Asking Wealthy Americans How They Got Rich! (Atlanta)

I just landed in Atlanta with one mission to find a billionaire and we're not leaving until we do. Atlanta is home to some of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world, billion dollar company founders, sports team owners, and some of the richest people you've never heard of. But here's the problem, billionaires don't just walk around with name tags. So today, I'm going all over the wealthiest part of Atlanta, walking up to complete strangers, trying to find the richest people I can find, because I refuse to stop filming until I interview a billionaire. And if we actually pull this off, we might uncover some of the best wealth advice on the planet. So with that being said, let's get this video on the way. All right guys, so we've made it to our destination out here in Atlanta. We are in Buckhead Village where the wealthiest people congregate, man. Look, luxury stores, some of the nicest restaurants in town. And look, the rules of this video are very simple. I'm going to go up to the richest people that I can see out here. I don't care how many rejections it takes. I don't care how many millionaires that I have to run into to find a billionaire and get the secret advice on how to become wealthy in today's world. So come with us right now and let's go find the richest people in Atlanta. Excuse me, sir, question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? Okay, here we go. Real quick. I have a channel with 24 million followers, ma'am. I've interviewed Arthur Blank. I've interviewed 60 billionaires. Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you became a millionaire? So we have a channel with 24 million followers. I go all over the world interviewing millionaires and billionaires on their advice to the younger generation. If there's one piece of advice that you would give the younger generation, we have 24 million followers. What would that be, sir? Go to school. And what did you study? All the way through. Yeah? And college. What was your, what line of business were you in? I can't discuss that. Okay. Could we get one minute with you? No, thank you. Okay, my man. Have a good one. Excuse me, sir. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? How old were you? No family. So we have a channel with 24 million followers. I've interviewed over 60 billionaires in the last five years, like Arthur Blank, Mark Cuban, Michael Rubin. I ask people on their best advice to help the younger generation. If there's one piece of advice from your career, from all the wisdom, the experience you've accumulated, what is the greatest piece of advice you'd give the younger generation? Reading. What was the number one book that changed your life? Well, of course, the Bible first, and then Seven Habits. Highly effective. Stephen Covey. I love that. And when you talk about the Bible, how important has faith been to your success? It's a cornerstone. Cornerstone. Five F's. Faith, family, friends, fitness, and finances. What was your main business? What was your main business? Investments. I just interviewed Bill Ackman in New York City. Well, yeah. What was the number one investment that changed your life? And like in today's world, the next one to two years, what is the best industry people should be investing in right now? Learning a company, understanding a company, and investing in that business, public or private. How big was your biggest company? Too many to talk about. I got you, man. Have a good one, sir. Excuse me, sir. Is that your Rolls Royce? How did you get rich, my man? What did you do to become wealthy? Real quick, my man, I got 24 million followers. I've interviewed 60 billionaires. Hey, bossman. Sir, do you know Aliko Dangote? I just interviewed him in Nigeria. Yes, sir. Real quick. Let me show you, brother. Hey, look, that's just to show how the people are being out here, man. Look, it is not going to be easy to interview these billionaires out here in Nigeria, you guys. I mean, he was coming out of a Rolls Royce Cullinan. I mean, you would think that, man, if that's the kind of car that he's pulling up in, man, that he'd be receptive to at least give some game to some people. But nonetheless, man, we went for it. We're going to keep on going. And I'm not going to stop until I find the wealthiest people out here in Atlanta, Georgia, you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir, question for you. How did you get rich? I have a channel with 24 million followers. I've interviewed 60 billionaires in the last five years. What did you do? Ah, man. So when I was very young, I became a Waffle House franchisee at 22, and I had 14 locations. And then I'm also in the hotel business, in the home furnishings business. So just being an entrepreneur. Waffle House mogul. Yeah, I did it for a long time. Is it possible? I will tip your Uber driver. Could I interview you? They're not letting me film here, but right off to the side here. It's to help the younger generation. I promise you, we got $24 million. I appreciate you asking. Yeah, we've got planned. For one minute, just right off here, and I promise you, and we'll let you get right in here. Is that okay? I promise you, we'll be so quick. So kind, and you're so good, but I think we got to call it. If there's one piece of advice you could give to entrepreneurs in today's world that want to build generational wealth like yourself, what would that be? Oh, that's a great question. What would it be? Obviously, kind of the standard answer is do what you love. But I think you've got to find the right thing, because if you chase the wrong thing, it's not going to work for you. So you got to find something that's going to want to work, want to make money, and be the right- How did you scale? You had 14 locations. What did you do to scale in business? What was your secret to scaling companies? You've got to work every day and make sure you pay attention to what's going on. What was the best advice you ever received throughout your career? If there's one lesson a mentor, somebody taught you about business or life, what is the greatest piece of advice you ever received? Greatest piece of advice I ever received. I have to think about that. I don't know, man. You just got to make it work. Make sure you make ends meet. Make sure that you cash flow, and make sure that you stay productive. Did you come from a lot of money? No, we're working-class family. What was your turning point to financial freedom? How'd you get the money to buy that first Waffle House? My family got in the hotel business, and then from there, we just kind of parlayed forward. I love that. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you, man. I enjoyed talking to you. You're good at what you do. I'm sorry, I got a real big buzz. No, my bro, you're good, man. Nice to meet you, bro. Have a good one, sir. Thank you. Look, you guys, if there's one lesson I'm trying to teach you in this video, it is persistence. That guy didn't get to 14 Waffle Houses without doing anything. Just like, I was not going to get a couple answers out of him if it wasn't for trying to be persistent. Nonetheless, man, let's keep this video rolling. We've got to go find another wealthy person out here in Atlanta, Georgia. You guys, come on. Excuse me, sir. How did you become wealthy? You look like money, my man. I interview billionaires all over the world. I got a channel with 24 million followers. How did you get rich? Just working hard. And what line of business? My wife and I own some schools. Schools? Public schools, private schools, or what? Private schools. You own the real estate? What makes the most amount of money in the school business? Actually, the key is that it has to pay tuition. What grade level is this? College, university? No, no, no, no. It's three schools. How many do you own? Two, but they're extremely large. Congratulations, man. Did you have any idea growing up that you were going to own schools? I need just 30 seconds with you. I promise you. This is going to be so worth it, my man. I promise you. We just interviewed Aliko Dangote in Africa. We've interviewed 60 billionaires like Tom Cruise, Arthur Blank, Tom Brady. It's to help the younger generation. I'll show you the channel right after. Did you come from money growing up? No. No? So what was your turning point to becoming financially free? Was it a moment in your life where you were like, I want to go out there and really build an empire for myself and for my family? Just didn't want to work for nobody else. So entrepreneurial is kind of like in my DNA, and I just knew I had to find something. Why the education business though? Why schools? Somebody just introduced me to it in Florida. You had good mentors? Yeah. What was the greatest piece of advice you ever got throughout your career? If there's one lesson that a mentor or somebody taught you about business, what's the greatest piece of advice you ever received throughout your career? Take care of your employees. Take care of your employees. So is it more important to take care of the employees? One minute. I promise you, my man. You just said 30 seconds. I promise you, man. Is this your wife right here? How important is the decision to marry the right woman in today's world? Because look, we've seen a lot- The number one thing, period. I couldn't have done nothing without her. So let me ask you this right here though. A lot of men, they make the mistake of choosing the right life partner, and their business empire can crumble. How did you know that was the right one? What's the number one quality that you look for in your partner that told you that, hey, that's the one that I'm going to marry? God told me. That's why it's been 30 years. So you believe in God? I do. Who is your God? Jesus Christ. How did you know Jesus was real? Tell me, man. I promise y'all. It got brought to me. Hey, I felt it in my spirit. Okay. So let me ask you this right now. At your school, what was the most amount of money you made in a single year? Close to $2 million. Close to $2 million, man. How about this? Last question. Your best sales and negotiation advice for anybody in business in today's world? Be sellable. Thank you, my man. I appreciate it. What's your name, sir? Sean Davis. I'd love to connect and amplify what you're doing. Can I connect with you real quick? Look at your wife. They closed at six. I got you, my man. I got you. What was your name? Sean Davis. I'm going to shake your hand real quick. Thank you, sir. How do you feel about AI? I'm old, so AI is new to me. Have you heard about High Level though? I've heard. It's a business software that people like you can put into your business. And what you can do is automate your entire follow-up process with all your prospective students, your clients, and whatnot. It's called High Level. And all the most successful entrepreneurs in today's world are using it in their business to help scale and grow their businesses because you can reach out to your clients automatically. You've got to check it out. All right. Last one. How old are you today? 59. Okay. Last one. Look, if me and you died tomorrow and you could leave one last guiding principle with the younger generation, what would that be? One last message right here. Oh, God. One more, man. That's it. Was that ridiculous or what, bro? Guys, we just interviewed a multimillionaire who made over $2 million in a single year from owning what? Preschools, he said. And we're headed right now to go find our next interview, to go find the billionaire out here in Atlanta. But before we do that, I want you to understand something. It does not matter what business you're in. You can own a preschool. You can own a plumbing company. You can own a marketing agency. Every business needs the same thing in the age of AI. More leads, better follow-up, and great systems that keep everything organized. And that's exactly why I was telling him about High Level. High Level is the all-in-one sales and marketing platform that replaces all the softwares, the five, six different softwares that business owners are paying for and wasting a ton of money on. High Level, in one place, gives you a CRM. It helps you build a calendar, funnels, email and text marketing, appointment reminders, and automated follow-up, all in one place. So when a potential customer reaches out, they book an appointment or fills out a form, High Level can automatically follow up with them. So you never lose a single dollar on the table. Because the truth is, guys, most businesses do not need another tool. They need a system that connects everything together. And remember, it does not matter whether you own one preschool or 100 different businesses. The systems are what allow you to scale. So waste no more time. Go down, click the link in the description of this video to start your free trial using High Level today and watch your business change forever and take off. With that being said, let's go find the billionaire out here in Atlanta. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich? You're calling me, man? Yes. We got a channel with 24 million followers. I go all over the world. I didn't even run up on people like that, bro. Now, how did you get rich, man? I'm going all over Atlanta and you're giving me the richest people. What'd you do? I can tell, man. You look like money, man. What'd you do? I learned about wealth and investing in the prison cell, bro. So you went to prison? I went to prison when I was 16 for attempted marauding on a robbery, man. I did 10 years. Are you serious? I did 10 years, man. And what do you do now? Investor, got a couple companies, got some real estate, you know, just playing the wealth game now, bro. 100%. So how old were you when you became a millionaire? Probably about, how do you know I'm a millionaire, bro? I can tell, man. I can tell. How old are you now? 44. What was the most amount of money you made in a single year? Nah, I don't talk about money like that, bro. Give me a rate. Real quick. So I've already made over 60 billionaires in the last five years. I asked everybody that question. How much did you make in one year? Just tell me, give us a range. I bought my freedom back. Let's say that. Give me a range. How much? I did eight figures. More than $10 billion? No, you're asking too much, man. You made more than $10 billion in a year? I made enough, man. Eight figures. I'm gonna leave you with that, bro. Are you serious? I still got people in the hood. I got to go to the hood all the time. Can I interview you for one minute real quick? It's to help the younger generation. Yeah, I know who you are, man. You're good people, man. Is that cool? We can do that, bro. Awesome. For sure. Did you come from money, man? Did you come from a lot of money? Nah, man. Born and raised in New Orleans. I was homeless at 13, man. My mom went to prison. Grandmother went to prison. I went to prison at 16. What did you learn about people in prison? Man, everybody has an agenda in prison, man. If prison doesn't really help you become better, you got to take it upon yourself to be better. What's your best self-improvement advice for anybody right now starting out in business, right? You didn't come from a rich family, but yet you broke, you escaped poverty, man. You made it happen. What's your best self-improvement? The number one actionable step anybody can take to get rich in today's world. Keep going. And the reason why I say that is because when I was in prison, I had a vision when a guy taught me about investing. He said that wealthy people stop telling their time for money. Wealthy people learn how to give value to people, and wealthy people learn how to make their money work for them. And so once I learned how to make my money work for me, it was a game changer for me. And the stock market was the first place I could see my money move that fast outside of the streets. I need you to give me a secret right here. What do the richest people in the world do with their money? How does somebody actually make their money work for them in today's world? Invest in the best companies in America. Right now, we're investing in Nvidia. We're investing in Google. We're investing in Palantir. Everything that's making the world move forward. We in a new era right now. And I feel like if the person is not investing right now in the market, they are missing. Like somebody in their 90s will be missing the internet. Think about that. And so we see everything that's moving forward. We see the stock market. We see these companies that we use every single day. But why don't we own them? And that's one of the things that hurt us when they come to poverty. We don't learn about ownership. Ownership is the key to wealth. You got to have ownership. Without ownership, you'll always be a slave to somebody else's dreams. So what was the most amount of money you made in a single day? $1.1 million. No, I need it not. $1.1 million. From what? From trading. I made a good trade. It was on Nvidia last year before the split. Are you serious? Yeah, that was my best trades on my post right now. $1.1 million, man. So do you think stocks are better than real estate? I think that both are needed. I think stocks are good to increase your wealth. Real estate is good to downplay your taxes. So one of my best years of 2024, I did make eight figures. So I had to buy a $5.5 million building so I can write that off. This is game, man. Cost segregation. And I had to learn that in real time. So the money that you put in the building, you get to write that off. So I was able to write that off. Do you pay a lot of money in taxes? Man, listen. How much are you paying taxes? Tell me. My biggest year in taxes, I paid $4 million in taxes and $600,000 in state taxes. But again, when you're learning about money, nobody tells you that. So I use that as my tuition of being wealthy. So I didn't get mad at it. I learned and I wound up getting a CP and I learned about cost structure, tax structure, how to structure my businesses, how to write stuff off, how to start a charity. So those are the things that I learned later on in the game. What do the wealthiest people do to avoid taxes? Give me your number one tax hack that the wealthiest people know. Commercial real estate and charity. Create a nonprofit organization connected to your building. You can donate 10% of your revenue from each company to your nonprofit organization. Nonprofit organization then gets to handle the business. You get to write that off. And then the nonprofit organization then can hire you to staff the event. And so that's one of the most amazing ways to reduce taxes. You know that they don't teach this in school, right? That's a purpose, man. They can't teach us that in school because they taught you that in school, then you would stick, you wouldn't be a financial slave. In the next one to two years, what's the best industry people should be getting into right now? Cybersecurity and AI. And the reason why you say cybersecurity, because as we get into cyber, as we see AI growing, as we see technology growing, like there's not even people working in stores no more. So hackers get heavy. So cybersecurity goes up. The government just signed a $17 billion deal for cybersecurity. So why not invest in cybersecurity? And the next thing would be 100% AI. We can't go without it. So you do your homework. Man, I'm a living, breathing homework machine, man. Are you a big reader? Heavy. That's one of the things I learned from prison, man. Frederick Douglass said something that I really love. He said, once a man gets information, it makes it hard for him to be a slave. Information changes situations only through invitation. And it changes the conversation. The conversation changes your compensation. This is gay right here. I have a saying, poor people live check to check. Rich people live year to year. Wealthy people live from generation to generation because they learn how to buy their time back. And once you buy your time back, you can do whatever you want to do. And listen, if you allow them to feed you, you get them permission to starve you. And so if you dependent on the job, and I'm not saying everybody made to be entrepreneurs, but if you dependent on that one source of income, then that becomes financial suicide. And then you already know, like we can't depend on a government to just feed us. There's two playbooks. There's a playbook that they teach you and there's a playbook that they live by. Why not use the playbook that they live by? Because the one that they teach us is only allowed to make them get richer and us get poorer. So is it better to be a business owner or an investor in today's world? I think the investor, because everybody not built to be a business owner. Business can be taxing. And I'm not talking about from a dollar perspective, just on a mental and a physical. But as an investor, you get to let somebody else do the hard work and you get to use your money to invest in a dream. And then their dream pays you. A hundred percent. You get equity. Equity is freedom. What was the number one book that changed your life? The number one book anybody watching right now needs to read if they want to get rich in today's world. The number one book I read that changed my life was the Bible. So you believe in God. Oh man. Deuteronomy 8 and 18 says God gives us the ability to produce wealth, man. God does want us to be rich. God ain't never told us to be broke. And even when we think about Christ, man, Christ gave us 37 parables, 16 of them was about money, business, how to deal with greed, how to steward money. And so I think that's just a part of the Bible that people don't read. And if me and you died tomorrow, you could leave one last message with the younger generation. What would that be? If you don't prepare the generation today to be successful, then they'll be the next financial slaves. Nobody ever gave us wealth, but the wealthy people learn how to consistently pass down not just money, but information. And so you create what's called family SOPs. It's the blueprint that your family have to live by when you're gone. In the movie Black Panther, it says that a man's greatest job is to prepare his seed to live and succeed when he's gone. Can I tell you something? Talk to me, brother. You got amazing advice, brother. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time, man. Guys, that's got to be one of the best interviews I've ever done on Hard Knocks History out here in Atlanta. He made eight figures in a single year. He just gave us the real blueprint on how to use Wall Street and the stock market to become a millionaire in today's world. But look, you remember the premises. You remember the rules of this video. We're not going to stop filming until I find a millionaire out here. So the search continues. Let's keep the hunt going, you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir, question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? How do you know I'm a millionaire? You look like money, man. I interview billionaires all over the world. How old were you? I was 26. And what a lot of business were you in? How did you get rid? Healthcare. You're in the healthcare. Are you a business owner? Oh, yeah. I own over 22 companies in healthcare. Are you serious? Yeah. And what was the most amount of money you made in a single year across the companies? Well, last year, we did $3 billion a year. With a B? With a B. Are you a billionaire? Yeah. You are? Yeah. Can I interview you for a minute? I go all over the world interviewing billionaires to help the younger generation. Sure. Did you come from money growing up? Did you come from a lot of money? Oh, no. I was in, I lived in the projects my whole life. I didn't have a father. My mother was sixth grade educated waitress, went into foster care when I was 13, and went into five different foster cares, eight different elementary schools, five different high schools. I had to, at 19 years old, drop out of school because I didn't have the money. So you did not have rich parents? Oh, absolutely not. We were scraping by just to get food. What was your turning point to financial freedom? What was that moment in your life early on where you were like, I'm meant for more? I was 20. And they wouldn't hire me because I didn't have a degree. And I asked him, well, what would somebody with a degree make? And they said, well, $1,100 a month and 33 to 50% commission. And I said, well, what if I work for no money a month and just 33% straight commission? Would you give me a chance? A year later, I bought the firm and I've always owned my own firm ever since then. Are you a good salesman? I was. I probably still am. What is your secret to sales? Like back in the business world, when you were closing deals, what was your number one sales and negotiation advice to any entrepreneur? Well, the number one thing is that you can have everything in the world you want if you help other people get what they want. So what I did is try to find out what was the win for the person I was talking to. I didn't try to sell them what I was doing. I basically asked them what do they need? And then I fulfilled that need. And that's the definition of a good business. The more money you make other people, the more money you're going to make yourself. Yeah, but it's not my money. It's God's money. So you believe in God? Oh, absolutely. When I went in a foster home, I was always by myself when I was at home. But when I went in a foster home, there were five kids, and it was just the loudest room in the world. And then they sit down, got quiet, held hands, then they said a prayer. And I said, that's what I want when I grow up. And so I've always maintained that. And I think God has prepared me for what I'm about to do now. What are you doing now? I'm running for governor of Georgia. Are you actually? Yeah, absolutely. What's your name? Rick Jackson. How old are you? I'm 72. You're not 72. You look so young at 72. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Any other questions you want me? I'll tell you anything after you. Nice like that. 100%, my man. Are you a big reader? Did you read a lot of books? I read a lot of executive summaries from books and so forth. Is there one book recommendation you have for anybody that's starting out wanting to build, you know? It's a book called What They Don't Teach You at Harvard. And it was by Harvard grads who started IMG, the management group that has all Jack Nicklaus, all those brands and so forth. And what it basically, they don't teach you at Harvard how to deal with people. Give me the secret, man. What do people not understand about people? What's the most interesting thing that you've learned about how to deal with people? I was coaching football in 1981 and it rained one day. And so I put everybody in the room and waiting on their parents. And I said, okay, let's do it. What is your goal? And everybody answered it right. They said, win the national championship. I said, okay, why do you want to do that? And I got 22 different reasons. One of them said, I want to have a girlfriend. I want friends and all that. So next day, the guy wasn't blocking right. And I said, you know, Bob, you'll never get a girlfriend if you don't block better than that. So you have to look at what people, what they want and that you're more interested in them and helping them than you are yourself. Once you do that, you unlock the power of being able to help somebody else. You know that they don't teach this in school, right? That's right. I call it street smarts. I used to scout tickets down at Georgia Tech when I was 12 years old, 11 and 12. And so I learned how to deal with people doing that. So you always had that entrepreneurial seed in you. Very much. I had a paper out when I was 10 years old. John Morgan, who's Morgan and Morgan. He's a good friend of mine. And that's what he says, the most successful people he had a paper out when he was growing up. Well, I mean, what you do is that I was out of control of my childhood and I was selling, I did bag groceries for 25 cents an hour. I got a $5 and 25 cent check. I was 10 years old. And it said, I said, I can do anything I want to with that $5. I have control. So I equated money with the ability to control my life. Nobody else. I don't care about controlling anybody else, but I do believe in controlling myself. And so I associated that with it. So who taught you business? I mean, obviously I know that you mentioned you had street smarts, but I mean, to be able to build a multi-billion dollar company, you didn't have rich parents. Where did you learn your business from? Oh, I've studied everything. I mean, there's nobody that knows more about tax marketing and accounting and all these things, because I always just ask questions. I never would advocate to any professional lawyer or anybody I wanted to know as much. So my nine degree is very expensive. In 1980, I was 26 years old and I hired a PhD from Georgia state to teach me everything for $2,000 a month and teach me everything about business that an MBA or PhD would have. So because I was so insecure without having a degree, I had an unending thirst for knowledge. The main thing I've done is I never saw myself as a victim. A lot of people blame everybody else when they fail. I don't blame anybody but me because I want control. I can't control anybody else. I can only control myself. So when you take ownership of your failures and you learn from them and then get up one more time, then you fall down. That's my definition of success. That's how you escape poverty. Absolutely. Can I tell you something? Yeah. You have amazing advice, sir. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time, my friend. And I like- What's your name? I'm James. James. Thank you. And I connect with all the billionaires that I interview. Could I get your contact? Absolutely. Guys, that's a wrap on today's video. I need you all to stop right now. Like and subscribe for amazing content coming every week to the School of Hard Knocks. We just interviewed some of the wealthiest people in all of Georgia, but I want to go a step further and connect you directly with the wealthiest people in my network, give you access to the billionaires I interview on live calls I host every single week inside of my private entrepreneur community, the School of Mentors. You can join right now by going down to the link in the description of this video to get access to live calls every week with the eight, nine, and 10-figure entrepreneurs that I interview. So I can't wait to see you on the inside. With that being said, we'll see you in the next video.