Some millionaire stories involve being inherited while some going completely from rags to riches. Well how about one of being born in the former USSR rags to stepfather riches just to go broke again at the age of 14? Because this is exactly how Iman‘s story went down. We could call it how Iman Gadzhi went from struggles to millionaire.
Actually having spent most of his childhood studying at an elite public school in London by his rich stepfather to have them divorce and be the lone man in the house.
Not too many youngsters would not only survive such a situation but would also become millionaires at 18 all on their own.
The quick and smart capitalization on the rising trend and popularity of social media is what gave him a head start. In his own words:
“Very quickly, my idyllic childhood started to fade. My mother separated with my step-dad and we were plunged back into our old lives: he cut us off entirely. At the age of fourteen, I was faced with an awful burden: taking care of myself and my mother. So I started my first business…Despite a childhood dream compelling me to make it as a professional footballer, I realized, aged 15, I simply wasn’t good enough. It was time to find another way to make money. So I started on Instagram. Buying and selling accounts. I made a decent amount of money for a 15-year-old too! And then, in one bad decision, managed to lose it all by investing in one account that failed dramatically”
As soon as he actually realized just how much can social media haul in it wasn’t long till he had his own social media agency up and running despite all these hurdles:
“It was the first time in my life that I had recurring income and could finally say ‘my client’ (something I still find cool to this day). It was an entire seven months until I got my next client. Most people would have given up at that point… but I was hooked. kept pressing and pressing until I finally landed a meeting with a company called Aflete. I remember sitting on the curb of the street outside the school, using my phone as a hotspot with my computer in front of me. Shan went through some logistical issues but finally ended with… ‘Okay, let’s do it’.
But it was not until all the success he had with big name brands till he realized it was mentoring that was his true passion. Then the GrowYourAgency.com started.
“It was only when I turned on my laptop one day, typed in ‘Expedia’ to book a surprise holiday for my mom when I saw that Expedia had made $10 Billion that year with an incredibly lean operation. As I started to read the article it became clear to me what Expedia’s business model was: connect the customer with the service and wrap it under the ‘Expedia’ experience. Expedia owned zero planes & zero hotels yet it made more profits than the businesses that did! At that moment it clicked. I didn’t actually have to deliver the Facebook ad services myself, I could get someone else to deliver it and I could focus on sales and operations. The best bit is that I would take home the majority of the profits…”
What’s his goal now after achieving the ultimate business success and helping his family? Education reform duh.
“I made a commitment to myself that I was going to use my experience and talent to build genuinely practicable online courses and revolutionize education through e-learning. What this didn’t mean is that I gave up my agency. It’s always annoyed me that some ‘gurus’ will teach, having gleefully run away from the thing they claim to be an expert in. That’s why I still run my agency – and it continues to generate $45,000/pm+ profit. As long as I teach, I’ll be testing my course on myself before I let students take the risk. But staying true to our ethos and our full circle approach, we’re going to go one step further. I have made a commitment to take 10% of our annual profits to build schools in the developing world – I’ve made a commitment to take 10% of yearly company profits & put the money straight into building schools in underdeveloped countries.”