E-mail a friendFarrah Gray
airdate January 20, 2005
Farrah Gray was a card-carrying businessman at age six. At eight, he formed a business club that financed his neighborhood ventures. By age 14, he had an office on Wall Street and was a millionaire. He also served as the youngest member of the United Way Board of Directors. Gray's foundation provides seed money to young entrepreneurs. Now 20 years old, he's the author of Reallionaire, which shares the lessons that took him from public assistance in Chicago's inner city to millionaire row.
Farrah Gray
Tavis: Despite being one of 5 children growing up on public assistance in the projects of Chicago, Farrah Gray had big plans for himself, and at age 13, he started his first company, which made him a millionaire a year later. Now at age 20, he's an author, a public speaker, and a successful entrepreneur. The details of his incredible story are in his new book, Bam, 'Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out.' Farrah, nice to see you.
Farrah Gray: Thank you for having me.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you on the program. I had you on my radio program some, I guess, weeks back, and we had such a response to your being on the radio program, I said, "We got to get Farrah out to California, have him on the TV show." So I'm glad to have you here. For those who don't know anything about your story, have not seen you or heard you on my radio program in the past--I saw you on 'Good Morning, America' the other day. So I put you on the radio, and everybody discovered you.
Farrah: Ha ha!
Tavis: Where's my check, Farrah?
Farrah: I'm gonna work on it.
Tavis: You work on that, all right. Ha ha ha! Anyway, for those who don't know the story, let me just run down a few things that you'll get a kick out of. At age 6, Farrah sold body lotion door to door and made money off of it. Now, the funny story behind that, somehow you--tell them what kind of lotion you were selling, Farrah.
Farrah: I was selling used lotion. Lotion that I found all around in the house and mixed it up and put in a big bottle.
Tavis: So you were mixing Jergens and cocoa butter...
Farrah: And baby powder.
Tavis: And baby powder and Neutrogena and just mixing it all up, and you sold it?
Farrah: Yes.
Tavis: And somebody bought that?
Farrah: Actually, I made $10 that day.
Tavis: All right. Age 6, he sold body lotion door to door. By age 8, he started the Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club at age 8. What were y'all talking about at those meetings, Farrah?
Farrah: We were talking about how inner city youth could get richer, how we could get out of our situation, which was poverty.
Tavis: At 8. All right. At age 9, he co-hosted a radio show when he was living in Las Vegas. Tell me about that.
Farrah: Well, I ended up going to a show in Vegas, and they were taping, and the lady said, "Hi, how are you?" I said, "Here's my business card," like I always do very promptly, and I introduced myself to her. And she said, "OK, what do you do?" I said, "Well, you know, I have a business club," and I told her about it, and she said, "OK, maybe we might have you on our show." And then ultimately, they created a segment.
Tavis: Mm-hmm. Age 12, he began speaking on the lecture circuit. How was that at age 12?
Farrah: Scary.
Tavis: Yeah.
Farrah: Very nervous, but I got the hang of it after a while.
Tavis: And made a little money at that?
Farrah: A little bit, but I got to help people.
Tavis: OK. Age 14, officially became a millionaire at 14 by selling Farr-Out Food Company. That's the food company that you started.
Farrah: Yes, it is.
Tavis: Tell me about your food company that you sold at age 14.
Farrah: My grandmother used to make our syrup for us because we couldn't afford to make our own, so I kind of got her recipe and mixed strawberry flavoring and vanilla flavoring, and I went in a book and found different cold packers and found someone to actually partner with me, and I found a factory, and I launched it from there.
Tavis: And sold it at 14. At age 15, with some of the proceeds from your...
Farrah: Food company.
Tavis: Food company, you started the Farrah Gray Foundation to help do what?
Farrah: To help other people who grew up in the inner city, I give a personal percentage of my income from salaries and speaking engagements.
Tavis: It's like your version of tithing.
Farrah: Yes, absolutely. Giving back.
Tavis: Yeah. Where'd that giving-back notion come from?
Farrah: Well, I've always, even from a young age, even when I started off when I was about 6 years old and I would sell the different lotions, I always wanted to help. I wanted to give back. You know, seeing my mother struggle and my grandmother struggle--my mom left my father when I was very young, so I grew up in a single-parent household. So I would see someone who was homeless, seeing my mom's tears, her struggle, I said, "I want to help. I want to give back. I want to make something of myself and contribute to my community."
Tavis: This title Reallionaire--tell me what that means. I've heard of a millionaire, billionaire, Bill Gates, a zillionaire, but what's "Reallionaire"?
Farrah: A reallionaire is someone who is rich from the inside out. Growing up, I saw so many different multi-millionaires who were rich, but miserable people, and conversely, I met so many poor people who were rich on the inside, and I said, "But for me, I want the combination of both." And that's what a reallionaire is.
Tavis: What's the secret to being rich from the inside out?
Farrah: The secret for being rich from the inside out is to develop a success consciousness--going into your life and your situation and realizing that the most 2 important times in our life is finding out why we were born and actually the way we were born. Once we discover that, we can begin to find our area of excellence.
Tavis: Why do you think Farrah Gray was born?
Farrah: I believe Farrah Gray was born to grow and to contribute and to move forward with the goal and the mission that I felt I was here for, and that's to make myself a success and help others along that process.
Tavis: There are a number of principles you talk about in the book. Let me throw a few of them out and get you to respond to them. "Dedicate your time to what you know." You argue very aggressively in this book that if you want to be successful, you have to dedicate your time to what you know. Explain.
Farrah: You have to find your area of excellence, and you can do that by asking yourself 3 questions: what comes easy to me, but harder to others? What would I do for years and years to come and never have to get paid for it? And the next question would be, how can I be of service? I think that we--the most important place--and the most wealthiest--rich place is the cemetery because so many people are dying with their natural talents. They didn't paint that picture that they were supposed to paint that was within them. They didn't write that book that was within them, so you have to find your area of excellence, and once you do, I believe that the marketplace and the world will open up for your talents.
Tavis: We sit here in Hollywood, and one of the things I've always admired about folk who are in the Hollywood game, the acting game, is that you have to have a real strong constitution to be an actor because you get told 'no' a whole lot more times than you get told 'yes' when you go to these auditions. My ego couldn't take that. Being told 'no' that many times, looking for one 'yes' until you become, you know, a major star, which happens for so few people. I say that because you argue in this book that you must never fear rejection.
Farrah: Absolutely.
Tavis: Talk to me about that.
Farrah: Everything we want is on the other side of fear. I discovered that if we allow ourselves to look at rejection as failure, then we have failed ourselves, and that when we realize and discover the fact that within ourselves, we must propel and persevere and dig deep to be successful, because as the old saying goes, if you want more, you have to be more. And people don't get in life what they want. You get in life what you are.
Tavis: You say, "Seize every opportunity."
Farrah: Yes. Most people say you have to be at the right place at the right time. No, you have to be everywhere all the time.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Farrah: When I was 6 years old, I had my little business cards calling myself the 21st century CEO, and at that time, I really didn't know what that meant. I just knew that meant owning your own business. It had something to do with a CEO. At that time I said, well, maybe I want to name myself the president of my company. I said, well, no, they might get me confused with the president of the United States. I said, well, maybe vice president. I said, no, he stands behind the president. I said, so maybe the 21st century CEO. I said, OK, 'cause I'm gonna do business in the 21st century, so I made these homemade business cards, and I was everywhere with my business cards, and I say that to other people who are in other industries. If you have headshots--hopefully you don't have a homemade business card, but you should be everywhere letting people know that you exist and creating a network of positivity and relationships.
Tavis: Here's a trick question. Not a trick question, but a tricky question. How do you balance seizing every opportunity? --which I think is important. You have to seize the opportunities, but I run into so many people from time to time--so many people all the time, for that matter--who I find to be opportunists, that is to say that they think that everything is an opportunity. You say seize every opportunity, but it in fact has to be an opportunity that will advance your career, otherwise you really spin your wheels and take on--you bite off more than you can chew because you become an opportunist just trying to do everything all the time.
Farrah: Absolutely. You can run into that as an issue, but when you are into a lot of different ventures, you also, even though they may not all succeed because the average entrepreneur fails about, what, 3.8 times before they find a business that's successful. So each venture that you do go in, of course with discernment and hopefully in your area of excellence, that you are able to use those as a learning opportunity and kind of as your 101 class in that particular field, so you use each opportunity as a learning experience.
Tavis: How do you respond to people who say that what you have done is--you are an anomaly? That you are an anomaly, an enigma, that you are the exception to the rule, and not the rule, and while they're proud and appreciative and embracing of your success, what you have done, any kid in the inner city can't do?
Farrah: I believe they can. According to statistics, I'm supposed to be either in prison or dead, but I'm here talking with you, and I believe that you have to find a reason to work hard, to want to make something of yourself. I believe that comfort is the enemy of achievement. So many people get comfortable in their situation that they don't want to find those areas in their lives that they're uncomfortable about and change them. I grew up poor. I didn't like it. I wanted to live like I saw people living on TV, and so many other young people did, too. The only question I had to ask when I started my business club with other kids around my age, all I had to ask them was, "Hey, do you want to be rich?" They'd say, "Yes, yes, yes." So we lack in the inner city resources and not the brainpower.
Tavis: What is most lacking--speaking of lacking--what's most lacking finally inside of communities of color, where poverty, you know, runs amuck? What's most lacking to motivate these kids, to get them excited, once they see this conversation, to do what it is that you have done?
Farrah: So many people when they become successful, they leave the inner city when they come from the inner city. They don't go back into the community and reach up and pull people and educate people and let them know it's actually possible. So I think that there is a limited, again, resources, a lack of resources, as well as images that are going back into the community and saying, 'OK, I came from this. Now you can do it, too.'
Tavis: The book is 'Reallionaire.' I know he just wore you out, didn't he? He just wore you out with that conversation, didn't he? It's called 'Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, the Essential Lessons That Took Me from Public Assistance to a Millionaire by the Age of 14,' written by one Farrah Gray. To learn more about Farrah Gray, log on to FarrahGray.com. Farrah, I'm proud of you, man. Nice to see you on the program.
Farrah: Thank you for having me.
Tavis: All the best to you.
Back to January 20, 2005