Let me tell you a story of a young boy who did just that.
It all started back when Erik Finman was just 12 years old. It was May of 2011 and Erik had just received a $1,000 gift from his grandmother. (Nice gift eh?)
At the advice of his older brother Scott, Erik invested that money in Bitcoin when it was trading around $12 per coin.
At the time, Erik was very frustrated with his teachers in Idaho. He described them as pretty "low quality". Saying that one even told him to drop out and start working at McDonald's because that was likely where he would end up anyways.
Erik begged his parents to let him drop out. He even made a deal with them that if they let him drop out of high school, he would be a millionaire by the time he was 18 years old, and if he was not he would go back and finish school and then go to college.
Surprisingly, his parents took him up on his bet.
Which is even more surprising considering his parents met while pursuing their Ph.D.s at Standford University. As you can imagine education was likely very important to them.
Roughly two years later at the the end of 2013, Erik sold his Bitcoin investment for roughly $1200 per coin. Which represents roughly a 100X return on his original $1,000 investment. Which turned his original $1,000 into over $100,000.
Erik made his first $100,000 when he was just 14 years old.
Using that $100,000 Erik started an online Education Company called "Botangle". The goal of the company was to connect frustrated kids (like himself) with higher quality teachers.
The company didn't immediately take off but it also didn't flop either.
He spent the next year or so pitching his company to different investors. One of them being one of the higher ups at Uber.
Erik said that he was pretty frustrated with the executive not even really taking him seriously because he was only 15 years old and basically told him he would eventually have to go back to school. Not really even listening to his business pitch about Botangle.
Eventually a year or so later, Erik found a buyer for his Botangle company in 2015. The buyer offered him one of two options.
He was offered $100,000 cash or 200 Bitcoins for the sale of his company. (At the time Bitcoins were trading around $200 per coin.)
Just about everyone (including his family) was telling him to take the $100,000 cash offer as it offered roughly $40k more in value.
Instead, Erik took the 200 Bitcoins saying that he believed in the technology and believed "Bitcoin was going to be the next big thing." He looked at the sale as more of an investment in his future than anything else.
(Why he didn't take the $100,000 cash and then just buy bitcoins with it is beyond me. You would think he would have been able to amass more than the 200 he was getting, but that is a question for another day I guess)
For the next several years, Erik managed his Bitcoin investment as well as a couple other smaller projects on the way to amassing the roughly 400 Bitcoins that he owns currently. At the current price of $2700 per coin, his Bitcoin holdings are worth over $1 million USD.
He did it!
He proved to his parents that he could be a millionaire by the time he was 18 years old by dropping out of high school and by not going to college, and Bitcoin made all that possible.
I imagine there are several stories out there like Erik Finman's. Perhaps not the dropping out of school part, but about Bitcoin making young people large amounts of money when the rest of the world told them it wasn't possible.
Regarding his current thoughts on Bitcoin...
Erik thinks it's best days are still in front of it. In fact his price predictions are similar to that of some other pretty well know analysts.
Erik had this to say regarding future prices:
"Personally I think Bitcoin is going to be worth a couple hundred thousand to a million dollars per coin (at some point)."
And then this regarding the technology itself:
"Bitcoin and the blockchain technology that it's built on allow people to cut out the middleman. An open source blockchain ride-sharing platform would allow users to power the service on their phones using peer-to-peer technology without a central hub. Which would allow the drivers to make more money by cutting overhead costs. It also would help create the next evolution of the internet, one which wouldn't be reliant on servers."
So, there you have it. A 12 year old boy from Idaho takes Grandma's gift of $1,000 and turns it into over a million dollars by the time he is 18 years old.
All the while dropping out of high school and not going to to college.
Overall, I would say he got pretty lucky and this outcome is likely not the norm for the kind of risks he took. However, good for him that he was able to chase his dreams and make them a reality.
I wouldn't take this as an endorsement to drop out of school for all you youngsters out there. Remember those commercials... Stay in school!
Perhaps the message to be taken from all this is to take some risks on the side and to not always follow the status quo.
Stay informed my friends!
Sources:
Image Sources:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/bitcoin-boy-erik-finman.html
http://notsosimplehousewife.blogspot.com/2011/06/schools-out-forever.html
https://www.inc.com/bill-carmody/how-to-make-the-impossible-possible.html
Follow me: @jrcornel
That is some great stuff right there! I am helping my niece who is 12 and already has a YouTube channel to get set up on steemit. It's these type of obscure challenges that our current education system does not currently fulfill. While education is important for my niece, I know she will learn a lot from this, good or bad! Thanks for sharing @jrcornel
Indeed! Lots of people are afraid of the uncertain, the unknown. Thats why crypto in general gets frown upon. But when one really believes in something, its important not to listen to naive outsiders and follow your instincts. Luckily I didnt listen to my friends when I told them I was buying ETH a year ago (at $12). I strongly believe that with conviction, good energy and hard work almost anything is possible. Dont let them fool you!
Hell yeah! Thanks for the motivation!
I recently just moved the largest portion of my crypto investments from Ether to Steem. Not that I feel ethereum will not do well or am trying to cut and run, but I feel that Steem is such a great platform, that I am a part of and truly believe in its success. Also, ICN finally hit a massive heater, so I felt good reallocating some resources.
That's great. Plus with steem you can earn it just by posting and interacting. Likely more of it the more SP you have. It just mostly sits there in Ether.
Exactly my thoughts!
My pleasure! Good luck in your Investments :D
Thank you sir. You as well.
Great points. I have heard a lot of that myself, unfortunately most of the times they were right in telling me to cut and run instead of believing. Live and learn. Are you still holding Ether?
I am !! Not a great day to be a holder today, but if I zoom out the charts, I got in at $12 , so $320 is not a bad deal. I try to see it that way so It bugs me less when I see ETH tanking.
Oh yea, you have held through many ups and downs to get to where you are now. It has a lot of big financial institutions backing it. It's on my short list of crypto winners in the long run.
That's fantastic! Let me know when she puts up a post. I wish her the best of luck :)
Thank you very much. She would love that! I screenshot a picture of this and sent it to her, gotta motivate these kids. lol
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. But the majority of your eggs should be BTC & ETH! And don't sell any of your hardly earned steem and don't power down!
Sold some Steem (but not all) to boost my rather scarce stash of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Was not planning on it. Sick GIF btw!
The most valuable education is hardly in schools anymore, not that there isn't a lot of good stuff in the schools.
I think it's awesome every time I see someone like you that's willing to spend time to help a younger soul to show them so many valuable things that they can actually use in the real world.
Yeah, she is an amazing kid. I think I get more out of it than she does.
I remember botangle! I was among the first tutors on the site! Hahaha i remember when the site had like 1,500 visitors a day! Then it was featured on business insider and it blew up! All over sudden the teaffic was almost 20,000 then fiddled out over time! I later joined udemy... Well the rest is history. I will look it up!
That is amazing. I had never heard of it before reading this story about Erik Finman. If it was that popular he probably wasn't able to sell it anywhere near it's peak if he was only netting around $100k.
So basically, he could have sold his Bitcoins at $1200, used that $100k to buy 500 Bitcoins when it dropped to $200, and made even more money while still attending school and setting himself up to have a regular job and continue increasing his income. Now he's worth over 1 million, but has to start from scratch to earn a regular income beyond that. 1 million won't take him very far in today's world.
While this is true, the HUGE majority of people in the World don't manage to generate 1 million dollars in decades, including all past and present expenses and all.
Good point. Although if you read up about him, he has quite a few irons in the fire. He is extremely tech savvy. Has some interesting ideas for new apps...
Admittedly, I hadn't even heard of him until I read your post, so I'm definitely not read up on him. I hope he continues to do well, but I won't be encouraging my children to follow in his footsteps. Once they graduate and leave my home, they're welcome to do as they please, but while they're under my roof, they're finishing highschool, lol.
He used my math. By transferring from Bittrex to Steemit I lost out on a higher % obtained through Blocktrades due to the current arbitrage pricing from Polo.
I was actually reading about this lucky kid the other day.
HAHAHAH, funny thing now is that dropout can go and buy a Mcdonalds.... what now teacher hahah.
^^^UPVOTED^^^
Haha yes that is ironic isn't it?! Thanks!
I was having a bad case of FOMO after reading that.
'FEAR OF MISSING OUT'....I kept banging my head on my desk after reading that one. "why didn't I just invest a little?"
I hear you. Feeling the same way...
Maybe in 5 years when bitcoin is at 100k we will all be millionaires :)
What a great story. As you said, there are probably several stories out there like Erik's. I imagine we will hear more of them as bitcoin reaches $10,000 and $100,000 range.
Yep, we probably will. :)
Jeeneymacarooney, that would be nice wouldn't it!!!
Maybe one day a dream will be a reality :)
Yes it would. Perhaps one day steem will be trading in the double or triple digits. :)
And we are among the first to experience it :)
Well he clearly wasn't the businessman I want to work with lmao...
Haha me neither. I wonder what his rational was for that? Probably just didn't even think about it until after he already made the deal...
Perhaps the reason was trust. The Bitcoin would have been immediate. The $100,000 could easily have been a pay as you operate the business deal, which is quite common. But you dont always get all your money. So it could actually be an early case of someone having more faith in digital currency than paper.
Cool post! 👍
I just got my son started on Steemit and teaching him about cryptocurrency. He did his intro post here.
It is amazing to think now we can teach them about cryptocurrency as they learn about fiat money! 💰
That is fantastic! I just gave him a nice little upvote ;)
Love it! Thanks!
Wow, I had heard the first part of this story but I hadn't heard the second part. That is crazy and makes me feel like a chump. In some respects him dropping out of school is kind of a double edge sword in some ways. I don't know what kind of social interactions he had with other kids his age. It is a very important thing in life. I feel that home schooled kids never completely develop their social skills.
But in a game of just money this kid is killing it!
Very good point. I hadn't thought about that. I think I learned more at recess and lunch then I ever learned in the classrooms. :)
Great post, thats crazy someone so young can amass such success. I recently wrote a post on how everyone can become a millionaire, check it out if it interests you! Following, hope to hear many more great stories
Interesting. What are the secrets? :)
Kids smart But i think his idea would be worth far more if he could marketed it right. But hell 18 with million dollars...
Yea it's possible. From what I read I don't think he was able to sell his online business anywhere near it's peak value.
Time machine coin, I'm too old to think 18. Millionaire by 40?
Hey, that goes for me too! Deal :)
And me. :)
Although I don't have a clear roadmap. LOL!
Great story but did he really have to drop out of school? In the past 6 months I was able to make well over 1500$ online from scratch while combining it with school. It's far from Eric at this moment but I'm also trying to finish my education. I hope for his sake he takes some courses in business management, you never know what might come in handy in the future.
Well, there could be other factors that influenced his decision. Maybe it was the wrong school for him. Plenty of teachers out there can't stand "smart" boys, you know...
True. From what I read I think he has many side projects he is busy working on. I am not sure he would be able to pursue all of those while also staying in school. Also from what I read, his family seems to be pretty well off so I am sure he would have landed on his feet either way! :)
The 100k USD vs. 200 bitcoin thing demonstrates the value of staying in school regardless of whether you could luck out and become a millionaire after dropping out. I'm not saying you have to get a PHD or even go to college, but at least finishing high school should be mandatory for some rudimentary skills, knowledge, and life experience.
Unless he was using part of his money to pay for private tutoring by "quality" teachers, in which case I withdraw my objection partially.
Good point. He seems to have many side projects going on at all times. A true entrepreneur. It is debatable whether he would be able to really pursue all of those things while staying in school. He could have accomplished the investing returns likely either way though, as you mentioned.
Smart kid! I just got into bitcoin, but it would've been nice to buy it at $12 lol
Yes same here. I didn't buy my first bitcoin until after it was over $1k per coin. If it can reach some of these lofty numbers being thrown out, it won't matter where I bought. I am not sure about all the $100,000 per coin talk, but I think $10,000 is very doable.
I agree, I just bought some Ethereum today.. it was cheap
Well back in 2010 I was offered 200 bitcoins for a small online gig, and I was like "bitcoin? wtf is that? Pay me real money." I got $50 via PayPal for that gig.
I hear ya, wish I had bought some back then :/
yeah these stories about young school dropout millionaires (most of them are somehow related with computer and internet business) sells an illusion, that the cause of getting rich quickly is to dropout of school, there will be only one in a thousand lucky ones, it's like lottery, but we should not see them as an example, because that's not gonna work most of the time, and also there is no one way of getting rich, that's why we still don't know one working for all method of it. @jrcornel noted this point, I am just underlining that.
The other point is, we should be careful when some people say that bitcoin is going to be 10k, 100k. These people has invested on it, and they just want it to be 10k, 100k because they want to increase value of their investments.
Bingo. They are partly hoping they might be able to talk it into reality. For my sake, I hope they do ;)
I remember an episode of Two And A Half Men. Kutchner was already in the show and mentioned how he dropped out of school and became an Internet millionaire. Then Jake Harper told his dad (Alan Harper), "See? I don't need to go to school. I can drop out and become a millionaire too!" to which his father replied "No, in your case you REALLY need to go to school!" or something along those lines. :D
Well, thats for the characters they represented in the show. Now, the actors in real life...
Really motivates me, stop being a lazy ass and get to it. Maybe i might also make it in a few years and start building a trustfund for myself!
A great re-tell of the story. Kudos!
Imagine yourself, a 12-year-old kid or whoever you are, bought BTC or anything for investing at $12. You now watch it reaching $20, then $24 (you just doubled your money), then $48, then... onto $1,000! You are still holding on to it. Still hold on to it....
I made some comments of my own here https://steemit.com/story/@longnshort/erik-finman-the-awesome-and-brilliant-entrepreneur-and-bitcoin-investor
WOW AND THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS
Great story! Makes you really think about how we choose to spend money: invest or blow it. The kid could have easily blown it! The older brother is a hero, I applaud him for giving his brother a nudge in the right direction.
Too bad I'm past 18 (I'm 26). But I would love to be a millionaire one day. With cryptocurrency, I feel that it's not too impossible of a dream
:)
Heh, becoming a millionaire before 18 sounds cool. But that is not possible for me anymore as I'm slowly but steadily walking towards 40.
Do I plan to be a millionaire by 40? Well not really. In the past I have gotten in projects that flopped (far too many in fact!) so I better keep it real. :)
I'd settle for just being 18 again.
As would I... sigh
Congratulations @jrcornel!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
Who cares!
Not me!
But for sure it's interesting for many
True. But it would be nice to make it into next month without having to struggle through cash issues constantly.
I understand. Of course!!! I got used to manage quite well but I went the up and down and up and down path as well. It's a part of life.
I remember learning about Bitcoin in college from someone that was mining it with their CPU. At the time most miners were using GPU's and we thought the guy was crazy for mining Bitcoin. If I could go back in time I would have mined the Bitcoin with him. But hey I am glad this young man used his mind, believed in himself and achieved his goals.
You should contact that guy if you can and find out if he was able to hang on to any of it. Could make for a good post ;)
That's a good idea. It would be nice to compare outcomes.
I would not refuse to work for Mc Donald -.-' lol
Haha they pay above minimum wage! It could be worse!
motivational story.
:)
Haha that is great!
I wish I was that entrepreneurial and determined at that age! Trying to make up for it now, though :-)
That is all you can do. Focus on what you can change, and forget the things you cannot change. Good luck!
Well, I always had entrepreneurial tendencies (sort of). Even when I was a teenager. Problem is, I did not really have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Now? Now I'm an affiliate marketer and a cryptocoin enthusiast.
He lives what he believes. It's great he had a wonderful grandmother and supportive family to try.
You know how to draw in the readers, very fascinating read because of the story AND your writing style... ;-)
Thank you. I do my best :)
Unfortunately children are ignored, the vast majority of adults do not properly treat children, I personally think it is wrong. Even if they do not have this life experience it does not mean I do not know anything. I met many brilliant children with an extraordinary vision of life. Your article is an example. School does not guarantee us success in life. We are the only responsible
I wonder how cryptocurrencies are going to affect paper money in these next few years as we watch it rise past $3,000.
Good question. Well will find out shortly I think.
i saw that...how cool for him....I am sure Ellen and all the shows will have him on and talk about investing.....:-)
The headline will be... "Buy Bitcoin, wait a couple years, become a millionaire"
You know there are many BTC millionaires today -- I say good for them --- but the powerful and rich don't like this -- you see, it's only for them.... :-)
wonderful post @jrcornel
your quest for rich inspirational content is what will take us new steemians into the next level ! thank you for being a source of inspiration and guide for me. Your post is excellent and timely for me who is always on the fence to invest in crypto and hoping to amass a lot of steem money as i am ready, willing and able to work hard...thanks once more
from your follower...upvoted already
Well thank you. That was one of the nicest comments I have ever had. If you are looking to invest in certain coins make sure you only invest what you can afford to lose... nothing is guaranteed with these things...
Thanks once again and your advice is well noted...
thank you for the great inspiring story!
Interesting, empowering motivating and great story indeed, it shows when you believe, have faith, focused and committed you shall be rewarded one way or another.
Yea, he likely would have found a way to make that million one way or another. Even if Bitcoin had gone belly up. If you want it bad enough, you will find a way ;)
great comment iam so powered up thank you
I plan on this with STEEM! When STEEM hits 100 bucks, I will be a millionaire! :)
BROOOO you gana be ritch my dude you can hit the dank memes with me one day jk lol
I very sincerely hope your steem hits $100 per steem! ;)
Hahaha. Solid plan right here. Don't forget the poor masses when you're at the top!
Following! If I can interest you in Fantasy and Science Fiction
and drugs XD, I invite you to check and follow my profile, I'm a writer. I think you'd enjoy my stories.Good luck with your millions! Haha.
Great Story!!!
Goes to show that there are multiple ways to the top. But there are multiple stepping stones that will help you get there and school is one of them. So kids listen to uncle @jrcornel and stay in school!
Haha! Uncle @jrcornel? I like the sound of that. I currently only have 1 niece or nephew, and she is too young to call me uncle just yet.
Haha well at the rate your going you will be famous and rich by the time she can call you uncle. Well deserved though!
Haha I won't be counting any chickens until they are hatched ;)
You mean until PoloniEx accepts those SBD again? ;) haha Heard there was a small issue.
I had to use Bittrex to cash out some Steem. I hope more exchanges pick up on Steem.
And now, a meme...
Haha nice meme. Hope so too. If Steem keeps growing I am sure they will soon.
I teach course Cryptocurency technology at University. At the end of course, I always advise to my students: "Buy Bitcoins for $50", hold it until your retirement (aproximatly 40 years) and you will get rent until rest of life. It will be hundreds of simulars stories.
Hopefully that is the case. The tough part for most people would be not selling too soon if that scenario turns out to be true.
cool info yes its just like microsoft iam learning
Nothing is impossible, you just have to believe, everything may not seem good at the beginning but at the end, you stand out with multiple rewards. Erick believed in himself and he made it.
Yep. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out. However, if you want something bad enough you will find a way to make it happen. Just can't give up too soon.
thank you for good posting.
What a story! I'm envious!
Great post...story is pretty inspirational..uvpted
what if you had a big boat .. you can trade for a house ... and voila no money exchanged.... not a millionaire. but happy life ...
Haha yes very true. How do I get said big boat?
That is incredible! I am teaching my 12 yo how to invest in crypto as we speak. I know that he will do well because he is great at math. He is my photographer for all my paragliding videos. #paragliding
Cool story! I am going to share this with my son for inspiration.
I just hope it doesn't inspire him to drop out of school! ;)
You have a point...but we are talking about the California School system so it might be better if he does drop out. Don't tell mom. lol!
It's more like how a young investor saw an opportunity and took action at the right moment. Now, he's an inspiration for the next drop outs (Y) :)