Kelly Lundberg was born in Scotland and decided in her early 20’s that she wanted to travel the world. She moved to Dubai and became an air stewardess for Emirates Airlines to fulfill that dream while making a living at the same time. A self-proclaimed people-person, she frequently chatted with passengers about their travel plans and over time noticed a gap in the market of advising people where to go, what to see, where to shop, how to dress, etc. A lightbulb went off in Kelly’s head, she took out a loan to start her own personal styling agency, and StyleMeDevine was born. What started out as one-on-one personal styling sessions and experiences for men and women wanting to feel fantastic in their clothes turned into corporate branding and teaching other personal stylists how to open their own businesses.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Jesse Lakes
In 2009, Jesse Lakes launched a series of websites that used iTunes and Amazon affiliate programs, but he and his partner soon noticed that there was a problem monetizing geo-fragmented audiences due to the country-specific affiliate programs. Because the affiliate sites weren’t optimized to be used in various other countries, there was a loss of potential sales that was occurring. After coming up with a solution to this problem, Jesse wrote a book about the Apple iTunes affiliate program entitled ‘Mastering the iTunes Affiliate Program’ and was slapped with a cease and desist letter; however, after Apple exec’s reviewed his book, they ended up offering him a job to manage their affiliate program. He left Apple a few years later to pursue his own geo-targeting business, thus Geniuslink (formerly Georiot) was born and has served over 1 billion clicks.
Secret Academy Episode – John Temerian
Coming from a family of car-loving businessmen, one would think that John Temerian would want to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and continue the tradition of being in the automotive business. However, he wanted to blaze his own path to success and tried his hand in the real estate realm. As a way to generate buzz for homes he was selling, he came up with the idea to create a fun car event that would hopefully attract owners of luxury and exotic vehicles. Thus, Palm Beach Supercar Weekend was born and with it was his ticket to the luxury and exotic car market that he tried so hard to avoid as a career. As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because in the end he wasn’t able to ignore his love of cars. Soon thereafter, John partnered up with someone he had met through Palm Beach Supercar Weekend and filled a niche in the Miami area by creating Lou La Vie, a high-end luxury and exotic car rental brand.
Secret Academy Episode – Charlie Hoehn
Anyone graduating around 2008 knew that finding a job after college would be hard with the decline of the economy. Charlie Hoehn was tired of sending his resume to hundreds of employers with no luck, so he decided to change his approach. He decided to only work on projects that truly interested him, and he would do it for free. What started as helping local businesses for free evolved to several paid opportunities. One job lead to another and soon enough he was working with other respected entrepreneurs like Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Ramit Sethi, and Chad Mureta. Charlie has since authored two books, the first called ‘Recession Proof Graduate’ that breaks down the idea of ‘free work’ to land your dream job, and the other book called ‘Play it Away’, a book on the importance of playing to reduce stress and anxiety.
Secret Academy Episode – Owen Fuller
Owen Fuller never thought of himself as an entrepreneur growing up (and even to this day he doesn’t necessarily identify himself as one). He planned to major in history and become an attorney, but life doesn’t always go as planned. Owen found himself working at a wireless company in sales, but eventually moved into a marketing role after seeing the company take off at an exponential rate due to marketing strategies. Eventually in 2009, he opened his own marketing agency, Fit Marketing, focusing on in-bound marketing and became the 10th fastest growing company in Utah. His success lead to the birth of Qzzr, an interactive quiz tool you may have seen on social media. After securing $2 million in seed funding, his clients now include the likes of IBM, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, Reddit, Yelp, and many more.
Secret Academy Episode – Bobby Genovese
Bobby Genovese is a world famous entrepreneur who grew up on a farm in Ontario, Canada with two brothers and his single mother. After dropping out of school in 9th grade, he got a job as a barn manager and taught horseback riding. It wasn’t until he worked for his stepfather selling wild flower seeds that he learned the art of the sale, which later snowballed into several ventures that led him to move to Vancouver. He took a huge gamble with a networking plan that got his foot in the door of investments. Today, he is chairman of BG Capital Group, a merchant banking and asset consolidation firm, currently worth about $200 million.
Secret Academy Episode – Ben Newman
When Ben Newman was just 8 years old, he lost his mother to amyloidosis, a rare disease that results from an accumulation of improperly folded proteins. She left behind a journal and told her sons to continue to write her legacy even after she was gone. Ben felt anger and frustration from having his mother taken away at such a young age, but he later learned the importance of having people there for him to help get through tough times. This would come back to guide him as he transitioned into adulthood. Ben spent ten years in the insurance industry doing sales, and he was so successful and confident that companies would ask him to speak and motivate others. He enjoyed motivating people so much that he started coaching people one-on-one and eventually authored several inspirational books on maximizing results in people’s lives professionally and personally. He used his mother’s legacy to demonstrate a very important truth: our circumstances in life are much less significant than our responses to them.