Have you ever heard of Teen-Entrepreneur and millionaire Erik Finman? Let me tell you his story.
Erik grew up in a small town in Idaho, and was home-schooled as a kid.
Then he started going to High School but wasn't enjoying it at all - he was a C/D student, wasn't very popular and was fed up with his teachers. He even developed an anxiety and asked his parents to drop out of school because he couldn't bear it.
In 2011, when he was only 12 years old, his brother introduced him to Bitcoin.
Scott, his older brother, discovered the concept of cryptocurrencies and told Erik all about how Bitcoin is going to be the future and even surpass the Dollar at some point.
During that time, one Bitcoin was worth about $12.
Erik, being a very open-minded teen with a sense for Entrepreneurship and Business, made a decision.
Initially, he just wanted to hold more Bitcoins than his brother because "he wouldn't shut up about it."
So Erik took all his savings, around $1,000, and bought a little under 100 Bitcoins.
He waited until 2013 when 1 Bitcoin was valued $1200 and sold them - turning his $1,000 into $100,000 .
But that wasn't the end of his story.
The then-15 year-old Erik used these $100,000 to start a business called botangle, an online tutoring service.
He got the inspiration for this idea because a single teacher in High School connected with him, making him realize that this is how teaching should be, and that learning and school can actually be fun if it's done the right way.
Shortly after, the news website Mashable heard of his story and wrote an article about him which went viral.
At this point, Erik already had over 30 employees from all over the world and hundreds of students using his service.
After the mashable article, the 15-year old suddenly received a lot more offers and opportunities, and decided to move to Silicon Valley for an internship.
"Some people can't comprehend how a 15-year-old could do something like this. What a lot of people don’t understand, young or old, is that you can create anything you want with no barrier to entry on the Internet."-Erik Finman in the Mashable article
In Silicon Valley, he experienced a completely new way of life.
From the small neighborhood in Idaho to the biggest tech hub in the world, he was fascinated by all the start-ups and entrepreneurs around him, and realized that this was what he wanted to do (and not return to High School in Idaho!)
His parents, both Stanford PhD holders, were of course not very amused - they wanted him to pursue college education at all costs.
So he made a deal with his parents: If he could make $1 million before turning 18, he would not have to go to college.
"I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don’t have to go to college. I’m going to do it or die trying"
Many people (even in Silicon Valley) discouraged him and told him making $1 million in just under 3 years would be pretty much impossible.
In 2015, the then-17 year old sold his first startup Botangle, and got offered 2 options: either 300 Bitcoins (worth about $200 at the time) or $100,000.
Although his parents (and probably most other people) urged him to take the fiat money because the Bitcoins were worth only $60,000, Erik chose the 300 Bitcoins.
He believed in the future of cryptocurrency and knew that this could become a profitable investment in the future.
And we all know: he was right!
He won the bet with his parents and currently holds about 400 Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, valued over $1 Million.
The moral of the story?
No matter how old you are, no matter how your situation is, no matter the circumstances - you can achieve your goals if you keep working towards them.
And: it's always a good idea to invest in cryptocurrency!
© Sirwinchester
I have heard this story many times. The kid made a great decision. I have done well with Bitcoin, Steem and Stratis but this is huge. My next big bet is Flash which is still only available on Cryptopia.
This post was also added to the Steemit Twitter queue.
What a great story !! I sure wish I had 300 bitcoins right now !! LOL! And like you , I always say patience and persistance , hard work and dedication will always pay off eventually ! Just don't give up , and of course be sure to invest in cryptocurrency !! Thanks for sharing this inspiring story ! 👍👍👍
That reminded me again that I saw Bitcoin first time when they were only 7 cent.
I didn't put in 50€-100€ just for interest because I could not get the wallet running. sigh
Anyway, while this is an interesting story, it does not tell the life of the 999 others who invested 1000$ as a 12 year old (or the even more youngster who don't even have that money) and lost it.
Same story here. Stupid early wallet :D
Wow! what an inspiration, this just shows what cryptocurrencies can do.
So he took a bet against the Federal Reserve Note?? Trillions in supply...not rocket science ;)
Where did a 12 year old get $1000?
it was mostly a gift from his grandma, and partly savings
Wow.. am always amazed on how people became successful by always taking a lip of faith and risk. I know one day I will be celebrated like this. Nice post @sirwinchester Resteemed so people can learn
I've heard his story and several others just like it. It's very inspiring, but not all of us have the intro to technology and cyrptos at that young of an age. If everybody was this lucky, then nobody would work at Mcdonalds and Burger King.
Believe, Achieve, Succeed! Good on him!
Need Bitcoin Badly,How can i Earn it?
You earn by investing. Make your money work for you!!
That is Incredible from 12 years old to 18 and Now he is a Multi Millionaire. Wonder if he is holding any STEEM in his Portfolio?
The world needs more people like this :D
As inspirational as this teen entrepreneur is, headlines like this are really an unhealthy reflection of the motivations of the audience. It seems more and more people are treating these currencies as an option to "get rich quick" with minimal effort rather than properly appreciating or understanding the technology. It saddens me that this is what the crypto audience has become, but I have accepted that it's just an inevitable step as blockchain takes a more important role in the mainstream world.
How is it possible? When I was 12 all I was thinking about were boys and not having acne on my face... This dude must be awesome.
wow - what an amazing and inspirational story , thank you for sharing, have not heard of this before, maybe he will run for President in the future if he carries on being so ambitious as he is now.
His luck has worked out for him and for many people who have invested in the crypto market very earlier, especially in Bitcoins. I respect this fact that he's still holding his bitcoins and making money from them by investing them intelligently. He got a thumbs up for this.
But for bitcoins accumulation, it was pure luck with investments. No one have ever predicted that bitcoin will rise 400 times.
Great story, and there are many other crypto out there, with technologies that can change our way of life, waiting for some investment.
Thank you for this motivation. I can achieve my goals!!!. Thats a note for this week.
Amazing story...!
Never late for us, we still have a good opportunity to build our financial future with Cryptocurrency. Because we are still in the beginning of the financial revolution..
And it's not late to invest in Bitcoin. Remember there will be only 21 millon BTC
Yeah i've heard his story before, it's pretty inspiring.
Starke Story - mal schauen ob wir da noch hinkommen :-)
A very good post very good achievement greetings from me @abupasi.alachy
Amazing! Well no one should be upset when Bitcoin and Ethereum become worth much more. They have there chance yesterday and today to buy Ether under $180 and Bitcoin around $2000 or Steem under $1. They had their chances.
I absolutely love hearing stories like this. Thanks for sharing @Sirwinchester
What a great story. This gives me hope for my future. I've read similar posts about this, but this was by far the most well done article I've seen
That's a fine boy! He was not afraid to risk a large sum!
Wow! I have to tell my grandsons this story as they are bored and trying to find something to do now that it is summer and no school! Thanks for sharing.
Really nice history. @ertwro look at this.
Too bad I wasn't interested in bitcoin or even thought about making money at all back then. I was so into my online games :(
Absolutely inspiring,an investment lesson to all both young and old.Financial intelligence is very key in life success
Brilliant post. Shows how a little vision and patience can result in great things. Excellent work @sirwinchester.
Good post
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The moral of the story is motivating, I'll be 30 on this November and just two months ago, I resigned from my jobs in hoping to build my own empire. Age is just a number!
Cool article ... I am excited after reading this article
Now that's a great success story wish I could have been as lucky as he was to learn about Bitcoin when it was in the early stage.
Great post dude, would love your feedback on my coinclub piece showing our trade action in the last 7 days. Cheers!
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@cryptocoinclub/my-first-crypto-coin-club-trade
Great moral of the story! It inspired me to write this Steemit post and hope for the best (upvote;)