At 6 Years Old, a Fortune Teller Set Her on a Path to Success

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm talking with Gurpreet Singh this afternoon. Hello, Gurpreet.

Hey, how are you, Larry?

Good. Up in. So you're up in your home up in Long Island, New York.

Yes.

I appreciate you taking the time and the thing. Gurpreet is well known for success, number one, doing so many things that you're not supposed to be able to do and that is number one, being a success in business. At, you know, over three years she's tracked over a million dollars in income. Every other way you want to measure growth and productivity and success in business, she's excelled in all of those areas. So she's building a business that will continue to generate those kind of margins for herself and develop a team of people that make all of that happen. She's well known for business success and also her leadership development and is a highly sought after speaker and advisor all over the country. And the other thing she did, she did that she wasn't supposed to is she's a woman and she did that.

Yep.

That's, she didn't know that was against some people's rules. And and you might tell when she talks, she's got a little bit different background accent than you might be familiar with. And you, and there's a story behind all of that too. So she's a groundbreaker and she's a force to be reckoned with in business. And that because of how she operates, how she's learned to think and take charge of situations and to attack these things in a way that turns out good and good for the her and all of the people around her. And so that's how you have sustained growth. You know, it's like it works out for you, but it works out for your team, the people that are with you, and also works out for your clients. I heard that early on, by the way, Gurpreet, that it has to always be to be a long term success, it has to be equally good all the way around that triangle. And so that's the thing we fight for, to find that balance. And so it's great. When I came in, I went through the whole thing about, well, I should be selling this product instead of that product, but then if I sold that product, I'd be out of business in two months. So I said, okay, it's all right to make a little money because I, I need to stay in business. And. But then, so you have to, you know, it's all right for me to make money. And so you want to take care of your clients and everything, but you got to get this out to where it's also good for the company, where they can make a profit. And anyway, all the way around the horn, you figured out how to do that balancing act and keep on growing. And it's growth involves getting new offices and personnel and all of the problems of size. And to do that, you're doing that with people that don't have your experience. So it takes a lot of coaching, a lot of encouragement, a lot of delegation with accountability so that you keep them on a short leash while you give them that authority and those tasks to run with. So when you started out as a young girl growing up, looking towards your future, when did you start thinking about your future and what kind of thoughts did you have?

Okay, interesting question. Because I remember being, this is the truth. I remember being six years old and I, I went to my hometown in India and, you know, there was a fortune teller on the street. And you know, of course, I don't believe into all of those things, but he said, hey, let me read your palm. And I said, he said, give me five dollars. He said, give me five dollars. And I was like, five dollars. So I ran home to my mom, got the five dollars, came back, gave it to him, and he said, wow, you're gonna be a, you know, a business owner, very wealthy, very successful. And honestly, I'm pretty sure knowing, going back to that space, he probably told that to everybody.

Yeah, right.

But, you know, I'm glad he told me that because that's when the seed was planted. And I've revisited that thought and I actually remember it like being yesterday, of course, when I was 6 is years ago. Right. But I think that was the beginning of the thought process of how I wanted to live my life, to become wealthy, to learn about money. But I just had no clue at that age and going through life, you know, where people, which parents, you know, they always say are uninformed. Adults tell you that, you know, go to school, get a good education, and then, you know, go to work. And I did go to work, but it was definitely not the wealth plan in the beginning. So hopefully that answers that question.

Yeah. And so how did you. What do you Remember about your early years, you know that seeds planted, you're living your life. You're going to school, you got friends, you're doing things like all kids. You have extracurricular activities, things you're interested in. Did that inform your choices in any way or make you notice things about how other people operated and how things went in the world?

Yeah, it absolutely did, because I remember being graduating from junior high school with my friends and they all wanted to go to the local school and I decided to apply it like different high schools and business schools. So I got accepted at a business school in Manhattan and I lived, you know, on the train about an hour away from Manhattan. And when I went home and told my mother I got accepted to a business school school to go to high school, she thought I was crazy if I was going to get on the train and go to school. And I convinced them that no, this is a business school, that it's available and that I need to go learn this information. And I convinced them and I went to school in Manhattan, right across the street from One Police Plaza in Manhattan. So it was a safe place. Because they're like, well, how do you know? I said, how? How can it not be safe? I'm right across from One Police Plaza. Okay, so it is a safe place. And this is of course, back in the 80s and it was a safe place. And that's how I decided to go to business school while my friends, they went to the local high school. I lost contact with them because somehow in my brain I was programmed to look for that wealth plan.

And so when you say high school, this means you've got to be in junior high. When you're putting all of these things into action, that's kind of really early to get going. So you were. When did it dawned on you that the traditional high school's not going to really help me specifically with the information I'm looking forward to be trained in. And you were already thinking, you know, because most of us come through school, we're thinking about sports, stuff like that. And you just go to one grade and the next school and you go where you're supposed to go. Not everybody's got a. That is one of the advantages of being around a big city that there are like business high schools. But, you know, that thought, I think that's the first time in my life I've heard that phrase. Gurpreet.

Yeah.

Yes, I know business colleges and universities, but business high school I hadn't heard of. And how did you hear about that? There was such a thing. And you're in junior high, motoring along, how do you even hear that? There's other. How does the thought come to you? There's other options out there and I need to get busy and start investigating these things. Because you'd already decided, you'd already looked ahead and realized what you not really going to get the education you wanted out of your local high school. I never really thought about the value, what kind of education I was going to get from my local high school. It was just like, you go, you graduate, you move on, you know, you shuffle through. But so how did you even know there was something else out there? You know, that's one of the values of the podcast is. And be able to get slow people like yourself down and say, how did this all happen? Where were you thinking? And find out, you know, because most of these things follow a logical pattern. You know, you do this and someone tells you about that, then you go here and, you know, you decide. And so then when you get to the end of the road, it seems like that was magic. But no, it was a logical step by step thing. So how did the light bulb go on that this was even a possibility for you?

Well, I went to the counselor, the junior high school counselor, because here I am, you know, preparing for my future. I don't know what is available. And then I sat down with her and I said, what kind of high schools are available out there? What do I have to do, right? And she said, well, there's a lot of different high schools there, science high schools. Do you want to go into sciences or something? I said, I want to go into the money business. Because here I was, six years old, kept thinking about the money business. And she said, well, the best fit would be a business high school because they would teach you these courses and then you would also learn with the work programs that they have. So she said, since you're interested in that, I'm going to make some phone calls and I'm going to get together a plan and I'm going to see what's the best thing for you. And then she called me back a week later and she said, I found this place, it's a business high school. It's in Manhattan. And, you know, it's an hour away, like I said, by train. And you would have to apply, you would have to get approved, and these are the things we would have to do. And I said, okay, I'm ready. And she gave me the forms and I had to get the parental consent Go home, get those signatures, convince them. And then I just basically decided that this is where I was going to go. So as you know, my friends, they all spoke about the local high school. They said, oh well, we're all going to be together and blah, blah, blah. And I told them, listen, I'm going to be over here setting myself apart from most people. And they were like, what do you mean? And I said, well, you know, I'll let you know in the future what's going to happen. And that's what, you know, I kind of, I kind of like went off into the sunset and left the past behind. I've never seen those people ever again. And I went to create my new future.

And what was that? It sounds like that didn't bother you at all. I mean, it sounds like, you know, they talk about, you hear about some of these Russian tennis prodigies and girls that are like 8, 9, 10 years old and they get accepted to some academy in the United States in Florida somewhere and you know, they're jumping at the bit, they're leaving their entire family, they've got one parent that's going to come with them and they could care less because they're going to play tennis. You know, they're all excited about their future. And so you had that about getting on, but that's kind of a scary thing to get on the train with all the business people. It's scary if you're an adult. Okay, but how did you. I guess that's the thing about being young. You just don't know how you know, you're just not aware of all the things that could go wrong.

I guess that's it. I never thought about it. I dressed the part. I was wearing my three piece suit to business school. I got on the train every morning. I was a professional student and I went off there and I never thought about what could happen wrong. I thought about all the things I was going to learn and quite frankly, I'm glad I went there because I met the most amazing teachers that really fed into me my thoughts that are today.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to white ellenwinning.com webinar now I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up. And, you know, I'm thinking about, you know, people listen to these things, Caprit, and they say, what? What can I do? What can I do? Well, you had this thought that, let's just say God allowed to be planted in your head at an impressionable six years old and he was a fortune teller to do it.

Yeah.

But that you took to that, that was pretty much your destiny because you locked onto that and never gave up. But from the time that you started, you know, you're wondering, where do I go? Where do I go? Well, one thing you did was go to somebody who knows, you know, take the obvious step. So much of these answers are obvious. If you don't overcomplicate it, you go to the first person you can think of and if they don't have the answer, keep dominoing up the chain. But there was a counselor. They seemed to have her act together pretty much. And what. But what was driving you? The thing is, you were driven to find that answer and as a result, you were very clear in your focus. So when you heard the kinds of solution, you know, immediately, that's it for me. And then it was just a matter if you could make that happen. So the whole thing, what you were doing is you were focusing on what you wanted and you were excited about making progress towards that goal and you weren't getting sidetracked and worried about all of the other things that could have driven you nuts, you know, could drive, you know, and all the things that could go wrong, going, traveling back and forth. And so when you got to that school, what was the first Shape up type moment for yourself that you realize, this is going to be a different environment than I came out of or I would have been in?

Well, the first thing was that there was a dress code, business professional. You weren't dressed, you know, in jeans or sneakers or anything. If you want to go to business school. The first thing they said, orientation, look the part, right? So as I said, I was wearing my three piece suits and you know, having my briefcase instead of a knapsack. And you know, they brought in people, business people all from all over the world to speak to us. So they said when these people come, they have to know that they're speaking to the right audience. So the first thing I had to do was undo what was taught, like go to school casual, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I had to think about being a business person and the first impression was the most important thing and that these work study programs and internships that I would be selected for there, basically you had to qualify for those work study programs. And a lot of this time, that was most of our work, right? And even though we had classroom and we had, you know, general topics like math and English and, you know, basic stuff, most of it was like work study. And I remember my first work study program was at Hunter College in the alumni department. And my job was so silly, but I think it unveiled the future. I had to accept all these donations that people were mailing in and jot them down. And here I was looking at checks that were like millions of dollars, okay? And I was blown away that somebody could write a check that big, because I had my checking account since I was 13, and there were nowhere ever did I write a check that big. So it opened my eyes about what was about to happen.

And so was that just a normal assignment in the school or was that extracurricular or what was that?

It was an internship. And again, like I said, they said, whoever's interested in working on the weekends and after school, for internship, you don't get paid, but you get experience. I basically signed up for everything. I signed up weekends, I signed up weekdays. You know, my time was really taken doing these things and meeting people that were either business people or people that actually had wealth, which, like I said, at six years old, that's what I was thinking about all the time.

And so, you know, in my book on serial winter, that's. I. That's the second thing where I point out that winners don't just do things. They overdo it. And they're not. You know, what that is, is a lack of arrogance about their ability to get it done. And they don't want to leave it. They want to be successful so bad. They don't want to leave anything to chance. And if there's any kind of thing that could be a weakness or be a gray area, if that's not addressed, they're going to address it and take it out of play in terms of being an issue. And you took advantage. It was, you know, one of the axioms out there is take advantage of every training opportunity that comes down the pipe that will help equip you for what you want to do and where you want to be, you know, and keep your eyes open and take advantage of absolutely every opportunity, because every time you take advantage of one of those opportunities, it causes you to stand out. So right from the. Right from the beginning, you were At a school most kids would not ever wind up at because they wouldn't have the initiative. You know, the thing is, nobody knows what you want to go. Nobody's going to send an admission pass to a girl up in Long island to go to a business school down there. I mean, they don't know what you want. And you got to let the world know what you want. You got to be assertive about these things because nobody knows what else, what kind of things are ticking along inside your head. And then you've got to be aggressive about pursuing that and knowing that you can either spend time or use the time. And you were trying to compress time frames by, you know, with the weekends, of course, you had your normal studies and this, that and the other, but after hours, weekends, this, that, the other, any kind of thing that you could do where you could soak up like a sponge, knowledge, experiences, meet people. You were doing that. All of these things seem so obvious. Why is it so few people do it?

I think first of all, people don't know what they want. And number two, they think it's hard work, but it's really mental work. It's not really hard physical work. So people think just by, you know, like John Maxwell always says, you know, just movement doesn't mean there's progress. People just know how to move. Right. So I think in my case, I'm so. I would say blessed and lucky that this person, like I said that strange person planted that thought, but I was smart enough to realize that thought and be aware of that thought. And I think people are lacking awareness because they're just too busy doing busy work. And I can account for that too, because there's times when we're working and we're busy and we're busy. But then at the end of the day, like really, like, what did I accomplish? Is this what I really wanted? So we all get caught in that trap. And I think people are so busy doing busy work that they don't have time to really think about what they truly want.

And as you the you go, the clearer that that crystallizes. What, what's your main lesson that you got other than, you know, from the business school? What, what would be your dominant lesson you learned and you carried out of that school?

I would say creativity. I would say creativity because we had to brainstorm many situations to create businesses, like fake businesses. And we were brainstorming to create a successful business, what would be required of it, what, how much capital, blah, blah, blah. So we were learning all that. And I think the creativity part is what I took away from it, that, you know, there are a lot of different types of businesses. There's no one business, there's no one way. You just have to create the perfect business for yourself. Right. And I think that's what I took away from the business school.

Yeah. And I think that I had a similar advantage from studying art, being exposed to that early on because, you know, you learn composition, you know, you're always. Every painting you have, you're solving problems, you know, and you get the colors to make the interest to, you know, is all kind of problems, and you have to come up with something. Nobody's going to give you the great idea that's unique and no one's going to show you how, exactly how to make that happen. But I felt, I felt like that kind of training and also the years I did studied architecture and even building construction, building a house, building houses, you know, figuring out how to keep up with all of the different segments, sequences, figure out how to keep up with the orders of, you know, when the orders had to come in on products, when the selections had to be design. Selections had to be made on the timetable so that you could make your order and stuff would be in there on time and whether or not to keep up with the progress of it. You know, when I went and graduated from Georgia Tech in building construction, and I went to work with a residential contractor out there in the north side of Atlanta, he showed me. Here's how. He showed me how you actually build a house. The sequences. We had lunch or he had lunch. I don't know what I was eating, but he had brought lunch from home and a paper bag. And when he got through, he took the paper bag out and he said, here. He said, I'm gonna let you take over the first half. You know, you've. You. You've been exposed to where everything is. You're ready to take over half of the supervision. So you're going to take it from breaking ground up through Sheetrock. And here's the sequences on that. He wrote it down on a paper bag. And we were doing 25 houses a year. And so, like, bam, before and after lunch, I walked out of lunch with a brown paper bag. They gave me my marching orders for how you finish all these houses, you know, the sequences. But I developed. I developed that into an incredible. I couldn't leave things to my memory. You know, the more things you leave to your memory, the more things you're going to forget. And the way you have a Good memory is not to ask your memory to do much because you've got it written down, you know, and you know where to find it, or you know who, who will know it, or you know and you know, you know where to peg that piece of information so you can go find it in the future or a reminder will come on schedule, you know, and I wish I could tell you some of my systems right now, but it would give away too many of my secrets about how I keep up with people and events and all. Because they'll say, you're just a robot. Yeah, I'm just a robot, but you know, I never forget these things, you know, and so the. But that's by a plan, you know, the things you want to have turn out in your life is by plan. And I think you came out of that school with learning the basics, the fundamentals, but a basic idea of how things worked, but also enough hands on experience to where you develop the confidence that you could come up with solutions to put these fundamentals in action. Is that a fair thing to say?

Absolutely.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world. I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.