Transcript

Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)

From School of Hard Knocks · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 20 min · 5,224 words · 132 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)", an episode of School of Hard Knocks published November 26, 2025 (20 min, about 5,224 words). It mentions 14 people, works and ideas, including Switch gear, Artificial Intelligence, Apple Inc., Plastic surgery, Energy and infrastructure.

What this episode is about

This content explores the insights and stories of successful entrepreneurs and millionaires in Silicon Valley, focusing on their paths to wealth, the industries that foster financial success, and key lessons in business that go beyond traditional education. It highlights how they created significant wealth through innovation and entrepreneurship, offering valuable perspectives on achieving financial freedom.

Key takeaways

  • Silicon Valley's billionaires often share a secret: the market's pulse beats loudest in AI's innovation din.
  • A simple farm boy turned plastic surgeon proves that transformative journeys aren’t just for tech genius; they’re for anyone.
  • Many billionaires dodge questions, but their silent wisdom reveals: significant success often hides behind a protective wall.
  • Turning youthful missteps into millionaire milestones is a reminder: success isn't a sprint, it's a complex marathon.
  • While customers reign, venture capitalists remind us: listening isn't just polite; it's a strategic imperative in business.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: Cisco Food Systems, United States (states)
  2. – 6:00: Artificial Intelligence, Cisco Food Systems, Reed Hoffman, Tom Cruz
  3. – 9:00: Switch gear, Facebook, Energy and infrastructure, The Bible
  4. – 12:00: Apple Inc., Facebook
  5. – 15:00: Apple Inc., United States (states)
  6. – 18:00: Artificial Intelligence, Plastic surgery, Digital mapping
  7. – 19:35: Plastic surgery

Notable quotes from "Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)"

  • We won one contract for billions of dollars from the US government cuz we were the early guys.
    about United States (states) · at
  • Would you say that if you're not using AI, you're gonna get You are so good. Seriously.
    about Artificial Intelligence · at
  • No, I'm not even joking. And that was all technology business. I built and sold one to Facebook, built and sold one to Netsweet/Oracle and a lot of What was your turning point…
    about Netsweet · at
  • Companies in the world that make billions and billions of dollars build switch gear. Switch gear sounds like it's not hard to do. Amazon put out a study last year that said…
    about Switch gear · at
  • What was the number one book that changed your life?
    about The Bible · at
  • Well, same kind of thing. It was a tech thing. The lesson I learned at Apple is always set a high bar. Yeah.
    about Apple Inc. · at
  • They said go back to, I would I built it in Washington. They said go back to New York. digital mapping.
    about Digital mapping · at
  • Is come to work with me for a day. You can bring that camera around and you would see so many people so happy. A lot of people are judgmental about plastic surgery. A lot of…
    about Plastic surgery · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Tom Cruz — Person · Referenced celebrity (claimed interview subject) · 1 mention · first at
    The host cites having 'done' Tom Cruz as social proof to persuade an interviewee to talk; no substantive discussion about him occurs.
    No, this isn't a minute. It's funny. I promise you. I promise you this is to help the younger people. I've done Tom Cruz, Tom Brady, Mark Cuban, Reed Hoffman. Good for you.
  • Reed Hoffman — Person · Referenced entrepreneur (claimed interview subject · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned only as part of the host's list of notable interviewees to persuade a venture capitalist to engage.
    No, this isn't a minute. It's funny. I promise you. I promise you this is to help the younger people. I've done Tom Cruz, Tom Brady, Mark Cuban, Reed Hoffman. Good for you.

Books & papers

  • The Bible — Book · Life-changing book (recommended) · 1 mention · first at
    An interviewee names The Bible as the most impactful book in his life and uses it to ground a discussion about Christianity and belief in God.

Companies & orgs

  • Apple Inc. — Company · Referenced company / career path example · 2 mentions · first at
    A Ferrari owner describes becoming wealthy as an Apple engineering director and through Apple stock, illustrating corporate wealth-building and product culture lessons.
  • Facebook — Company · Referenced acquirer / big tech demand driver · 3 mentions · first at
    A founder claims to have built and sold a company to Facebook; Facebook is also referenced as part of broader demand for infrastructure like switch gear.
    Manufacturing over the next 10 years, they'd only be at 25% of what they needed. That's one company. There's also Facebook. There's a bunch of other ones.
  • Cisco Food Systems — Company · Acquirer (referenced) · 2 mentions · first at
    A founder claims he sold a point-of-sale device/company to Cisco Food Systems for a little over $70M, used as an example of value-based exits.
    I built a point of sales device that I sold to Cisco Food Systems.
  • Netsweet — Company · Referenced acquirer/partner (unclear) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in a claim about selling a company to 'Netsweet/Oracle'; the exact entity is unclear from the transcript spelling.

Concepts & topics

  • Switch gear — Concept · Core opportunity / industry thesis · 3 mentions · first at
    A serial entrepreneur argues switch gear manufacturing is a high-demand, capacity-constrained market driven by data centers and infrastructure upgrades, offering 'software money' margins.
  • Artificial Intelligence — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    AI is repeatedly cited as a major opportunity for businesses and also as a driver of new risks (e.g., making deception easier), shaping advice on where to invest and what industries matter.
  • Plastic surgery — Concept · Career path example / service business · 3 mentions · first at
    A plastic surgeon explains wealth creation through patient satisfaction, evolving technology, and the business side of medicine, countering stigma about the field.
  • Energy and infrastructure — Concept · Core topic (investment focus) · 1 mention · first at
    A founder describes shifting from software into energy/infrastructure, using switch gear demand and data center buildouts as the key rationale.
    It's funny, man. I have built a lot of software companies. I built a cannabis business. I'm in the energy and infrastructure space more now in manufacturing.
  • Digital mapping — Concept · Enabling technology (historical context) · 1 mention · first at
    A founder explains that early on 'people didn't have digital maps' and that convincing stakeholders of the need for digital mapping helped drive a government-scale business.
  • Christian apologetics — Concept · Referenced belief framework · 1 mention · first at
    An entrepreneur cites studying Christian apologetics to support his claim that belief in a creator is factual, tying faith to his worldview and motivation.
    Factually, you're wrong. I studied Christian apologetics at Stanford University for about a year. The reality is a design creator is a fact. It's not fiction.

Places & events

  • United States (states) — Place · Market/government context · 3 mentions · first at
    The United States is referenced as the geography for switch gear manufacturing capacity and as the home government awarding billion-dollar contracts.

Full transcript with timestamps

No. Excuse me, sir. Sir, is this your Ferrari? Yeah. And how did you get a Ferrari? I grew a channel to $17 million. Was asking successful people how they made it. What What did you do for a living?

I built a point of sales device that I sold to Cisco Food Systems. You sold a company to Cisco?

Yeah. For how much money? A little north of 70 million. $70 million. I've built and sold five other companies since then. And

more than $10 million. Who? Me? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's tiny. You don't stay in business making $10 million.

I built a satellite company. What was the most amount of money you made in a year?

We won one contract for billions of dollars from the US government cuz we were the early guys.

We built a billion dollar company. Yeah. Congratulations, man. Excuse me, sir. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?

Oh, god. Well, that's an interesting question. I had a misspent youth, so it took longer than you'd expect.

What was your turning point to financial freedom? I was a farm boy from Illinois. I became a plastic surgeon here in Silicon Valley.

What's the best industry to get into right now? Nobody's talking about. Give me the best industry. That's the tough one. That's the toughest question. I think if there's one lesson about business you would instill in the people watching right now that is not taught in school, what would that be? This is Silicon Valley, the place that has created more billionaires than anywhere else on Earth. It's home to the biggest companies, the boldest ideas and the richest people alive. Trillions of dollars of innovation started right here. Today, I'm doing something insane.

I flew all the way out to California to interview some of the most powerful and wealthiest entrepreneurs in the entire world. the billionaires who literally built the future. From tech founders to venture capital giants, these are the people who changed the world and got filthy rich doing it. So today, I'm going to be figuring out their billionaire secrets on how they built their wealth and how you watching can become financially free going into 2026. Now, this video is about to be insane from start to finish. So stay tuned until the end. With that being said, let's get this video on the way.

Excuse me, sir. Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire? Oh, I'm really sorry. We're just not doing any press, but thank you.

Okay. So, real quick, I have a channel with 17 million followers. I'm really sorry. We're going

Excuse me, sir. Sir, I got a question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?

No, you're uh um not doing that. So, yeah, real quick. So, I grew a channel. I actually have to get to a meeting right now. So, thank you though. One lesson to the younger generation. Excuse me, sir. Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire? Hey, real quick, sir. Sir, I got I got a channel.

I'm not taking pictures. I'm not taking any videos. Excuse me, sir. Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?

No, I'm good. I'm good. I appreciate you guys doing your thing. Appreciate you, man. Appreciate you, man. Excuse me, ma'am.

Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? Yeah. Good job.

Wait, real quick. I grew a channel to 17 million followers. I interview business owners on their advice for the younger generation.

Sorry. Thank you. All right, you guys. As you can see, it is literally impossible to get these people to stop and talk, let alone get some advice for you all. I mean, there's like 75 billionaires that live out here. So, some of these rich people out here, they're private, man. They do not want to give it away. But I didn't come out here for nothing. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get these people to stop and talk and get a million dollars, scratch that, a billion dollars worth of game for you all. So, come with me.

Let's go see who we can find. Come on, sir. A question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire?

What? How old were you when you became a millionaire? I have no freaking clue. What line of business are you in?

Venture capital. Why? I I grew a channel to 17 million followers. I go all over the world interviewing successful people to help the younger generation. I've interviewed 25 billionaires in the last four years. Could I get one minute with you real quick?

No. But thank you. Two questions. Somebody's trying to raise money for their business. What's the number one thing that you look for in a founder that tells you I'm going to give my money to

market opportunity. And what is the best opportunity in today's world? Any do with AI.

AI. So change everything. Would you say that if you're not using AI, you're gonna get

You are so good. Seriously. But let me ask you, would you say that What school did you go to?

University of Texas. But but I I did. I went to Michigan. What happened? Would you say if you're not using AI, you're going to get left behind?

Yes, definitely. So how would you be leveraging AI in your business? Let me ask you.

I thought you said one minute. Well, you're past your time. No, this isn't a minute. It's funny. I promise you. I promise you this is to help the younger people. I've done Tom Cruz, Tom Brady, Mark Cuban, Reed Hoffman. Good for you.

Some of your friends probably. What's the best financial advice you ever received throughout your career from a mentor?

Listen to the customer. Yeah. Would you is it customers or employees first? Customer.

Why? Always the customer. Yeah. Now you're in VC. Customer doesn't buy. You don't have a business.

Are you raising or are you investing in businesses? Is it invest? So, real quick. Did you ever real quick sir? Last one. It's competitive in VC. How are you How are you getting money from other people?

You got to have a track record. Yeah. You got to prove to them that you can make money for them.

What's the best investment you ever made throughout your career? I commerce one.

What's that? What type of company was that? Long before you were probably born.

So, what what is the biggest issue you had in terms of revenue? Not personal income, just revenue.

Don't you guys don't talk like that? An idea of revenue. Was it more than $10 million?

Who? Me? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's tiny. You don't stay in business making 10 million.

All right, you guys. So, I tried to squeeze as much game out of that guy as I possibly could. He's a VC out here. You could tell, man, he looked like money. And even though I couldn't get most out of him, I was trying to be persistent, but the one takeaway that I had was two. He said, "You got to be using AI in your businesses." And the second thing is your customer comes first in business. You need to understand that if you take care of your customer, everything takes care of itself. So solid interview out here. We got to go get this next one with you guys. Come on. Excuse me, sir.

Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? Oh. Um I was uh 21.

How did you get rich? Like what what business? I I built a point of sales device that I sold to Cisco Food Systems.

You sold a company to Cisco? Yeah. For how much money? A little north of 70 million.

$70 million. And what was the biggest thing that led to that exit? Fit and function. Cuz we only actually made $60,000 in revenue and we spent $17 million on the company. And so we were in the rears probably about I mean basically 17 million bucks but it was fit and function. They had 11,000 sales reps and they needed certain things and next thing you know it kind of just worked out and we figured out that uh the process of them hiring another 9,000 sales reps was probably worth about 70 to 80 million bucks. So we landed on a number and we went from there.

So it's safe to say then price is only an issue if value is absent because you were able to present that hey even though you're going to buy my company for $70 million you're going to save so much more money.

Value is only in the eye of the beholder. I've built and sold five other companies since then. And you serious?

Yeah. And been a part of things. I mean, she's the CEO of a company right now that literally is going from 5 million to 50 million to 300 million next year.

What was the biggest company you exited? Was it that one right there? No, the biggest company was another business. Um, I can't say, but it was about $285 million.

You exited for this one going to be mine? Well, the big actually the biggest one. No, I'm not even joking. And that was all technology business. I built and sold one to Facebook, built and sold one to Netsweet/Oracle and a lot of

What was your turning point to entrepreneurship? Okay. So, you're talking to a kid that didn't learn how to read till he was in 9th grade and has no parents. And so, we really just my high school senior project was a business and um I ended up my grandmother who I didn't really know till I was 18 years old gave me a $70,000 check and next thing you know I I gave her money back in 3 months and built my first magazine and and just kind of figured out I'm just going to work for myself cuz I'm probably not normally hirable.

Now, we're in Silicon Valley right now. We're going into 2026. What is the best industry people should be looking to get into right now in today's world?

You know, it's funny, man. I have built a lot of software companies. I built a cannabis business. I'm in the energy and infrastructure space more now in manufacturing.

So per example, so Alyssa, she owns a company called Butcher Power Products. Seammens, ABB, some of the largest companies in the world that make billions and billions of dollars build switch gear. Switch gear sounds like it's not hard to do. Amazon put out a study last year that said that if they ate up all of the capacity of switch gear in the United States for manufacturing over the next 10 years, they'd only be at 25% of what they needed. That's one company. There's also Facebook. There's a bunch of other ones.

So, right now I diversified and went into the switch gear space. Invested in there, looked at it, invest my time, energy, my people, everything else I have into that space. And it's it's sort of a I would say low technology space. It's been around for 30, 40, 50 years. The reality is, you know, Seammen's, ABB, LS, all these other players do billions and billions of dollars, but there's so many orders in that space that you can't keep up with volume. We have the capacity to do about a billion two in revenue and we get to choose our clientele. We do about 50% margins on everything we do. So, I'm getting software money out of out of freaking manufacturing.

You see like energy manufacturing. It's it's been an interesting space. And switch gear is this giant stupid box that basically takes the low, medium, and high voltage that comes from power lines. Like this building has a bunch of switch gear. Probably this building alone is $15 million worth of switch gear. So, the more building you're doing, the more you're doing that. The reality is the entire industry is 30, 40, 50 years old. So, you have to replace all the old stuff. Plus, there's a bunch of new data centers take anywhere from a small data center will take 15 to$20 million with switch gear.

A large one will take a billion. Did you have anybody that doubted you? Everybody.

Everybody. I mean, I couldn't read till I was in ninth grade. So, I doubted myself.

What was the number one book that changed your life? The Bible. So, you believe in God.

Oh, absolutely. Somebody doesn't believe in God right now. What would your message be to them?

Factually, you're wrong. I studied Christian apologetics at Stanford University for about a year. The reality is a design creator is a a fact. It's not fiction.

Honestly, go look at yourself in the mirror. Every designer has to have a creator.

This is the funniest thing, right? So, there's this belief that something bigger than you is divine and doing something in the universe. And at some point when you die, you're going to be in a place with a thing that's bigger than you. That's the largest religion in America. And the reality is is that's just Christianity. Right.

Right. And if you look at it, the reason why I always tell people like at the end of the day for me, it's always been Christianity. It's the only religion in the world in which it's nothing you do. No offense, you're not important. I'm not important. She isn't. None of us are. It's the reality of what God did for us to bring us there. Because I'm imperfect and so are you. So if I'm imperfect, I can't go to a perfect place and live in a perfect place and be a part of it cuz what happens? It becomes imperfect.

Jesus is key. Amen. I love it. You got amazing advice, sir. Thank you so much for your time, man. I appreciate your interview.

That guy just gave a crazy interview. And look, he said he sold four or five companies and one for over $280 million. He sold a company to Facebook, but I need you to listen to me very carefully right now. Look, 99% of people will never get the chance to be mentored from a millionaire or a billionaire. They might watch them on YouTube and videos like this or podcasts, but they never get the chance to ask them a question directly. That's why I built the greatest entrepreneur community in the entire world. And I'm not kidding. It's called the School of Mentors. Inside every single week, I bring in the same multi-millionaires and billionaire entrepreneurs that you see on this channel. And instead of the millionaires and billionaires just talking to me, they mentor you live on Zoom every single week. You literally get to raise your hand and ask them your questions about your business or how to build

wealth and get real answers from people who've already built eight, nine, and even 10 figure businesses. Now, here's the craziest part. You're watching this right now and for Black Friday, we are doing something absolutely insane. To celebrate, we're giving you 50% off. So, you can get access to the School of Mentors for just $25. This isn't a $10,000 mastermind or $1,000 course. This is real proximity to real entrepreneurs and real mentors that have built real businesses. But here's the catch. Look, this Black Friday offer is strictly limited for the next 48 hours.

Once it's gone, the price goes back up. So, if you're watching this right now and you've ever wanted actual access to the 8, 9, and 10 figure entrepreneurs, the billionaires that you see me interview on this channel, this is your sign. All you have to do is go down, click the link in the description of this video to grab your spot for just $25, and I'll see you inside of the number one entrepreneur community and network in the entire world. With that being said, let's go get this next interview.

Excuse me, sir. Sir, is this your Ferrari? Yeah. And how did you get a Ferrari? I grew a channel to 17 million followers. Was asking successful people how they made it. What What did you do for a living?

Uh, I worked at Apple. You worked at Apple? Yeah. What were you doing at Apple?

I as a engineering director. Let me ask you this. How did you work your way up at Apple? It's a very competitive company. What did you do to stand out?

Did a great job. You did a great job. So, can you build real wealth working in the corporate world?

Uh, it's not easy. Not easy. Uh, actually, this is more accidental than anything else.

What do you mean? You invest and all of a sudden it takes off. What did you invest in primarily? What was your vehicle? Apple stock.

You bet. How long were you at Apple for? Oh gosh, almost 20 years. 20 years. So, back in the early 2000s.

Uh, before that in the 1990s. So what made you decide to go work with Apple early on before all the you know

it was the only place that you could do the great great work that we did almost 20 years.

What's the best industry people should be looking to get into right now in today's world?

I honestly don't know. I mean everyone's in the AI bandwagon which means that it's probably not the best place to be. I look at the contrary version

actually. So you think that when when too many people are talking about something then you want to go the other way. So what are you looking at? What's that thing for you right now?

I can't tell you right. Everybody run in. What did you study in college? Political science.

Political science. How did you end up working for a tech company? Oh, that's a long story.

Tell me, how did you get in the tech industry? I got to go. Okay. Thanks. All right. Last one. Last message to the younger generation. Your last message to to help them stand out and become a millionaire in today's world.

Oh, invest your time wisely and find something you love. Did you ever start your own business?

I did. Uh, but no, I I think uh doing what we did at Apple, there's no other place on earth you could do that.

Why? What do they do differently from everybody else? Look at the product line. That will tell you

what makes them so successful. What's a lesson from Apple that other young entrepreneurs can learn today's world?

Uh, set a high bar. Set a high bar. Do they think a lot bigger? Yeah. Always try to elevate what you're doing.

What types of companies did you start? Well, same same kind of thing. It was a tech thing. The lesson I learned at Apple is always set a high bar. Yeah. You know, everybody's trying to do the best job they can. That's how you get great products out of it.

Thank you so much for your time, sir. I appreciate you. Got great advice. Really appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. So, I go up to my guy in the Ferrari and he didn't make his wealth starting businesses, but he was an employee at Apple, an early employee at Apple in the 1990s. And it just goes to show if you're in the right place at the right time, you can still become rich. I mean, he's Ferrari rich, you guys. So, he got there for a reason. Pretty cool interview out here in Silicon Valley in the tech capital of the world. Let's go get another one, you guys. Come on.

Excuse me, sir. Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire? How when I

Yeah. How old were you? Jeez, I can't remember. It was so long ago. No, I'm kidding.

Could have been 50. So, you made it later in life? Was delayed gratification important? Patience in your career?

It was okay. Yeah. And how did you get rich? What line of business are you in? I built a satellite company.

A satellite company? But that's such a niche business. How did you get into building satellites? I found a company that was broken. It was after 911 and I thought we're going to need more information about people around the world. And I had lost a friend on 911.

Sorry. So, it was more like let's fix this and find this kind of information that we need more of. I didn't realize until I'd been at it for a while. We'd make a ton of money,

right? What was the most amount of money you made in a year? Oh, we won one contract for billions of dollars from the US government cuz we were the early guys.

You built a billion dollar company. Yeah. Congratulations. How did you get that contract? I I got to I want to make sure my Uber doesn't leave.

I know. They won't. Let me talk to them. I have a channel with 17 million followers. I've interviewed 25 billionaires in the last four years to help the younger generation. Let me ask you this. If you could give me one piece of advice on how you scaled out a multi-billion dollar company, how did you do that?

It takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment. You have to work 6 days a week or seven. And did you be lucky?

Did you sacrifice a lot? Oh, yeah. Sure. I worked six or seven days a week for years. When you found the

Didn't get to see my son's football games and stuff like that. But we made America safer. We protected the environment. We created lots of jobs and we made our investors rich. So it was like the American dream.

How did you sell to the US government? How did you land and said, "You need to know more about the world." This is so long ago that people didn't have digital maps. A friend of mine started Google Earth. Nobody believed they needed digital maps. You guys grew up with maps in your phone, but back then they didn't have them. So we convinced people, you need to know more. I really got to go.

You know people that thought you were crazy when you were buying. Totally. They said go back to, you know, I would I built it in Washington. They said go back to New York. digital mapping. Nobody will ever make money.

Why didn't you listen to them? I was convinced it would work and that was the crazy part. I stuck with it.

Thank you so much for your time. So I appreciate. Wait real quick. Sarah, you said it was broken. What did you go in there to fix it? What's the most common mistake? The most common reason why businesses are broken in today's world.

They are selling what they have, not what the customer needs. You're a good negotiator.

I'm great negotiator. But sell the customer what they need, not what you have. If you solve needs, you're going to get rich.

What's the best advice you ever got from a mentor? One lesson that a mentor taught you that always

Don't give up. Keep going. Did you almost give up? No, but it was crazy to keep going. Last message to the younger generation right here. One more nugget to them to to build a billion dollar company, man. One more lesson to the younger generation.

Work hard, but be excited. The the future so bright, you all ought to be wearing

2026. What's the best industry to get into right now? Nobody's talking about. Give me the best industry.

That's a tough one. That's the toughest question you I think cyber is going to be hugely important.

Why? Cuz AI is making it easier to fake everybody out. My guy founded a satellite company of all businesses, you guys. And he just gave us an incredible interview out here in Silicon Valley. beat up all businesses, satellites, built a multi-billion dollar business, and just gave us a great interview. You guys, come on, man. Silicon Valley is going crazy. Excuse me, sir.

Question for you. How old were you when you became a millionaire? Oh, god. I know these guys don't.

Oh, do you? Well, that's an interesting question. I had a misspent youth, so it took longer than you'd expected.

And how did you make it, would you say? I'm a plastic surgeon. I just worked hard.

So, you got it as a plastic surgeon. I made my patients happy and they rewarded me and it was great. So when you came out of medical school, what was your turning point to building your own practice and having your own business?

I think I knew from the beginning I wanted to be a plastic surgeon. So it was great. I wanted to make people happy and I wanted to see uh everyone enjoying it. So it was a great field for me.

Did you learn that the more happy you make other people, the more money you're going to make in turn?

I think it works out that way. I don't know if I learned it that way. I don't want to say that, but it definitely happens. I became a plastic surgeon because I wanted to be an orthopod because this orthopod guy was really I wanted to be a sports doctor. Then this plastic surgeon showed up in some pink gargoyle glasses and he was like, "You need to come with me and become a plastic surgeon and he converted me and it all worked out great."

I'm going to challenge you. Take me back to the most life-changing conversation you ever had. What's the best advice you ever got from a mentor throughout your career?

That's a good question. That was one of them cuz he told me just to be you and enjoy it. And I think I'm old. I mean, I see so many young people. You can drive into the drive-thru at McDonald's, right, and meet someone who you can just see them and you're like, they're going to be something someday. And everyone can be something someday. And I became I was a farm boy from Illinois. I became a plastic surgeon here in Silicon Valley.

What do most medical professionals get wrong about the business side of medicine? Because a lot of them they come out of school, they've got shiny object syndrome when they get out because they're in school for so damn long. When you come out of school, what's a way that you could advise them about building the business the right way?

I think for any business and when you create happiness for yourself and happiness for everyone around you, you will succeed. I have people come into me and give me $20,000 in cash for their surgery that are ditch diggers that own businesses that worked really hard. And when you enjoy what you do and you're good at it, you can succeed.

Have you seen the business of medicine change a lot, especially in plastic surgery over the like where do you think it's going?

Oh, it's evolved a lot for sure. It's evolved a ton. And have you adopted a lot of the technology that's came out?

The technology has been great. For sure. It's improved what we do. It's improved how our patients improve. It's been great. Plastic surgery has been a really wonderful field.

Why? Because it's just evolved. Our results are better. People heal faster. People are happy. I mean, all you'd have to do is come to work with me for a day. You can bring that camera around and you would see so many people so happy. A lot of people are judgmental about plastic surgery. A lot of people think it's vain or it's superficial, but people are super happy

and you can make millions in that space as well. You can make money, but you can also I mean I would argue that the happiness is more than the money.

I love that you got amazing advice, sir. Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate you, man. This is great.

All right, you guys. That is a wrap on today's video. I need you to like and subscribe for amazing content, man. We just came out to one of the richest cities on planet Earth, Silicon Valley, to figure out how they got rich and how you can do the exact same thing. But let's go a step further, you guys. See, I launched and built the number one most powerful entrepreneur community and network in the entire world where every single week you can get mentored directly from the millionaires and the billionaires I interview on this channel. So, if you want direct access to the millionaires and billionaires I interview, and you want them to mentor you, go down, click the link in the description of this video to join the school of mentors today. I can't wait to see you on the inside. With that being said, I'll see you in the next

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)"?

Unknown Host (Host), Unknown Guest 1 (Guest), Unknown Guest 2 (Guest), Unknown Guest 3 (Guest), Unknown Guest 4 (Guest).

What is "Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)" about?

This content explores the insights and stories of successful entrepreneurs and millionaires in Silicon Valley, focusing on their paths to wealth, the industries that foster financial success, and key lessons in business that go beyond traditional education. It highlights how they created significant wealth through innovation and entrepreneurship, offering valuable perspectives on achieving…

What is mentioned in this School of Hard Knocks episode?

14 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Switch gear, Artificial Intelligence, Apple Inc., Plastic surgery, Energy and infrastructure, United States (states). Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley)"?

The episode runs 20 min; the transcript is about 5,224 words in 132 timestamped sections.

More from School of Hard Knocks

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.