By M.Krishnamoorthy
A former Associate Professor, author, media coach, and journalist
This is the success story of Malaysian Vishen Lakhiani, who bounced back from being penniless to build a US$100 million company in the United States.
“Men with no vision create division. I hate to say this, but there's a certain party in the United States where every time they come to power, they have to blame immigrants,” said Malaysian Vishen Lakhiani, founder and CEO of the educational platform Mindvalley, who keeps the Malaysian flag flying high globally.
Vishen’s mantra was: “Every day in every way, become better and better at living your full potential whatever the odds against you.”
Vishen has done Malaysia proud; according to Google: “Vishen is estimated to have a personal net worth between $100 million and $200 million. This wealth is largely derived from his ownership of Mindvalley, which is a bootstrapped company with reported annual revenues reaching upwards of $150 million.”
Bootstrapped means he started Mindvalley on his own and sustained it using only his existing resources and efforts, without relying on external funding, investors, or outside assistance.
Even when Vishen was doing well, he did not do anything out of revenge. Vishen practised resilience, which according to him means “that you don't accept anything that happens to you as outside your control.”
Even if it's a racist political party that forces you to leave, he said, the country you love (USA), “You step up, and you fight back. Resilience is one of the most important things, because resilience will help you weather the storm. The storm I went through was a fricking hurricane.”
In the hatred towards foreigners, the American leadership created a Muslim watchlist, he said in an Instagram post. So, in 2004, Vishen decided to return to Malaysia and recreate Mindvalley.
“I decided I'm going to recreate the diversity. I'm going to create the most amazing office space in Malaysia. We did that. In fact, we created the most beautiful office space in the world, and this was listed in INC and other popular magazines.”
From the office in Kuala Lumpur, Vishen attracted top talent from all around the world to come to Malaysia, rather than the US, to get jobs.
“So we created a workplace, and soon our staff was 70 per cent internationals. And I decided that I was going to beat my American competitors without having an office in America. And I did that. We got US41 million in revenue, and our competitor grossed about US$100. Within 10 years, it was the opposite. Then I was offered a chance to buy my competitor for US$1 million.”
Later, he returned to the United States to create an international company, and Mindvalley dominated the leadership training industry.
Vishen’s Mindvalley has a massive global footprint - with over 20 million students and massive sales in digital self-improvement content. The company has famously achieved this without outside venture capital funding.
Anyone who wishes to know more about Mindvalley can click mindvalley.com or follow Vishen on his business updates and entrepreneurial journey via Vishen Lakhiani's LinkedIn
Freelance Writer M. Krishnamoorthy (https://helloimkrishna.com/) is a media coach, former Associate Professor, and undercover journalist. He has freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German, and Australian Television networks, and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns.
M. Krishnamoorthy (krishnamuthaly@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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