In 2010, having spent the past few years recovering from significant recession inflicted losses; I knew I had to rebuild, start fresh. Little did I know that the journey ahead would be such a defining part of my life. I am very fortunate that along this rollercoaster ride of life I have had the opportunity to rediscover who I am, what I have accomplished and what the next chapter has in store for me. Not everyone is fortunate enough to control their own destiny but for me there has never been any other option.
Being an entrepreneur, a business owner, it’s not just a lifestyle, it’s part of who I am. Being a company’s founder is not a job or even a career, it’s a passion, a will to succeed. I started my first business in London when I was just 16 years old. Since then I have launched a multitude of new companies experimenting in a plethora of industries ranging from real estate and finance, import/export to broadcast media. In my experience, I have had some catastrophic failures and unbelievable successes; business is a gamble no matter how you approach it.
Life has a habit of throwing at you the unexpected. The recession of 2008 had caused major collateral damage during which I endured significant financial and personal loss. Life as I knew it had changed in every imaginable way. Dealing with divorce, collapse of my business and the uncertainty of what happens next, I found myself at a crossroads considering the abyss of opportunity.
As every ship navigates the storm I too maneuvered my way forward. Unlike past projects, this time it was personal. I no longer had the financial reserves that would provide the eternal cushion, I no longer had the perfect credit to leverage against, I no longer had the investors to balance the risk and the landscape of the real estate industry was significantly different. Failure was not an option, generating revenue was not an option, everything I had was literally on the table.
When you have had a few bumps along the road, getting back on your feet only gets harder. Many people throw in the towel and turn to the safety net of conventional employment satisfied that at least they gave it their best shot. The key to success is to overcome that failure and to keep trying again and again and again until you get it right. I have been grounded by many failures, but, I have never given up on my true ambition. Fear of failure is a natural emotion when launching your first business but as you get older and the steaks get higher that fear only intensifies. If I have learned anything in life, only the strong will succeed and prevail.
Having come from a middle-class background, I have always been a firm believer in exploring the road less travelled, and that hard work and dedication will ultimately prevail. I had to overcome my personal fears looking to the future and not dwelling on past failures. Starting over again was a giant leap of faith in which I would prove to myself that I can rebuild, I can succeed and this time I will build stronger, louder and more successful than ever before.
With a sense of great pride, over a seven-year period I have re-built my personal empire from my laptop in the kitchen to an international network. Considering, in 2010, I started with a $1,000 investment, I consider that quite a personal accomplishment. I have applied all the knowledge I have learned over more than two decades and overcome every hurdle of which there have been many including my own personal fears. I have grown and evolved in directions that were beyond my reach to do so. Over the next two years I am broadening my horizons towards broadcast media and education so I can give something back to the community to help others accomplish their dreams. If you have the will succeed you will succeed.
When I ponder the American dream, I think of all the people that have come to the United States overcoming personal loss and tragedy and yet have thrived amassing great fortune. Then I contemplate all I have experienced in my seventeen-years in the US and how I have thrived and then fallen and then persisted to thrive again, I realize that I am in every way a testament to the true American Dream. I am America.
