(upbeat music)
- Self-made has to be somebody
that was growing up broke.
- I disagree with that.
You can mow lawns for a few months
and make like a few thousand dollars.
- You know how many lawns I'm gonna have to mow?
- It's a lot of lawns.
(upbeat techno music)
- He's a multimillionaire.
Please welcome Tim Sykes.
- The key to my success is just working hard
like 18 to 20 hour days every day of my life
and having no life, but having a lot of money.
- I think it's consistency.
Waking up every day doing things
that I need to do, not just because I want to do them,
but because I have to do them.
- Three years ago, I was serving Captain and Coke
as a server.
I feel like a lot of people think
that this happens overnight
when it's really been a lot of work.
- I started a fat freezing business.
It just grew from doing it for friends and family
and it grew into like a crazy thing.
- What's up, you guys, it's Graham here.
I think it's so important that you live
below your means and live frugally
and really focus on what's most important to you.
- I think millionaires get a bad rep.
I try really hard to serve other people.
(upbeat techno music)
- [Director] I am self made.
3,
2,
1.
Go.
- Growing up, I didn't have anyone in my family
that was in real estate.
I didn't have anyone in my family
that had millions of dollars.
And so for me, I do remember
being like 15, 16 years old,
having 20 bucks and working part-time
after school and like saving away all that money.
And then I used that money
to get my real estate license.
I barely graduated high school.
I never went to college, two divorced parents.
So I should not have become wealthy statistically
but I believe that I put in the work
and I really wanted something.
And I was really determined
and I really enjoyed what I do
and that accumulated to where I am today.
- I literally started from the bottom.
I'm not saying that I was ever homeless or anything
but I did grow up in a single family household.
We ended up sharing like a one bedroom apartment
with five people living in one bed.
Living through those struggles really did put
into perspective that I just wanted
more out of life.
So I went out there and I did whatever
it took to build my wealth.
And even though all odds were stacked against me,
like I failed out of business administration,
my counselor told me I would never make it
in business but I took that and it lit a fire
under me to prove her wrong almost.
- I feel like personally self-made
has to be somebody that was growing up broke
in my opinion.
Like you got it from the bottom
and I didn't get it from the bottom.
- I disagree with that.
I don't think you need to come
from straight from the bottom.
Like I started with a few thousand dollars.
I know a lot of people
who started their whole businesses
with a few thousand dollars, Emily.
- A few thousand is more than what I had.
So in my mind--
- Doesn't matter like a few thousand
isn't gonna make or break your business,
like your life. Like you can't--
- $0?
- Let's say you start with a thousand dollars.
I still believe you're self made
even 10,000, even 20,000 because you're not truly
like a even six figures or seven figures.
- I'm broke.
And I live at mom's house with $0.
You're in a way better position than you.
- You can mow lawns for a few months
and make like a few thousand dollars.
Like there's ways-- - You know how many lawns
I'm gonna have to mow?
- It's a lot of lawns, but that is self-made.
- [Director] I know what it feels like
to be poor.
3,
2,
1.
Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- There's a difference between being poor
and being broke.
I've been broke before.
Like me and my husband have been broke many times
in like our relationship,
but we've never been poor.
And even like a long time ago,
when I lived in a one bedroom apartment
with my family, we were never poor.
I mean, I was happy.
Like I had pudding.
We went to parks and stuff.
I never felt poor.
- And when I was seven years old,
I got kicked out and moved
into my grandparents' garage.
And so I was poor mentally
and I was broke financially
and I had to take care of myself
at a very young age.
So for a decade, I was running a pool company
in order to eventually gain the opportunities
to ultimately move that ball down the court obviously.
So-- - But were you happy?
- I mean, I wasn't. Not really, right.
Because there was a lot of stuff going on
and like I'm living in a garage
and I'm growing up and I had
to not only become rich financially,
but also mentally.
- I know what it's like to have everything
and lose it all.
So for me, my parents split when I was young,
my family was broken.
My mom had to then support two children.
My dad had some nasty habits
with gambling and lost everything.
So he had a lot of debts
that my mom ended up having to be chased for.
And basically I was 12 years old
when I got my first job going door
to door sales, selling newspaper subscriptions
and I had to bust my ass off to help my mom.
So for me, I feel like we all start
from somewhere and we go through certain emotions
because it builds character.
- I like that.
I'm jealous of you guys.
I wish I had that mindset.
Like I traveled to third world countries
to kind of see what it's like.
But I still can't put myself totally
in that spot.
- I feel like, again, broken poor are two different things.
Like I grew up in a two parent home.
I went to prom in a Bentley.
Like I grew up really, really great,
but then I hit 20 and I moved out with some boy
and the situation got very,
very domestic violence.
I was living in a pet house
and I'm sorry I got too much pride.
I wasn't gonna go back home.
And I'm like black and blue,
getting locked in like closets,
Really, really toxic stuff.
So that for me was very, very poor.
Now did it slingshot me
to six figure a month income?
Yes. But in that state of mind
and in that environment,
I felt like I was really poor.
Like I looked beat up and my direct deposit
was not gonna fix a black eye.
You know, like...
- [Director] I should pay more into taxes.
3,
2,
1. Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- I feel like you make more money,
you obviously do have to pay somewhat more.
But I don't feel like we deserve extra things
to pay just because we have more money.
We shouldn't be looked to
as like a fund from the government
or someone else who just feels like,
"Oh you have more money.
You should pay more in taxes."
- I just feel like it should be a little bit
more freedom with it,
cause it's really, really stressful.
And I feel like a lot of businesses fail
in the first three years because of taxes,
not because they're bad at business.
Not because they're bad at managing money,
but because they're not prepared
to do everything by the book.
- I mean, I just don't appreciate it
when big companies who sell a lot of their services
like in the US, and then they have
some like Ireland tax status
where they're getting out of it
like Apple and Amazon and these big companies
that theoretically should pay billions in taxes
while it's us average people
who are really supporting the government.
I think there should be a little less inequality there.
- Amazon paid $0 in taxes.
- Do you see Bezos is donating
to Australia for the wildfires.
He donated $690,000.
And he makes an average of $200 million per day.
He put out a whole press release
and I'm just like, "Come on dude.
Like, give a little more."
- To be fair, they have created a lot
of jobs for people.
I actually sell on Amazon.
So through Amazon FBA,
he's provided an opportunity for people like me
to make a living for myself,
to be able to start a business online
and to be able to make internet money.
So like to have that freedom.
And like, whether we think
that he needs to give more or not,
I mean that's really up to him
what he does with his money.
- [Director] I spent an absurd amount of money
on something, because I can.
3,
2,
1. Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- My husband just got a "Lamborghini"
and he had "Mercedes".
It was like 90 grand car.
And he added a 200 grand car and I'm like
"Why'd you do that?
You don't need do that."
He was like, "Well, I mean I could, so why not?
Like I want to, it's fun."
I'm like, "You can't even drive it
to the grocery store.
Like you can't use this car for anything."
- I grew up wanting cars.
Like my whole bedroom was like plastered
with cars on the wall.
When I could actually buy it,
it was like fulfilling--
- It's so fun. Right?
- Well, it was fulfilling your childhood dream.
It wasn't even about the car.
It was the challenge.
Then once I had all the cars,
the thrill was gone, so I didn't need it.
So I think that you should all have like dreams
and chase those dreams, whatever they are.
Maybe they don't cost that much.
- But I mean, not everything's materialistic.
Like when I started making money,
I changed my body.
- I mean, yeah that's what everyone
- I went and cleared my skin.
I went and got a tattoo.
You know what I mean?
Go and get hair extensions.
- I've definitely purchased things
in the past that were cool.
And it was because I could.
But as time's gone along for me
I've realized so many times
that every time I hit the goal
or the destination or the target,
I realized that the journey was so much more fun
and as I've achieved more success
and built more companies,
it is almost every time now where I get there,
and I'm like, man the journey was actually funner
than the destination.
- I'm kind of over here with you.
- Yeah. Right?
- Yeah. Cause like I used to buy a lot of bags.
I'm not even gonna lie.
And then once I got there,
it was kind of like, I don't have a man.
I don't have kids.
What am I doing?
- But the question wasn't like,
what do you think about what's important now?
It's like, have you done it in the past?
You can't change your past.
If you do, are we doing
and changing the future? - But I can change my future.
- What do you think
about material possessions now?
Like, I'll change.
I don't need them, but in the past I've had them.
So I've fulfilled my childhood dreams.
Now I'm good.
- [Director] Inequality is one
of humanity's biggest problems.
3,
2,
1. Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- If we're talking about getting successful,
inequality is definitely not a problem.
A homeless person has rose to fame overnight.
If we're talking about inequality
with like the country,
yeah, you know that exists.
But to become successful,
inequality is not a problem.
Anyone can make it.
- I guess the issue with inequality is
that they rich are getting richer
and the poor are not having access to those means.
- Well, no, cause I feel like my husband,
he grew up in like the ghetto of LA.
He had nothing, he worked at Let
as a dishwasher technician
and now he drives a gold Lamborghini.
He had a gold Mercedes and he can buy
whatever the hell he wants.
You don't need to be a white guy to make money.
You know?
You don't need to grow up in a rich area
to make money.
There's opportunities everywhere.
Anyone can do it if they want to.
- [Christianna] But-- - I think when you look
at the statistics...
The statistics though,
I think it's definitely doable.
Like anybody can do it.
But we still are in a day and age
where it's still not that common
in the grand scheme of things.
There's still a lot of people
that, like you said, the rich get richer
and the poor are either staying the same
or not really getting that ahead right now.
- I feel like there's still
just a lot of inequality.
Like we're all minorities and you guys are all white,
and then like growing up
if you put me on fourth grade classroom
and I say, "Show me a millionaire."
You say Apple, Amazon, Timothy Sykes, he's rich.
And then you're like,
"Okay, show me somebody black.
Show me somebody Asian, show me somebody Spanish."
You're gonna be like,
Michael Jordan. - It's very limited. Right?
It's extremely limited.
- They don't know.
- We need more examples.
- [Director] My privilege has allowed me
to become rich.
3, 2, 1.
Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- I think the internet democratizes everything.
I mean, I learned everything about stock trading
on the internet and many of us take advantage
or capitalize on things that are in the market
and the internet allows us to become experts.
- [Christianna] Would you say
the Internet's a privilege, though?
- No. I mean you want to get
into some edges like it's a privilege to be alive
during this time in history.
But we have--
- [Christianna] But internet, just in a sense,
if you're broke, you may not have it.
So you have to walk
to Starbucks. - You can get free WiFi.
- You can beg on the streets.
And you can get-- - But I have to walk there.
It's not a privilege. - You can be paralyzed
and you could like push yourself.
There's a way to get on the internet.
Almost every single person can get
on the internet.
The internet, I think, allows you to achieve anything.
And it doesn't matter if you're in the US,
if you're a man or a woman.
- Well I feel like that's for internet businesses.
Like for me it's more beauty.
For example, if I didn't kind of look good,
I'm not trying to be conceited,
no one would trust me
to like help them look better.
For example, you're in stocks.
That's not really privilege.
You learned how to do that.
My privilege has allowed me to make money
just in that case just cause
it's a beauty industry, that's it.
- So you can create privilege then too, right?
Once you gain some momentum in life,
it becomes easier in a sense, right?
It becomes like you look
at the exponential growth of success typically.
And once you kind of create privilege a little bit,
from what I've found, at least, it does
become a little bit easier.
Once you're there though, I mean,
it could take 10 years to get there,
but eventually you create the privilege.
Doesn't mean you had to start out privilege.
- For sure.
And sometimes it's generational.
Like if I was in my mom's shoes
and I was actually born in Vietnam
and didn't come and she didn't take
that chance with her family
to leave literally everything behind
and come over to Canada,
I may not be where I am today
because she didn't make that decision
to bring our family over.
Maybe I would've had to be the one
to make that decision for my family.
And then it's the next generation
that basically built off of that.
So it really is situational.
- [Director] People judge me because I'm rich.
3,
2,
1. Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- We live in a world
where social media is extremely prevalent.
So like being on YouTube or Instagram
or social media, a lot of it's like perceived.
You are constantly getting like quote unquote judged.
- But even on social media,
it really just depends what you post.
That's very much
to control environment. - I have a $30,000 watch
just for social media.
If you ask me what time it is,
I'll check my iPhone.
I don't even know if this thing works
but like when you're trying to grow your business,
especially for me like in stock trading
why do you get into stock trading?
Is it fun?
No, it sucks, but you can make money.
So for social media you kind of have to show it.
- But even with social media, I mean,
if you have a million subscribers on YouTube,
I think you're rich.
Because I know YouTube is writing you a check
and I'm judging you off that. - Direct deposit.
- But that's my point.
Like you don't have to post a flashy watch.
You don't have to post a nice car anymore.
If I see a large amount of subscribers
on a monetized platform,
I know you're getting direct deposit.
I know some things keeping your lights on.
Now, I'm not judging in a bad way.
Of course, I work every day to try
to make videos too.
But in the same sense like we judge people
that ask us for money.
- [Director] Money can buy happiness.
3, 2,
1. Go.
(footsteps tapping)
- It's kind of like that poor broke mentality
all over again.
If you're rich and you're like
in a domestic violence relationship,
you're not happy even though you might have money.
But still money can buy fun things
and looking back, you're proud
of your accomplishments.
You're proud of the journey that you took
to get to where you are.
And in a way, it can buy happiness.
- Money allows you to buy freedom
and then freedom gets you the ability
to have more time to find what makes you happy.
It's not a direct result.
- But it could be.
Let's say your mom or your dad or somebody
that had a severe illness was in the hospital.
And they had X amount of time to live.
Now, this person makes you extremely happy
and it's gonna cost a million dollars
or $2 million for this surgery that they need.
to survive-- - You save them.
- And you save them.
You quite literally just bought happiness.
Now that's not to say that it buys happiness
in every area of life.
- But it can.
- But in certain areas, yeah money definitely
can buy happiness.
- My most fulfilling asset is the house
that I bought my parents. - Exactly.
- And I am so grateful to be able to do that.
- You were serving another person.
- 100%. - Exactly.
- Right? It's like pouring from a empty cup.
You need to make sure you fill your cup
before you help other people.
And I think it goes back to donating
or people expect you to give more
because you have more.
But really it's not selfish for you
to want a lot of money or to want
that time freedom.
And it really just depends on your definition
of happiness.
What makes you happy?
And we all find that, I guess reason,
at different points in our life,
some people figure it out really early on.
And some people, it takes them a lifetime to find
out what makes them happy.
So even though you could have a lot of money,
if you don't know what that reason is
that drives you to do the things
that you do then really you're just
not gonna be happy, whether you have money or not.
- [Director] That's a wrap.
(everyone cheering) (everyone clapping)
(engine revving)
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(techno music)