Nikhil Sai is the youngest "Clickfunnels 2CCC" winner! Episode 58 — The Prodigy Kid Podcast

Welcome to the Prodigy Kid Podcast, where we interview successful entrepreneurs and find out what they are up to as a kid and a teen entrepreneurial, when they first had their first entrepreneurial aha, and, uh, if they have kids, what are they doing with their kids. And welcome to the show, we have Nikhil Sai, and, uh, I'm excited. Welcome.

Hey Jeff, great to be here.

Okay, so our whole company, if you look back behind me, uh, I guess right there if you're watching the video, Prodigy Kid is our— the name of our company. So, uh, Nikhil is what I would call a prodigy. And so far, um, I'm gonna let him kind of get into his background and what he's done, but I just want to give you a quick little overview, um, At 19, he dropped out of college, and by 21, you had made a million dollars. And now, through your clients, you have created and generated over $500 million of verified money has gone through your hands, you know, and through your clients' hands from work that you've done, correct?

Yep.

Think about that. You just now turned 22 or 23, I meant. And you're between half a million, half a billion and a billion dollars. So it's— and that's in what, 3 years, 4 years?

Yeah, actually it was in 2 years. That track record was actually under 2 years overall, uh, like from the time I actually started to buy, I'm actually 21, so it was damn fast.

Yeah, so if you, if you think about it, um, you're using the ClickFunnels software, and with the ClickFunnels software, when you hit certain benchmarks, you get an award. So if you, if you win $1 million, you get what they call Two Comma Club. If you get $10 million, um, 8 digits, you get a Two Comma Club X. And then if you get 3, you know, if you get, you know, over $100 million, you get the, what, the 2CC? 2CCC?

Yeah, award.

So that's— you are the youngest person to ever get that 9-digit award from ClickFunnels. I mean, that's, that's huge. Like, I mean, it's, it's amazing. It really is. Um, you know, I'm just curious, um, completely sidetracked and side note, but I saw there was a hotel with your name on it in India. Is that your hotel?

No.

Yeah, I was like, oh my God, he's already getting help buying hotels, and oh my God, like Yeah, so it's, uh, it's definitely pretty cool. So imagine I have a 15-year-old, so to imagine my 15-year-old within 6, 7 years being a millionaire, like, it's very possible. If you're a parent and you have kids that are coming up, um, it's very possible to, to do very, very well at a young age. Um, you know, so you're from originally from India. And you lived there your whole life, of course, and now you're in Dubai. What was life like as a kid? Did you ever see, ever even consider that you would have this type of extreme success at such a young age? You know, go back to like 10 and under, you know, teen years. Could you ever see it?

Sure. Interestingly enough, Jeff, I actually never spoke about my childhood ever overall. So it would be definitely interesting to explore while I'm speaking. So, you know, I'm gonna think while I'm talking, so bear with me here. So definitely, uh, I do have very strong memories, or I would say, uh, you know, kind of pictures in my head about things which I would definitely achieve. Uh, you know, I was undoubtedly very clear that I'm gonna be successful. I don't know what pathway, I don't know what it would be exactly, I just know that I will be something big. It just was very clear in my head. But I could definitely say that doesn't mean I'm going to talk about it or I act like it or I just show up like that. No, that wasn't the case. I just had the picture in my head very clearly. I just have that, I would say, the memory that, okay, you know, I could do whatever I want. You know, I just have that possibility in my head. And as a young kid, I always had that, you know, even below 10. I would say possibly from a very, very young age. My mom tells me very recently whenever I speak with her, that, you know, I actually am a very observant kid, meaning I listen a lot and I try to learn from every situation. I think that's a great trait, uh, which actually served me very well even to this point. So, you know, I was always learning and I was always picturing what I could be. And I don't take anything too seriously as well, and I don't let anything like shape me overall. I would consume information and I would try to shape myself a little bit. I'm obviously influenced but I don't let anything take over me a little bit. So that's kind of how I remember my, I would say, ultra childhood.

So I remember being like 8 years old and going on vacation with my family, and we were visiting, we were visiting a town where there were like multi, like 150-room mansions, these huge, beautiful oceanfront mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. Um, and I, I always had a desire for, you know, I, I came from a poor background, so I always had like that, that yearning to want to have that wealth. Now, your background, you didn't come from a, a, you know, wealthy background, right?

Yeah, no, obviously. I mean, if you understand the economy of India itself, like, it is a country where, you know, like You, you, in like an average country, if you're called poor, you know, like it's called middle class in India because the most population is called middle class. But if you look at the world economy and compare it to what's happening in India, and you will consider it is poor because in India, like, uh, a middle class is somebody who could eat and maintain their utility and have a decent amount of debt that they could probably get out of in a lifetime. That's middle class. And I think that's considered poor in America. So yes, I obviously wasn't, I was not coming from a very rich background or anything like that. And there was always, I would say, financial struggles throughout my life, which I've seen. I kind of seen a trend in my family. And I figured this out while I was growing up, like I would say late in my school and early in my college time, that every time my family was kind of struggling to sort things out or they're kind of fighting with each other or I kind of hear more noise than usual or a little bit violence, I kind of figured the pattern is happening in the end of the month where there are no more finances to take care of and there is more bills. But they don't talk about it directly. And that's the problem in India. But I would say many societies where financial conversations are not— are kind of taboo a little bit. You know, they're not talked about. And I think that's definitely a problem in families. It's definitely like great to open up about finances, talk, plan, and play together as a team instead of like playing against each other in a family. So I kind of figured out like that, okay, like most of the situations we're going through, it is because of lack of finances. And if you fix that problem, like 95, if not 99% of the problems are no longer problems usually, because then you will be left with the actual problems which cannot be solved by money, which is a whole different conversation. But at least you won't be in poverty and struggling to make the ends meet and staying anxious about a bunch of things and a bunch of people, you know, punching you in the face every other day. So that's definitely a different memory I have. Yep.

Did you have any, like, you know, were your parents or any family members or anybody close to you that was an entrepreneur and was in business for themselves?

No, no, I never actually, I didn't even know entrepreneurship was even a thing. I kind of look back at my school life and I'm like, my whole school life was a lie. Like, what did I learn from my 16 to 18 years of learning English? What, like, is that the only thing I actually did learn from the school? That's kind of how I felt very recently. I was having a think moment for myself and I was just recording myself and I was like, whoa, like, what did I even learn for my first 16, 20 years of my life? Nothing other than language which I'm speaking right now. And that was so disappointing for me that I've lost the most productive, or I would say the most energetic, uh, you know, time of my life, you know. And the only thing I learned was English. So no, there wasn't anything or such as entrepreneurship. It was like, this is a big problem in India. and I believe in most third world countries, it is you just don't want to take risk. You're already living hand to mouth. You don't want to take risk. All you care about is getting a government job, you know, a job in government where you get salary every month and just be a slave for the next 60 years and you die peacefully with the retirement. That's kind of the game plan for— it's, it's like Indian dream overall. Or this is not our dream, but a typical above average middle class dream of Indian is more like become a doctor or lawyer or engineer. And as funny as it sounds, you know, these actual courses are quite expensive and you know, it's not easy to get into those overall. And again, lucky I got scholarship and whatnot because I was good at academics. But anyway, like that was the situation I was coming from and there was no entrepreneurial— it was taboo to talk about finance. It was like, I didn't even know I need to pay taxes until I actually made money. So like the whole concept doesn't even exist overall in my life. But the thing is, as I got into, I would say, later my college, once I finished my diploma, I was exploring into different things which I could be doing because I was feeling like I just have this constant feeling I'm not living up to my full potential. And it's an alarm which happens in my head when I'm actually experiencing that, that I gotta change. So I explore different entities and, you know, I found few books, I found few courses, I listened to a lot of entrepreneurial journeys, and I figured out that, okay, like to really get generational wealth or, you know, escape the whole shebang which is happening in life, you got to make a lot of money. And you can't be doing an average government job or work for somebody to get there. So the only option I had was to, you know, sell my time and make some money initially. So that's kind of how I started.

So, um, I don't know that— what are the— like, at what point did you start your university, like your, your college career? Like, is the, the age different? Because like in the United States it'd be usually like 18, 19 is when you start.

It's very similar. Yep, it is very similar. But ideally, it's like you actually finish your 10th grade in India, then you actually have multiple options to get into college. So it's usually like 16 to 17 is like the average age, uh, you know, you could say, to get into college. And I, I was actually very young into school, so like I, I'm probably the youngest, thinnest, smallest guy in the class most of the time. So I actually joined school when I was 2 years old because my mom was a teacher in the same school I actually joined. So, you know, my brother and I were in the same school. He was— I have an older brother, you know, 1.5 years older than me. So he used to go, my mom used to teach there, so I used to go with her and sit there and I kind of learned the ABC thing and I directly got into the next class instead of the primary class, which usually starts for most of the kids. So that's kind of my story.

So you mentioned, you know, learning. What did you— what was your, like, your first book that made you really realize that the world was not what you've been told? Like, was there a certain book that was like, yes, what is this goal?

Yeah, there definitely was. So, uh, I'll tell you a quick background so you can understand the context. I was coming from this situation of desperately trying to make some money, and I had this from very long time because, you know, I kind of have my brother kind of paving a path, you know, like he was like a little bit more open than me, you know, asking, you know, family money and, you know, doing his things, and he was more comfortable with that. But I understand my situation and my family situation, so I rarely— I don't remember, you know, asking my parents money for anything overall. Like, I don't usually do that as a kid. So, but I always have these desires to do such things, and such things actually cost money, but I don't have it. So I had a clear lack. So I kind of came to a conclusion that I gotta be making money. So I've tried a lot of gimmicks to make money overall. Uh, in college time, I found this book which one of my teachers, or I would say lecturers, gave gift to the top mate in the class. We made fun of him that whole day about he getting that book as a gift, and it was just like we made him literally cry that day. But after a few months, I downloaded that book online and then I started reading. Then I realized like, holy crap, like, oh my God, what is this? Like, after reading it for a few hours and stopping and then looking at the world, I just realized like my whole life was like— and this book is probably one of the most common recommendations for getting started with personal finance. It's the book called Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And once I read that, I was like, dude, everybody around me is a poor dad. I just didn't find my rich dad yet. And so then I started exploring for my rich dad, and I found many people who could actually become that personality in my life who mentored me continuously to level up my mindset.

You know, it's kind of funny, uh, me personally, that book came out when I was— I guess I can't even think right now, but, um, in around, um, I guess I think it was around 2000, maybe 2001, is when he went on Oprah. And after he went on to Oprah, Rich Dad Poor Dad exploded all over the place. And I moved to a neighborhood in, in Florida in the southern United States, and my neighbor was my rich dad, and my dad was the college— he's still— he's like, right now I've almost broke him, but he's, he's like, um, you would consider him an engineer, but he doesn't have an engineering degree. Very analytical, very, very, very like employee-minded, uh, all that, and no desire for business, no desire, can't think like that at all. But my neighbor was 100% all about an entrepreneur. He didn't care. He took a job with a paper route for $25,000 because he said, well, I'm just— I'm sleeping anyway, why not make that extra $25,000? And then he was rolling it back into assets and things like that. And what I learned from him is I— he got me started into my first business, and then he got me into my first house. And the last thing that he did that I didn't listen to is he took me to his investment, um, lady and he said, I want you to put $200 a month or a week away and forget about it and start this week and come back next week. And that's the one thing I didn't do that I wish I had done. Um, but when, when Rich Dad Poor Dad came out, I said, oh my God, this is a book about my life. It was the most amazing thing. Um, now with my biggest mistake Have you taken steps to— I know you're very successful in your agency and the things that you're doing. Have you taken the steps to purchase real estate or to buy crypto or to invest in, you know, Forex or the, you know, US Stock Exchange or anything like that?

Yeah, for sure. Again, I'm a very private person when it comes to my finances. Like, my goal overall is to actually invest into companies which I believe in overall. So I am liquid, and I definitely hold other assets which kind of diversifies my situation overall. And yeah, I believe in investing for sure. And you could technically say I'm financially free by 21 itself because I know my number. I don't need more than a couple thousand dollars a month. I don't chase, you know, the fancier lifestyle. Every now and then I don't chase Rolexes and Lambos and anything like that. So, you know, coming from the background I come from, I'm a very lean guy. Doesn't matter how much money I'm making, at least for now, I don't go crazy with it overall. So yes, I do invest and I'm not a great investor. I just make sure that the time to value should make sense overall because I can spend a couple hours and, you know, close a $20,000 deal, or I could be looking for the best 12 to 13% asset and do all this research and holy things. Before I invest, like it just doesn't make sense. So yes, I try to stay liquid so that when I find an opportunity to partner with somebody to invest in a business, I just want to be able to take that opportunity as well. So yes, I'm definitely exploring that. My long-term goal is definitely getting into private equity, some kind of, like actually partnering up with businesses and helping them with my sales and marketing systems and allow them to scale because playing the agency game is great. And you're like a dancing monkey, you get paid for, watch you, like how long you could dance overall. But ideally, you know, I know my strength of the systems, I know what we could deliver. So we are definitely exploring into more partnerships and more long-term equity and sweat equity and different investment opportunities which we could get into to, you know, build stronger partnerships overall.

So you're giving me an Alex Hormozi vibe all the way. Do you have a relationship with Alex?

Oh yeah, actually. I'm a huge follower of him for sure. I kind of used to text him on Instagram back in '21. You know, he used to have a different account and he used to reply back then. There's no more chance right now. But yeah, I have been definitely influenced by not just Alex, but many entrepreneurs who think like him because I just felt before I find Alex or many entrepreneurs like, you know, in the ClickFunnels community or, you know, the other communities which, where I've been part of overall where I met a lot of 9-figure entrepreneurs, I felt like a misfit. It's great, you know, you make a lot of money, you get all the credit, you know, you have amazing clients, and there's few things going right, few things going wrong, but you have this constant feeling that you're just not normal and you can't find somebody like you. So it just kind of makes you feel like a little bit alien. But once I hear other people feeling the same way like me and explaining that it is normal to live like this, it is normal to enjoy work, it is normal to not normal, you know, feeling to drink a lot and, you know, just crash every weekend. It's normal to just not chase girls back to back and, you know, try to go crazy with that opinion. It's normal to not just chase better and better lifestyle and living the life to impress other people. It just felt like more calm for me, and I felt more accepted internally because I kind of see other people doing it as well. I'm like, okay, like, I know my vibe. I just, I'm just in the wrong communities most of the times and influenced by wrong people. So, you know, that's kind of my thought process. Yes, I did learn a lot from him. I was one of his very first few hundred subscribers back in 2020. So definitely learned a lot from him.

He's, he's the same way. You know, right now I think he's, you know, he's got a nice place in— and I don't personally know him, but, you know, just from, you know, listening to his podcast and everything. So he's, he's in Vegas. He's got a pretty nice place. But he— they were driving there. They were showing up and people were paying $25,000 or whatever, $40,000 to their mastermind. And he's showing up in like an old, you know, 15, 20-year-old car, and people are like looking at him like, what are you doing? Like, I thought you were supposed to be like the rich guy. But it's not about the money for him. It's about the game. It's about, it's about winning the game. And it's in, in your case, um, you know, because you are like that and you're, you're so young, I mean, 23, um, you know, I was successful at 23, but not nearly on that level. Did you ever find yourself getting, you know, like extreme success, like came fairly quick to you and you got to a very good point, but did you ever find yourself plateauing and kind of, you know, becoming comfortable and stagnated and—

Oh yeah, definitely. There's definite phases, I believe. And this was a constant question for my own head. I was like, am I achieving too much at a very young age and am I going to be like this forever? And that was a— That is still probably the biggest fears I actually have. And I actually interviewed a lot of entrepreneurs on the same thing. And I've kind of figured it's a common pattern most of the times. And yes, I do feel like that multiple times. For example, once I have been recognized as the world's youngest $100 million award winner on the stage, I kind of got— people call me award factory these days. I have all the awards that ClickFunnels have technically. And it's funny, but it kind of gave me a different impression. And I don't usually fall for this, but I kind of went into a situation where I had something to lose overall, because I hustled my way up from being a 19-year-old dropout to building a million-dollar agency in 2 years. But then I had a reputation to stand by, so I wasn't taking as much risk as I should be, or the risk which I was— or actions which actually got me there. I was playing a little bit safer and a little bit comfortable and kind of got a little bit complacent as well. And that's kind of the phase, uh, you know, from me getting the awards to, you know, And for a couple months it kind of lasted overall. And I kind of realized like, okay, we got to make some moves. And definitely that's, I think, a part of the game. And the best way to get out of that was just me reminding myself and realizing that other people go through the same phase, sitting down, dumping my brain, and what is the next big thing which I can't achieve, and then trying to run after it. And that's kind of the path that I'm on right now.

So do you have something in mind for the next, let's say, 10 years or even 20 years? Do you see a big, big picture? Down the road?

For sure. Yeah, I'm an interesting— I'm in an interesting stage. I'm 23 and I learn a lot every day. You know, that's probably the biggest asset I'm stacking up. It's not the money I make, it's probably the amount of knowledge I'm acquiring and the connections I'm building for life. So, you know, every other day I just look back and think like how stupid I am yesterday. You know, that's kind of the situation I'm in because, you know, it's just so funny how much I actually consume and learn from other people. You know, getting mentored by 9-figure people, getting mentored by billionaires and interviewing multi-millionaires, there is definitely, you know, I would say what I'm going to say now won't be anything closer to what I will end up being for sure. That's, I think that's, that's for sure can happen. But yeah, ultimately, like, my goal is getting into the bigger wealth game. Uh, I kind of realized I'm more of a strategist and sales and marketing strength person than the operator. You could say like I'm not the nerdy who actually gets the people to do the work. I'm more of a strategist. So I'm probably thinking to use my strength and, you know, partner with other people and, you know, kind of build a private equity firm and raise money and invest into different scale of startups and scale-up companies as well. And, you know, build a big holding company in longer term and obviously break into multiple asset classes as well eventually. Uh, but yeah, that's kind of my plan overall. And obviously while I'm doing it, I just want to document the entire thing I'm doing. I actually have a channel called Zero to Zillion. I wish I've done this from my day one because I have a lot of failure stories. I'm just documenting everything I'm doing every day and I'm posting a 3 to 5 minute blog as a summary of it. Because we cannot look at Jeff Bezos and we look at his net worth like $200 billion, oh my God, like he was like this at $1999 and now he's at $200 billion. We don't even know what he did. But I just want— I don't know if I will reach that level of success. I'm not even aiming for like anything in specific, but I just know I'll be ending up somewhere people might be looking up to me and they want to see what are the steps. They clearly have 6,000 video stacks which they could refer to and be like, oh, it sucks most of the days and some days you're kind of making it and very rarely you're going to make it happen and still you reach the goal. So I want to document that. And I've made a lot of mistakes, Jeff. I actually have lost over half a million of my cash on building a software company while I was building my agency as well. So made a lot of mistakes along the way overall. So definitely a lot, lot more stories to tell. I wish I started documenting earlier.

So you got, you got a taste of thinking that you had the golden touch and then, and then you had it bite you to humble you a little bit.

That happened exactly. I think, I think that's very accurate description. And yeah, you kind of, uh, because every project you touch is becoming successful, now you kind of get into the ego mode like, uh, you know, let me, let me touch some shit and it turns gold. And if that doesn't happen, you know, you, you stick your fingers into something bad and then you realize it's stinks. So, you know, that did happen to me overall. And I don't think it's— again, it's the execution capacity. My brain couldn't fathom the execution. I was grinding 16 to 18 hours a day. My watch was freaking out saying, hey dude, you're sleeping less than 3 hours. This was back in '21. I don't recommend anybody going through that hell overall. It's definitely not good for long term. I was 22, like, doesn't matter to me, you know, I could get through that. But Yeah, I don't think many people would be able to do that. So yes, definitely I've learned some hard lessons. It's again not the business, it's just wrong timing and wrong capital allocation and ability to build great teams and getting other people to do stuff that wasn't in my expertise. Especially when you get into a new industry, you got to have a lot of product knowledge, which I didn't. I was just excited about the industry, and excitement enough— excitement alone isn't enough. You really need talented people and a lot of capital to break into, because I was trying to break into B2C. Like I was trying to become the Amazon for, you know, car service as an example. And to build a marketplace, you need billions. There is no other way. So I had built something sufficient and I talked to a lot of VCs and, you know, private equity guys and they were like, Nick, we trust your resume. We want to fund it. But guess what? You need to shut down your media thing. You know, your actual company, which is generating millions to go serious on this because you can't be playing both the games. Then I had to make a hard decision. I'm half a million into this. Do I want to shed my thing, which is my main passion, which I'm enjoying the most to do, to run this new thing, which I don't even know how far it will go? Then I had to make a decision. Cutting the finger is better than chopping the hand. So I did let my finger go.

Nice, nice. Yeah, it's crazy. I get such an Alex Hormozi vibe from you. It's wild. I love it. Yeah, he's definitely on a different level, and I don't see any reason why you can't get to that. That billion-dollar mark at one point. You know, it's 10 digits. 10 digits is coming. Even, um, you know, even though you say, you know, you're, you're not gonna put your money into like a technical, like the US stock market and compound interest, you know, but like the, the compounding effect of your investments are, are, you know, there's no way that you— unless you just completely pull the plug, like there's no way that it can't. Um, it's pretty, pretty awesome to be here while you're still young so that way someday I can say, oh man, I, I interviewed him one time on the podcast. Um, so I wanted to know, what was the very first time and age that you were when you actually made money that wasn't from a job? Let's say, like, when did you actually make money doing anything?

Oh, I never did any serious jobs, actually. Oh, I never did any serious jobs. I was never employed, and that was the biggest struggle for me while building a company because I was never an employee. I don't know how to manage employees or how to get get them to work. And I kind of still struggle to this point with that overall, you know. I kind of— I'm too friendly, uh, you know, with my employees and whatnot. So when did I actually start making money? It's an interesting question. So when it comes to my situation, I was like— I think once I'm 14, 15, I'm always trying to scramble money from somewhere or the other. So there were these apps, you know, like refer and earn apps. If you install in a phone and then you get some, you know, like dollars here and there. So that was like my first gimmick way to make some money. Then obviously I got into a game, it's called 8-ball pool, where I used to earn a lot of coins. I used to play that game very, very well, and I used to sell those coins. I used to earn so much that I was able to sell and make money from that. That was like my real money, and I was able to buy my first mobile phone through that income because I used to play on my mom's phone because she was a teacher. She used to come in the evening, and the first thing I used to do is, hey mom, give me your phone. So she was a little annoyed because she sees the pattern that, okay, you only meet me to get my phone from my hands. And because phone was the thing which was allowing me to learn a lot from YouTube and, you know, make money indirectly. And that's how I bought my first phone. That, that's— then I played more and, you know, and got my first computer. And then I explored different other things and I got into affiliate marketing. And I used to handle 60 Instagram accounts. This is back in 2019. I used to post 6 times a day on all those accounts. And I used to handle thousands of DMs every day. You know, for women and sell them like $25 weight loss products to make some commissions here and there. And it was just, yeah, it was pure hustle overall. Yeah, I've done all sorts of crazy stuff before I landed where I am. And I believe it's a process for anybody. You can't skip it.

So you did— I mean, you were doing, you know, that kind of stuff young. And, you know, when you want, you know, obviously you have an entrepreneur's mind and investor's mind. And then when you go to become, you know, you're a rich dad. So if you're going to be in the poor dad world, you know, of course you said in India, like, the ultimate goal is you got to go to college, get a government job. So you're, you find yourself in, in college being torn between the two different worlds of what your parents think you should do and what people think you should do and society thinks you should do. But then you're being torn a different direction. So I heard, you know, we talked about a story you had where, where you're You know, maybe tell us about your last day at school. I, I love this story.

Oh yeah, this is probably— yeah, that's, that's a rough day actually. You know, I, I actually, um, I'm not a— I'm not a great student because I wasn't like top 1 in class or anything like that, but I was almost top 5 every time when I'm in a class. I just do enough, you know, to not get into trouble with my family, you know, because my mom is a teacher too. I don't want to disappoint her overall, so I used to maintain my in the top 5 batch in everything which I used to join. So anyway, I finished my diploma of mechanical engineering. So it's like an engineering course, but a crash course in 3 years without finishing a 4-year engineering degree. So I kind of already tasted how the engineering feels like, and I realized this is total shit. Like, 3 years I learned mechanical engineering of diploma, I learned jack shit. I don't know how to do anything. There is no life skill. It's absolute waste of time. I'm being taught by underpaid broke people who are engineers who can't get a job in a different place, they are teaching us. And it was definitely nuts. So I had to change something, but my parents wouldn't allow me to drop out because obviously, for obvious reasons, they want me to get a government job or get a secure job or anything like that. So I was like trying to make enough money to prove that I could actually make it happen. So I was making enough money. Actually, I made more money than my mom's salary. She was, you know, like a PG, MBA, like whatever it is. I don't even know how much she studied. Like, she's a very well-educated woman and she works for the government school, and I made more money than her, and they were still not allowing me to drop out. So it was crazy. So I was going to college and I was sitting there, but I— the classes were not happening. And I was like, okay, what do I do? I was reading a book. I was reading a book. It was, uh, the biography of Steve Jobs. And think about this, visualize this very clearly, picture this. It's a classroom of full boys because mechanical usually are mostly boys, few girls in the corner. Some people are having fun in the back of the room, some people are using the phone, someone is watching movies, someone is playing video games. Like it's, it's a whole shebang thing which is happening. And I was in the middle of every noise calmly reading my book. And here is an underpaid employee of our college who was monitoring us overall, who is frustrated. The fact that I don't actually attend the college but I cleared all my exams. That was the thing. It was a 25-people college, uh, in my class, and only 6 people actually passed the first semester of the second year which I joined. And I was one of them because I already know the subject because I did the diploma. So he was like not okay with that fact. So he came to me and I was reading the book. He snatched my book from my hand. He told me, you can't read novels. I was like, what? Do you see that guy back in the room? He's he's doing some weird things. Like, did you even notice? And he was like, nope. He took my book away and he kept it on the table and he didn't let me do anything. So that was like the last day. I took the book, I walked away from the class. I told them, I told my parents, I'm never going back. Like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever seen somebody do. And I still regret the fact that this is happening day in, day out to many, not just entrepreneurs, but many students who are trying to level up their skill set It's just absolute waste of time, in my opinion.

Of course, unless you're going to be a doctor or a lawyer.

Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm not talking for those people, for sure. I'm only talking about people like myself.

Yeah. And, and, you know, there, there's a, there's a threshold. There's, there's people like yourself, people like me, and then there are the lawyers and the people that need to have that, that degree and that certification. But, you know, Imagine the poor people that are not going to be lawyers and doctors and, and that are just wasting their time and being like dumbed down. It's, it's, it's, it's sad to me. It's, it really is.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, let me ask you, okay, so, so being 23 and you really got your, your, your start at 19, um, what would— what, what kind of tips could you give someone that, like, let's say there's a parent, parent listening to this that has a, a 15 or 16-year-old. Like, I have a 15-year-old that would be a good example. Like, he's not— he's, he's getting Fs in his classes, he's not doing his work, he's skipping classes, he's going in late, he's, he's leaving early, he's, he just doesn't care because he has seen what you have seen and what I have seen, and, you know, he thinks it's, it's not for him. Like, what would you tell someone that is younger that maybe has an entrepreneurial mind, like, you know, based on what you did, what, what kind of tip could you give, you know?

Sure. Yeah, I'm— I won't consider myself the best to do this. I'll tell you what I know overall, and, uh, I believe it's definitely okay because the only thing you have when you're young is time. Ultimately, it's definitely okay to let them do a lot of stuff. I mean, a lot of stuff. Let them just figure it out overall. And I think Definitely having a little bit of support from family would mean everything to kids who are trying stuff especially. And I think the best thing to do as a parent is just monitoring and trying to be more of a friend and a mentor together and kind of have that conversations and give them the right pathway and like pave that direction for them. And I believe that would genuinely help them overall. I believe as a parent, you definitely have the opportunity and control and I would say the ground to actually plant the right seeds. I mean, telling them what's right, what's wrong, what they could actually achieve, what do you believe is good for them, so that they could obviously— what you're suggesting kind of aligns with their interests, they could build on top of it and, you know, get deeper into it overall. Like, my parents instilled a lot in me that I actually need to be very ethical. I'll tell you a quick story. When I was young, uh, you know, like, we have this whole thing where we actually like crack crackers up on a special day in India. There is a festival called Diwali, so you just smoke out thousands of crackers that day. So me and my dad and my brother went to shopping the crackers, and it was just little me, you know, who don't have like a lot of consciousness about like if I should like, you know, take advantage of all the crackers around. So I took a cracker and I kept it in my pocket, and I'm walking away quietly, you know, as if I have done nothing wrong. And my brother saw this and he was like laughing, and then my father asked me like, hey, what are you doing? And then I told him like, hey, I'm kind of sneaking away with this little cracker, and then he immediately made a face and told me, put it back. And, you know, I think those kind of little gestures which kind of teaches right ethics and values for your kids, and then obviously guiding them in different career directions and, you know, helping them build skill sets, build belief systems which can help them become the best version of themselves, would be probably the best thing. I am so confused why in the world nobody taught me about nutrition, why in the world nobody taught about muscle building. Why in the world nobody taught about, you know, cognitive learning? Why in the world nobody taught about personal finance? Why in the world nobody taught about world economy? Why in the world nobody thought about any skill set which are actually relevant to the life? Never in college, never in school.

What about people skills?

Yeah, communication, for God's sake. I'm lucky I'm the top 1% communicator in every class I was in because I was genuinely interested in that. I used to communicate a lot and I learned English all by myself. The first sales call I took It sucked. It sucked so bad. I think, think about this, a 19-year-old broke dropout kid with no marketing experience or degree, with a thick Indian accent, with a little shaky phone web camera which is shaking while you're taking the Zoom call. That was my first sales call in a corner of my room where like everybody in my family need to stand out when I'm taking the call because the tenant is scared. But I was with 4 people are living together and my butt is sweating like crazy because I don't have air conditioner. It was horrible and I sucked on that sales call so badly that I had to download some random app on the internet, get to the top of my building, and start talking 8 hours a day for like next 16 to 30 days to learn to speak English fluently, introduce myself very well so that I could actually represent myself very well on sales call. And I believe why nobody taught me, like, duh, doesn't make sense. It's crazy.

It's, um, yeah, I, it is kind of wild. Um, and I I, I run into entrepreneurs who, like, we went to an event this past weekend and we were around some very high-level people, and their kids were, were one of the, one of the moms that I talked to, their daughters were like, they dropped out of high college first year, and then the other one was in high school, and they were, they were doing like $10,000 was their first month in business, you know, they're doing 6 digits. And, and it, a lot of it goes back to the mom being extremely successful. So, um, in your case, you know, if you have kids, I imagine you, they will know everything about success. Like my son, I don't know if you see the journeys and the different things that, that we're doing and, and me posting stuff that, that we're up to, but he's getting a, a, an education one-on-one you know, right directly from me. But what about all the other kids that are out there, like, um, that don't have that opportunity? Think about the opportunity that, that you may have in, in, like, in, in your world. Um, what, what could you see that, that could be done differently for those young kid— young people, you know, based on your, your skill set? What— is there anything that you could create or something that you could do that Like, you know, of course, you know, you have children, you'll be able to guide them. But have you ever considered, you know, doing, you know, giving back? Or maybe if you like, look at it like, what if, what if like you had somebody, a program or a mentorship that you could have plugged into when you were 15 or 16 to say, this is— you need people skills, you need financial skills, you need to be able to, to speak good English, you need all these things that you had to learn the hard way. Have you ever considered creating something like that for kids worldwide or kids India specifically? Have you ever thought of that?

For sure. Yeah, it's, it's definitely an interesting thought process to go through that route. For sure. I definitely have a lot of ideas to give back in many ways possible, and I believe the biggest thing which I could donate is not my wealth, which I will at the point of time for sure. It's more about the knowledge and skills which I'm acquiring and the experiences which I'm going through. So I have created a blog channel of mine, it's called Zero to Zillion. And zero— zillion is just an undefined number, there's no definite number to it, it's just some big random number, whatever it will end up being overall. So I just— I'm just documenting my journey so it could be like a very actionable thing for everybody to understand what I'm doing. And I have done few things where I believe, from the place where I'm coming from, infrastructure is probably the biggest lag. Meaning for me, having a mobile phone as a 16-year-old was a big thing. I need to make my own money to buy that. And I believe it's changing right now because technology is getting cheaper and cheaper. But back then it was definitely like— I didn't have a computer when I was young. I bought my computer when I'm 17 or 18, I guess, all by myself. I wish if I had a computer when I was young, like Bill Gates had back when, you know, he was growing up, I would probably end up in a much better situation than I am and you'll probably have done 10 times more than what I've actually achieved. So I definitely believe infrastructure gap is a lot overall. But I believe with AI coming over, with access to ChatGPT and, you know, better learning models, you know, coming directly access to children, I believe the infrastructure is definitely getting better. What I believe is great is, you know, direct mentorship. A lot of people who are successful are coming forward and mentoring more younger people. And if that creates a momentum, I believe it's definitely a net positive thing. So in my opinion, the best thing I could be doing it now is basically Sharing down the knowledge which I'm learning, um, the mistakes I'm making, and, you know, the pathways which I'm getting into, and all the troubles which I'm, you know, getting into as well. And genuinely sharing them overall is probably the easiest thing which I could do. And in the longer run, I believe what you are doing is definitely going to turn out— be turning out very well. I wish I found people like you who are focusing on kids' entrepreneurship education and kind of build that spirit, because I was having this feeling that I'm just walking in a different path where I had I have never seen the light in the first place because nobody ever shown me a torch even that it exists overall. So it was definitely a dark, uh, walkway for me overall until I actually started, uh, making decent money that my parents were still not comfortable that I would drop out, but they did allow me because, you know, of the amount of money I was able to accumulate in a very short period of time. So yes, I believe I'll definitely do that. In what structure, shape, or form, I don't exactly have an answer, but I genuinely believe I will be impacting millions of people to become a better version of themselves through my story, through my success, and through my failures, and through all my learnings for sure. And I'll be very transparent about it throughout my journey so that more and more people could inspire, learn, and share from.

I think, I think that's a mic drop because it— I, I see it happening. I mean, when I, when, when, when I can think that the person you remind me the most of is Alex Hormozi, like, I'm— I can't wait to see what exactly, um, comes out of this. It's, it's really exciting to me that, that I'm, you know, able to have this opportunity to talk with you. Um, and, and it's great that you're still so young that you're able to— with the Zero to a Zillion, um, program that you're going to document, that it's going to be on YouTube, right? Have you already started it?

I've done like 260 videos on that overall. I get like less than 50 views right now for every video. I have like 60 subscribers. But guess what? I have the financial capability and I could spend $5,000 to $10,000 a month on the media and not worry if it's giving you positive cash flow or not. I'm just more worried about documenting. I wish I've documented my 18-hour workdays running 2 companies, losing half a million, having 60 employees who I don't know most of their names. Like, that was shebang, which I wish I documented. I missed it. I don't want to do that right now. So I'm definitely focusing on documenting.

I'll have to go to YouTube and look for that because I was, as I was, um, going through a lot of your stuff, stuff. It was your—

it was not. Yeah, it's definitely not integrated to my brand directly as of now because I want to— I'm creating like, I would say, a binge bank right now, you know. I'm not like trying to actively attach my brand to it. I'm just documenting it like almost secretly, you could say, but it's public, to be very clear. It's public, it's available. You could just YouTube it and you will find it, but it's not directly attached to my face brand, uh, overall. And I believe the reason I'm documenting is somebody who is having thick accent never been an entrepreneur from a very young age, never been even told that it's a possibility, from India, a tier 3 town, had to buy his own phone, had to get his own internet, had to get his own computer, had to learn English before he takes sales calls, you know, started with $100 client and then getting over and learning, investing over $300,000 in here, losing a lot of money, making a lot of money, moving countries and all of this shebang. If I could do it, I just want to everybody who is listening and watching and consuming this content, I just want them to understand that the possibility exists. The only thing which differentiates the winners from the losers is the action-taking ability they actually have. If I know something that I gotta do, I'll figure out what skills I need to acquire to actually get that done. Then I go to somebody who actually has those skills and I literally get them on a podcast or I find a way to sneak into their network and get that help overall. But I pay for that sometimes to fast-track and get this It's not an option for me. It's the only choice I actually made for myself.

Awesome. All right. So I, you know, there's, there's so many more questions I can ask you when it comes to business because we're kind of just now beginning where I'm going to do the first webinar on June 2nd for what we're doing. And, and, you know, I've never done a webinar before and it's going to be the very first one. I just now yesterday Um, got my funnel back and, uh, you know, we're brand new, so there's so many questions I could— I would love to ask you, but you know, we're running short on time. It's already— I've already— I appreciate the time you've already given me. Um, so where's the best place we can send people to learn more about you? Is it the Zero to Zillions on YouTube is the best place?

If they— if they want to talk— if they want to learn from me, especially all my condensed learnings overall, my YouTube channel is the best place. It's literally my full name it's Nikhil Sai, N-I-K-H-I-L-S-A-I. That's my full name of my YouTube channel. And if they want to watch my boring day-to-day ups and downs and all the pitfalls I'm falling into and very few successes which I actually have, then they could go to my Zero to Zillion, uh, YouTube channel, subscribe. And if you, if you see my YouTube videos, they are like the exact same format every day. Like, I wake up, I get the work done, I go to the gym, I sleep. It's the Same routine, it's freaking boring, but that's what I want to document. That's what you're supposed to do if you really are committed to what you're trying to achieve. And I believe there's nothing wrong in it as long as I enjoy it. I just want to make it normal. You know how Alex Hormozi made me feel, how Chris Lee made me feel, how most of my mentors made me feel that, okay, it's okay to be grinding into what you're actually about to achieve and not really falling into the society fallacies and their impression on how you need to live overall. Because I have a lot of friends, uh, you know, like my average classmate is probably unemployed or maybe makes $200 in an average, like in a no-scope, you know, uh, I would say in a no-scope job. I feel so disheartened, uh, like knowing that fact that I'm— I feel privileged that, you know, I'm here overall. But yeah, I genuinely believe having that documentation will allow other people to, to probably understand the scope that the boring work compounding with a lot of skills and beliefs acquired can get you to a different level of success. And you don't feel the high every day. You're probably demotivated, questioning yourself, thinking if you are on the right track. And someday somebody else will tell you that you made it. I, I don't feel that I made it ever, even till date. I, I just received like the $100 million award on in, in the mail, and I, I was excited until I opened it. Then I'm like, okay, now what? You know, put it on the wall and get back to work. So it was like Nothing to me overall, but people who see it freak out like, oh, you're the youngest. Yeah, cool. I love that I got my visa rejected.

I love that you have your— you did the cardboard cutout for it. That was great.

It was definitely funny. It's so disheartening to know the fact that I couldn't travel to US. And it was— yeah, I got my heart shattered. I talked to a few people. There was Partiv Shah. He was another 2 Comma Club winner who was on my show. and he really helped me. And Russell Brunson was like the end decision maker to let this happen or not, because it was his stage technically. And Russell was kind enough and he walks at me later on saying, next time we want you on the stage. And it was so exciting moment for me to, to definitely see that I was live watching it on a Zoom call with somebody. Everybody who know me was screaming at my cutout and it was definitely fun, but I wish I could be physically. I'm losing a lot of opportunities. Bullshit that the immigration or whatever it is called, you know, the laws between the countries to travel from India to US, they just disqualify me because I'm young and I'm a dropout. I think it's not fair.

Yeah, I agree, and definitely is not fair one bit. Well, hey, well, Nikhil, thank you so much for being on the show, and I look forward— maybe we'll have to do this another time when you, when you get to a billion, we'll do another one.

For sure, Jeff. Hopefully I have lit up a lot of people with this podcast. And guys, just remember, regardless of the situations you're coming from, emotions you feel every day, abilities you actually feel stuck because of— these are not true. You could always accumulate those abilities. You can always feel good about yourself by feeling emotionally well, and you can always change your own situation and get to the place you actually want to. So don't let other people create your destiny. You decide and you walk the path, and it's not going to be exciting, but it will be worth it.

Mic drop. Very good. Thank you so much. Bye.

Thanks, Jeff. Have a good one. Bye-bye.