At present, the name Dan Lok is a global brand. When this person is mentioned, people immediately think of him as a top influencer in shaping the skills economy and a savvy entrepreneur. However, not everyone knows that this entrepreneur with a net worth of 75 million USD has gone through many hardships to achieve his current success.
Here is Dan’s inspiring story:
Turbulent Childhood
When Dan Lok was young, his parents divorced and his mother chose to move to Canada. In the beginning, Dan faced many troubles back in his hometown of Hong Kong when he befriended a bad group of friends. He even had to go to the police station several times for fighting and was bailed out by his family.
One time, a police officer advised Dan’s father to take him out of Hong Kong because he could “turn bad” if he stayed there. That was why his mother took him along to start a new life in Canada at the age of 14.
However, Dan did not know English, so he couldn’t communicate with anyone. He struggled throughout high school and gradually became a shy student. Despite that, he had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Feeling the need to take good care of his mother, Dan came up with many ways to make money.
First Business Venture
Dan’s first income-generating service was lawn mowing. He discovered this business opportunity by chance. While jogging, he saw an elderly man struggling to mow the lawn in his garden. Dan quickly offered to help, and after he completed the job, the elderly man paid him 20 USD.
This made him think that he could turn it into a business. However, the problem was that Dan did not have a lawnmower to operate independently. Therefore, he returned to the elderly man’s house with a deal to borrow the machine, and in return, he would mow the lawn for free every week for the old man. After receiving consent and a “means to earn a living,” Dan began thinking of ways to find customers.
Dan’s aunt also ran a business and often printed flyers for advertising. Once again, he saw an opportunity: Advertising was only printed on one side of the paper, so he negotiated to have his lawn mowing service advertised on the other side. In return, he would take on the task of distributing the flyers. He then started going around his neighborhood, slipping flyers through the doors of families.
Dan was so confident that he excitedly told his mother that the phone was starting to ring for lawn mowing services. However, to his surprise, no one called at all! After a week of silence, he decided to take more decisive action by going to the nicest neighborhood and looking for the house with the wildest lawn.
Without the homeowner’s permission, Dan used the borrowed mower to neatly trim the grass in the garden. After finishing, he sat in front of the house to wait for the owner to come home. Interestingly, the owner drove past his house and had to turn back because he didn’t recognize the new look of the house. When he learned what Dan had done, he generously gave Dan 100 USD.
Realizing that he couldn’t just sit still and wait for customers, he went around the neighborhood introducing himself as the one who had mowed the lawn for that house. That was how he began his business.
Bitter Lessons
After a short period working in a grocery store, Dan felt out of place and was drawn into the world of online sales. He sought to sell items on eBay. When he learned that a neighbor understood the Internet, he asked this person for support. Trusting him, he lent that person money borrowed from friends and family to start the business.
However, one time, when visiting the neighbor’s house to check on the progress, Dan was shocked to find the house completely empty. That was the first bitter lesson he learned.
After carrying a debt of 150,000 USD at the age of 20 from that scam, he opened 13 different companies over the next 3 years, each of which went bankrupt one by one. All of these experiences motivated him to learn more about doing business online.
First Major Breakthrough
After reading a book on marketing, Dan became obsessed with the field. Delving deeper, he learned about marketing expert Alan Jacques. He began studying sales letters and attending some of Alan’s seminars to meet his “idol.”
One time, Dan boldly invited Alan to lunch, and they talked for hours. However, when asked to be his mentor, Alan declined. With the experience of failing many times, Dan did not get discouraged. He visited Alan’s office continuously for a month, doing everything he could to prove his worth, including picking up trash in the office.
Finally, when Alan agreed, Dan dropped out of school to learn a new trade: writing sales letters. Although he didn’t make much money, a year of being mentored by Alan was worth millions of USD to Dan. Under Alan’s guidance, he began offering marketing services. Within a year, his clients earned millions of USD from his sales letters. By the age of 22, Dan was selling each of his projects for 10,000 USD.
Becoming a Millionaire and Retiring
Although successful as a copywriter, Dan also realized another need. Many of his client companies, after receiving the products, asked how to use them most effectively. From there, Dan opened a marketing consulting service.
Shortly after, he earned enough money to pay off the 150,000 USD debt that he was scammed out of by his old neighbor. In addition to his business, Dan also invested in real estate. The profits from this allowed him to live comfortably. Therefore, he decided to retire after becoming a millionaire at the age of 27.
Initially, Dan used the money he earned to travel for months and “binge-watch movies.” However, just a few months later, he felt bored. He then returned to seek advice from Alan. He didn’t want to continue “working” but also didn’t want to live a meaningless life.
Alan and another mentor guided Dan toward teaching and speaking on his expertise. Currently, Dan runs an online course aimed at solving the problem of closing sales over the phone. Recently, he also launched a copywriting course. To date, Dan has taught over 1 million people important marketing skills to earn money more effectively.
Source: Compilation