Improve your fluency with Elon Musk! Learn lots of words!

The reason I chose this article is because I was looking for something inspirational. You call something inspirational when it gives you a lot of ideas. So if by reading along with me you feel motivated, you can also say that this reading was inspiring. Inspiring is something that makes you want to act, something that makes you want to step up. And this guy here has a lot to teach about that. Now, people are not actually inspired by the money he made, but by the level of success he achieved. And success is what you feel when you set a goal and then you go ahead and reach it. In fact, you don't need to gain a lot of money to feel successful. You only need to set a goal and then reach it. So right now, if you want to feel successful, set a goal of watching this video till the end of it. So, we have a deal? Good! Let's go ahead then. Now, who's the CEO? These three letters are an acronym, meaning each of them is the initial of a word. And CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer, which is the main person responsible for managing a company. So basically, the CEO is the big boss, the one in charge of the company. To be in charge of means to have responsibilities over something. For example, if you have a boss, he is responsible, so he is in charge of every employee that works under him. And if you are the boss, then you are the one in charge of the employees that work under you. Elon Musk is the billionaire entrepreneur and business magnate responsible for co-founding the cutting-edge companies PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX, amongst others. Now, this word is pretty hard. Entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is another word for a business owner. And to pronounce this word right, you want to divide it into little pieces. On-tre-pre-ner. You see, when the T is close to the R sound, it turns into a CH sound. Therefore, you're going to say tre. On-tre-pre-ner. And here is another complex word. Magnate. The easiest way to see this word is to copy and paste it over Google. And then choose this one. You see, magnate meaning. And remember, my friend, when you're looking for the meaning of a word, just search for it in English. Don't go with your native language, as that will definitely slow down your learning progress, alright? So back to us. A magnate is an influential and wealthy businessman or businesswoman. Wealthy is somebody that has a lot of wealth. And wealth is a state. It describes when you feel good emotionally, mentally, physically, and economically. Then I agree with you if you say that wealth is a beautiful word. So wealthy is a person that has everything he needs to stay well, just like Elon Musk. But even Elon Musk, my friend, hasn't always been this wealthy. He too went through some pretty horrible time. But I don't want to spoil anything, so back to us. Over the years, he has been compared to the likes of Steve Jobs and Henry Ford, and even Iron Man, with actor Robert Downey Jr. allegedly modeling his portrayal of Tony Stark off of the SpaceX and Tesla CEO. So this means that Elon Musk was put at the same level of people like Steve Jobs, which is the person who revolutionized the computer industry, Henry Ford, which is the person who revolutionized the car industry, and even Iron Man, which is the guy who, well, made AI famous before it was actually the thing of the day. Anyway, what does allegedly mean? Allegedly, my friend, explains something that is said to be true, but we are not sure about it. So they say that Robert Downey Jr. allegedly copied the personality of Tony Stark off of the one from Elon Musk. But anyway, we're not sure of it. Let's go ahead. Worth is another word for valued. If something is worth 100 euros, for example, that's the value you give to that something. So here it says that the money Elon Musk amassed, which is another word for put together, is valued around 200 billion dollars, which is a lot of money. Understandably so, Musk is the idol and inspiration of many business leaders and entrepreneurs around the globe. But how did Elon Musk become so successful? The inspirational success story of Elon Musk. Elon Musk was born in South Africa in the early 1970s to a mother who was a nutritionist and a father who was an engineer. Look at the way we are talking about dates here. We are saying 1970s, which is a way to talk about a period of 10 years. In this case, from 1970 to 1979. If you want it, you could also remove the first two digits and only say the 70s. Also, when you say the early 70s, you mean to say the first years of that particular decade. So he was probably born, I guess, around 1972 or 1973. For example, I was born in the early 1980s because I was actually born in 1984. When were you born? Were you born in the 80s too? Write your answer down here in the comments. It will be a pleasure to get to know you a little better. All right, back to us. Nutritionist is a job. And it's the person that helps others eat healthy foods. Healthy is something that is good for your health. Something that makes you feel good. This is all healthy food, man. Salmon, avocado, broccoli, ginger, spinach. And this is grapefruit. Oh, I love grapefruit. Not many people like it, understandably so, because it's pretty bitter. And bitter is the opposite of sweet. Basically the opposite of this cake, for example. So we said that Elon Musk's mother was a nutritionist, whereas the father was an engineer. The engineer is another job. And it's the person that designs the components for the things we use. An engineer can design anything from the internal parts of a ship to the internal parts of this mouse, for example. By the way, what do you do for a living? When somebody asks you what you do for a living, it's exactly the same as asking you what's your job. So many questions today, I know. So as you're also writing that, I'll let AI take over and read the next bit. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Musk recalls how, as a child, he saw little of his parents and spent most of his free time reading and messing around with projects. When you say that you see little of somebody, it means that you don't see it very often. So he was often left alone reading or messing around with projects. Messing. That's an interesting word, my friend. It comes from the action to mess. And to mess comes from the noun mess. Now, let's look at some images of the word mess. As you can see, mess is when nothing is in its own place. Have you ever made a mess? I did, yes. A lot of times, too. When you mess around means that you spend time relaxed, without a particular purpose. For example, when I was a child, I often messed around with the sand, making sandcastles and... well, just making a mess, actually. Whereas Elon, as he was a child, he kept himself busy creating projects and experiments. I didn't really have a primary nanny or anything, Musk says. I just had a housekeeper who was there to make sure I didn't break anything. So basically, there was nobody looking after him. To look after somebody or something basically means to take care of it, to make sure it doesn't break anything. For example, right now, you're looking after your English skills. You're learning lots of vocabulary, pronunciation, and you're making your English grow. Good on you, my friend, well done. You're looking after the things you like. She wasn't, like, watching me. I was off making explosives and reading books and building rockets and doing things that could have gotten me killed. I'm shocked that I have all my fingers. He was doing seriously dangerous things. Do you know what explosives are? Here are some images. Explosive. This is an explosion. This guy, this Elon Musk, was messing around with explosives when he was a child. Did you have such a rough childhood too? Rough. I know you don't know this word. When something is rough, it means that it has an irregular shape. Can you see the difference here between smooth and rough? Even the sound helps. Smooth. Can you see how soft this word is? Smooth. Whereas if I say rough, it sounds like I'm barking like a dog. Rough. So if you had a rough childhood, it means you had an irregular life, just like Elon Musk. I was raised by books. Books. And then my parents. From a young age, Musk became a fan of Isaac Asimov's books, gradually inspiring his interest in futurism while his father's career path cultivated his eye for design. The word fan comes from fanatic, which is basically somebody who really, really, really likes something. For example, I am a fan of chocolate because I really, really, really like it. But at the same time, I'm not a fan of football because I'm not really interested in it. So Musk was a fan of Isaac Asimov's books. Isaac Asimov was a writer. He wrote a lot of fantasy novels about space explorations. And Musk really, really, really liked his books. In 1997, Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics. Having transferred from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Musk financed his own university education through a combination of scholarships, loans, and working two jobs alongside his studies. So Kingston, as you can see, is a little town in Canada. Look, Kingston is right at the border. So from Kingston to New Jersey, where his university was located, is a six-hour drive. This is why he moved there. It was just too far from where he lived. After graduating, Musk moved on to a PhD program at Stanford but made the decision to drop out just two days after the program began to pursue his entrepreneurial visions. So what's a PhD? A PhD, my friend, is a Doctoral Research degree and it's the highest level of academic qualification you can achieve. In other words, a PhD is the highest university degree, which is something that many people want to achieve. But apparently, Musk wasn't really interested in it because he dropped out after only two days. To drop means to abandon. So this means that basically he abandoned his studies in order to pursue his projects. Musk's first startup, Zip2. Zip2 was a company that provided online city guide software to newspapers founded by Musk, his brother, and a friend. So basically he created a mapping software. Or in other words, he created his own version of Google Maps. Way, way, way before Google Maps actually existed. You know how Google Maps is useful nowadays, especially if you're in an area that you don't know. Imagine back then how useful this was for newspapers. Despite its eventual success, the company took time to get off the ground and, in the interim, Musk struggled financially. To understand to get off the ground, imagine a plane that leaves the ground to go sky high. This means that the company took a long time before it was actually profitable, before it was making any money. And in the interim, Musk struggled financially. In the interim means in the meanwhile. So we learned that he invented this mapping software and in the meantime, he struggled financially. What's struggle? This image is pretty clear. To struggle is the emotion you feel if you really had to carry this big rock. You would really struggle a lot. So it was very, very hard for him to survive, to make a living. He found himself sleeping on the couch in their startup's office and had to shower and use the restroom facilities at his local YMCA. However, despite the lows of the Zip2 endeavor, the trio soon enough found angel investors who backed the company as well as clients in the city. The trio means three people, whereas angel investors are people that have enough money to invest in startups. So if they believe that the startup is good, they will gladly give money in return of some profits later on, when the business becomes actually profitable. So Elon Musk, his brother and his friend found some people who finally believed in their ideas and backed the company. Backed the company means protected, put the money necessary to protect the company from failure. Various big name news publishing companies such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune saw promise in the startup and its useful city guide mapping software. Elon Musk's first ever entrepreneurial venture sold for $307 million in 1999, earning him $22 million for his 7% share in the company when he was just 27 years old. So he sold the company for this much money and his share was 7%. A share is the sum of time, money and efforts you put into a business. So once they sold the business, his share was valued at $22 million. I know this part is difficult, but I hope you can appreciate the deeper meaning. For every idea, every dollar and every minute spent into building a project, you will benefit the returns once the project is successful. This time you're spending watching this video is valuable time and I thank you for spending time with me. The second venture, X.com. Following the success of Zip2, Musk went on to invest the bulk of his earnings into his next venture, financial services company X.com, which he founded alongside Harris Fricker, Ed Ho and Christopher Payne in 1999. So what did he do with this $22 million? Did he spend them all in a house and a car? No way, man. He went on to go on means to continue and he continued investing in another company. When you say the bulk of it means most of it. So he invested most of his money in another company. X.com was one of the world's first online banks and deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. By 2000, X.com had merged with Confinity Inc, a software company based in Silicon Valley. The merged company changed its name to PayPal, which eBay then bought in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Tesla Motors and SpaceX. With eBay's acquisition of PayPal, Musk could easily have chosen to retire, but instead he chose to invest most of his newfound millions into two major separate ventures. What would you do, my friend, if you had $1.5 billion sitting in your bank account? I would retire, my friend. This is what I would do. To retire means to finish working forever. Not for the day or for the week, but to finish working forever. Usually people retire when they're old and they enjoy the money they saved throughout the years. But Elon Musk wasn't old because he was 27 years old in 1999. And we are talking about something that happened three years later in 2002. So he was 30 years old when he could have chosen easily to retire, but instead he chose to invest once again everything into two separate companies. The first venture was Tesla Motors, an electric vehicle and clean energy company which Musk founded in July of 2003 alongside Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning. This is why we say that his story is so inspiring. First, he built the first attempt to Google Maps. Then he went on to build the first attempt to PayPal. And then he commercialized the idea of an electric car. And we haven't even got to the best part yet. In 2004, Musk made a $6.5 million investment in the company, becoming its largest shareholder and its chairman. A shareholder is somebody that holds a share into a company. So basically he put up the most quantity of money and for that reason, he became chairman of that company. In 2008, Musk became Tesla's CEO and the following year, the company began production of its first car model, the Roadster. Musk's second big venture in the early 2000s was aerospace company SpaceX, which he founded with the support of rocket engineer Tom Mueller. And if you wonder what's a rocket, well, let's see a few images of it together. Rocket images. Ah, this is a rocket, my friend. Just like he read in his books when he was a child, he wanted to leave Earth and explore space. And for that reason, he went on creating SpaceX. To do that, of course, he needed an engineer, somebody who could actually design a machine to go into space. This is why he involved Tom Mueller, which is a rocket engineer. Originally, SpaceX was headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California. By 2005, the company had 160 employees, each having been personally interviewed and approved by Musk. The goal was to revolutionize space transportation with the ultimate goal of making human life multi-planetary. To be multi-planetary means to be able to live in more than one planet. This is literally fantastic, my friend. You see, Elon Musk is so successful because he kept playing and messing around like he did when he was a child. I'm sure that he knows that he won't live long enough to actually see his vision achieved. Yet, he keeps giving his best to build the foundations for such a gigantic goal. Despite a series of rocket launch failures between 2005 and 2009, in 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company to ever send a spacecraft into orbit and return it safely to Earth. Fast forward to September 2021, SpaceX successfully completed its first orbital launch of an all-private crew. Meanwhile, Tesla's Model 3 became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally and the company's quarterly profits topped $1 billion for the first time. According to Forbes, Musk is currently the world's second-richest man with a net worth of $201.2 billion. Elon Musk's Enduring Success Despite his immense wealth and global fame, Elon Musk is a man who continually strives for more, for bigger and for better. Just like you, to strive means to do everything you can, and you are still here watching this video, so I really congratulate with you my friend, you're doing an awesome job. He remains sharply focused on his vision for SpaceX, establishing a permanent human presence on Mars with its Starship rockets transporting people to and from the Red Planet. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. The future is going to be great. Your future is going to be great. And this is my wish for you, my friend. So I really hope my friend, today you learned a lot of very useful vocabulary. But if you want to learn to speak English naturally, like a native, you also need to use the right idioms at the right moment. And for this reason I prepared this very useful video right here, where I share 5 very important idioms you can use at work, along with the right pronunciation and some practical exercises as well. So make sure to watch it straight away and to practice these idioms with me. I'll meet you there. Cheers!