The Unlikely True Story of a Stubborn, Immigrant, Middle School, Candy Dealing, Soda Wheeling, Duffle-Bag-Boy Turned Millionaire at 19 and CEO by 25

I’m Hassan Mahmoud!

First and foremost, I want to express how very grateful I am for the life I live. They say it’s easy to forget your God when things are good and it’s easy to be grateful when life’s going your way, but how do we act when things aren’t going well? I believe you determine the size of a man by the size of the problem that gets him down and his attitude through the process. In a second I’m about to share with you my true story. A story I’ve never shared with anyone other than a few siblings and my wife.

In countries all over the world, life is less than desirable. People living in poverty with lack of resources and opportunity. Oppressive socialist or communistic governments steal away all wealth, That’s why so many people go to the United States. Think about it, There’s no “European Dream,” no “Mexican Dream, Italian Dream, Swedish, Russian,” or “Chinese Dream.” There only remains “The American Dream.” The Land of the Free and the Land of Opportunity. My family, like so many others all over the world decided to uproot our lives in Palestine and move to this new land full of excitement.

ABOUT HASSAN MAHMOUD

“Me, my siblings and my mother, 7 of us total, lived in a 1 bedroom apartment, We slept like sardines in a can. Welcome to America.”

My father and mother, along with my sister and 4 brothers, moved to the United States. Needless to say, it wasn’t what we expected fully. Both of my parents worked very hard and we were still scraping by. Then at 10 years old my parents got a divorced. Not the best age for me to handle that. My mother took us all in. The deep “American poverty” began. And I mean we were dirt poor. Me, my siblings and Mother, 7 of us total, lived in a 1 bedroom apartment, We slept like sardines in a can. Welcome to America. We ate like we lived in a third world country too, on the ground, no kitchen table, beans, lentils and rice were typical.

Each school year, we were afforded 2 – 3 shirts, a pair of shoes and a pair of pants. I remember my mother would say, “You’re still luckier than many other kids all over the world.” It wasn’t easy, and if I were to look back on that situation now I’d say it was HARD. It was all I knew. Poverty. The USA wasn’t much different for us than around the world. Did the American Dream die?

The first sale I ever made began back in middle school, not out of ambition or greed, but out of necessity. I knew that if we were ever going to get along and get ahead in this foreign land, I had to work. So I did the only way I knew how to while I was in school. My greatest discovery in that period of my life was the 99 Cent store. I found out that If I could purchase an off-brand soda or a candy bar for a dollar, I could bring it with me to school and sell it for a markup of 150% – 200%. There my career began as an entrepreneur. I had no clue what that meant or what it was but I enjoyed making money. I would take the profits and re-invest into more and more inventory until soon enough, I became known as the candy dealing, soda wheeling, Duffle-Bag-Boy.

A title I was most proud of. By high school, as my revenues grew, so did my ambitions. I needed others out in the field working for me. I needed trustworthy employees and dealers and I knew exactly where I would find them. I forgot to mention that the majority of my family from Palestine moved to the states as well. My father had 17 siblings and my mother had 14. In total we had close to 91 cousins in the Fresno area alone. Those 91 cousins spelled out opportunity to me, so I devised a plan so dastardly that it started to piss some folks off.

“I was taking care of bills back home at the age of 15. We practically ran a monopoly at 11 schools, we’d effectively cornered the ‘Sugar and Cavity market’”

I would go and clean out the local 99 Cent Store, stock up on inventory and distribute it to my cousins for a 50/50 split in profits. I had zero shame, Elementary, Middle and High schoolers were all working for me. Was it so wrong? They were happy and I was taking care of bills back home at the age of 15. We practically ran a monopoly at 11 schools, we’d effectively cornered the “Sugar and Cavity market” until I met my match in the form of my teacher.

My English teacher (who I’m still not fond of to this day) also ran a little candy dealing business on the side in her class my freshman year. When she found out I was putting a dent in her own business and was outclassing and outselling her by a long shot, she decided to play the trump card. I like to call it “Tyrannical Oppression” based in jealousy and poor salesmanship. She ruined me. She had powers I did not and political pull to end my thriving enterprise. Straight to the principle I went, where I got a strong slap on the hand and was told I could no longer sell candy to teens. I didn’t hear him say the same to my teacher though who was doing the same out of her classroom.

So, naturally, what’d I do? I continued dealing as any “street hustler” married to the money does. I didn’t necessarily think about covering all of my bases or being secretive either…they found out. They tossed me into the school’s equivalent of prison. I was labeled a rebel against the system and sentenced to 3 months of Thursday and Saturday school. I continued operations. Third time was a charm. They suspended me for a week, at which point I’d had it. This teacher was a total Beotch and the principle? Unfair and biased. I did what any freshman in my shoes would do… At 15 I chose to drop out. Well, maybe not any freshman. I’m sure plenty of freshmen want to drop out but are withheld from making that decision. I did it anyway.

Now you’ve got to forgive me for calling my teacher of the time a b*tch. I hold no grudges, I’m just trying to paint the full picture of my emotions and opinions of that time. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know how my current situation would look or whether I’d be even a fraction as “successful.” We’ll talk more about success later. Maybe I’d have gone to college, gotten a degree and went to work in the corporate world, making a good salary and living comfortably. To me, that’s not success. Getting ousted from school by this blessing of a b*tch teacher led into a series of events that, to this day, I am forever grateful for.

“So there I was on the proverbial streets, broke as a joke and 15. Labeled not a criminal, not a felon, something far worse, ‘a dropout.’ And to Middle Eastern Cultures that’s the equivalent of suicide.”

Anyways, at 15, the world had bruised me up a bit. I became a bit depressed. The only business and income I knew was taken from me. I also knew I couldn’t operate like the rest of the high school dropouts. Chillin year-round, being lazy, spending time with shady characters. I couldn’t fathom the idea of getting a typical job at a fast-food joint, which was all I was qualified for at the time. I would rather shoot myself. So, I went to my cousin, a bit older than me, who at the time owned a small used car dealership. Fun Fact, the majority of the folks on my dad’s side of the family (which was rather large) were in the car business. I figured, what the heck, I’d give it a shot, working for family and selling cars couldn’t be worse than fast food or any other job someone would offer me.

So I took the job. We had 4 cars on the lot. I told you it was small. I didn’t care to sell cars, I was still transitioning from my candy business depression. For 3 months straight, while I worked the car dealership, I would head straight to the store after work, load up on junk food and watch Hulu. Still, every day I went to work. Then one day, this man came in out of the blue as I was hanging at the lot and bought the very first car I ever sold. I was in disbelief. 3 months had passed, I wasn’t trying to sell, I just needed a job and this angel, disguised as a man, waltzed on it and convinced me to sell him my first car, a 2006 Volvo s60.

My next lesson. “If you just keep showing up and are faithful to that process, something is bound to happen.” We sold that car for 10,000 and I wasn’t even taking the job seriously. But that was when the lightbulb went off for me. We’d just profited $2,800 dollars in a matter of hours. I became addicted. What would happen if I actually tried here?

I did. I worked hard, and within a month, I sold all the cars on the lot. Then we increased inventory. Within a year we had 80 – 90 cars sitting on the lot. We went from 4 – 90 real quick. As our business grew so did my desire to see just how far we could take this business, plus the money here was far better than candy. But candy sales taught me a lot about car sales. The product and objections were different but the process was the same.

Soon I’d made my first 100k and I bought a share into this car lot. Plus, my cousin needed me, I was his MVP salesman, he had no choice but to give me shares in the company. I invested every last penny to my name and we were 50/50 partners. (Side note: This is one of the most crucial differentiators between employees and business owners. at the time, I felt like anyone else would, nervous. It created a lot of stress, risking everything I owned, but I knew that it would also pay off with a bit of luck and a lot of work.)

Thanks teach! That became my first great lesson in persistence and my next lesson in working with the cards I was dealt anyways…when opposition surrounds me (and it seems to really like me) I must keep moving forward and hopefully upward.

So there I was on the proverbial streets, broke as a joke and 15. Labeled not a criminal, not a felon, something far worse, “a dropout.” And to Middle Eastern Cultures that’s the equivalent of suicide. You can forgive a criminal but you can’t be forgiven of suicide. Many folks would take one sour look at me and although they’d wear a slight pursed smile, I could tell it was artificial. Their thoughts along the lines of. “Why don’t you just skip your 20’s, 40’s, 70’s and just go straight to an elderly home, because you’re already screwed and your life’s done.” And although at times, I felt like they were right, dropping out of high school also had its perks.

For example, I was really young and free to build up a steady stream of cash flow while all of my peers were busy learning about the French revolution, Hypotenuses and other topics that they’d completely forget next year. I was free to work and build something for my family, who were always at the forefront of my mind, while the majority of those very same students would go into debt taking pre-requisite courses that are 100% useless, getting a degree that would probably be obsolete 5 years later. Not all degrees, but based on my research and understanding of these expensive pieces of paper, the majority, something like 75%, hold no real-world value, just intrinsic value with a high price tag.

“Things were going good for a while, I had amassed a bit over 3 million dollars by that point… then my fatal mistake… which became Major Life Lesson number three.”

We turned that small dealership into a mid-sized dealer within 4 years. During those 4 years, we expanded operations and opened up a 2nd car dealership, a tire shop, and a rim shop. Things were really cooking and I was in a state of Euphoria. Now, I was able to provide for my entire family in a way I never had before. Things were going good for a while, I had amassed a bit over 3 million dollars by that point… then my fatal mistake… which became Major Life Lesson number three. Of that 3 million, I had it ALL in a company bank account which my cousin managed and told me he would be responsible for. I never got to touch any of that 3 million. My cousin had spent all of his share of the money living life up and had apparently forgotten that the IRS existed.

So at 19, The feds show up asking for 4+ Million dollars owed in the last few years and my cousin didn’t have anything to pay that debt. The entire debt landed on me and our companies. We sold the companies which brought in a little over a million and then we had to take my share of the entire 3 million and satiate these hungry hungry hippos over at the IRS. The lesson? Never trust someone to treat your money better than you would treat your own money. If you’ve got to learn 1 skill in life, it’s financial literacy. Learn to read your finances like you read a book. Do you need to read every book? Of course not, but you should know the basics, at least enough to devour any book you choose.

That was a 3 million dollar lesson for me and it hurt. I remember almost arguing with God at the time, “Ya know I could have learned that same lesson with just 1 million.” But no lesson is really as strong as a completely drained bank account. I learned never to trust someone with my money, especially not friends or family, and especially not with millions of dollars. Your finance is a ship you need to learn to steer through shark-infested waters, even if those sharks are disguised as harmless dolphins. And I’m not saying you can’t trust your family, it’s just best you maintain those relationships by learning to personally manage your money.

Back to square one… again. Except for this time I became seriously depressed. Old demons and habits paid me another visit. The TV came calling, I practically owned a Redbox back at my place and my body started hating me from all of the sugary processed trash I was feeding it. I was embarrassed and ashamed. Everyone in town knew and heard about this situation. Everyone thought I was an idiot. My family, my friends, our clients, everyone. This isn’t something I’ve shared often with anyone but since you’ve read until this point, I might as well tell you that I was suicidal. Things got dark for me. My entire identity was tied up in that business and my money. When it was gone, so was my will to do anything at all. I wasn’t a man unless I could provide for my family anyway, what’s the point?

“I believe we can only do nothing for so long before there’s an internal nagging that makes us restless… it’s in our DNA.”

Luckily I made it through that time because of a conversation I had with my sister. That conversation saved my life. I began to realize that I needed to adopt new values or even just change the way I perceived my worth based on my values. I realized that Money was never my values, what I could do with it was. More importantly, the love of my family and their trust was far more valuable to me than the money. But up until that point I hadn’t made a clear distinction from the two. In other words, if I was broke, I didn’t feel like my family could or would love me. If I was rich, I believed they would. That wasn’t true. They loved me always. I was free and the depression slowly subsided. Time and a new mind can heal all wounds. Did I mention I had to grow up quickly? Now, I also realize how much a  blessing these tough times were for me at such a young age.

At around that same time I caught a mad case of what I call “The Entrepreneurial Itch” again. As humans, I believe we can only do nothing for so long before there’s an internal nagging that makes us restless… it’s in our DNA and in mine it was beginning to flare up. I couldn’t continue this “Netflix and chill” lifestyle anymore, the pain of staying the same was greater than the pain of change so I looked for my next opportunity.

That’s when I decided I needed to move out of Fresno. I needed a new environment. Since I was starting over again, I might as well pursue a long-time dream of mine that I’d never had the guts to go after because it didn’t seem realistic. What did I have to lose? My whole life I knew I wanted to be an actor, it was always on the back of my mind. So I took what little I had, tossed it all into a backpack, and took a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles. A place knows as the city of broken dreams, one chock-full of failed acting careers, and street-side wannabes who were never good enough to make the big leagues.

“If it wasn’t drugs or gangs, it was hard homeless people and whack jobs. But it was the only place nearby that I could sleep because it was the only place a tow truck wouldn’t come tow you away while you sleep in your car.”

Again, this time I turned to another cousin of mine, who at the time, was living in Santa Monica. He was gracious enough to offer me his car as an undersized hostel. I slept in that 1994 Mitsubishi Montero for 9 straight months, sucked up my pride and picked up a job as a dishwasher. I slept in the car and every morning I would go to the 24 Hour Fitness nearby to use the restroom and shower. My cousin and I shared that car, after my routine shower, he would take it to work, I’d go to work and then after work, I would wait for my cousin to get off so I could sleep in his car. To make things a bit more interesting, each night I would drive over to Skid Row to park and sleep.

A little on Skid Row, if you’ve never heard of it before, it was by far one of the most dangerous and sketchy places to spend time because of all of the drug/gang-related activity. If it wasn’t drugs or gangs, it was hard homeless people and whack jobs. But it was the only place nearby that I could sleep because it was the only place a tow truck wouldn’t come tow you away while you sleep in your car. Anywhere outside of skid row would have gotten me towed. I thought beforehand things were bad, but I went low here. How did a one-time “millionaire” end up here?

But those moments were life-defining for me because I determined 2 things. One, I would never give up, Two, it’s not always going to be like this. I also just knew I couldn’t stay there unless I wanted to end up shot or dead. So I put on my smile, kept a good attitude and pretended like I wasn’t living in a car off Skid Row. If you would have met me during that time, you would never know. A lesson in attitude. By month 9, I’d saved up enough money to get out of that situation, I worked hard, and found an acting agent.  A short stint in acting with a few hundred thousand to my name (which I lost, yet again) and I realized I just didn’t want to act.

I learned that the entertainment industry and A-list celebrities are really owned by the investors and production companies. The money called the shots and the people footing the multi-million dollar bill for Leo DiCaprio are truly the ones in charge. I became more interested in being on that side of the deal than acting. Producing, but I didn’t have the cashflow at the time to produce anything worthwhile.

I went back to those 2 jobs, dishwashing, and catering on the weekends. Luckily, this time I wasn’t in the streets, I had a small place of my own. I remember at the time thinking to myself, “I need to learn how to make money again, consistently and fast, I’d done it before and I need to do it now because this same bullshit is slowly killing me.” Maybe you’ve been in those shoes before. Working a job to make ends meet and the sheer boredom/monotony of it all makes you want to quit…but you can’t cause you need the money. That’s how it was for me but it was so bad to the point that everything began to compound, the junk food, the stress, the endless hours working jobs I didn’t like. It was making me physically sick.

“I spent 4 years with that company which produced a little over 200 million in combined sales through my organization and direct efforts.”

That’s when Network Marketing fell into my lap. I was approached by a rep who sold Kangen Water Machines. These were basically Medical-Grade water purification systems that had proprietary technology. Essentially they made any faucet water just as good or better than if ground spring water directly at its source. That’s just a fancy way of saying these water machines were the best systems on the market and their price-point reflected that. I bought the machine, got educated, and started drinking the water. My before and after was night and day, I felt hundreds of times better. Placebo or not, these things really worked and they had the science to back that up.

I got so passionate about it through my personal experience and wanted to share that with other people, plus it presented the opportunity I was looking for because this was a high ticket product and the commissions the company paid out to share the product with others were very lucrative. I could make just as much money as I was at the dealership, actually more. I spent 4 years with that company which produced a little over 200 million in combined sales through my organization and direct efforts. There, I helped 132 people earn a 6+ figure income and many more make a full-time and part-time income.

I was on the map again. I was so passionate about getting these machines out to people who were sick because I knew it could help them like it helped me. I had an idea to start a non-profit to buy these machines and give them away to people but I couldn’t do enough with the income I was earning from the company. at 5,500 bucks a pop, I needed a more lucrative plan.

“I learned that close to 5.5 trillion dollars are traded every single day in the foreign currency markets. Year-round, more money is moved by traders than by governments.”

So I searched and that’s how forex came into my life. There’s an old proverb, that says “ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.” What you’re looking for will find you. BUT, here’s the caveat, you’ve really got to look…

I can tell you, this stuff really works, and I don’t fully understand it, I don’t need to, I just need to apply it. I’ve taken many flights in my lifetime and I can tell you confidently, to this day, I still don’t understand how a Jumbo Jet or a 747 that’s thousands and thousands of pounds lift itself off the ground with many more tons in passengers and cargo. It just does, I trust that process and I get somewhere faster than the man who doesn’t. I don’t understand how exactly how car engines work, how skyscrapers are built, how fleet ships float, and how acorns turn into oaks. None of that matters, leave those things to God and engineers. Instead, just focus on how you can use them to get where you want to go.

I looked and the opportunity came. Forex. A personal friend at the time, who is now my wife, Candace, introduced me to a man who was a killer Trader. I took one look at his live trading account from his phone and I was sold. So I started asking him all sorts of questions, I was hungry to learn about this industry. I learned that close to 5.5 trillion dollars are traded every single day in the foreign currency markets. Year-round, more money is moved by traders than by governments. I don’t even think governments can spend money that quickly if they tried. Our current National debt would be hit in a matter of 4 single days if it was the forex trading market. That was the kind of liquid and cash flow I was after. Now, I won’t dive into the details of Forex too much here because chances are, that’s how you found out about me so I’ll just share my quick experience.

“Failure and losses are the only sure-fire way to get good fast.”

Trading Foreign Currencies became an obsession for me, it got my wheels turning and my mind was firing off on all cylinders. I would devour anything I could get my hands on: books, youtube videos, tutorials, courses and eventually conferences and I even paid pros to mentor me. It’s safe to assume I learned in a matter of months what takes the majority of traders years. Why? I was deeply interested and focused. On top of that, you only ever learn from live trading. Nothing teaches you faster than lost money. An experience I was all too familiar with. I took quantum leaps because I took those big L’s and I took them quickly.

I couldn’t skip the emotional roller coaster most new traders experience. I couldn’t just tell the markets to take it easy on me because I didn’t want to lose money. They care for no man and his emotions. They don’t care what he’s going through and whether he’s a good guy. The Forex markets are extremely humbling and refining. If you’re right, cool. Toss the extra few bucks in your bank account or go blow it on some drinks. But if you’re wrong… it’ll test you in many different ways. I just chose the speed at which I was humbled and refined. In other words, you can’t skip any step in the process but you can hasten the process. Failure and losses are the only sure-fire way to get good fast.

I started to build a name for myself by that point within my personal networks as a “good Forex trader,” and so my wife and I were approached by a Network Marketing Company that sold Forex eduction. We decided to work with the company, which turned into an opportunity to consult with the company. One thing led to another and there we built an organization of 80,000 members.

“Almost every day, we were approached by another member in our organization who, for the first time in their life was earning money in these markets.”

We built that organization on the belief that the average individual, anyone with average intelligence and above-average desire, could simply take 5 – 10 dollars a day and learn to trade successfully. As long as they followed proven strategies, principles and didn’t get too greedy or fearful. It proved to work and it worked well. Almost every day, we were approached by another member in our organization who, for the first time in their life was earning money in these markets. Income outside of their current jobs, Christmas money, part-time incomes, full-time incomes, and some even started earning life-changing incomes. The coolest transformations we saw were those who began to believe they were capable of turning their lives around. What had happened for me between the ages of 15 – 19 was now happening for them. That feeling of validation through their success became an addiction for me. What we were doing and teaching was working.

That became total confirmation that this industry was where I wanted to plant my flag and how I wanted to serve people. At the same time, our time consulting with that Network Marketing company revealed to me that we had different goals and views on how to lead others to success in the Forex Markets. That’s when my wife Candace (the Legal and Operations Genius) and I decided to Partner with our friend Sal Leto (who’s built massive organizations of 100k+ people) It’s proved to be an awesome dynamic in running our company called Eaconomy.

At Eaconomy we offer Education and Affiliation. Once someone has used the training to educate themselves and better their finances, they are welcome to share with others how much it has helped them and earn referral commissions to the income-level they desire. They currently have paid over 10 million dollars in commissions. The sky is the limit. Eaconomy has been referred to as a “One-Stop-Shop” for all things mindset, finances and Forex.

Shameless plug 😉 Anyways, that brings us to where I’m currently at in my life. Besides running the business, hosting events, building leaders and paying affiliates, I spend time at home in Clovis, California with my Wife and rambunctious, curly-haired toddler, Aziz.

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