Entrepreneurial Story

This is my story, but it's not really about me. What really matters here is what you can take away from it.In the next 5 minutes, I’ll have handed over a few lessons I’ve learned from years of "in the field" experience. My hope is that you take the lessons between the following lines and use them to shortcut your way to the good stuff in your own journey.So let's dive right in.I grew up in Montreal, Canada, in a small suburban neighborhood on the western part of the island. Like most people, I was raised to believe in the traditional life script: go to school, get a degree, and work hard to support yourself.So naturally that’s the path I started on.In high school, I earned the Governor General’s Academic Medal, which is known as "the most prestigious award a Canadian student can receive". Later that fall, I was admitted to the most competitive college program in Quebec.
At the time, all of this felt like confirmation that I was doing the “right” things and that my hard work was leading me toward what I thought was “success” my whole life.

While studying, I also bounced around at different jobs trying to earn some money. I worked at a sandwich shop called Dagwoods, bused tables at a few restaurants, and did some retail work in the summertime.On paper, everything seemed great. But deep down? I felt incredibly miserable.Most of what I was doing wasn’t for me - it was influenced by my parents and society, which had led me to believe these were the “right” things to do.

Entrepreneurship?

While in college, I started losing interest in my studies. I started questioning the value of sitting through lectures and decided to go on/off with my attendance.During my time away from class, I had to prove to myself that I could do something different. That’s when I really started to carve out a new path.The first thing I got interested in was events management. Outside of school, I had zero knowledge of how anything worked in the business world. But being a college student, I thought organizing events might be a fun thing to do, so that’s how I came up with the idea.I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was my first crack at entrepreneurship.With that initial excitement, I got a bit ahead of myself and printed tickets, whipped up some flyers, and even paid promoters to help spread the word.But then reality hit me: when meeting with venue managers, I quickly realized that renting a space would set me back a couple thousand dollars. Plus, every place wanted licenses, proof of insurance, security teams and damage deposits.I couldn't blame them though - I was just some naive kid trying to get my hands on these large spaces. So suddenly, pulling off just one event was going to cost between $5,000 to $10,000.I had nowhere near that amount of cash, so I killed the idea and it never went any further.Since I had no money, no special skills, no business credentials and pretty much zero experience, the next thing had to be low cost and simple.

Going Online

Right around 2016 was when I first found out that people were making money through social media. I thought the concept was genius because it meant I could work from anywhere, not have to run around meeting people, and all I really needed was an internet connection. It felt like the perfect solution for my situation.After a bit of brainstorming, I finally came up with my next idea.Between 2016-2017, streetwear was a major hot topic (especially on Instagram). So my idea was simple: build a streetwear blog on Instagram. I figured that if I could build a solid following, brand deals would naturally follow, and I could start selling ad slots to companies who wanted to reach my audience.After spending 6 months building things up to around 60,000 followers, I was sure deals would start pouring in at any moment. But the reality was completely different. After months of work, I landed a grand total of one sponsorship for just $125.Six months of hard work... and all I had to show for it was $125.This was my second failure. By this point, I had already quit my jobs to go full time at this entrepreneurship thing and barely had any money to my name.I remember setting up a scrappy little "office" in my parents' basement where I pushed together two old desks and put up some boards on the wall for a bit of inspiration. I spent countless hours in this exact spot desperately trying to figure things out.

Ecommerce

Then I started to think: What if I stopped chasing brands and started selling my own products instead? I had heard people online talking about this e-commerce thing…so it just felt like the logical next step.For a while, I kept brainstorming different ideas of what to sell, but nothing seemed to click. Then one day, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a video of a guy wearing these super unique pants made from this reflective material. It grabbed my attention right away because I'd never seen anything like it before...and when I checked the comments, everyone was asking the same question: "Where can I get a pair?"There was huge demand for them, but nobody was fulfilling it at the time. After doing a bit of research, I found a manufacturer who could make clothing using the same fabric.Because I didn’t have much money, there was no way I could order inventory and run the business traditionally. So, I got a couple of samples made and used them to create content. I also operated on a made-to-order basis and had the manufacturer ship directly to customers when they ordered (that way I didn’t have to invest in bulk inventory upfront). It was the perfect setup.I got my initial bit of traction by promoting the brand through the audience I had already built up. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get things rolling. After that, I slowly ramped things up by collaborating with popular skaters. Skaters are part of this underground culture, and I knew they'd jump at the chance for a sponsorship even if the deal was small. Plus, they had loyal followers who fit perfectly with the demographic I was targeting. It was a win-win.After a few collabs, we had one of our videos featured on Worldstar (the largest urban media outlet in the world at the time). From there, the brand started breaking into mainstream pop culture. Suddenly, everyone from hip-hop artists to top social media influencers and models with millions of followers began taking notice and showing interest in what we were doing.This became my first success - a clothing brand I started from my parents' basement called Dreoh.The reason it worked? For the first time, instead of coming up with an idea in my head and trying to push it onto the market, I did something fundamentally different. I listened to the market's desires first, then created a product to meet that desire.

Los Angeles

Most of the influencers showing interest in the brand were based in Los Angeles, so my brother and I booked an Airbnb and headed out.A couple of days in, we connected with a super talented photographer named Sam, who would later become celebrity artist Machine Gun Kelly’s right-hand man.This was my first taste of success. Up until this point, I had spent my entire life in a small suburban neighborhood, so stepping into the Hollywood scene was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. For the first time, I was surrounded by an incredible amount of wealth and celebrity. It was an experience that was humbling, motivating and inspiring all at once.

Beyond clothing

After about a year of running Dreoh, I had picked up on a lot of different insights. Everything from marketing and branding to product sourcing, development and logistics.As I kept learning, I started to notice bigger opportunities in other product verticals where I could apply these lessons.So I started expanding in various consumer products. Some of them went on to be much more successful, reaching tens of millions of people and attracting endorsements from some of the biggest influencers on social media.Eventually, I noticed that lots of businesses were struggling with growing their customer base online. This was a painful problem that I had solved in my own ventures, so I saw this as an opportunity to be a great value-add.This is when I decided to branch out into service offerings as well.Through my own ventures and advisory services, I've gained experience in nearly every modern business model, from ecommerce and Web3.0, all the way to the agency world. These experiences have given me a deep understanding of how different industries operate.That’s when it hit me: it’s not about what you’re selling. Most people get caught up in the specific business model, but that’s not what drives success. It all comes down to having the right foundational knowledge - the kind that can be applied to any field, whether you’re selling a product or offering a service. Master the fundamentals, and you can make any business work.

Paying it forward

Recently, I decided to share some of the insights I’ve gained from my entrepreneurial journey in a Reddit post. It was my way of paying it forward to those just starting out. Plus, it gave me a chance to reflect on my experiences and sharpen my understanding of the lessons I picked up along the way.To my surprise, the post got over 400k views, was shared more than 3600 times, and became the most upvoted entry on the Entrepreneur subreddit, sparking hundreds of comments and messages from people reaching out for help.I’ve always been more of a private person, but this experience made me realize just how many people are genuinely in need of guidance. It’s amazing to see the hunger for knowledge in the entrepreneurial community.

A note to aspiring entrepreneurs

If you’ve read this far, then you know my story. But let’s shift the focus to you. I want to make sure you leave with something valuable, so here’s a little nugget of “wisdom” to carry forward:When you develop the “entrepreneurial brain” and build a solid knowledge base, you’re in a position to write your own checks and squeeze every opportunity no matter where it comes from.Many “gurus” and “coaches” out there like to sell the idea that there's only one "perfect" business model or promote the latest shiny opportunity. But they’ve got it all wrong.The truth is, there are a million ways to make a million dollars. Limiting your learning to just one method or model can be incredibly risky, especially in a world where things are always changing and evolving.What you’ll truly benefit the most from is understanding the first principles of business success. That’s because first principles apply universally, no matter the industry or business model. Instead of narrowing your focus to just learning about how to run a marketing agency, setting up a tik tok shop, having a clothing store, or launching a software company, why not immerse yourself in the core principles that drive success across any venture you pursue?By doing this, you won’t find yourself stuck in a business just because someone told you it was the “one.” Instead, you’ll be highly adaptable and unlock a world of infinite opportunities, allowing you to work on a business that truly resonates with YOU.If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur (or just someone who wants to learn more) and you’re starting with no ideas, no experience, no business skills (and maybe a bit of self doubt like I once was), I think you’ll find these free resources incredibly valuable.