At the age of 17, Dan Fleyshman took his college fund savings of $43,000 and invested it into his trademarked ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ brand. From there Dan put the ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ name on everything from BBQ grills to apparel. His big break came when a $9.5 million licensing deal with STARTER came to fruition that put his clothes in six major department retail stores. During this time the energy drink phenomenon was booming and Dan launched an energy drink under the same name into 55,000 retail stores. At the age of 23, Dan took his company public and became the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company. 10 years after the birth of ‘Who’s Your Daddy’ Dan resigned and launched Victory Poker, the 3rd largest online poker site until US regulations shut down online gambling in 2011. Seeking his next venture, Dan is now involved in Celebvidy, a new social media platform and app that allows consumers and celebrities to connect with each other starting at a small fee. If Dan isn’t doing fundraising events for the homeless or advising his 18 other companies, you may see him playing poker among the regulars like Dan Bilzerian or other former WSOP winners.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Pejman Ghadimi
Since 2008, Secret Entourage has been a platform created to help educate and inspire thousands of people daily. Although Secret Entourage gave a voice for hundreds of entrepreneurs to share their story, there has never been a chance for our fans to learn more about the founder until today. For years, Pejman Ghadimi helped drive the direction of Secret Entourage while staying out of the spotlight to not take away from the brand itself. That is until the last few years when Pejman’s book Third Circle Theory became a best seller and gained major press but also with the launch of the Secret Academy where you may have noticed Pejman serving as host. While you may know Pejman from Secret Entourage and various interviews from other sites, there is much more than meets the eye including several multi-million dollar businesses in different verticals, all while climbing the ladder at a Fortune 500 bank without a college education. It’s our pleasure to kick off 2015 with an in-depth interview with Pejman.
Secret Academy Episode – David Gross
Equipped with the right degree and licenses to become a stock broker, David Gross had high hopes to pursue his dream out of college. Unfortunately, not everything was as described on paper and that quickly lead to a David looking for alternatives to escape not only his job but the rat race entirely. With a passion for watches, especially luxury timepieces, David took unwanted family watches and sold them for reasonable profit. Sensing a knack and opportunity for this, instead of pocketing his profits, David reinvested every penny into buying and selling more and more watches. Overtime, David was able to quit his job and open not one, but two retail locations of Bridge Street Jewelers across the US where you can buy, sell, and trade million dollars worth of luxury timepieces. By having an extensive and trusted list of clientele, David decided to close his storefront locations and focused on serving his best customers in a private office in Los Angeles. Only 28 years old, David is proud owner of Bridge Street Jewelers with several million dollars worth of inventory with brands like Patek, Hublot, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, and more.
Secret Academy Episode – Jebo Lopez
As much as we discuss taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship, there are still some situations where a day job isn’t so bad. Some people actually enjoy working for a company that offers great pay and benefits, while others absolutely hate their boss and daily responsibilities. For guys like Jebo Lopez, entrepreneurship came into the picture to help fund some extra hobbies and toys. Little did he know that his side business would soon grow into a multi million dollar a year company. Through identifying opportunities in poor dealership logistics, Jebo founded Wheelz Up, a dealer parts transport and delivery service in the Mid Atlantic Region which has grown to over 47 delivery vans and annual revenue close to $3 million a year. Most of you might be surprised to hear that Jebo still holds a day job, while at the same time balances a business and family life.
Secret Academy Episode – JD Roth
You’ve heard the golden rule that ‘cash is king’ but unfortunately, we live in an age where credit cards and loans are easily accessible to the public. It should be no surprise that most citizens live their lives paying off debt ranging from student loans, to unnecessary credit card bills, and even essentials like rent or mortgages. The concept of paying off debt is quite simple but the reality is that most people spend more than they care to save. JD Roth was in the same position early in his professional career and realized his spending habits accrued to $35k in unwanted debt. Realizing the path he was going down, JD quickly made some lifestyle changes to cut his debt quickly and efficiently. While doing so, JD documented his money saving tips at a blog called GetRichSlowly.org that gained the attention of other readers in similar situations. Over the years, not only did JD pay off his debt, his blog became an authority in personal finance and grew to over 1 million visitors a month, allowing him to earn a significant amount of money each month that rivaled his previous annual salary at his day job. Three years later, Get Rich Slowly was acquired for a large sum of money by QuinStreet. Today JD spends his time teaching others financial freedom and personal finance through his Get Rich Slowly Course.
Secret Academy Episode – Andy Frisella
Humble beginnings could not have been more true for Andy Frisella. While walking with a friend one night, Andy was attacked and stabbed multiple times across the face and back while defending his friend from hecklers. Luckily, Andy recovered from this near fatal attack and found a new sense of urgency along with purpose. Andy pooled together $12,000 with his friend and started the very first Supplement Superstores location in Missouri. With every penny invested in his business, Andy had no choice but to live in the store while taking on second jobs just to run the business and survive. Slowly but surely the business started to pick up over the years, as well as profits, once expanded to multiple locations including another 50+ planned for 2015. Andy has also branched out into supplement manufacturing with 1st Phorm, which creates high quality and effective supplements for consumers and professional athletes worldwide that can be found on the store shelves of his own Supplement Superstores and online. When not running these two multi-million dollar businesses, you might find Andy at the shooting range or driving his Lamborghini Aventador in the goldRush Rally.
Secret Academy Episode – Steve Mehr
Steve Mehr is the founder and CEO of WebShark360, a full service advertising agency with a national footprint. In today’s competitive business environment, no one achieves success by accident. This is especially true for Steve. Over the past twenty years, Steve has founded, built, and managed almost a dozen successful companies – ranging from consumer electronics, e-commerce and software, to law firms and professional service agencies. As a successful entrepreneur, Steve became a millionaire at age 26 by growing a consumer electronics business he founded at age 16 with $90. As a successful lawyer, Steve has recovered over $100 million dollars for his clients. As CEO of WebShark360, Steve manages one of the largest legal advertising budgets in California, making WebShark360 a dominant player in the marketplace.