When Tom Corson-Knowles graduated from business school and realized he didn’t want to become a corporate slave, he started to sell supplements and made a full-time income as a college graduate. With his success at such a young age, Tom decided he wanted to share his experiences with the masses and instead of turning to a website or blog for sharing his knowledge, Tom decided to self-publish a book. His first few books were flops but eventually Tom cracked the code for achieving high Amazon rankings that turned into five figures a month of revenue just from book sales alone. Today, he has authored over 20 best selling, well rated books in various topics that now bring in a solid five figures a month in passive income. He is also the founder of TCK Publishing, an independent publishing consulting agency that helps writers succeed with self-publishing on Amazon.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Fabio Viviani
While people in America are privileged to work anywhere and anytime, internationally there is a different story. Kids often times have no choice but to work at an early age to provide for their family instead of going to school. The story holds true for Fabio Viviani who started his career in the hospitality business in Italy as a child. Hard work and ingenuity allowed him to go from worker to restaurant owner in a matter of years. With no money, lack of English, but the chase for the American dream, Fabio came to America and rebuilt his empire from the ground up. Today he has a $65 million business in various verticals from restaurants, coaching, publications, and a renowned celebrity chef on television.
Secret Academy Episode – Adam Xavier
After five months in at his new finance career as a performance analyst for Alliance Capital, Adam Xavier stumbled across product idea that stemmed from his love of riding motorcycles. This idea was born out of a need for safer motorcycler immobilization that the industry currently lacked. Adam and his brother eventually quit their jobs to focus on ROADLOK while securing $3 million in seed funding to get the business going. Since 2008, Adam has grown ROADLOK to serve customers internationally with over 27,000 units sold globally all while securing two patents along the way. As of recently, Adam has been focused on establishing licensing deals with motorcycle manufacturers with the first being KTM Sportmotorcycle in Austria.
Secret Academy Episode – Erlend Bakke
How do you make money while you sleep? Norwegian entrepreneur, Erlend Bakke, who is better known as “Mr. Outsource,” fills us in on how he has learned to build companies that earn him cash while he sleeps by tapping into the global talent pool and outsourcing as much of his business as possible. For example, he owns a photography business in Norway, despite the fact that he’s not a photographer and is barely even there. Currently, Erlend owns the following three companies: Mr. Outsource, YouSpin, and 3SixtyFactory. A serial entrepreneur, speaker, and #1 international bestselling author of “Never Work Again”, Erlend trains entrepreneurs in how to start, run, and own freedom businesses by automating and outsourcing tasks to avoid the trap of becoming a business prisoner.
Secret Academy Episode – Oren Klaff
Director of Intersection Capital and best-selling author of “Pitch Anything”, when it comes to delivering a pitch – Oren Klaff has unparalleled credentials. Over the past 13 years, he has used his one-of-a-kind method to raise more than $400 million by leveraging the principles of neuroeconomics to deliver a winning pitch in any business situation. According to Klaff, creating and presenting a great pitch isn’t an art―it’s a simple science. Applying the latest findings in the field of neuroeconomics while sharing eye-opening stories of his methods in action, Klaff describes how the brain makes decisions and responds to pitches. Whether you’re selling ideas to investors, pitching a client for new business, or even negotiating for a higher salary, Oren Klaff’s strategies will transform the way you frame your ideas, build a pitch, and control of every stage of the pitch process.
Secret Academy Episode – J. Massey
Prior to real estate investing, J. Massey held positions in insurance and financial planning. But when he got hit by a stroke of bad luck and some serious health issues that caused him to be unable to work, J found himself barely able to afford lunch with a credit score of 398. Starting from truly humble beginnings, J. ventured into Real Estate entrepreneurship, and decided to focus his attention on looking for investment opportunities (a.k.a., problems to solve through real estate transactions). He started closing deals and eventually began teaching others how to find and manage similar opportunities, leading him to become a full-time real estate investor, entrepreneur, popular podcast host, author, speaker, coach and all-around problem solver. He currently owns hundreds of units of properties and has completed hundreds more real estate transactions across several states. Well known for providing Real Estate advice and strategies as the CEO and host of Cash Flow Diary, J’s goal is to help new and experienced investors maximize their success and potential through his simple yet very effective platform for success.
Secret Academy Episode – Matt Decelles
As a serial entrepreneur since he was a kid starting a wine bottle recycling company, Matt DeCelles has launched, failed, and scaled numerous businesses. While he may not have always been an expert on the industry he was breaking into, he utilized his strategic vision followed up with rapid implementation and action to make big things happen when launching his companies. In true entrepreneurial fashion, when he’s not sporting the shades from his brand of designer sunglasses (that also happen to double as beer bottle openers), Matt and his partners have been finding innovative solutions that could majorly disrupt the customer service model of the eCommerce industry. Aligned perfectly with the core message of his brand William Painter – a brand which he says, “is built to inspire people to be more, with each pair having something unique about it,” – Matt is definitely inspiring us to think more outside of the box, find unique solutions to solve simple problems, and grow further as entrepreneurs.