, they finally gained traction and were able to build a relationship with many dealerships and banks offering loans. A few years later, Scott transitioned his business towards buying and selling cars, and their business became Excell Auto Group offering luxury and exotic cars on top of competitive loan offers.
Secret Academy Episode – Charles Ngo
When he was in college, Charles Ngo bought a camera online at a discounted price and then sold it on eBay for a profit. What started out as a birthday present for himself turned into a realization of the potential of making money online. He would continue to buy and sell items online until PayPal deactivated his account. However, this did not stop Charles from pursuing a possible start in entrepreneurship, and he discovered the world of affiliate marketing and has never looked back. After amazing success in the affiliate marketing space, he founded AFFcelerator as a resource to help budding affiliate marketers to build stronger campaigns.
Secret Academy Episode – Jordan Swerdloff
It’s been two years since we’ve featured Jordan Swerdloff of ADV1 Wheels and certainly a lot has changed since then. With his company continuing to grow 20% year-over-year, we wanted to catch up with Jordan to get the latest scoop on not just ADV1 Wheel’s growth, but also the automotive industry as a whole. In this latest interview, you will learn how Jordan went from selling 20 sets of wheels a month to over 150 per month and now manages his team of over 50 employees. Jordan also takes us on an exclusive behind the scenes tour of his manufacturing facilities.
Secret Academy Episode – Adam Griffin
Adam Griffin experienced loss when his first son passed away just days after his birth from a genetic disorder. From that day on, he realized that he wanted to make sure that whatever he did in his life would positively impact others. To deal with his grief, he limited the people he surrounded himself with and started writing as an outlet. His writings would eventually end up in publications such as INC.com, Men’s Journal, Men’s Fitness, Huffington Post, and Entrepreneur on Fire to name a few. With numerous publications under his belt, Adam decided to help other entrepreneurs tell their unique stories and founded Better Than Yesterday Publishing. BTY Publishing is a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to transform their stories and experiences into a tangible book.
Secret Academy Episode – Sean Whalen
After achieving success early on in life doing multi-use and commercial space development, Sean Whalen was living the good life. He had a mansion, four cars, wife and kids, basically anything he wanted. However, when the housing market crashed in 2008, he lost everything. With millions of dollars invested into his development company, he was desperate to figure out how to make ends meet. Sean was forced to downsize into an apartment and subsequently lost his marriage in a bitter divorce. The only silver lining was the fact that he had started to use his prior experience in the mortgage industry to buy and sell foreclosed homes from the market crash. He eventually filed for bankruptcy for his development company, but simultaneously dove headfirst into the foreclosure and REO realm and was able to sell just under 4,000 single family properties in 11 states in just five years. After finding a mentor and coach, he was able to get his life back on track and started Lions Not Sheep to inspire others to be real and hold themselves accountable for their own actions.
Secret Academy Episode – Stephen Key
Stephen Key attended business school in college, but found that he didn’t enjoy it. Surprisingly, he fell in love with an art class that he accidentally signed up for. He loved the freedom of creating something that people would want for themselves, so he started selling various handmade goods at art shows and fairs and eventually designing his own plush toys. Stephen then decided to apply for a job while still freelancing to boost his income and ended up in Hong Kong learning the ins and outs of manufacturing. He started his own toy invention and licensing firm called inventRight to pursue his passion for bringing ideas to life. Today, he has authored two books, is a regular contributor for Entrepreneur and Inc., and has an impressive list of highly successful inventions including the Spinformation label, Hotpicks, and the Michael Jordan Wall Balls.