Interviewed by Deepti: June 2020
How did your journey start as a motivational speaker and an author?
It started when my friends were asking me how I got into property. They would take me for coffee and briefly interrogate me, so I spent all time going for coffee. I would just start documenting all the questions and the answers eventually started circulating across people.
Eventually, a lot of people were asking me questions and I started having brief meetings in my office.
There were like 10 people; and then it grew to twenty people, to hundred then to five hundred and made its way to a thousand people, leading up to an audience of 5000 that bought tickets to watch me speak.
So that’s how I did that!
During/Post, this pandemic what according to you would be the new normal for us all?
Well, I think if we talk about people who used to love going for events, are going to be wearier and they are going to be more careful given the social distancing situation and the new normal is going to be doing more things online; so you see a lot of people doing Zoom meetings, Facebook Lives, Instagram Lives, and there’s going to be a lot of online interaction, with which I think the whole e-Learning industry, is going to be a business hub like never before.
What’s your message to someone who has a dream, has failed numerous times, and is feeling beaten down?
A message for them is to – “Never Give Up. Fight for your dream, find a PURPOSE, find your MISSION, and don’t do things because you want to get paid for it. Do things because it makes you happy and then figure out a way to monetize it.”
What the value of mentorship in your opinion? How does one attract a mentor? Is one mentor sufficient?
I think mentorship is hugely important. Having a mentor will help you soak the learning process and the learning curve. I think it’s so important to have a mentor, and having as many mentors as you can. Just like Bruce Lee’s “Jeet Kune Do” methodology. He learns all the fighting styles and then creates his own. That’s what made him a great martial artist. So you must get a mentor in every aspect of your life in order to accelerate and get results faster.
How did u become a millionaire at such an early age? Can you share your ideas on how one could start?
I spent; I “INVESTED” 10,000 pounds. I sold my car and spent 10,000 pounds for a mentor.
His name was (Not sure how to spell it-YING TON). I paid him 10,000 pounds for two days for mentoring me and I learned strategies that allowed me to buy numerous properties- above 35 houses in 6 months. And then I continued investing and made money from these properties, and then I started investing more.
But it mainly started because I made that investment in myself first.
Please tell us about your book “Business Hack”.
So the book “Business Hack” was designed to help people soak the process of business. You know, I’ve been in business for over a decade now so I know what works and what doesn’t. I learned quite a bit from my experiences of what is good for business and what is not. The whole point of “Business Hack” is really to teach people how to take their business from an offline medium to an online business and to monetize and scale globally.
Your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
My advice to young entrepreneurs is that, don’t focus on the money, and focus on the value.
I mean, money is really important to help you sustain, but people don’t buy what but the why behind the product. It’s really important to have entrepreneurs who believe in what they do to add value to the marketplace, and in return, the money will come!
How can one keep their jobs relevant in these tough times?
There’s only one way to do it. You must attach your skillset to the bottom-line of the business; meaning- if what you do is not bringing money for the company, then, you’re probably going to lose your job. And because companies need money to survive, they need sales to survive, so you must enhance and focus your skillset on the selling of the business rather than investing in things that might not bring you that much money.
How do you want to be remembered after your work on Earth is done?
I want happiness, I want financial freedom, and I want time freedom and location freedom to be the norm. Instead of people saying- “Oh I’ve gotta go to school, get a job and learn…”
I want the norm to be-“You know what, I’m going to start my own business, and start my passion-based business…!”
I want people to be able to monetize what they know, their skills, expertise, and to have their motto and give the message to the world to make a big impact.
Any new projects that you are working on?
Yes! I’ve created a platform called “membby.co/john” It helps people become digital entrepreneurs. A digital entrepreneur is someone who takes their knowledge, skill, and expertise and creates online courses and online training to sell online and to monetize the knowledge that’s always in their head by reaching the world they wouldn’t be able to by only being offline.
