Gerard Adams founded Elite Daily, along with David Arabov and Jonathon Francis, in February of 2012. He had just lost millions of dollars (that he had made working as an online marketer for small cap, publicly-traded companies) during the stock market crash. He had no game plan. Just a desire to tell stories, which he had been doing—by filming some documentaries—on the side.
“We bought EliteDaily.com for $9.99 on GoDaddy. We were naive. We didn’t know how we were gonna start this publication,” Gerard recalls. But he saw an opportunity to be the voice for Generation Y. They wanted to cover everything from business to health, dating to entertainment, only it would be written by millennials for millennials.
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“We didn’t make any money for close to a year,” Gerard admitted. “We were interviewing our friends, interviewing our friends’ friends, seeing how to get articles up, and [figuring out] how we can create this brand.”
In the early days, they operated lean and mean, working out of his tiny apartment, sitting on folding chairs, typing away on their laptops.
Once they got enough momentum, they began seeking out advisors, mentors, investors—one of which was Arianna Huffington. She helped ’em grow their team of contributors and scale their content. In time, they were publishing 80 to 100 articles a day, with 200 employees.
But how does one get an Arianna Huffington involved in their business? Well, it’s belief in what you’re doing. It’s reaching out as many times as it takes. And, of course, you gotta nail your pitch.
To do so, Gerard says you really have to “simplify to amplify.” You need to be able to clearly articulate what your company does, who it’s for, and what problem you’re solving. Then, you have to answer the question: why you? What makes you different? Better?
Well, apparently, the pitch for Elite Daily must’ve sounded like a Roddy Ricch hook, because, before long, they were presented with an offer to get bought out. Gerard wasn’t interesting in selling, but his two cofounders were. They eventually wore him down. In January of 2015, Elite Daily was acquired by DMG Media for $50 million.
Boom. Gerard Adams was once again a multi-millionaire and still just 30 years young. Today, he has a net worth of $20 million dollars. This, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Now Gerard spends his days “mentoring conscious leaders to create mastery, impact, and freedom.” He makes money selling courses and masterminds which teach skillsets such as branding, growing your Instagram following, and signing up high ticket clients.
Gerard’s best advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? Bet on you. You’re the only thing you can control in this life. Expect it to be uncomfortable. Uncertain. Scary. So what? Take action anyways.
If a young Latino kid from Jersey—that used to hustle weed, be in a gang, and even got locked up—can completely shift and build two eight-figure companies by 30… multiple seven-figure companies… and turn his personal brand into a movement that impacts millions of lives around the globe? Why can’t you?
“It’s time for you to step forward. It’s time for you to ‘break the mask.’ It’s time for you to break the bank. It’s time for you to rise up and find your tribe,” Gerard said in a recent IG video. “But you gotta bet on yourself.”
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