How I (didn't) become a millionaire at 19

[AfterWind]

I was in the same position as you 5 years ago... My eyes were set on dropping out of school and starting a business of my own. Except, I took the other route, I continued high school and went on to finish university. It wasn't a complete waste of time, but I am sure much more could have been done in that time than just getting a piece of paper that says I am qualified for something I already was 5 years ago.

This is a reminder that years of my life were wasted and I can't waste any more of it. I notice colleagues going to the final year party, for me, there's nothing to party about.

 

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[LynetteP]

To give an idea of the most important aspect, @MJ DeMarco says it's (Idea: potential top speed) x (Execution: Accelerator pressure).

"The Pawn: Idea (Potential Top speed)
Awful idea = 1 mph
Weak idea = 5 mph
So-so idea = 35 mph
Good idea = 65 mph
Great idea = 100 mph
Brilliant idea = 200 mph

The King: Execution (Accelerator Pressure)
Awful execution = $1
Weak execution = $1,000
So-so execution = $10,000
Good execution = $100,000
Great execution = $1,000,000
Brilliant execution = $10,000,000"

He goes on to give the example "a so-so idea with brilliant execution could be worth $350 million."

Hilarious- I have a similar theory on this (I hadn't read this from MJ yet, but I'm not finished with the second book). My formula is a bit different, but it's darn close! Was thinking of writing a kindle book to describe it. I get sick of hearing it's all execution, lol. It's not all execution, or good door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen would be out there making millions.

 

[AF77]

I wouldn’t call him funny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Runjie Chen]

So this was all fake?

I don’t know, maybe it is to attract people and promote his new cryptocurrency business but no idea


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

 

[ryanbleau]

Dude has major issues

 

[G-Man]

Whatever happened to TeveTorbes? Can't believe he's not here to enjoy his victory lap.

 

[ChrisV]

EDIT: But then again, I googled him and checked out his website (Appsitude.com), and it's true that he's the founder, so maybe he really did make big bucks and it's legit? Unless the whole site is fake, with fake photos and fake profiles and fake apps which didn't exist.

Exactly. I'm confused here...

A lot of stuff about his story checks out, he provided links, people verified those details

He made a post confessing his sins about all the things he lied about, but provided tax receipts from his company and specifically said 'i lied about a lot, but my company wasn't one of them.'

I made posts online saying that Appsitude had made me a millionaire at 19, and at that time I still wasn’t sure I’d become a millionaire by 19. Funnily enough, I did end up becoming a millionaire at 19, just six months after starting Cazza. With Appsitude, I had some months where I made around $50,000 in profit, but I didn’t feel successful as I only cared about becoming a millionaire so that I could fund my dreams.

The one thing I did that did make me feel bad was that I often told clients (not all of them) that we could help them find investors and raise funding. I did this with the knowledge that it’d likely be hard to help them raise funding, even if I did know some investors. To me, Appsitude felt like a company that helped people build crappy ideas. This is one of the reasons why I didn’t enjoy it so much, I felt that I wasn’t building anything world-changing.

Am I missing something here? I mean I just skimmed but it looks like he did dev that app. He was lying about the sale?

 

[Ninjakid]

Exactly. I'm confused here...

A lot of stuff about his story checks out, he provided links, people verified those details

He made a post confessing his sins about all the things he lied about, but provided tax receipts from his company and specifically said 'i lied about a lot, but my company wasn't one of them.'

I made posts online saying that Appsitude had made me a millionaire at 19, and at that time I still wasn’t sure I’d become a millionaire by 19. Funnily enough, I did end up becoming a millionaire at 19, just six months after starting Cazza. With Appsitude, I had some months where I made around $50,000 in profit, but I didn’t feel successful as I only cared about becoming a millionaire so that I could fund my dreams.

The one thing I did that did make me feel bad was that I often told clients (not all of them) that we could help them find investors and raise funding. I did this with the knowledge that it’d likely be hard to help them raise funding, even if I did know some investors. To me, Appsitude felt like a company that helped people build crappy ideas. This is one of the reasons why I didn’t enjoy it so much, I felt that I wasn’t building anything world-changing.

Am I missing something here? I mean I just skimmed but it looks like he did dev that app. He was lying about the sale?

Just look at this and tell me how confident you are in anything this guy says

Pay special attention to him badly photoshopping his face over Trump's.

 

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[Scot]

@Chris Kelsey Because your whole business is based off of contracting and hiring app developers maybe you can share some advice and wisdom on how to hire and work with developers.

For me personally, I'm developing a website and companion app. I was able to make a really rudimentary MVP website on my own, but I'm in the process of coming to an agreement with a highschool buddy who does app development. What do you suggest for guys like me who don't have $15,000 available for developing? Have you come across good developers who are willing to code for equity or royalty?

 

[Scot]

Great. I wish you the best.

But:
Can we as a forum stop encouraging transparent, valueless, unvetted peddling of "personal brands" thinly veiled as inspirational posts?

I'm kind of confused by this... Can you elaborate?

 

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[Twopro]

How did you find these clients willing to pay so much? When ever someone tries pitching me an idea they want it done for free + split profits or pay extremely low and of course I reject the offers

Also for the old people that paid 370k, how is their app doing and how big of a project was it?

 

[rogen]

Insane, awesome job m8

also, how you convinced your first client that he should pay you and that you could do this?

You had your own website portfolio that impressed him or you just showed him your dev's past work?

 

[Chris Kelsey]

Great post, shows the true persistence needed to become successful. Do you have any recommendations on how one would network with high quality web developers?

Do you mean how to find them to hire them or what exactly?

 

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[Kevin90]

Great story. Excellent job. Thanks for sharing!

I have two questions:

1. You mentioned you knew you wanted to succeed...was your desire to succeed rooted in monetary gain or was it rooted in helping people?

2. With factors like your parents, teachers, friends saying you shouldn't do certain things...how did you overcome that?

 

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[Twopro]

I was looking through craigslist to see if anyone posted they needed an app done for them, but didn't find anything.

Did you create the post saying you had a team and then wait for messages?
Do you think living in San Francisco helped with getting customers willing to pay well? I know you are doing it global now, but I mean at the beginning

 

[Angelic]

Do you mean how to find them to hire them or what exactly?

Yes, I'd like to be open and aware of how I can create opportunities to connect with these individuals where hopefully I can start a project with them.

 

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[GMSI7D]

For everyone who are thinking about copying his success -> Its not going to work for you.
Stick with what you are doing and don't dabble. Once you learn the discipline required to try new things then do it.
Its never the idea, its the execution.

so you are saying : bad idea + good execution = success

i'd like to read MJ DeMarco's opinion on that.

i thought reality was : right idea + right execution = success

 

[Smoothsailor]

Liking this thread a lot. Congratulations on solving one of the biggest puzzles for mankind at such an early age: Making big bucks!

 

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[Ihar]

Congratulations, man!

I'd also love to know the details about how you landed your first client.

Did you have anything to show? A website, portfolio, testimonials? I mean how you established credibility?
What did you write in your ad?
Did your client contacted YOU or YOU contacted your client?

Really, I think everybody would appreciate some actionable advice.

 

[MakeMoreMoves]

Wow...at 19, the world of entrepreneurship didn't even exist to me. Crazy cool.

Forgive my ignorance, but what you did was pretty much connecting people with app ideas with people who could build apps. Since you said you weren't an app developer, what was stopping the app developers from thinking "Hey, I know more than this guy, I'll just build apps for people myself?" Did you just go.. "Here is our client and here is the app they want us to build" to the app developers? And they were like Ok. Did you just check up on their app development after a couple months? Since you only had 15k starting how much did you pay them? Don't app developers know they can get paid much more working for someone else? Assuming they are slowlane?

Congrats dude. Awesome motivation!

 

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[Drew D]

Wow...at 19, the world of entrepreneurship didn't even exist to me. Crazy cool.

Forgive my ignorance, but what you did was pretty much connecting people with app ideas with people who could build apps. Since you said you weren't an app developer, what was stopping the app developers from thinking "Hey, I know more than this guy, I'll just build apps for people myself?" Did you just go.. "Here is our client and here is the app they want us to build" to the app developers? And they were like Ok. Did you just check up on their app development after a couple months? Since you only had 15k starting how much did you pay them? Don't app developers know they can get paid much more working for someone else? Assuming they are slowlane?

Congrats dude. Awesome motivation!

These are great questions I would love to see an answer to but unfortunately the OP has been inactive for over a month. Maybe he'll check up on the thread in the near future.

It's a shame, I really wanted to ask what color he picked for his ferrari.

 

[hayden0001]

Apparently he sold his app company and is now the CEO of a construction company.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/itsapptime/

yep i know this guy so down to earth

 

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[Christopher777]

Initially I managed the projects myself and even came up with a lot of the creative elements/feature ideas. Now we have a whole system in place with project managers that communicate with clients/partners. It was one of the best feelings in the world to see the whole system come into place where everything becomes almost automated.

Great stuff man.

What were the hard challenges that you had to overcome when you got your first order? Apparently the sudden cash made things a lot easier, but I'm curious about what you had to go through (and how you overcame them) while building your brand new company, starting from a small team of developers.

 

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[BrooklynHustle]

Love this story & reading about your process. Congratulations & keep going!

I dropped out of high school in December 2014 when I was seventeen, against the decision of everyone around me (parents, friends, relatives). It was my senior year and I had a 4.0 GPA, so as you can imagine everyone thought I was even less bright than had I dropped out in my freshman year.

I had nothing going for me besides two failed businesses and the strongest desire in the world to become a successful entrepreneur.

In the beginning of 2014, at the end of my junior year, I knew that I would have to start applying to colleges soon. There was something in me telling me I shouldn't go down this path and that there was a better way.

I had told myself I wanted to be a dentist, but after asking my dentist what it was like, I realized that he had to start the same way just as any typical business was built, except he went to college for twelve years to do so (and had 300k debt when he got out).

That summer of 2014 I decided to learn as much as I could about business. I looked up all of the "classics" - Think & Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and some more modern books as well. I read TMF in July 2014 right around that time which turned out to be one of my favorites.

I also became addicted to James Altucher's blog and books which also helped me decide I didn't want to go to college.

I took a billion notes from each book and put them on EverNote, it was super boring but I wanted to solidify the knowledge in my mind.

In August of 2014, I started my first business, a flyer distribution business that would subcontract to different flyer distribution companies around the USA so that people could run big marketing flyer campaigns.

I made a video, put it on the landing page, and just started cold calling.

I setup payments through Square, but there was no need to as I never had one sale.

In September 2014 I decided to stop working on it and figure out something else.

By this point, school had started and I was literally just reading in class all day. I was starting to bomb classes (I only had a 4.0 cumulative GPA because I dropped out before the semester ended).

In November, my English teacher came to talk to me after class, and he told me that I was going to fail the class (it literally was the easiest classes I'd ever been in had I tried). I remember that moment very well because I just remember not caring. And I remembered thinking at the time how had it been 2 years ago I would've been crying or something like that. I asked myself, "What happened?"

It made me feel good for some reason. I began to feel a bit more free.

I started an online reputation management business at that time (October/November) which I did the same thing as the flyer business (cold-calling, etc.). I got upset with school because I couldn't cold-call during that time and I felt that it was holding me back from success.

On December 6, 2014, I ended up dropping out. I remember telling each of my teachers that I was dropping out and that I wished them best of luck. A lot of the kids were like WTF and confused. I don't really know what they were thinking, I think some had a feeling I would do well, but I think most just thought I was ready to fail.

My parents were screaming at me and it was really bad. For some reason I wasn't stressed out like usual. I just kept telling myself I would succeed no matter what. I didn't know how, but I said that I would.

At one point my dad told me I was going to fail and that nobody would want to work with me if I dropped out. I told him I would make $25k the next month and that I would prove him wrong.

Back to the second business... Yeah, it never went anywhere either. I almost had a client that was a small hotel chain but the manager quit his job and I lost the connection. I didn't feel like pursuing it and just abruptly stopped.

In mid-December, my barber told me she had an app idea. I knew a few developers and figured I could try to work something out. I gave her the contract, she said she didn't have the funds... two weeks later after I waited for her response.

At the end of December, I went and posted an ad on Craigslist saying I had a team that could build apps. I got a call the next day, I was surprised. He said he wanted to meet, but then cancelled the meeting two days after.

Out of frustration I searched Craigslist for people saying they had app ideas, and within the first 10 days of sending my first message, I had closed my first contract for over $15k. I didn't end up reaching the $25k by January 2015, but it was enough money to prove my dad wrong.

Within the first 3 months I had over $100k of contracts (payments were 50% upfront) (by March 2015).

By the end of last year I had made over $500k and had been part of a lot of successful apps like Premium Wallpapers HD which got over 40m downloads.

I felt that I did well but I wanted to become a millionaire, not a hundred thousandaire.

In January of this year I expanded the company quite a bit. $50k in January, then in February just one contract was $370k, and it was from a group of old people that pooled money together for an app idea they had, the funny thing was that they chose the price, I never gave them a quote... I soon realized that there was no limits with what I wanted to do.

What I learned:

1. There is no secret to success. I've met people that get up at 6am every morning and are super good with their daily schedule and work and make peanuts, then there's people that make $100k/month with an online business and all they do is party and almost never work. The main thing you need to have is the desire to succeed, because then the rest will come naturally.

2. Listen to your gut over anyone else, but know when to quit if the business will fail - You might have an idea that everyone hates but it succeeds. You might have an idea that everyone loves but fails. At the end of the day, only YOU know more than anyone else if it will work or not, listen to the advice of others but take it with a grain of salt. But at the same time, if your instincts tell you to drop what you're doing, then do it and follow. If I kept staying with the online reputation management business I would've just failed for more time even though I "technically" should focus on one thing.

3. MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE - This is HUGE. I've seen really dumb people raise $4M in funding for a startup that was a dumb idea from the start, but because they knew the right people, it didn't matter. SERIOUSLY, I don't say that like "Oh lucky him bla bla", I'm serious, I've met people who really don't have much know-how in business that have made money because of their connections. Now, when you are actually smart AND have the connections, it's a win-win. Just note, connections are key above ANYTHING else.

4. Don't waste time - At the same time remember that most people you meet are not going to help you move forward in business. James Altucher says how most meetings are a waste of time, and this is so true. People will want to meet with you only to "chat" and it isn't going to benefit EITHER OF YOU. So just say no upfront. This was one of the hardest things for me to get used to because I didn't want to be rude. But it's better to say NO.

There's a lot more to this but I'll post more another time.

 

[rudyofer]

After reading your interview. I admire your guts and resolve.. Godspeed

 

[JoaVlam]

Wow inspiring story for students like me, congrats man!

 

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[Najma]

Great. this is really informational. Thanks for sharing your experience .

 

[Striver]

Yes, execution is everything. You can still succeed with a "bad" idea, even a bad idea can make $50k/month+.

I guess I haven't had a good enough bad idea yet! haha

 

[Almantas]

I've had pleasure talking to Chris some time ago. He's a busy entrepreneur that is a living example that age doesn't define a success. He has provided what market needed and was rewarded accordingly.

 

[jick5555]

I'm literally reading this with a smile on my face. Good job man.