You have all heard of the self-made man or woman, someone who has risen from nothing to great heights without outside help due to their own diligence and drive. All throughout history the stories of people who have beaten the odds have inspired us, earning our admiration and even pushing us to achieve more in our own lives. This new digital age is no different, in fact, it has spawned a generation of self-made people who have made it big from small beginnings.
A great example of this can be found in Mr. Sabri Suby, owner of King Kong marketing agency. Raised in Byron Bay, Australia by a single mother, Suby landed his first sales job at the age of sixteen. Over the next decade, he would launch a number of businesses, some of which were successful, while some were not. Suby was able to make his first million by age twenty-four, which he then proceeded to lose by blowing it all on a gala wedding, finding himself with a new wife, no money, and back to square one!
Fortunately, the ever-resourceful Suby was able to formulate a new plan. “In all these businesses I had started”, Suby tells us, “I was always responsible for solving the number one problem: how do I get more customers? That’s when I decided to start King Kong.”
His inspiration came from days gone by. “In the Gold Rush there were those that sold picks and shovels and those that panned for gold. More often than not, it was those that sold picks and shovels that did the best.” So Suby took what he had learned during his early business years to create the “pick-and-shovel company” that would help other businesses find their gold!
Suby goes on to relate that all he had to get his new project started was an old laptop and $50. He spent $35 of that on a Logitech headset, then $15 on a VoIP account from which he cold-called 150 businesses every day to ask if they needed his marketing expertise. On the third day he landed his first client!
And so Suby was able to launch King Kong in 2014 using only $50 and a laptop! Today, King Kong is one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies and is currently valued at $70 million, and has generated more than $8 billion in sales for its clients. King Kong earns more than $25 million a year and has around 400,000 customers spanning 1070 different industries in 139 countries!
Suby himself is now worth around $75 million, teaching us that if you want to find gold, sell shovels!
