Asking IMMIGRANT Millionaires How To Become Successful

what's up everyone so in today's video we'll be interviewing millionaire immigrants asking them how they became successful in entrepreneurship behind me we have a 2019 BMW I8 Roadster this is super nostalgic because I used to have this car and honestly a lot of people hate this car but I think it's one of the best daily drivers being able to drive top down SoCal is just super fun and amazing yeah I think this car is absolutely gorgeous so we have a lineup of five amazing entrepreneurs all of them immigrated to the United States they show us that the American dream is possible they've built up amazing businesses made tons of money yeah we're gonna ask them a lot of insightful questions today so you guys really don't want to miss this episode everyone we were talking to today is absolutely crushing it and yeah I'm super excited to go talk to them let's go all right [Music] what's your name Age and what you do my name is Ben I'm 26 and I buy video content from other people and then I post it online for affiliate marketing so basically I just have a YouTube channel of reviews where I pay other people to make their reviews for me in 30 seconds or less can you tell me your immigrant story to where you are now I was born in Israel in 1996 I was there until I was five years old and then I moved to the U.S moved schools three times as a kid and then went to UCSB started working when I was 13 and now I'm here as an immigrant entrepreneur how do your parents feel about what you're doing right now my parents feel really great about it I feel really proud that they feel proud and they're pushing me on it because I think they didn't have the opportunity and they were too scared like they're optimistic about some of the ideas of things that I'm doing but they didn't have the comfort of doing it because they had to raise me and pay for me which I'm very thankful that they took like the normal route but now my sister and myself they're really supportive of us doing anything what is a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs these days are doing I think a lot of entrepreneurs spend too much time watching content and planning instead of actually doing the biggest success that I've had in my life is from having so many failures my friends know me as the awkward guy who will talk to people in line and they're like no no please please don't go say hi but being able to do that and having the awkward interactions is what gets you to be successful I think can you tell the audience a little bit more about your business so my business is takebendsmoney.com I launched it in June of 2022. I've been making product review videos since I was 13 so I was doing this in 2009 I was actually the youngest YouTube partner I've reviewed thousands of products I review cars on my personal Channel and then I started paying my friends to review their stuff and then they ran out of stuff and so then I started to buy more videos and I monetized them through Amazon affiliate links if you could go back in time to when you first got to the states what would you tell yourself all the sad moments are very much worth it I had a lot of moments where I had like no friends because I was moving schools all the time or I didn't speak the language and I didn't understand the culture and it was really difficult but all those moments made me better now so I would tell my younger self that the the sadness is just like a big challenge of life and if you can make it past that then you can make it to anywhere and Beyond because then everything's relatively easy how you balance your personal and business life I don't I honestly don't balance myself together I think the work-life balance doesn't necessarily exist especially if you're running your own company like you can't leave at 6 PM you're in charge of everything everything's on you even when you're sick so it's it's hard to balance and a lot of people don't see that do you have any regrets no there's not a regret that I can think of everything has been a lesson at least in one way or another so what would you tell people that have a lot of regrets I think if you have a lot of regrets you have no way to fix those just do the things you won't regret like if you're 30 and you're gonna regret not starting the business or not applying for that job or not asking this person out or whatever it is just do it now so you don't regret it later you can't change 10 years ago yeah what do you like to splurge your money on I love to splurge my money on cars food and experiences if it's any of those things I will do it and if it's a gift or it's something that will make someone else laugh or smile I will wholeheartedly do it why cars cars have brought me a lot of joy and a lot of really good connections my YouTube channel is all about cars so I interview people with great cars it lets you talk to people that are in a different realm of life and also makes it a reality like what things you do to make sure that you're the best version of yourself actually listening to people by asking for the honest feedback so what would you tell people that like get butt hurt from like direct answers like that the more that you can get punched in the face a little bit the better you're going to be at it so like go get a really stupid haircut I went bald during coven I know a lot of people did that but the comments you get you're just like oh man and then anything else like you won't be hurt by it give me a quick productivity hack if it can be done within two or three minutes just do it don't even write it down the second piece is write things on Post-it notes make it a short list less than five items and then cross it out it feels so good to cross it out on notion on click up on notes like checking it is one feeling Crossing out the paper just feels way better do you have any final advice for immigrant entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general take your ideas and test them as quickly as you can you'll lose the motivation for it almost immediately if there's something that you think can make money or make you happy or be successful or whatever it is just do it because the opportunity will come and go because there are so many situational factors in life that change and it's unfortunate but a lot of people don't have the opportunities because like they physically get hurt or you know they have to move or something happens in their family so you really only get the chance right now and you might think I'll do this in five days but in five days your life could be completely different or your life could end in fact day so you got to just like do it now if you can and that's the only way you'll learn so what's your name age and what's he do my name is Eric I used to do real estate full-time six years and now I'm currently doing Airbnb I'm 29 right now can you tell me your story from like immigrating here all the way to where you are now in like 30 seconds or less I come from Taiwan I came to the state back in 2011. you know I was kind of working at a restaurant my parents tried really hard to know to have me over here and pay for my tuition and everything so you know I just been grinding and working hard and saving that money to become where I am right now can you actually tell the audience a little bit more about your business like what you do yeah so basically Airbnb everybody for the national about it typical people think you have to buy real estate to do Airbnb however for my business model it's actually more like I'll rent out the property found landlord with their permission just at least I'll finish it with my business credit card so it's a basically leveraging credit cards and then whatever Revenue I make for that month minus the expense and also the rent that I have that's the profit I make for for the property how many properties do you currently have right now I have 22 and then I'll be having eight more coming up end of this month as an immigrant entrepreneur what do your parents think about what you're doing right now it's funny for my parents actually they actually really support whatever I do you know I have tried multiple different side hustles they never say anything even if I fell you know they were just just kind of not and then you know every time new ideas they would encourage me and tell me to keep going with it okay and I think Airbnb is something that kind of you know that stocks through and then it's something I'm really passionate about what is a mistake that a lot of beginner entrepreneurs are making these days I sing this mindset and also actually being consistent and then actually putting effort into the work that you're going to be doing what makes you happy in general me myself I love making money it's not about how much I make it's about trying to accumulate what that wealth and eventually giving back to the Community Helping my friends out you know teaching my friends some valuable mindset business entrepreneurship like everybody around me is getting well and getting rich that's you know that's my passion if you go back in time to when you were younger when you first got to the states what would you tell yourself I wish you still do the same thing I will tell myself to work hard you know don't waste your parents money and then saved a lot of money to invest into yourself and that's pretty much what it is investing into knowledge that generate income rather than investing into stocks or whatever things that you can control that's something I've learned over the past few years especially last year when I my crypto got hacked 200k out of what yeah it just disappeared from my coinbase wallet somebody sent me a LinkedIn at Preston and then it just transferred everything to be honest if people that know me like I'm a really optimistic person yeah I was depressed for two weeks you know that was like all my money I saved up yeah it was actually literally a day before I closed my escrow on my primary house with my girlfriend that was my remodel money that was I was super depressed I cried so much you know that was just those time was awful but I think for me it actually boosts me to actually do more and I want to work harder I was doing real estate I'm still doing it right now and you know God have a plan for me they he actually got me a lot of people that wanted to sell their house it's not like I asked for it people started reaching out to me and say hey I have a house to sell I want to buy a house so literally I make that money back within like three months so like God is great you know like you know blessed to him that you know I was able to give that money back and because of that they pushed me to uh working harder and then also scouting my business on Airbnb as well can you give me a quick income building tip and then also an income saving tip Yeah so basically I don't really save to be honest I actually just invest all my money back into whatever business I'm doing for investing part right now what I'm doing is leveraging the business credit card site with the business funding side liquidating those money out you know so we basically get the credit card points and also the introductory you know promotion points and with that money you could pretty much especially right now with the the rate right now right you could literally put in the CD let's give you five percent so you get zero percent APR for 12 months you can liquidate literally 200k from a business credit card just put that into a bank that give you five percent or treasury bills or like anything like that just anything like that yeah that's safe you know FDIC insured so that's how much is that you know in the end of a year and then after you know the promotion rate is up just pay it back that's pretty much free money that's like Free Hack daily productivity hacks or tips a lot of people they don't want to let go of their business they want to take control of everything but that's actually wrong if you want to scale business you have to give out a lot of opportunity and responsibilities do you have any regrets in life yes I do I think right now my regret is more like that wasn't really playing and partying and then traveling while I was young but no money to save money yeah it was all to save money but there's money really is something that is really matter I don't really think so anymore because you can make so much but you can only spend so much right once you have that wealth you actually spend this that's what I realized right now what's a limiting belief that you think a lot of people have whatever you do be confident in what you're going to do and be consistent on what you're going to do if you're going to be decided on doing something go for it don't look back because you'll realize sometimes you're almost there but you give up too early do you have any final advice for immigrant entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general understanding credit you know credit is really important especially in the state if you want to rent out a car if you want to buy real estate this is something you're going to have to understand and leverage because if you don't Leverage that you're always going to be using your own money right you're not going to be able to use the bank's money or other people's money to invest so for credit you have to go on YouTube and I kind of just check there's a lot of free resources out there and then that should probably give you a kick start on you know understanding how to leverage the credit and build your credit scores okay so if you're watching this then you obviously want to achieve your big goals let's talk investing because that should absolutely be one of your big goals make your money work for you it's important to understand why investing in stocks is so great the stock market offers higher long-term returns than bonds treasury bills and savings accounts that's why almost every millionaire you talk to is exposed to the stock market now to do this I use MooMoo an amazing Stock Investing platform that makes investing accessible to anyone with their app you can explore various sectors see what sectors are performing best and what the top stocks are in each sector you can also get their free comprehensive analysis tools to make an informed decisions such as how a company performed in the past what it's projected to do in the future and how Wall Street analysts rate it you can also earn passive income through dividends just for holding certain stocks check out their dividend list to see how much money you can make now why MooMoo well are my favorite investing platform that I've heavily vetted they're used by 19 million users worldwide and MooMoo is a member of the SEC mineral and sipc which protects the Securities of customers up to 500 000 including 250 000 for claims for cash right now you get up to 20 free stocks including Apple Amazon and Tesla if you sign up and fund your account using the special link down below don't wait because this offer is not going to last forever and again that link will be down below in the description thanks MooMoo for sponsoring this video and now back to the video so what's your name Age and what do you do for a living my name is Jenny Wu 41 years old and I am the founder CEO of mind brain emotion and I teach emotional intelligence at the University of California Irvine can you tell me your entire life story from when you were born until where you are now yeah I was born in China came over to the US when I was 10. I grew up in Texas during that time and came out here to Southern California for school my first job was a personal banker actually at Bank of America and that was what it taught me finances but after that I went I worked as a Management Consultant at Deloitte then did the whole track got the MBA from UC Berkeley did the career coaching was coaching MBA students and then worked in Silicon Valley for a while but then I kind of really got bored so moved back here to Southern California started up a school in the area and just really got into learning about how to build emotional intelligence skills what do you think is a big mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs today are doing chasing that sexy thing right the sexy thing being whatever's in the trend whatever supposedly makes money like you know Amazon Fulfillment whatnot and I feel like the biggest thing is you need to know what your sweet spot and what you enjoy doing first and really go from there as your launchpoint instead of looking around and trying to find what other people are doing successfully can you tell us a little bit more about your business and like what you do I create meaningful card games that teach you the essential adulting skills that you don't necessarily look in school but are so useful in the real world what aspects of your culture do you think have helped you become successful I think the work ethic really really helps right being an immigrant you have this immigrant mindset where you're like I'm not going to get shortcuts it's just the way it is so I have to work hard grind my way through so in that sense I think just not being able to take things for granted really helped me what makes you happy just experimenting with different ideas I love tinkering you know kind of get in my cave have an idea and try to figure out how it works you don't know all the answers but I think it's the process of just trying to figure it out makes me really happy why don't you tell people that they want to Tinker but they're afraid of like failing and like wasting their time don't be afraid mistakes are normal mistakes are common mistakes are actually signposts telling you if you're on track or not you're not going to get anywhere without failing making mistakes what is a popular piece of advice that you actually disagree with our nothing right you need to give it all I think there is such a hustle culture that it makes you feel like you gotta work so so hard in order to get where you can get right but my thing is you got to work smart and you cannot say yes to all the things in the world know your worth ask for your worth and know what you're interested in and focus on those sweet spots do you have any advice for people that want to get into public speaking definitely get comfortable with being uncomfortable what this means is that you want to get yourself out there in front of people who you don't know who don't speak your language and just be yourself and try to soak in everything that they do their non-verbals how they present themselves so a lot of the audience is super young they're in college or school and they might be wanting to start their own business but they don't know how to so like what would you tell them I started my business when I was a student in school and I would say that's one of the best spots where you can tap into all these University resources right all the mentorship the professors you have and get your ideas off the ground and so I would highly recommend looking around at you know the different clubs Innovation clubs startup resources there are and tap into those how do you balance your personal and business life there is not quite of a balance and so I would say it's more of blending it together and in my case because I have kids that makes it really really difficult so I've basically managed to turn my personal life into of my business what do you like to splurge your money on I love splurging money on travel experiences as an entrepreneur yes you are grinding away hustling but I am in sort of the world of passive income generation and really living good experiences taking in all that the world has to offer what things you do every day to make sure that you're the best version of yourself I love working out and getting enough sleep so what I do every day is I try to get at least seven hours of sleep and that includes really eight hours in bed because the time you fall asleep is you know and waking up is different and I was a certified fitness trainer so I'm all about the Mind Body Connection and so having that dose of dopamine and getting just feeling my body you know getting worked is is what makes me happy do you have any final advice you want to tell immigrant entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general yeah I would say have a sense of humor you know as an entrepreneur and especially as an immigrant entrepreneur here you're going to make a lot of mistakes and a lot of social blunders right just laugh about it you know learn pick yourself up and keep on going and then also a lot of immigrant entrepreneurs tend to come up appear as overly rigid and kind of socially awkward and in some ways because you have your eyes on the prize so much you tend to be misunderstood as desperate so that sense of humor and being able to just work on your soft skills your Communications will help you to loosen up and really to connect with people better all right so what's your name Age and what do you do for a living my name is Jezreel messiness I am 29 now I'm a barber entrepreneur soundclouds and I'm trying to get into the Frenchie game can you tell us your entire life story in like 30 seconds or something I was born in the Philippines my parents migrated to Saudi Arabia they did x-ray over there and then we moved over here due to the war that happened in 2001. it's an immigrant it was pretty tough to get a job found out that I didn't have a social Security in 2012 I had to kind of do all these like dirty jobs it finally got me to you know barbering it was pretty low-key and you know I got paid under the table after I got my green card and and my certification to be here decided to take it full on and opened up my own shop as an immigrant entrepreneur what do your parents think about what you do they wasn't accepting of it in the beginning because you know as a Filipino they want you to be a nurse or somewhere in the medical field and it was definitely a struggle but now they're just pretty accepting of it yeah they're pretty proud of like everything because they got to see also that you know it's not all about the nine to five can you tell us a little bit more about your business like what you guys do or like where are you guys and stuff like that we're in Long Beach and Bixby knows it's a private Studio there's five of us in there I built a team with my my partner Pete and we have four other guys that work with us very great guys we mainly focus on the business aspect of Barbering which is you know the marketing the advertising all of those type of things those are the most important part of the craft what do you think is a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs these days are making trying to get that fast money you know so it's all about the slow game the longevity like Nipsey said it's about the marathon and so when you're trying to go for that fast money it's pretty tough you know like you can't you don't establish your business a little bit of quick money here quick money there but at the end of the day you have to kind of go for the money that keeps coming in the passive income what aspects of your culture do you think helps you become successful being a Filipino I was very family oriented I grew up in a church environment so I feel like I kind of brought that into my business and that's part of like who I am and you know that's something that I'm able to bring in into my business and I just feel like more as a barber you know like the service is also a big part of the game you're cutting gray hair the service is also part of it you talk to your clients you know you make them feel welcome and everything so I think that kind of took me to you know skyrocketed my game what makes you happy being able to provide for my family they're in the Philippines right now okay I'm not making a ton of money but I'm glad to be making enough money for me to send my parents retirement money or help them with whatever they can if you go back in time to when you first came to the states what would you tell yourself not everybody is against you I just feel like it was so hard for me to fit in that I made like bigger problems for myself thinking that you know nobody liked me you know I just had to try extra hard to belong somewhere but honestly like people will just gravitate towards you regardless of who you are you know what's a popular piece of advice that you actually disagree with money will solve all your problems I grew up in the third world country everybody there is just happier even if they don't have a lot of money I feel like people are a lot happier when they're able to acquire something that doesn't involve money too you know simple things like being at the B each or you know just enjoying like a cold drink or like a warm shower that go a long way how do you balance your personal and your business life when I walk into my space at home that's like my safe Zone and I can like decompress and also being able to just have a lot of friends to be with my girlfriend is big thing so that I consider that like my personal life you know making time for them pretty much what's something that you like to splurge your money on the clothes yeah I love I love clothes man what things you do to make sure that you're the best version of yourself affirmations nobody's going to support you like how you support yourself do you have any final advice for immigrant entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general just don't give up you're gonna feel like everybody is against you but at the end of the day you just gotta stay in your own lane you got to keep it pushing every day and you got to stop trying to fit in once you start doing that and you start figuring yourself out in another country especially like that's where you'll find your Niche because bringing in your culture into a place where it's so diverse will actually make you stand out and in America I figured out that standing out is better than like fitting in you know what's her name Age and what do you do for a living so my name is Sam caramel and I'm I just turned 44 years old what I do is I make people's dreams I'm basically making pieces of jewelry for any event for private clients can you tell us your entire like immigrant story from start to fish in like 30 seconds so I was born and raised in Israel and I was raised there in a village on a farm growing up with my brother and sister and my parents and I did what every Israeli is doing which is the age of 18 years old drafted to the Army I served four years in the military and after four years decided to come to the states just to travel ended after a little bit and then someone offered me to work in the diamond business which I knew nothing about because I know how to milk cows and other things related to farming and I said you know what let's give it a a try and 21 years later I'm still here as an immigrant entrepreneur what do your parents think of what you do so my parents are are super proud of me I think that for them it's less about the monetary value it's less about like you know how much money I have how much money I made although of course you know they couldn't provide me the life that I have right now not that they're poor but they're not like you know Rich by any means so for them to see me succeeding in a trade that I'm entirely obsessed with along with enjoying my life here and travel the world Etc and dealing with people that I would never be able to deal with otherwise is something that makes them super super happy and proud when you're just starting out were they like what are you doing or like were they worried about you they were very worried about me and I'll tell you a quick story about that after two and a half weeks traveling the states the person to connect me to the diamond business said hey I know someone that needs someone to help him with the diamond trade and do you mind staying for an extra month and I said sure but you know as a courtesy also I was only 22 years old I said I'm going to tell my parents and when I call my mom she answered the phone and I told her about that and she's like oh my God I'm putting your dad on the line I said why and she's like I think this is like not gonna be good for you and I said why not she's like you you know how to milk cows now someone is offering you to deal with diamonds I think it's a scam I think it's going to ask you to deliver drugs and you're going to be in federal prison and me and Dad will need to come and visit you you know every few months so I don't want you to do that you have to come back to Israel and I said mom don't worry it's like the real thing so they were very scared in the beginning and after a year I think I had enough money to bring them over to visit and they actually saw me like work in the office dealing with diamonds they still until today don't really understand what I do for a living because for them diamond is so far away from their actual life and every time my mom is or dad is visiting from abroad I put like you know 10 or 20 carats worth like half a million to a million dollar on their hand and I tell them how much you think it's worth and they're like I don't know two grand three grand I said no think big they're like oh my God is that a 20 grand I said no it's a half a million dollar Stone they're like oh my God take it off of my pulp the palm of my hand so what aspects of your culture have helped make you successful I think that it's a cultural thing but it's also because I've been to Army every guy has to go for a minimum of three years and every girl has to go for a minimum of two years and I feel like the Army gives you a lot of things a lot of tools one of them is structure the other one is disciplined the third one is doesn't matter what the situation is you have to succeed you're going to have a bad day second bad day a week a month a year doesn't matter at the end of the day you're gonna make it what makes you happy believe it or not my business has given me a lot of happiness I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing to be so obsessed with what you do for a living but I am if I know that a 7 carat is being shipped to me from New York or from Israel from Belgium or any other place around the world I'll do all the stuff that I need to do in the morning as quickly as possible just to go and see that seven carat okay so if you go back in time to when you first got here what would you tell yourself chill out hold your horses just wait because in the beginning I remember the first two years I was just eyeing all of this and I'm like I want it I want it I want it I was so frustrated that I cannot make the millions of dollars it takes time and it took time it took me 21 years to get to the point where I'm at today what's a popular piece of advice that you actually disagree with some advice is working great for some people and some other doesn't work for some other people so it's like it can be one way right there's some people that are working half a world how much mean you are working and are more successful than both of us combined and it's good for them you know how you balance your personal and business life I think they're very much mixed together I travel a lot it's just a mishmash of both of them which is fine like you know my regular routine that you know I feel centered in is you know running and working out in the morning what do you like to splurge your money on on good food on travel those are the main things and it's part of work but I like to spend my money on flying very comfortably give me a quick income building tip and then also an income saving tip when you're getting older and if you want to have a family later on or not you know it's up to you but life are getting more and more expensive wife kids those cost a lot of money school cost a lot of money and the house that you bought now for two million gonna cost 10 million dollars so saving is a key point but also I feel like important part of the first question is something that I was lacking on I said I can do everything by myself and it's it's a fault that a lot of entrepreneurs doing it in the beginning because you feel that you are the only one that know how to do things and also you don't want to pay someone money because that's a lot of your income in the beginning right but it's kind of a mistake and I wish I took the people that worked for me today a little bit earlier in life just because you have to get off this thought that those people cost you money you have to think of them as they're gonna make me more money I'm gonna have more free time and you cannot think clearly when you're worried about oh I need to take the trash out what about the lease payment what about the car that I rented for shooting a video with some random people and those kind of stuff you have to have other people to help you doing those things what things you do to make sure that you're the best version of yourself for me personally is learning from other people in the trade though I'm 21 years in the trade and I think I know it all or I know very well still I want to learn from those people because you can always learn how do you stay productive I think a big part of it is sports if you work out it's gonna clear your mind and you know it's gonna you're gonna be a better version of yourself it's true and it's important is there any final advice you want to leave to Immigrant entrepreneurs or even just entrepreneurs in general you know I heard that when I was younger before I even drafted to the Army follow your heart you know do what you love and then I think I read somewhere that 90 of the people in the world 90 and if they're wrong it's 80 and if they're wrong it's 60 but doesn't matter it's a huge amount of people in the world right that are waking up every morning and going to do something that they hate and coming back home at five six seven PM in another day and I told myself I need to find something that's going to make me super happy so you have to try and do a bunch of stuff before you find your destination of what you want to do in life so that's it for today's video I hope you guys got a lot of inspiration from our guests and yeah personally I learned so much it was super inspiring to hear everyone's story it's definitely not easy building a business especially if you're not born here but these people have shown that it is entirely possible now I make these videos because I really want to encourage entrepreneurship I know there are a lot of you guys out there that want to get into business but maybe don't have the resources or the right inspiration and so yeah I really hope this video gave you some confidence and allows you to go out there and chase your dreams you guys want some free stocks we'll be leaving links to Weeble and MooMoo down below as well as my newsletter hustle club which teaches you how to become a better entrepreneur in three minutes or less per week that's it for today's episode and if you guys enjoyed it make sure to hit that like button and also subscribe for more content just like this we do a ton of videos about personal finance entrepreneurship and investing thanks so much and I'll see you in the next video peace [Music] thank you

Channel: Charlie Chang

Views: 120,929

Keywords:

Id: 5ZxKGKX4VBE

Length: 29min 58sec (1798 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2023