At the age of 4 or 5 years old, Larry Kosilla asked his mother for a bucket and some soap. She gave him what he asked for and followed him outside where he proceeded to wash his toy cars and trucks. Little did anyone know, Larry included, that this would be a precursor to his future career. Larry went to school to learn commodities training, because he was brought up to think that a successful career was to work in the corporate world getting steady paychecks every month. However, like many entrepreneurs, he soon learned that this was not what he wanted to do. Larry moved back to his hometown and started doing research on something he had always had a passion for: washing/detailing cars. He ended up buying one of the local car wash businesses he visited and later expanded to mobile services. Today, Larry runs AMMO NYC, a successful business selling detailing products and offering detailing services for high end vehicles.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Rizwan Memon
Like many others, Rizwan Memon looked up to his father for inspiration and guidance, and his father always encouraged him to do everything to the best of his ability. He comes from a long line of entrepreneurs so from a young age, he was focused on putting his money towards stock trading instead of buying the trendiest clothes that most young people are concerned with. Rizwan put 100% of his energy into learning everything there was to learn about trading in the stock market, and all of his hard work paid off when he was able to start his own consulting business. His business, Riz International, offers stock market and investment mentoring, personal financial consulting, and business management consulting.
Secret Academy Episode – Matt Lowman
How does martial arts lead to business coaching? Matt Lowman started doing martial arts early on and eventually graduated to teaching martial arts and building schools. During this time, he fell in love with the business side of the martial arts schools: sales, marketing, etc. Matt dove into doing speaking engagements and consulting outside of the martial arts industry, and he became known as the high school dropout turned millionaire. Today, he runs Freedom Practice Coaching, a successful coaching business geared towards helping doctors/physicians learn how to become successful business owners.
Secret Academy Episode – Sean Gagnon
Sean Gagnon’s story of entrepreneurship is truly an example of how work ethic and putting in the hard work beyond what people expect pays off. Wanting to become a personal trainer, Sean started interning at a health club doing any and all jobs asked of him. The owner of the clubs was so impressed by his work ethic that he offered him a partnership opportunity years later to help run his gyms and become involved with fitness products he was selling. Under The Abs Company, they’ve sold products via infomercials and in retail that have become household names: The Ab Roller and Ab Coaster, which have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to date.
Secret Academy Episode – Nan Lin
Nan Lin had great ambitions from a young age. At age 17 he started working for a real estate company as a telemarketer, which helped him build vital communication skills. He eventually got promoted to loan officer and was able to save up to buy his own home in cash. Several people approached him to help them also buy houses and seeing this as a great opportunity, Nan started a real estate investment company named Kaizen Capital. When the housing market crashed, he went back to school at the urging of his parents, and it was there that he was recruited into network marketing. He found great success in network marketing, and it was through this network that he was approached by a student to help start an electronic dance music (EDM) company. Nan couldn’t think of a single reason why he shouldn’t invest in this business now known as Electric State of Mind; he was able to combine his love of EDM with his passion for business. Electric State of Mind is a rapidly growing EDM event production company hosting events throughout the state of California.
Secret Academy Episode – John Nouri
There are people who excel in a classroom soaking up knowledge from teachers and textbooks. Then there are those who learn best by taking action and might not do well in a traditional school environment. John Nouri was the latter. His father was an entrepreneur in real estate and owned an automotive mechanic shop. As soon as John was done with school, he started working with his father at the mechanic shop and threw himself into learning everything there was to learn about the business. Years later, he purchased the shop from his father and transitioned the business to cater towards exotic cars. During this time, he also built a lucrative business selling cars on the side. Being very knowledgable about cars, John was able to capitalize on a specific model of car and at the bare minimum double his investment. Finally, using his resources with the mechanic shop and selling cars, he decided to start an exotic car rental business called Broadway SuperCars. Today, John is running three separate and successful businesses that are all rapidly expanding.
Secret Academy Episode – Michael Dubrow
Michael Dubrow is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded successful and enduring businesses in multiple industries. He joined Estalea in 2012 to provide its portfolio companies with strategic, marketing and business development consulting. Before that he was a co-founder of Bargain Network, Inc. (Bargain.com), a direct-to-consumer marketing organization that grew from a small startup bootstrapped with $30,000 into a $65 million exit eight years later. Today, Michael focuses on MoneyTips.com, a platform for users to get free personal financial advice.