Hey everyone! Today's post is a little different from my usual ones. I'm going to talk about my background and journey as an entrepreneur up to this point. I hope you all enjoy and can learn something from my experience and I hope to also show you that the beaten path isn't always the right path. Just because someone is older than you, doesn't mean they know what's best for you. Make your own decisions and sleep in your own bed that you make. The biggest regret you'll have in life is the regret of not having tried something.
My Background
To start this little story off, I'll talk about how I got to where I am right now. I've never been much of a "school person" - I always had bad grades and it wasn't because I wasn't good at school or because I wasn't "smart enough" it was because I hated the idea of doing what I'm told and following the beaten path. I started to develop this mentality in middle school (right around the age of 10) and have carried it ever since. I always put school in the background and ventured off the beaten path towards my interests.
Throughout high school I dabbled with different projects and little entrepreneurial endeavors and I was always in search of a way to make some money doing something that was interesting to me. Because of all the time I put into these endeavors, I skipped a lot of school, got a lot of bad grades, sat in a lot of detention and dealt with a lot of shit from my parents.
Now is the fun part of the story. These are some of the various "businesses" I tried to make money from over the years. Each one had a particular learning experience that was unique and essential to getting me to where I am today. If you look closely, you can see that each one carried some fundamental skills that created "jumping-off points" for the next endeavor:
- Custom Gaming PCs (I was around 14 years old and built my first PC for myself and had a lot of fun, so I posted some online ads and tried to find some buyers, but never ended up getting any takers. I did learn a lot about online marketing and trying to put myself out there though. Nothing is a wasted effort if you learn!)
- Online Poker (I was 14 and tried to make a living playing online poker. I actually made a little money and had a good time, but it turned out to be unpredictable and I decided to punt it in search of a "better living")
- Trading Stocks (I was still 14 at the time and investments started to peak my interest. I took online courses, read tons of books on investing and got a $1,000 loan from my parents to try and make some money. I ended up making a little money in a few tech stocks, but then I learned about options trading).
- Options Trading (I was 15 and my stock market investing bled into the world of options. Options seemed really fast-paced and really really interesting to me so I spent every second I could learning about every type of spread and strategy I could. After a month or so of research, I decided to jump in head first. I placed my first trade for a contract and decided that it was a good idea to put all ~$1500 I had into it. The trade turned out to be unsuccessful and the contract expired after 8 days resulting in me losing all $1500 I had. I then spent a couple more months researching, but not trading (because I had no money to trade with) and once I felt I had learned from my mistakes and learned more about how the market worked, I went back to my parents for another $1000. They were, for some reason, generous enough to give me another $1k to attempt to make this mad obsession turn into a profitable endeavor. I ended up putting 50/50 into 2 different contracts and I doubled my money. My strategy was re-developed and I began only trading puts and calls against the SPY. By focusing on such a fundamental and basic strategy, I made a pretty sizable amount of money, especially for a 16-year-old. I traded options for several years and still continue to dabble in my off-time. Throughout the time from when I was 16-18 years-old I averaged about $15k per year).
- Online "Fitness Expert" (I was 17 and still trading options, but I wanted to do something more tangible with my time. I spent a ridiculous amount of time learning how to build websites and then finally completed my first WordPress site and tried to sell online fitness coaching - I was, and still am a major fitness nut. This business did not take off and I finally learned the lesson of "Just because you build it, doesn't mean people will come and buy it.")
- Marketing Consultant (I was still 17 and after learning the aforementioned lesson, I realized that I should learn more about online marketing. This was yet another rabbit hole obsession that lasted for years. I ended up starting a small marketing consulting business and sold my services to a few clients over Instagram as well as through local businesses. This was my second "hit" and I managed to make a stable income from it for the next 2 years).
- Real Estate and Cryptocurrency (At 19 years old, I started my second year of college and was beginning to learn about real estate. Real estate is in my blood and my family has been in the business for decades. At the same time, I was taking the money I earned from marketing and options trading and I was pouring it into cryptocurrencies. I was absolutely obsessed with Bitcoin and then I discovered Ethereum and damn-near lost my mind going down that rabbit hole (the argument can be made that I did lose my mind during this time, because all my friends and family still say that I have an unhealthy obsession with crypto). But anyways, I earned roughly a 6x return on my first investments into crypto and left a significant amount of money in, but I also have a diversification mindset, so I decided to take a portion of my crypto earnings and start my first 2 real estate projects).
Fast forward to the present and here I am. 20 years old, a college dropout and living off of the income from real estate, cryptocurrencies and equities. I haven't ever really mentioned my age because I don't think its all that relevant, but a few people have asked, so this may or may not be a surprise to you. Being 20 and trying to make a name for myself in the real estate and business worlds has been a tough journey. I'm not always taken seriously when I walk into a negotiation, but people usually warm up after hearing a bit about my past.
I also discovered Steemit and STEEM right around August of 2017. I was really curious about the platform and developed an uncontrollable obsession for it. Since then, I've learned a lot about myself through writing and interacting with all of you and meeting new people. Steem has since become my biggest crypto investment in terms of money, time, energy, focus and emotions. Second only to real estate, Steem has become my biggest focus in life and has completely changed my life and view of the world.
I talk a lot about my shorter-term goals in my regular post about my "Journey to 100k Steem Power" but I don't really mention my long-term, more ambitious goals. I may make a separate post about them, but for now I'll tell you that I want to make a huge difference in the world. There are a few areas that I plan to focus on:
- Poverty
- Multi-Planetary Colonization/Space Exploration
- Energy
- Human Longevity (increasing our life-span and decreasing our likelihood to develop debilitating diseases)
I know these are ambitious goals and I constantly get weird looks from people when I get asked the hilarious question of "what do you want to be in life".
Long story longer, I've lived my life by moving quickly and making a lot of mistakes. I'm not afraid to fail and I'm especially not afraid to fail publicly. I love hearing people say that I can't do things because it drives me to work harder to make my dreams a reality. I've heard the nay-sayers my entire life and I will continue to hear them for the rest of my life as I work hard to make these abundance-focused goals a reality, but I also know that even attempting to achieve them will result in a positive impact on the world, and that's all I can really ask for in life.
I hope this was kind of interesting for some of you. I know it's a little out of the ordinary compared to my usual posts, but I have been getting a lot more questions about myself as of late and I decided to make this short bio to refer to in the future.
I appreciate your support and I look forward to creating an abundant future together!
Question of the Day: What's 1 "endeavor" that you've attempted that you didn't succeed at, but couldn't be who you are today if you hadn't pursued it?
Thanks for reading! I'll see you in the comments!
Amazing insight! I love your long term goals and thanks for sharing so many personal facts. You are so young and have already accomplished so much. Keep up the hard work, have fun sometimes too! I love reading and learning from you even though I’m 26 years older😜
Damn awesome. In a world of distractions and entitlement, there are still folks with a drive to create something on their own and EARN the right to drive their own ship.
It is only a rabbit hole because the herd sees you looking at something interesting that they can't see.
Wander off the beaten path a little more and change the world. Mix in fitness to keep the body working with the mind and enjoy the ride.
Keep it up. I got your back.
Always so upbeat and positive @zekepickleman! I always appreciate reading your comments, thank you! I agree, and I think it's especially prevalent in the crypto world where individuals are looking to create something that brings benefit to the users rather than solely for the corporate leaders at the top (i.e. facebook versus Steem)
Haha, I love that! Average people will always think the outliers are crazy... until they don't. Thank you for your support, I will always appreciate it and look forward to the future we can build together!
This is something I have been wanting to hear from you for a while. Actually I remember your story. You told us once before that you are 20. I was always surprised that this 20 year old has great insight. You learn well from failure but get up again. This shows great promise. You joined the ranks of those who dropped out to drop in. Enjoy the time before you get married to explore every opportunity and venture you want to.
You have wonderful long term goals and I can see how your short term goals will help achieve these long term goals.
I guess your goal is to alleviate poverty although an ultimate life goal of poverty is very noble to leave this world with nothing. Unnecessary poverty is devastating the human race.
I understand the other endeavors as well. They are very realistic things we have to think about. What's the use of living long and new sources of energy if humans don't change inside?
One endeavor should be to grow in inner character to embrace and forgive others. If this happens on a world wide scale then the others will fall into place.
Thanks @mineopoly, I always appreciate your support and kind words! "Dropped out to drop in" I love that! I hope to keep enjoying life and keep doing what inspires me everyday, that's what has motivated me to keep going all along is being able to have the opportunity to do interesting things and meet interesting people!
Yes I agree, poverty can be devastating and in a future world of abundance - food, money, shelter, health care, education, etc. are the things that we need to ensure are in high supply and available to everyone.
I love your ideas about character as well. Even in a world where you can provide abundance in basic needs, we must also provide the right education - that is, one that teaches emotionally as well as intellectually.
I'm doing my best to offer what I have. I'm so glad I met you and joined this community. I'm trying to blog more efficiently without losing quality.
Hi Khaleel.
I caught this post a little late but felt compelled to reply, upvote and give you a shoutout in the #cryptopub
Regular people can use their passion to fuel their success and change the world.
Thanks for your part in showing us the way.
That was really interesting! I also started thinking about making money when I was around 15, sadly, nothing really worked out for me. I've gotten into a few scams at first because I didn't know anything about the "make money online" schemes. I also did try out poker but I didn't enjoy playing it online. But playing it in real life is really fun to me.
I did get into blogging about 4 years ago, but to start earning money with your website it can take a lot of time to see even one sale, that is if you don't use any services other than SEO.
I've got a lot of posts on that first website I've build, but I couldn't pay for the hosting anymore (it cost 50$ every month), because I didn't have any money and my parents didn't give any for this, because they didn't believe I could pull it off...
Well, a few years later I built another website with nice amount of content, but then again, couldn't pay for the hosting and so I lost it.
But, even though all the progress is lost, I've still become better at writing and my english improved by a ton!
Though I do wish that I would've had the money 4 years ago to keep on paying for the hosting. I'm pretty sure it would be a great source of income by now...
And it seems we started developing the mindset of making money practically at the same time since I'm 20 years old as well :)
Ahh yes, the classic "make money online"! I fell prey to a few of those myself. Playing in real life is so much fun, but I typically keep it at that - fun.
Funny, I also got into blogging several years ago and faced the same hardship as you - monetization is ridiculously hard for an independent blogger and I made a little money doing it, but not nearly enough to make it worth the time I was putting in. It did teach me a lot of other valuable skills like web design, UX feedback, etc. that proved really useful over the years.
That's great to hear that you have also taken lessons away from your experience! The progress on the sites may be lost, but the progress for own well-being is clear as day! Haha, I love it! It seems that we've had a very similar journey in life and I look forward to hearing more about how you progress as time goes on! Thanks for always supporting and sharing your experiences! I really appreciate it @trendo!
Ahh yes, the classic "make money online"! I fell prey to a few of those myself. Playing in real life is so much fun, but I typically keep it at that - fun.
Funny, I also got into blogging several years ago and faced the same hardship as you - monetization is ridiculously hard for an independent blogger and I made a little money doing it, but not nearly enough to make it worth the time I was putting in. It did teach me a lot of other valuable skills like web design, UX feedback, etc. that proved really useful over the years.
That's great to hear that you have also taken lessons away from your experience! The progress on the sites may be lost, but the progress for own well-being is clear as day! Haha, I love it! It seems that we've had a very similar journey in life and I look forward to hearing more about how you progress as time goes on! Thanks for always supporting and sharing your experiences! I really appreciate it @trendo!
Haha, it's fun to share similar experiences with someone, and best of all, share the progress as time goes on. We are placing our experiences and memories on the blockchain and it's gonna stay here forever! Kinda like a diary, you know? Except you can't erase anything Hehe.
Really @khaleelkazi, this was a lot to take in. I couldn't comment the first time I had to sleep then read it again. What a tough bunch you are, am glad I read this story today. Makes me understand you more.
So @khaleelkazi about one unsuccessful endeavor that change the course of my life. Well, there's no really one big trial, my life has been shaped by small small everyday attempt which sometimes have failed. I have been a teacher, screen artist, caterer, attempted navy. I have been involved in lots of business mostly involved in buying food stuff from where they are in abundance to where they are scarce. But December last year, I was involved in a big shipment that went south. I lost a lot of my capital in it that I couldn't go back to business again. But I didn't tell anyone about it, I just smiled and continued on my journey.
So when things became a bit tougher because of on capital, my friend introduced me to Steemit and told me I can rebuild my empire through Steemit. Today is my 23th day here and I am already building that empire. My greatest gain here is that it offers me the platform to use and help people who are living in poverty. I had been there before, I know how it is, so I am putting everything I can to support those who are still below that line. Thank you khaleel for sharing with us today.
Thanks for your kind words @lordjames, I really appreciate your support!
Ahh yes, it's always the compounding lessons of the small endeavors that have the greatest impact! That's great that you responded to that failed shipment in the way that you did, many people would not have kept moving forward as gracefully as you did!
That's amazing and yes, Steemit is a great way to build an empire of goodness and spread the love to everyone around the world! Keep up the good work on here and please keep leaving your amazing and thoughtful comments in the community! It's always great to hear from you, and I look forward to building an abundant future with you, my friend!
Hello @khaleelkazi
This question reminds me of some months back before my steemit journey began. There was a wave of ponzi that hit my country Nigeria. If you are not in ponzi who are seen as not smart in the society.
I finally joined ponzi scheme, i made some duck but ended up puting it back into the same ponzi and this time i put more.
It was very unfortunate for me as the system could not hold the crowd and it crashed. With people lossing huge amount of money, I loss almost everything.
It was at this point i decided to stuff the internet for alternative score of income and thanks to a friend, I found steemit.
I thank God i went into ponzi and lost hugh money, because this lost paved the way for me to be on steemit where I have not onle earn cash, i have added knowledge, met great people as well.
Hey @samiwhyte! Always great to hear from you!
That is a very inspiring story, I appreciate you sharing it! As the saying goes, it is often darkest before the dawn and it seems that you have dawned on the amazing potential of the internet and Steemit! I also am glad that you have come here to share your knowledge and I am glad to have met you my friend!
Thank you sir @khaleelkazi,
Happy valentine day
I'm privilege to be called your friend.
I think this statement means a lot.
As one who has a growing community on steemit with several persons with low earnings and seeking for delegation to support these guys, i am inspired by the above statement that we are in our darkest part of the night.
I'm gonna make a post about this tommorrow.
Thanks for the reply sir
Thanks for sharing that! You are wise well beyond your years my friend!
I had a recording studio. I loved it and recorded some cool electronic music, drank a lot of beer and played lots of ping pong. It was not a money success but was a fun success. With that in mind perhaps success comes in different forms!
Thank you for your kind words @sequentialvibe! That's a great story and a great lesson learned, thanks for sharing that with us! I agree, success can come in many forms - money is a very fragile thing and it dissipates easily, those memories and fun experiences that you gained will be with you for a lifetime.. Seems like a great success to me! Keep it up!
Yeah, we cant really have one definition of success, it's relative to persons
Most definitely!
100% !!
I was going to become a reporter, but then I dropped out of school and because if the hardships and the terrible realities of life. I found steemit and I've never gotten to regret howy life panned out
That's a great story @josediccus! Have you messed around with Steepshot at all?
I’ve been messing around with it a little, the new update looks great!
Not at all how about it?
I just tried a post the other day with it, it's interesting and I'm planning on sharing some more photo-focused posts on there. The only thing I don't like about the platform is that the posts are also shared onto my Steemit blog feed and I'd prefer to separate my long-form blog posts from my short-form Steepshots. I'm hoping that feature gets added soon!
They just had a new update, looks great!
How far, have you gone back to school?
Keep it going at 20 and you're this ahead in life your winning. You could have a lot of residual income with your talent. One of my endeavors was trying to create a Marketing and Adverting company. Most companies smaller companies don't see the value and just don't want to pay to grow even with numbers... Ridiculous.
It's even hard to think of it because it seems everything has made me who I am today. But if I had to pick it'll obviously being a restaurant owner.
It trains you for a lot of things particularly human relations and communications. Also lotsa of struggles in the up and down of sales which I guess have prepared me some what for cryptocurrency and handling FUD.
All in all, still growing, still learning :)
Reading your businesses that you've done, you seem like someone thats willing to try. And someone that's willing to try, to me, are the best kind of people to work with. Bless ya man!
I learned a lot from your post, the experience is the most valuable teacher.
learn from your mistakes will be supporting future success.
thanks for best motivations @khaleelkazi
The knowledge gotten from previous mistakes, if put to practice bring about future success
Damn, you sound just like me. From the attitude towards school to the obsessive behaviors. Enjoy it and words of wisdom here..... we sre not cut from the same cloth as others. We can't live in the boxes they do. Always think outside the box. It is what has and also what will continue to make you great.
Great to read your comment here it's really capture some vital points
To really understand what others go through, when have to put on the same shoe, it feels different that way.
Yep. Then there are sometimes you try walking a mile in someone else's shoes and when you get there you just end up s mile away with some stolen shoes.
Lol
I just can't help but laugh
Thanks for spicing my day
glad i could lighten your day up. plus laughter burns calories so you got a little mini work out in also.
lol, great to know of the workout
what if I need more calories now
Beautiful life post
Such an inspiring write up, am sure alot of people will be inspired hearing your story. Not being afraid to fail is the way to go, when you allow yourself make those mistakes and take those baby steps
Valid point you highlighted here
We must be ready to fail to succed
I honestly like this post, it got me inspired!
Thanks, I'm glad you got some inspiration from it! What's 1 thing that you failed at, but that you learned a key lesson from?
Something for me is in the early stages of investing - you have to be prepared to lose capital and gain lessons!
Very good post man! I too tried my hand at gambling... 21 was my game. I made money but it was unpredictable and I hated losing even though it’s an inherent part of the game. I learned how to manage risk, minimize the chances of losing and maximize the winnings when you do when.
I'm not a fan of gambling but I'm excited at what you learnt from the action of gambling
Totally agree with you. Never afraid to fail, as long as you learn something out of it, and go with what you are like to do. A dream is not a dream if it doesn't sound crazy.
Try and try again. There are no failures.
100% that’s a great way to look at it!
man what can i say..... i am 2 years older than you, i believe that this year i am gonna finish my college and at the same time i came to understand that most of this years ware wasted. i learned only a few things... My goals is to learn more and more become successful in my life. I felt really amazing when i saw the areas you want to focus as it's exactly the same ones i want to!
i am really glad i found you!
dude this is an amazing post! great for many young people starting out well done