We have all heard of the self made man or woman, someone who rose up from the humblest of beginnings to reach great heights all on their own powered by their personal drive and diligence. Stories of courageous people who beat the odds have inspired us all throughout history, earning our respect and admiration and sometimes inspiring us to achieve more in our own lives. The digital age has now spawned a new generation of self made people who have made it big from small beginnings.
A prime example of a modern success story is marketing mastermind and Shark Tank personality Sabri Suby. Raised by a single mother in Byron Bay, Australia, Suby landed his first sales job at just sixteen. Over the next decade he would launch a number of businesses, some of which were successful, while some were not. Suby made his first million by the age twenty-four, which he then managed to lose by blowing it all on a sumptuous wedding! This left Suby with a new wife, no money, and back to where he started, with nothing!
This setback didn’t deter the ever resourceful Suby, who got busy hatching a new plan. “In all these businesses I had started”, Suby shared with us, “I was always responsible for solving the number one problem: how do I get more customers? That’s when I decided to start King Kong.”
Suby’s inspiration came from Australian history. “In the Gold Rush there were those that sold picks and shovels and those that panned for gold. More often than not, it was those that sold picks and shovels that did the best.” So Suby used everything he had learned back in his early business years to create the “pick-and-shovel company” that would make it their business to help other businesses find their gold!
Suby goes on to tell us that the only resources he had to get his new project started was an old laptop and $50. He spent $35 of that on a Logitech headset, then $15 on a VoIP account from which he cold-called 150 businesses every day to ask if they needed his marketing expertise. On the third day he landed his first client!
King Kong is now one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies with a value of $70 million. It has generated more than $8 billion in sales for its clients, who number around 400,000 and spanning 1070 different industries in 139 countries!
Suby’s lesson for us? If you want to find gold, sell shovels!
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