In this motivational monologue, Royston G. King shares the seven timeless principles that he credits for turning a modest start into over $10 million by age 25. Drawing on personal anecdotes—selling his first business at 17, borrowing $10 k for a marketing program that generated his first million, and closing deals with billion‑dollar brands—he outlines actionable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. The seven secrets are: (1) invest in yourself early, using education, tools, and relationships as compound‑interest assets; (2) acquire high‑income skills that directly generate revenue, such as sales and marketing; (3) develop resilience by reframing obstacles as growth opportunities, citing Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way; (4) place yourself in the right rooms with the right people, leveraging reputation and network as business currency; (5) never stop learning, treating education as a lifelong journey; (6) reject conformity and the need for external approval, illustrated with a parable about a donkey; and (7) catch emerging trends early—e‑commerce, social media, crypto, and now AI—to create new revenue streams. King emphasizes that success is not overnight, but a product of consistent self‑investment, skill development, mindset, and strategic positioning.
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I made my first million in my early 20s right after university and over $10 million by the age of 25. And here are 7 millionaire timeless principles that I've learned throughout my 8 years of, you know, entrepreneurship online journey that I would give to myself if I was starting from nothing. You know, I started and sold my first business at 17. And despite what you see on TikTok, Instagram, social media, I want you to know that that's not normal. You know, it's combination of luck, timing, you know, that resulted in my early success. And as the famous quote goes, opportunity is where preparation meets luck. So number 1 is start investing in yourself early, as soon as possible. From a young age, I've always been interested in business because my dad has a couple of businesses himself. Warren Buffett preaches the sooner you can invest, the more time you have and more money you have to compound. The only way to succeed is to invest in your future. And the best time to start is today. What seeds can you plant today for your future? And it could be self-education, savings account, you know, better laptop for work, you know, into your relationships. Let's say you invest $1,000 and, you know, $1,000 on a new phone, but it can produce you $100,000 when you use it for work, social media. That's an investment as well. And you can start small by, you know, even spending an extra like $10 on an, you know, educational book, online course membership, that shows you how to gain skills and knowledge that would pay dividends over the course of your entire life, that is a good investment. You know, during college onwards, I invested over 6 figures into self-education programs to help learn high-income skills to kickstart my entrepreneurship journey. I even borrowed $10,000 from my brother-in-law for a marketing agency growth program that made me more, you know, more than $1 million. Number 2 is acquire high-income skills, you know. And there's different skills and knowledge you gotta distinguish. For example, you know, physics, math, you know, geography, history— unless, you know, we're going to those career, it doesn't necessarily translate into high-income skills. But if you're learning, for example, topics and subjects that make you richer, let's say, you know, on sales, marketing— at least when you're first starting out, you should cut out the noise and focus on purely directly correlated high-income skills, you know. The point is this, you know, investing in a high-income skill will always be beneficial because it's something that never goes away and it's permanently with you for the rest of your life and increases your self-value. And the road to a million, you know, to be a millionaire, wouldn't be easy. And it's not a golden road, you know, paved to your goals. It's a brutal path filled with hardship. And that's the most— next most important lesson I wish I've learned I can tell myself it's about resilience and having the power to, you know, overcome obstacles, mistakes, and just never give up and keep persevering. So, you know, no matter who you are, you know, you're bound to face challenges at, you know, some point in your life. When I first started out my online entrepreneurship journey 8 years ago, the amount of challenges I had to face, you know, one after another was crazy, you know. I honestly asked myself why God, you know, purposely made it so so difficult for me. But then I came across a book by Ryan Holiday called The Obstacle Is the Way, and I told— it totally revolutionized the way I see obstacles right now. The problem that we face is actually a blessing to show us the solution that we're needing to seek first to level up. You know, whatever challenges you face, you can view it as a good thing because in life, you know, we'll go through a lot of problems, not just in business. For example, you know, the death of a loved one, you know, getting a lawsuit, getting cheated by somebody. And when you overcome and go through a lot of challenges, you know, everything else seems like a no big deal. So it builds that tolerance in us that we gotta be thankful for. And the third biggest shift is it creates a moat around your business. If your competitors aren't willing to go through what you have to go through, the hell that you have to go through, and you're the last one surviving and standing there, that's your advantage. Where most people quit, that's where you succeed. So this leads me to millionaire secret number 4, which is placing yourself in the right room with the right people. You know, in business, the most valuable currency you have is your reputation and your network. And for me, I got my connection by placing myself in the right room with the right people, by taking an interest, you know, within them and knowing what areas can add value and help them. You know, you need to understand that if you want to succeed, you can't do it yourself. No man or woman is an island. And I'm Chinese blood, and there's a saying in Mandarin called kuaian. It means that a person that will bring many benefits to your life. And I didn't believe, you know, this terminology really until I experienced it myself. And I met some people that has opened so many doors, more than I could imagine. And connections, you know, are the business currency. And I can see from experience that, you know, without spending time to seek out those connections, I wouldn't be here today. To give you a real-life personal example, when I was running my digital marketing agencies consulting companies and being an investor, you know, being in the right room with the right people changed the whole game for me. I was able to sign clients that were, you know, 8-figure, 9-figure brands, publicly listed companies, you know, billion-dollar brands, because I was with them in person, and that helped me form the ability to form strong connections and trust that I would be able to sign them as clients. So that leads me to secret number 5, which is never stop learning. Because of the work, you know, I've put in, you know, I'm now a multi-millionaire by the age of 25, But just because I am where I am doesn't mean I've so-called made it, you know. I'm still only in the beginning of my career for the next, you know, 50, 100 years. And the most important part of a successful person is their mindset, particularly the belief in constantly learning. You know, there's a quote by, I believe, by Albert Einstein saying that, you know, wisdom is not a product of schooling but of a lifelong attempt to acquire it. And the man who stops learning because he thinks he's at the top will fall from glory, because you can never be perfect, and there's always something you can keep improving on and keep learning, because there's always something that we do not know. And I'm a strong believer in a pursuit of education, wisdom, knowledge, because no matter who you are, where you at, you know, there's always something that you can always learn and improve upon. And as long as you continue life with this mindset, you'll find And if after making my first million, I stopped reaching out and learning, I would have stayed in the same place. And the instant that education takes a backseat and goes on autopilot is the instant that you stop growing. And education is not a destination. Instead, it's a journey that takes a lifetime. And one of my students and now business partners is over 50+ years old of age, and he not only learns new skills like, you know, being a Salesforce certified expert in stock trading, but he actually gets so good at that, and he's one of my many inspirations. And when I was in a room with billionaires at the age of 50 to 70 plus, you know, they keep learning nonstop. They keep, you know, staying up to date with the news, making great business moves at an even higher level. So this leads me to millionaire secret number 6, which is do not conform and listen to other people's opinions or the society's status quo. And there's this very good book and story of this donkey, this father and the son. They're walking through a village and the villagers were criticizing them that, you know, they're so stupid to have a donkey but not ride on them. So the father and son decided to ride on donkey and went to the next village. And in the next village, the new villagers said that, you know, how cruel these father and son are to put so much weight and burden on a donkey. So the father got down and the son was sitting on the donkey and he went to the next village. And a new group of villagers were saying and criticizing that, look how cruel the son is to ride the donkey and not let the father ride the donkey instead. So the son got down and the father ride the donkey and he went to the next village. And the next group of villagers criticized that this father is so cruel to his son and not let the son son ride on a donkey. So on the next village that he crossed to, the son and the father was carrying the donkey, and the next group of villagers were saying, you know, these people are so silly, do not ride on a donkey. So this is an endless loop. You cannot please anybody, and it doesn't matter, you know, what other people think, and you shouldn't be fearful of other people's opinions and judgments you know, because you cannot please anybody. So this leads me to millionaire secret number 7, which is the last one, which is to catch trends early. You know, the reason why I was able to make, you know, millions of dollars through all my ventures was because I catch on e-commerce early. That was in 2016, still really early when Printful was first starting out. Now after that, I catch on social media early, around 2017, 2018. And Instagram growth and all these social media platforms were way easier than right now. You know, I caught on the social media marketing agency trend early in 2018, 2019, 2020, made millions of dollars with it. I caught on crypto, Bitcoin early. And right now in 2024, I believe the newest trend is AI because AI, you know, just got released just a year or two ago. And every single day new AI apps are being released, and I believe that AI is a new moneymaker right now in this era, in this age, that you should catch as well. So my journey from 0 to 10 million has been filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. But with these 7 millionaire secrets and principles I've learned that I've shared with you today, with real-life examples, I hope that would help you a lot in your own journey. It's not going it's not gonna happen overnight, but if you keep focusing on yourself and keep developing and improving and keep implementing and remembering these 7 timeless principles, you'd see your success that would come inevitably. So I'm rooting for you, and if you want more of these videos, please subscribe for more, and I'll see you on the next video.
