Teenage Entrepreneur To A Serial Entrepreneur - JR Rivas

JR Rivas is a modern entrepreneur who did not let his obstacles in life define him but instead defied them and created a successful life.  As a kid he grew up living in New York with his sister and mom in a household with an income of no more than $23,000 a year. Life was hard for young JR and he recalls that at the age of 13 he was without water for six months and had to rely on the help of his friends to shower at their houses. After moving from New York he lived in a couple different cities before landing in Pennsylvania. After high school JR knew that college would be a waste of his time so he started his first venture in the life insurance business. 

JR was not very skilled  at being a salesman so he quickly left the life insurance business. He made a new plan to save up $10,000 for a business and then decided to enroll in a $300 H&R Block class to learn how to do taxes. It was a blessing in disguise that the class was canceled due to JR being the only person enrolled since that led him to get a job at a Liberty Tax franchise. After a season at this job he purchased the franchise at the age of 18. He spent many hours fixing up the building himself and by the time tax season came around he had a presentable tax firm in the middle of a rough neighborhood. Under his ownership the franchise grew its business by sixty percent. Liberty Tax took notice of his amazing work and invited him to ring the closing bell at the Nasdaq in New York City live on CNBC. 

He had a successful year and after it all he decided to purchase three more franchises and grew them by 17 percent then he sold them after a year. After selling these franchises he moved down south where he purchased another office and started his job as a seasonal salesman at Liberty Tax’s corporate office. As much as he enjoyed this new job and the experience that he received, he knew that he was not meant for a traditional job and quit. After quitting he sold his remaining franchise and began gathering ideas for his next business idea. After a bunch of support from the people around him he began a podcast. Through this podcast he was able to interview many industry experts and eventually decided that he was best suited to create social media ads. He created ads for many companies and grew a reputation for himself. He figured that the service should be turned into a product so that's exactly what he did. He created a course that teaches clients how to run and manage their ads. After only a month of this new business he had already generated $30,000. He was now making more than he could have ever imagined. He was able to travel and buy luxurious items which he had never been able to do before. The money was nice but JR says that he finds the most satisfaction out of helping people change their lives just as he did his.