0:00 Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich, man? I grew channel to 21 million followers. I've already moved 47 billionaires in the States. How did you get rich, man? What did you do? >> I owned one of the biggest companies in the world. >> Are you serious? What was the most amount of money you made in a single year? >> I sold the company in 2023 for £4.1 billion. >> So, not dollars. >> Proper money. 4.1 billion. >> About 5 billion. >> A substantial 9-digit number. >> 900 million. >> Double that. >> You said double that? >> Yeah. >> Like like 1.8 20 billion. That's a 10-digit number, my man. >> 10 digit. >> That's a 10-digit number. So, >> did you have to ever pay a lot in taxes? >> Oh, yeah. A lot. >> I paid nearly£100 million in tax, but it was worth it because >> So, the taxes are crazy here. >> Tax is crazy. If I will sell my company,
0:46 I will live. >> Is there a tax hack that you have for business owners? >> Number one expense. It's >> There are nine steps. Number one is >> I've interviewed more billionaires than anybody else in the world and I've asked every single one of them how they got rich. But today I'm doing something different. I'm asking them the one question that nobody wants to ask. Do you actually pay your taxes? And there's no better place to ask it than here. London, one of the most taxed cities in the world. A place filled with millionaires and billionaires. So I'm going straight up to the richest people in the city to ask them one of the most controversial questions out there. So let's see what they have to say. All right, guys. So, we are headed right now to go get our first interview out here.
1:31 But, like I was saying earlier, man, guys, the UK taxes are out of this world. If you're making serious money out here, you could be paying 45% in taxes, guys. That's half of all your money. So, I'm really curious to figure out what the richest people out here think about that, whether or not they actually pay their taxes. Come on. >> Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you become wealthy? >> Sorry. I said, "How did you become wealthy?" >> I'll tell you something. >> He's saying life. >> Life. Absolutely. Thank you, guys. Excuse me, sir. I have a question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> Uh, 32. >> And how did you get rich? What line of business were you in real quick? Sir, I've interviewed 47 billionaires. Could I get one minute with you real quick? >> Good luck. >> Excuse me, ma'am. >> Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?
2:17 >> Excuse me, sir. Sir, question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> Uh, I can't talk to you >> real quick, sir. I have a channel with 21 million followers. I interview. Could I get 30 seconds with you real quick? >> No, not today. >> What line of business were you in? What line of business were you in, sir? You what? >> No, you didn't. Real quick, sir. This is to help the younger generation. I haven't gotten anybody today. Could I get you for just 30 seconds? >> Can I get your contact? >> Next time. >> Wow. All right, guys. Look, we have been out here for hours in London, but it's been non-stop rejection after rejection. So, we have got to change things up. And we are right now heading into what is apparently the wealthiest part in all of London. Mayfair, the billionaires playground out here where all the richest people congregate to hopefully find some millionaires and billionaires to stop and give us the game for you guys. Let's go see who we can find. All right, guys. Look. So, my guy is pulling
3:02 up right here. This is like a three or four million car, you guys. We're going to get him coming out figure out how he got rich, man. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich, man? I grew channel to 21 million followers. I've interviewed 47 billionaires in the States. How did you get rich, man? What did you do? You think this is rich, then you've got a mistake to make. >> Well, I had a business for you. >> I'm a jeweler. >> You're a jeweler. I'm a jeweler. >> How did you get into that business? >> I grew up watching people hustling. I watch people buy and sell cars. Went hand in hand with watches and I did watches for many, many years. I was probably one of the biggest watch dealers at my time 10 years ago doing it. Now I've just put it all my time and effort into cars. Hyper cars. >> How much does that car cost >> today's price? 42 million pound. >> You said 42 million. >> Yeah. >> As a jeweler, how important is it to keep your word in business? >> Word is everything. >> Word is everything. everything. I deal with people who if you break break their
3:48 word, they automatically pay a compensation. It's simple as that. I won't deal with somebody the minute that they've broken their word and have done nothing to compensate. Have you got a stand on business? >> Have you ever been over in business before? >> Oh, plenty of times. Business life, who hasn't? You wouldn't get to where you want to get to without going through it. >> Did you come from a rich family growing up? >> Uh, no. You didn't? >> Nah. Most of my family are not rich. I'm not class consider myself rich, but they don't drive Bardis, but they're happy with what they do and I'm happy for them. What was your turning point to financial freedom? What was that moment in your life where you were like, I want to go out there and build a little bit of an empire for myself? >> Turning point for me is when I probably had my son and I thought, I need to level up. I need to set an example. And now I've got a daughter, I'll do it even more. I want her to be accustomed to everything I've got and not be phased by it when somebody tries to please her in
4:34 it. So, I've got to plan and prepare for that. >> What was the most amount of money that you made in a single year? >> About 25 mil. >> $25 million. That was during co watches were 7 $800,000 each and I was selling two free watches a week. Yeah. >> Now a lot a lot of young people they think that when they start a business once they start to make money they're going to be able to go out and buy cars like that. Was that the case for you in the beginning or how long was it before? >> I had a passion for cars ever since I was a kid. Always knew I was going to have a nice car. I worked my way to that car. >> Do you think a lot of young people they go out and buy cars before they really should afford to do that? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Everyone does it. Everyone does it. I've done it. We've all done it. >> Do you regret it? Do you regret it? >> No, I don't regret it. You can't regret anything in life. Everything is a lesson. It makes you a better person to follow in year. So when I see 20- year old kids making all this money off crypto, doing their thing, a lot of hate on the Instagram, whatever, you know, they've got to learn the the hard way or the easy way. It's a lesson, though. Good luck to them.
5:19 >> Did you have to ever pay a lot in taxes? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> Do you have a tax hack for anybody in business? Was there a tax hack? >> No, no, no. There's no hack. You can't hack tax me. You try to hack tax, you're going to jail, so it's not worth it. >> Is there not like a tax code or something that you can >> Oh, there's always something, but it's not a hack. There's expenses. A lot of people don't realize what their day-to-day life is an expense. So, you paid your taxes? >> Yeah, of course. >> Final question for you. What keeps poor people poor in today's world? When you look at society as a whole, what keeps people broke in today's world? The fact that they're broke is a choice. Like homeless people, a choice. Not everybody, but majority have a choice because you're born with the same hands, feet, legs, eyes as everybody else. So, why are you choosing to be broke? Just get a joke. Broke is if you're overspending your money or you up somewhere in life. Sorry. For me, I don't see being poor as an option. I don't know anybody who's poor. People I know have less money, but I don't know
6:05 anybody who's poor. Thank you, my friend. You got great advice, brother. Thank you for your time, my friend. Have a great day, my man. Thank you, guys. Look, I just went up to my guy coming out of that like $4.5 million car, I'm pretty sure. Like he said, he said, "I know you, man." Look, he's tapped in, man. He sees all the billionaires that we're interviewing and he just drops some straight game right there. And I love at the end of that interview when he said, "Look, being poor is a choice, guys. We were all given abilities to go out there, create wealth, create abundance for ourselves, whether it's in the form of getting a job or starting a business." Great interview out there. I'm taking notes on that one myself. We got to keep the scene rolling and go get this next interview, you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how did you get rich? >> How did I get rich? Have you ever had to call a plumber? >> A plumber? >> I owned one of the biggest plumbing companies in the world. >> Are you serious? How big was the company? What was the most amount of money you made in a single year? >> I sold the company in 2023 for £4.1 billion.
6:51 >> So, not dollars. >> Proper money. 4.1 billion. >> Can I interview you for a minute? I go all over the world interviewing billionaires to help the younger generation. >> I'm in a hurry, but >> just for one minute. >> I can give you 5 minutes. >> Is that okay? >> Absolutely. >> Did you come from a lot of money growing up? No, I didn't. My dad was in the civil service. My greatgrandparents were mill owners in Huddersfield and West Yorkshire. They lost all the money in the Great Depression of 1929. So, he said, "Don't go into business." But I was inspired by Lord Hansen, famous industrialist from the 1960s. I remember to this day my dad lifted me on his shoulders and we looked over the wall of the big house at the end of the culde-sac in Yorkshire and watched the helicopter land. I remember saying, "Dad, I want one of those." He said, "Well, don't be in the civil service like me earning a pittance. you need to run your own business. That's the day I wanted to be an entrepreneur, even if I
7:38 didn't know that word. >> This is fascinating to me because we're talking about plumbing, home services here. This isn't a necessarily sexy business, but you built it into a 4 billion pound company. Talk to that young person out there that thinks that they have to go invent the next Google. There's a lot of opportunities in some of these really niche, unsexy businesses. >> Yeah, you don't. My advice to any aspiring entrepreneur would be first of all, copy a business model. We're taught at school that copying homework is bad. In business, I would say copy and then improve slightly. >> So, don't reinvent the wheel. >> Don't reinvent the wheel. Go and buy a copy of Entrepreneur magazine. It's got all of the franchise businesses listed. Run through it. Decide which is the business you want to run. Copy their model, but do it yourself. Don't buy a franchise. Hire a few people to work for you. And that's how you become very wealthy. >> I'm going to challenge you, Richard.
8:23 Take me back to the most life-changing conversation you ever had. What is the greatest piece of advice that you've received throughout your career? It was from Jim Collins who wrote the book Good to Great, the second best business book ever written. And he said, "To be successful, you need to be a hedgehog." Entrepreneurs are like me. We're all foxes. We're always looking for the next opportunity. We have an idea every day. And we need to be hedgehogs moving in a methodical direction. If somebody comes along and has a hairbrain idea, we put up our prickles. We ignore it and we keep going with a very simple, clear model without distractions. So, you said that that was the second best business book that's going to ever be written. What's the first one? >> The best book that's ever been written is called How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps. >> It became a bestseller in the Sunday Times list when it came out in July last
9:09 year. And it's written by me, Richard Harpin. >> So, how does someone make a billion dollars? Tell me right now, man. How does somebody make a billion? >> There are nine steps. Number one is copy and pivot. Second one, get an investor to help your business to scale. Thirdly, get a coach and a mentor. Really important to learn from others. Number four, have an omni channel model. You don't just want to be online. You need to have stores or pop-up stands. You can't just rely upon the internet these days. Number five, the hardest step for any entrepreneur, hire your replacement. Hire somebody that's better than you to run the day-to-day business. Hire a hedgehog because as entrepreneurs, we're foxes with too many ideas. Step six, go global with locals. You can't send a Brit to America. You can't send an American to Britain. You've got to hire
9:55 a local to head up your business. Otherwise, you won't be taken seriously. Step number seven is evolution, not revolution. There is a a role for revolution right at the start of a business, but thereafter keep evolving your business. We know lots of businesses that didn't keep evolving. Blockbuster, Nokia, Yellow Pages, they're dead or a shadow of their former selves. Number eight, how many people if we asked them around here, have you got a to-do list? Everybody would put up the hand. Have you got a to-do list? Everybody puts up their hand. If you say, "Have you got a notto-do list?" Nobody puts up their hand. I do now because I've learned that a notto-do list is more important than a to-do list. And the final step to make a billion pounds is hone your character. This is about forget the stuff that
10:41 you're bad at. And I was bad at loads of stuff and focus on the things that you're really good at and hire other people to do those other things that we don't like doing like running the dayto-day. get them to do it so you can focus on the vision and the growth and the business development. >> Richard, you know they don't teach this in school, right? >> I wish they did. >> What is the most amount of money you paid in taxes in one year? >> I paid nearly£100 million in tax when I sold Home Serve, but it was worth it because I made a lot of money and I do believe in giving back and paying taxes. I don't believe in running off and living in a tax-free environment. >> So, you think that billionaires should pay their taxes? >> Absolutely. So long as they stay relatively low and affordable, then here is a great place from which to start a business, scale a business, and turn it
11:28 global. >> How old are you now? >> 61. >> 61 years old. If me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? >> I would say if you're thinking about setting up a business today, what's your skill? What do you enjoy doing? Is it sales and marketing? Is it finance? Is it operations? then go and work for a big company in an industry that you like and get experience for 2 or 3 years. Then go and work for a smaller entrepreneurial company in that same role, whether that's sales or marketing, finance or operations. After you've got five or six years of experience, go negotiate with somebody else that might be retiring and say, "I'll buy your business, but I'll pay you over three or four years out the future profits." So, you can buy a business. It's lower risk than setting up from scratch and you can use their money to acquire it which is
12:15 called vendor financing. >> That's beautiful advice right there sir. Thank you so much for your time. I connect with all the billionaires I interview. Could I get your contact? >> Yeah, of course. >> Guys, I just finished interviewing someone who built and sold a company for over£4.1 billion. And I want you to really think about this for a second. You're sitting here right now watching these interviews. But what if you could actually talk to these people? What if you could ask them your questions about your business, your life, and your next move, and get an answer directly from someone who's already built a company worth hundreds of millions and billions of dollars? That's exactly why I'm doing something insane on April 22nd in less than 2 weeks. I'm going to be hosting one of the craziest events of the entire year. I'm hosting three live Zoom calls with entrepreneurs who have built and sold companies at the highest level. Now, who are these people? First, we're going to have on Clint Phillips, who sold his healthcare company for $460
13:02 million. Then Steven Ellsworth, the founder of Poppy. He grew this company from zero to $500 million in less than 5 years and sold it to Pepsi for $2 billion. And finally, Edward UI, a private equity billionaire who buys and scales companies for a living. And here's the thing, guys. This is not a podcast. This is not some replay. You are on the call live. You'll be able to ask your questions and get real answers from people who have actually done it. These are the kinds of conversations that can completely change your business and your life. Now, here's the craziest part, guys. If you join right now by going down and clicking the link in the description of this video, you can get access to this once in a-lifetime event on April 22nd for free and become a member of the number one entrepreneur community and network in the entire world, the School of Mentors, where I host live Zoom calls every single week
13:48 with the millionaires and the billionaires that I interview. But there's just one catch, guys. There will be no recordings to this event. There will be no replays. So, you must be there live or you're going to miss it. So, if you want access to the three live Zoom calls on April 22nd, all you have to do is go down, click the link in the description of this video to grab your spot now, and I'll see you there. With that being said, let's go get this next interview. >> Excuse me, sir. How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> Sorry. >> How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> Question was long time ago. >> Long time ago. >> 26. >> And how did you get rich that early? What line of business were you in? >> Retail of mobile phones. >> Where you from? >> Russia. >> You're from Russia? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, how long have you been a business owner? >> From 22. >> Since 22 years old. Let me ask you a question. Did you come from a lot of money? Did you grow up with a lot of money? >> No. No. I'm grow up in social house.
14:35 >> So, what was your turning point to financial freedom? >> The Soviet Union crashed when I was 17 years old. It was a huge opportunity to grow up, to make money, to trade because a lot of people, Soviet people, they have no clue how to trade. From that time when oil prices and everything started going up and mobile phones became very popular, we just catched the wave. >> What was the most amount of money that you made missing? >> Total revenue in 2008 was about 5 billion. >> Said $5 billion. >> So do you live in London now? >> Yeah, for 18 years. >> Is this a good city to become an entrepreneur? I live in the state. So I'm trying to learn about the business in London. >> Now not now everybody's going living because of the taxes. We have a socialist in the government. It's like a yo mayor of New York. The same group of
15:22 gangsters that take other people's money for eating rich and spreading through the poor. >> Did you have to pay a lot of money in taxes? >> Of course. Yes. >> So the taxes are crazy here. >> Tax is crazy. If I will sell my company, I will live I will live UK. >> Business owners. >> They made their first million not long time ago. It's >> 51 years old today. If >> this year 52, >> if me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? >> Read the books. >> Did you read a lot of books? >> Not enough. That's why I left the Forbes list. >> You were on the Forbes at one point. >> Yeah. When I young Forbes you were a billionaire. >> Young Forbes before 30. >> Wow. Are you a billionaire? >> No. No. No. You were there though at one point. You was. >> Let me ask you this. What was the number
16:07 one book that changed your life? >> Number one books? >> Yes. What was your your number one book recommendation for anybody in business? >> Ein Ren Atlas Shrug. >> What's that about? >> Capitalism. >> So, how does money work? For the people that don't know it, give them a quick master class. Somebody wants to get rich in today's world. Give them these last 20 seconds right here. How does somebody become a multi-millionaire in today's world? >> It's you have to be in the right place. Look at the cars around. Why you here? Look at the cars around. Ferrari, Ferrari, McLaren. First of all, location when already rich people here. >> So, proximity is power. >> Yeah. Second one, assortment. It have to be popular and great and uh very important to motivate your team to work. This is my place. >> Look at this. >> You own this restaurant right here. Thank you for your time, sir. >> You're welcome. >> I appreciate that. Have a great day, my
16:53 friend. Thank you for stopping for me, man. I appreciate you. >> Hey, look, look at that fit, you guys, man. Hey, that's the $5 billion man right there, man. He just dropped some great advice, man. When I was like, man, saw him across the street. He had that fit going crazy, so we had to stop him. He just gave some solid bombs. But I love what he said, man. He said, "Look at the street. You got Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, all over. Proximity is power. The faster you can follow the money, the quicker you're going to get to it. Great interview out here in London. We got to keep this scene rolling and go get this next interview. You guys, come on. Sir, question for you. >> How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> You're the >> Yes, sir. How How did you get rich? >> Well, I've been very fortunate as part of a family business to start with, but obviously, you know, uh still ambitious enough to build up on that. >> What type of company? >> Originally, we come out of the offshore energy marine services business. >> And you own that business today? We sold that business and we've set up the second iteration of that business which is now collaborating with
17:39 >> How much did you all sell that company for? >> Uh north of a substantial nine-digit number. >> More than 100 million. >> More than 200 million. >> Significantly more than that. >> 900 million. >> Double that. >> You said double that. Yeah. >> Like like 1.8 billion. That's a 10-digit number, my man. >> 10 digit. >> That's a 10-digit number. So So did you kind of own the company when you sold it? >> Yes, we we did. Full ownership of the business. >> Was it you and partners? Like just >> Father and I. bothering you. What's the number one piece of advice you got from your dad that helped you become a successful entrepreneur? What did he teach you about business? >> Cost. Cost management is key to everything right? >> So, you got to keep your >> It's not about how much you sell it for. It's about how much you're willing to buy the product and be able to, you know, your underlying cost, right? If you can manage your cost, you can manage to sell it in any condition. >> People don't talk about this in business. It doesn't matter if you can sell a
18:24 product at $10. If you're buying it for eight, you're only making that margin at two, right? But if you can buy it at two, you can sell it at five. You can sell it at seven, you can sell it at 10. This applies to any business, >> anything, literally anything in life. >> A lot of people think that you shouldn't do business with friends and family. How do you feel about that? >> I'll admit working with family is extremely difficult. For sure. Right. >> They almost se the relationship at any point in time. >> It for sure. Right. When you're going through trials and tribulation, it was hard for him to step away from the idea of being my father and actually see me as, you know, an employee or a partner. And at the same for me, it was hard for me to appreciate. It took a while for me to appreciate and understand that, you know, when he was getting tough on us and tough on me. It wasn't coming from a place that's personal, but rather because there's an ambition for a greater purpose here, which was a company. >> Where are you a resident of? >> I'm resident of the UAE. UAE. So, when you had that big exit, you didn't have
19:10 to pay UK taxes, I'm assuming. >> No. No. We're very fortunate enough not to be able to pay. >> Did you have to pay a lot in taxes when you had that exit >> without divulging too much? No. the way that the leadership there have been able to build a country that sustains and allows, you know, free market and and entrepreneurship, we didn't have to pay the taxes. Of course, there are there are other ways where you have to pay back to your community, but I think that's a personal choice of ours that we do whether it's in the UAE or outside. >> So, your advice to somebody that's trying not to pay a ton in taxes is move to the UAE. >> I mean, look, I'm I'm pro UAE all my life. I was born there. I was raised there. We have full trust and belief in the leadership and the direction that they're going in. So, I will always be waving that flag. Thank you so much for your time. >> Appreciate you, man. I can't believe I got interviewed by you. >> Right now, you get some great advice, man. Nice on TikTok, dude. It's awesome. >> Your interviewing skills are pretty
19:56 amazing. >> Thank you, brother. I appreciate that. >> Guys, that's a wrap on today's video. I need you guys to stop right now, like, subscribe for amazing content coming every week to the school of hard knocks. But let's go even further. Every single week I host live Zoom calls with the 8, nine, and 10 figureure entrepreneurs that I interview on this channel where you can ask your direct questions to them and get mentored every week by the millionaires and billionaires that I interview. And you can get access right now if you go down to the link in the description of this video and join the number one most powerful entrepreneur community and network in the entire world. It's called the School of Mentors. I can't wait to see you on the inside. That being said, we'll see you in the next
