Dear World,

My name is Adam Kappel. I’m a 20 year old Social Networker, Internet Marketer and Real Estate Investor. I could say I’m an expert at all 3 of those, but that would just be bragging. Overall, I enjoy my life, as everybody should. I don’t believe in the 4 hour work week primarily because I enjoy what I do and don’t see how I could only spend 4 hours per week doing it— it just doesn’t make sense!

I’ve had the entrepreneurial spirit since I was 8 years old, pulling a wagon around my old neighborhood in New York selling lemonade. Let’s be honest, I had the lemonade stand business down! I knew the best locations to sell at, what times were best for selling, and the best price points for each area. I even hired my friend Eddie to ride around on his bike with a sign advertising our lemonade stand! I spent my evenings at the local deli spending my earnings on Warheads and Skittles. Life was good!

Lesson #1: Being 8 and eating a lot of Skittles makes for an awesome life!

As I grew up, I kept my entrepreneurial spirit alive. At the age of 16, I decided to start an indie record label for hardcore/punk bands. It began with helping out a few friends and eventually resulted in me signing about 5 bands along with doing a few releases. Being 16, I didn’t have much money to invest; I was able to work it out a deal with the bands, which was that I would act more as a promoter, taking a cut of the profits that I was able to sell. I even went on to do a 20 track compilation CD with bands from all over the country. Right after this compilation, I realized how unprofitable owning a record label really was, especially when the scene you’re working in is full of unemployed kids who frown upon anybody making any money.

Lesson #2: People will frown upon anybody successful. They’re afraid to see what they can achieve themselves.

By the age of 18, I had graduated from High School, finished an 8 month long trade school program and opened my own recording studio in Atlanta, GA. Things were going well, but could have used improving. As a plus, I was hanging out with friends, but as a negative, I was recording crappy music and eating lots of junk food. It took me only 9 months to realize a few things:

1. I wasn’t very good at recording.
2. I hated crappy rap music.
3. I was losing a lot of money everyday.
4. All that junk food was making me fat.
5. I had no idea how to run a business.

Lesson #3: If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, figure out why not, or figure out what you truly would love to do.

All of this helped me arrive at the final decision to shut down the recording studio. It was a tough decision for many reasons, the biggest being I really enjoyed recording the genre music I loved. I understood the situation though, accepted it, and moved on. Shortly after, I held an internship position at a local recording studio; however, one and a half months into it, I was fired due to my own stupidity.

I know this is one of the most cliche statements to say, but being fired was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to a new level of responsibility and best of all helped me realize that audio recording wasn’t really what I wanted to do.

One night at good ol’ Steak’n Shake, my parents and I had a long talk about me joining their real estate business. I always loved real estate. I had helped my parents numerous times prior to their offer by putting out bandit signs, doing some of the rehab work, and basically anything they didn’t want to do themselves. I always wanted to pursue it further and this was now my opportunity.

Lesson #4: Find what you love and follow through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. (and Steak’n Shake is delicious)

Months went by and I became more and more involved in the real estate business. I began analyzing deals, doing estimates on properties, and even making offers. I was enjoying it all. I started reading more and more online about how big social networking was getting and realized how many deals we were potentially missing out on by not having a strong internet presence. I took on the challenge and the position of handling all marketing operations for our business. It was only a couple months before our following was growing into the thousands and people were starting to notice—but more importantly— remember us!

Lesson #5: Challenge yourself! Don’t hesitate to take charge!

Since then, I have taken on the challenge of helping others do the same and build there online presence to where my business has had the ability to. I have been featured on television and radio, as well as featured internet articles. I have recently been in the production process of my brand new product Quick Start to Social Media Success (QS2SMS). It will help other real estate investors build a strong online presence with step by step instructions, walk-through videos, and a ton of support from yours truly!

I look forward to being able to network with all of you and to hopefully help you in some sort of way, whether it is through my training videos about social networking and real estate investing, or my personal development ideas. Please don’t hesitate to comment below or email me with any personal questions. I’d love to hear from each and every one of you!

Lesson #6: Share your knowledge with those around you.

Cheers,

Adam Kappel
Adam@AdamKappel.com