Often times, we wish to work for great companies with the hopes of landing a dream job to kick start our careers. However, the grass is not always greener on the inside as it may sometimes seem. As a car enthusiast and automotive professional, Stuart Dickinson landed his dream job at one of the top exhaust manufacturing companies in the UK early in his career. He quickly learned that the scale and scope of the operation was not what he had imagined or expected. With the opportunity identified, Stuart and a colleague decided to go into business together and launch their own line of automotive performance parts. Today, their latest company is Velocity Automotive Performance which has carved out its own well respected niche in the Aston Martin space. What started as an initial $80 investment, has grown to a full service aftermarketing tuning provider based on the relationship building principles of transparency and open communication.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Kimanzi Constable
Exactly 2 years ago, we did a brief feature on Kimanzi Constable, where he shared his first failure by only selling 11 copies of his self-published book. As an entrepreneur, failure is only when defeat is accepted and Kimanzi chose to go back to the drawing board. He knew the one thing that would get books to sell was to find a demographic that could relate and to get the word out. But how could he do that on a shoe string budget? Kimanzi went on an online marketing tour de force and was able to get himself featured on over 45 different websites, including much larger publications, and later multiple speaking engagements across dozens of other countries. Fast forward to today, Kimanzi has sold over 85,000 copies of his books through self-publishing and has signed a 4 book deal with a major publishing company that caught notice after his books reached the best sellers list. His premiere book is titled Are You Living or Existing? and we are confident to say Kimanzi is living his dream and we are proud to have him back once again to share his inspiring story.
Secret Academy Episode – Grant Cardone
There’s an old saying that says “If you can sell, you will always find a job.” Grant Cardone faced a tough situation after graduating college when his accounting degree could not land him a job in Louisiana where the the unemployment rate was through the roof. As a last resort, Grant went into the field of sales but failed horribly in his early stages. Grant moved to Houston which put him in an uncomfortable and unknown environment where he as forced to overcome his fear and rejection. By age 26, Grant had mastered the art of sales through relentless studying but also putting his own unique twist to sales cycle. His strategies have been applied to his 4 businesses that he operates today that have revenues in excess of $10 million a year each in the industries of real estate, sales training, and more. He is also the author of five best selling books on sales.
Secret Academy Episode – Todd Rothman
While attending undergrad studies, Todd Rothman had the misfortune of learning his dad had cancer forcing him to leave school briefly to support the family. After a short but successful stint in wall street, Todd realized he was not passionate and went back to school after his fathers passing to pick up where he left off to become a physician. Dealing with the emotional stress of his fathers passing made it hard for Todd to continue that path even though he excelled at medical studies. Todd slowly began to help others in fields like biology and organic chem and eventually caught the attention of another tutor who would later become his then business partner. Together they both turned their tutoring hobby into a legitimate business making well into six figures a year. Initially, Todd partnered with universities and tutored students in packed classrooms, then repackaged his tutoring into DVDs, only to face pushback from schools and college professors. With the internet becoming such a prevalent medium for students and schools alike, Todd created Streaming Tutors, an online learning platform that has tutored over 20,000 students worldwide.
Secret Academy Episode – Judy Robinett
They often say ‘your net worth is your network’ or ‘it’s not what you know but rather who you know’, and while these are true statements, how you maintain and leverage your connections is what matters. Judy Robinett is the founder of the best selling book How to Be a Power Connector, where she discusses her 5 + 50 + 100 rule to turning your network into profits. With close connections to entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank, producer Mark Burnett of many hit shows, and over 10 billionaires, Judy is often referred to the power connector with the titanium rolodex. As well being a power connector, she advises for several venture capitalist firms and has seen hundreds of (un)successful pitches for seed funding. With all the misconceptions about how to get funding, the process behind it, and the reality of the outcome, we invited Judy to break it down with real examples for any entrepreneur seeking more money but unsure on how to begin.
Secret Academy Episode – Aaron Pitman
While others may frown upon MLM’s and the nature of that business model, Aaron Pitman will be the first to tell you that his experience was one of the best business decisions he has made. Once he realized that the same effort applied at the MLM company was better off put to use on his own idea, Aaron got into the crazy world of domain names. Rather than buy random domains, Aaron focused on the local market, specifically local based service companies looking for more business. His options were to either flip those domains to other businesses, or build them into positive cash flow assets through a variety of revenue streams such as lead generation. His strategy has paid off and Aaron has made millions through domains and now reinvests his money in over 20 different businesses of all verticals.
Secret Academy Episode – Frank Gruber
As serial entrepreneurs, not all of us are privileged to live in the mecca of startups known as Silicon Valley. While there are more and more areas prominent for startups such as Santa Monica, Chicago, NYC, or even New Orleans, it can often be hard to know what is going on elsewhere. Frank Gruber saw this as an opportunity to create an online news publication regarding tech and startups but also to host local events nationwide. For nearly 3 years, Frank worked on Tech Cocktail non stop to bring his idea to life while working a 9-5. After getting funding of $2.5 mil, Frank has grown Tech Cocktail in over 30 states offline but also has a viewership base of over 300,000 visitors a month.