From High School Dropout to Multi-Millionaire CEO: The Power of Self-Motivation and YouTube Mentors

As a digital entrepreneur, I've gone from dropping out of high school to becoming the CEO of Igloo, a company that has incubated and started IP brand Pudgy Penguins, with a mission to revolutionize the collectible market and empower basic human rights through blockchain technology.

  • 1. College provides mentors, entrepreneurs, and a valuable network of students.
  • 2. The speaker, Lucanet, dropped out of high school but sought an education through YouTube videos of alumni speeches from institutions like Stanford and Harvard.
  • 3. Growing up, Lucanet and his family moved frequently due to their financial situation, causing him to feel like an outsider in various social groups.
  • 4. At 16, his mother began airbnbing their apartment, increasing the pressure on Lucanet to take initiative in his life.
  • 5. He aspired to study business in college but realized he would go into debt for a degree that seemed counterintuitive for a future businessman.
  • 6. The speaker had a conversation with someone he respected and was told that college's main benefits are the mentors, entrepreneurs, and network it provides.
  • 7. Lucanet took this advice to heart and utilized YouTube as his source of education from successful alumni speeches.
  • 8. At 15, he heard impactful advice from a speaker who told him not to be a victim and stop feeling sorry for himself, which helped shift his mindset.
  • 9. He pursued an entrepreneurial endeavor in throwing underground rap and hip-hop shows in South Central Los Angeles before getting arrested multiple times.
  • 10. Lucanet then got a job at Ring Doorbell as one of their early employees, learning about e-commerce and Shopify through his experience there.
  • 11. After working for a year and a half, he started a jewelry business which took off quickly due to his influencer marketing strategy.
  • 12. It took him 2 years after dropping out of high school to make his first million dollars.
  • 13. Lucanet believes that digital collectibles have numerous advantages over physical ones, such as authenticity, no spoofing issues, and ease of buying and selling.
  • 14. He co-founded Igloo in 2021 with the goal of becoming a leader in digital collectibles and closing the gap between physical and digital collectible markets.
  • 15. The company acquired Pudgy Penguins as a brand, which has sold over a million toys in its first year and onboarded hundreds of thousands of people onto the blockchain through toy purchases.
  • 16. Igloo aims to empower basic human rights by translating physical ownership into digital ownership using their products.
  • 17. Pudgy Penguins' success is attributed to meeting consumers where they are and focusing on building a strong brand with effective marketing strategies.
  • 18. The company believes that consumer crypto is the final frontier for cryptocurrency, which needs to break through to the everyday consumer in order to reach its full potential.

Source: EO via YouTube

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