Shadowing Practice: Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich! (Silicon Valley) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
577 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
No. Excuse me, sir.
2
Sir, is this your Ferrari?
3
Yeah.
4
And how did you get a Ferrari?
5
I grew a channel of a $17 million.
6
I was asking successful people how they made it.
7
What did you do for a living?
8
I built a point of sales device that I sold to Cisco Food Systems.
9
You sold a company to Cisco?
10
Yeah.
11
For how much money?
12
A little north of $70 million.
13
$70 million?
14
I've built and sold five other companies since then.
15
And it was more than $10 million? Who, me?
16
Yeah.
17
Oh, yeah.
18
That's tiny.
19
You don't stay in business making $10 million.
20
I built a satellite company.
21
What was the most amount of money you made in a year?
22
We won one contract for billions of dollars from the US government, because we were the early guys.
23
You built a billion dollar company.
24
Yeah.
25
Congratulations, man.
26
Excuse me, sir.
27
Question for you.
28
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
29
Oh, God.
30
Well, that's an interesting question.
31
I had a misspent youth, so it took longer than you'd expect.
32
What was your turning point to financial freedom?
33
I was a farm boy from Illinois.
34
I became a plastic surgeon here in Silicon Valley.
35
What's the best industry to get into right now?
36
Nobody's talking about it.
37
Give me the best industry.
38
That's the tough one.
39
That's tough for the club to be here.
40
I think if there's one lesson about business you would instill in the people watching right now
41
that is not taught in school, what would that be?
42
This is Silicon Valley, the place that has created more billionaires than anywhere else on Earth.
43
It's home to the biggest companies, the boldest ideas, and the richest people alive.
44
Trillions of dollars of innovation started right here.
45
Today, I'm doing something insane.
46
I flew all the way out to California to interview some of the most powerful and wealthiest entrepreneurs in the entire world.
47
Billionaires who literally built the future from tech founders to venture capital giants.
48
These are the people who changed the world and got filthy rich doing it.
49
So today, I'm gonna be figuring out their billionaire secrets on how they built their wealth
50
and how you watching can become financially free going into 2026.
51
Now this video is about to be insane from start to finish.
52
So stay tuned until the end.
53
With that being said, let's get this video on the way.
54
Excuse me sir.
55
Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire?
56
I'm really sorry, we're just not doing any press, but thank you.
57
Oh, okay.
58
So real quick, I have a channel with 17 million followers.
59
I'm really sorry, we're going...
60
Excuse me sir.
61
Sir, I got a question for you.
62
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
63
You're not doing that.
64
Yeah?
65
Real quick, so I grew a channel with 17...
66
I actually have to get to a meeting right now, so thank you though.
67
One lesson to the younger generation.
68
Excuse me sir, sir.
69
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
70
Hey real quick sir, sir.
71
I got a channel.
72
I'm not taking pictures.
73
I'm taking a video.
74
Excuse me sir.
75
Question for you.
76
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
77
I'm good.
78
I'm good.
79
I appreciate you guys doing your thing.
80
Appreciate you man.
81
Appreciate you man.
82
Excuse me ma'am.
83
Question for you.
84
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
85
Yeah.
86
Yeah.
87
Wait, real quick.
88
I grew a channel to 17 million followers.
89
I interviewed business owners on their advice to the younger generation.
90
I know.
91
Sorry, sorry.
92
Thank you.
93
All right, you guys.
94
As you can see, it is literally impossible to get these people to stop and talk, let alone get some advice for you all.
95
I mean, there's like 75 billionaires that live out here.
96
So some of these rich people out here, they're private, man.
97
They do not want to give it away.
98
But I didn't come out here for nothing.
99
I'm going to do whatever it takes to get these people to stop and talk and get a million dollars.
100
Scratch that a billion dollars worth of gain for you all.
101
So come with me.
102
Let's go see who we can find.
103
Come on.
104
Sir, question for you.
105
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
106
What?
107
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
108
I have no freaking clue.
109
What line of business are you in?
110
Venture capital.
111
Why?
112
BC?
113
I grew channel to 17 million followers.
114
I go all over the world, interviewing successful people to help the younger generation.
115
I've interviewed 25 billionaires in the last four years.
116
Could I get one minute with you real quick?
117
No. Two questions.
118
Somebody's trying to raise money for their business.
119
What's the number one thing that you look for in a founder that tells you, I'm going to give my money to...
120
Market opportunity.
121
And what is the best opportunity in today's world?
122
What do you do with AI?
123
AI?
124
So would you say that if you're not using AI you're gonna get left behind?
125
Yes, definitely.
126
So how would you be leveraging AI in your business?
127
Let me ask you.
128
I thought you said one minute.
129
You're past your time.
130
No, this isn't a minute.
131
You're funny though.
132
I like you.
133
I promise you.
134
This is to help the younger people.
135
I've done Tom Cruise, Tom Brady, Mark Cuban, Reid Hoffman, some of your friends probably.
136
What's the best financial advice you ever received throughout your career from a mentor?
137
Listen to the customer.
138
Is it customers or employees first?
139
Customer.
140
Why?
141
Always a customer.
142
Now you're in VC.
143
Customer doesn't buy, you don't have a business.
144
Are you raising or are you investing in businesses?
145
Yes.
146
Real quick, did you ever...
147
Ray, real quick, sir, last one.
148
It's competitive in VC.
149
Yes.
150
How are you getting money from other people?
151
You've got to have a track record.
152
You've got to prove to them that you can make money for them.
153
What's the best investment you've ever made throughout your career?
154
Commerce One.
155
What's that?
156
What type of company was that?
157
Long before you were probably born.
158
So what is the big issue you had in terms of revenue?
159
Not personal income, just revenue.
160
Don't you guys still talk like that?
161
An idea of revenue, was it more than $10 million? Who, me?
162
Yeah.
163
Oh yeah, that's tiny.
164
You don't don't stay in business making 10 million dollars aren't you guys
165
so i tried to squeeze as much game out of
166
that guy as i possibly could he's a vc out here you could tell man he looked like money
167
and even though i couldn't get most out of him i was trying to be persistent
168
but the one takeaway
169
that i had was two he said you got to be using ai in your businesses
170
and the second thing is your customer comes first in business you need to understand
171
that if you take care of your customer everything takes care of itself
172
so solid interview out here we gotta go get this next with you guys Let's come off.
173
Excuse me, sir.
174
Question for you.
175
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
176
Oh, .
177
I was 21.
178
How did you get rich?
179
Like, what lot of business?
180
I built a point of sales device that I sold to Cisco Food Systems.
181
You sold a company to Cisco?
182
Yeah.
183
For how much money?
184
A little north of 70 million.
185
70 million dollars?
186
And what was the biggest thing that led to that exit?
187
Fit and function.
188
Because we only actually made $60,000 in revenue, and we spent $17 million on the company.
189
And so we were in the rears probably about, I mean, basically 17 million bucks.
190
But it was fit and function.
191
They had 11,000 sales reps and they needed certain things.
192
And next thing you know, it kind of just worked out.
193
We figured out that the process of them hiring another 9,000 sales reps was probably worth about 70 to 80 million bucks.
194
So we landed on a number and we went from there.
195
So it's safe to say then price is only an issue if value is absent because you were able to present the, hey, even though you're going to buy my company for $70 million, you're going to save so much more money than you want.
196
Value is only in the eye of the beholder.
197
I've built and sold five other companies since then.
198
Are you serious?
199
Yeah, and been a part of things.
200
He's the CEO of a company right now that literally is going from $5 million to $50 million to $300 million next year.
201
What was the biggest company you exited?
202
Was it that one right there?
203
No, the biggest company was another business.
204
I can't say, but it was about $285 million.
205
You exited for $285 million?
206
Well, actually, the biggest one, no, I'm not even joking.
207
And that was all technology business.
208
I built and sold one to Facebook, built and sold one to NetSuite slash Oracle, and a lot of stuff.
209
What was your turning point to entrepreneurship?
210
Okay, so you're talking to a kid
211
that didn't learn how to read until he was in ninth grade and has no parents.
212
And so we really just my high school senior project was a business
213
and I ended up my grandmother who I Didn't really know till I was 18 years old gave me $70,000 check
214
and next thing you know I gave her money back in three months
215
and built my first magazine and
216
and just kind of figured out I'm just gonna work for myself because I'm probably not normally hireable now.
217
We're in Silicon Valley right now We're going into 2026.
218
What is the best industry people should be looking to get into right now in today's world?
219
You know, it's funny, man.
220
I have built a lot of software companies.
221
I built the cannabis business I'm in the energy and infrastructure space more now and manufacturing.
222
So, for example, so Alyssa, she owns a company called Butcher Power Products.
223
Siemens, ABB, some of the largest companies in the world that make billions and billions of dollars to build Switchgear.
224
Switchgear sounds like it's not hard to do.
225
Amazon put out a study last year that said that
226
if they ate up all of the capacity of Switchgear in the United States for manufacturing, over the next 10 years they'd only be at 25% of what they needed.
227
That's one company.
228
There's also Facebook, there's a bunch of other ones.
229
So right now, I diversified and went into the Switchgear space, invested in there, looked at it, invest my time, energy, my people, everything else I have into that space.
230
And it's sort of a, I would say, low technology space.
231
It's been around for 30, 40, 50 years.
232
The reality is, you know, Siemens, ABB, LS, all these other players do billions and billions of dollars.
233
But there's so many orders in that space that you can't keep up with volume.
234
We have the capacity to do about a billion, two in revenue, and we get to choose our clientele.
235
We do about 50% margins on everything we do.
236
So I'm getting software money out of freaking manufacturing.
237
So you like energy manufacturing?
238
It's been an interesting space.
239
And switchgear is this giant stupid box that basically takes the low, medium, high voltage that comes from power lines.
240
Like this building has a bunch of switchgear.
241
Probably this building alone is $15 million worth of switchgear.
242
So the more building you're doing, the more you're doing that.
243
The reality is the entire industry is 30, 40, 50 years old.
244
So you have to replace all the old stuff, plus there's a bunch of new.
245
Data centers take anywhere from a small data center will take $15 to $20 million worth of switchgear.
246
A large one will take a billion.
247
Did you have anybody that doubted you?
248
Everybody.
249
I mean, I couldn't read till I was in ninth grade, so I f*ing doubted myself.
250
What was the number one book that changed your life?
251
The Bible.
252
So you believe in God?
253
Oh, absolutely.
254
Somebody doesn't believe in God right now.
255
What would your message be to them?
256
Factually, you're wrong.
257
I studied Christian apologetics at Stanford University for about a year.
258
The reality is a design creator is a fact.
259
It's not fiction.
260
I would say, go look at yourself in the mirror.
261
Every designer has to have a creator.
262
This is the funniest thing, right?
263
So there's this belief that something bigger than you is divine and doing something in the universe.
264
And at some point when you die, you're going to be in a place with a thing that's bigger than you.
265
That's the largest religion in America.
266
And the reality is, that's just Christianity.
267
Right.
268
Right?
269
And if you look at it, the reason why I always tell people, like at the end of the day for me, it's always been Christianity.
270
It's the only religion in the world in which it's nothing you do.
271
No offense.
272
You're not important.
273
I'm not important.
274
She isn't.
275
None of us are.
276
It's the reality of what God did for us to bring us there.
277
Because I'm imperfect and so are you.
278
So if I'm imperfect, I can't go to a perfect place
279
and live in a perfect place and be a part of it.
280
Because what happens?
281
It becomes imperfect.
282
Jesus is key.
283
Amen.
284
I love it.
285
You've got amazing advice, sir.
286
Thank you so much for your time.
287
I appreciate you.
288
That guy just gave a crazy interview.
289
And look, he said he sold four or five companies and one for over $280 million.
290
He sold a company to Facebook.
291
But I need you to listen to me very carefully right now.
292
Look, 99% of people will never get the chance to be mentored from a millionaire or a billionaire.
293
They might watch them on YouTube and videos like this or podcasts, but they never get the chance to ask them a question directly.
294
That's why I built the greatest entrepreneur community in the entire world.
295
And I'm not kidding.
296
It's called the School of Mentors.
297
Inside, every single week, I bring in the same multimillionaires and billionaire entrepreneurs that you see on this channel.
298
And instead of the millionaires and billionaires just talking to me, they mentor you live on Zoom every single week.
299
You literally get to raise your hand
300
and ask them your questions about your business or how to build wealth
301
and get real answers from people who've already built eight, nine, and even 10 figure businesses.
302
Now, here's the craziest part.
303
You're watching this right now.
304
And for Black Friday, we are doing something absolutely insane.
305
To celebrate, we're giving you 50% off so you can get access to the School of Mentors for just $25.
306
This isn't a $10,000 mastermind or a $1,000 course.
307
This is real proximity to real entrepreneurs and real mentors that have built real businesses.
308
But here's the catch.
309
Look, this Black Friday offer is strictly limited for the next 48 hours.
310
Once it's gone, the price goes back up.
311
So if you're watching this right now and you've ever wanted actual access to the eight, nine, and 10 figure entrepreneurs, the billionaires that you see me interview on this channel, this is your sign.
312
All you have to do is go down, click the link in the description of this video to grab your spot for just $25
313
and I'll see you inside of the number one entrepreneur community and network in the entire world.
314
That being said, let's go get this next interview.
315
Excuse me, sir.
316
Sir, is this your Ferrari?
317
Yeah.
318
And how did you get a Ferrari?
319
I grew chivalry of a 17 million dollars, asking successful people how they made it.
320
What did you do for a living?
321
I worked at Apple.
322
You worked at Apple?
323
Yeah.
324
What were you doing at Apple?
325
I was I was the engineering director.
326
Let me ask you this.
327
How did you work your way up at Apple?
328
It's a very competitive company.
329
What did you do to stand out?
330
Did a great job.
331
Did a great job?
332
So can you build real wealth working in the corporate world?
333
It's not easy.
334
Not easy?
335
Actually, this is more accidental than anything else.
336
What do you mean?
337
You invest, and all of a sudden it takes off.
338
What did you invest in primarily?
339
What was your vehicle?
340
Apple stock.
341
How long were you at Apple for?
342
Oh, gosh, almost 20 years.
343
20 years?
344
So back in the early 2000s.
345
Before that.
346
In the 1990s?
347
Yeah.
348
So what made you decide to go work with Apple early on before all the, you know.
349
It was the only place that you could do the great work that we did, almost 20 years.
350
What's the best industry people should be looking to get into right now in today's world?
351
I honestly don't know.
352
I mean, everyone's in the AI bandwagon, which means that it's probably not the best place to be.
353
I look at the contrary version.
354
Actually, so you think that when too many people are talking about something, then you want to go the other way.
355
Yeah, yeah.
356
So what are you looking at?
357
What's that thing for you right now?
358
Well, I can't tell you right now.
359
Everybody would run in.
360
What did you study in college?
361
Political science.
362
Political science.
363
How'd you end up working for a tech company?
364
Oh, that's a long story.
365
Tell me, how'd you get into the tech industry?
366
I gotta go.
367
Okay, thanks.
368
Alright, last message to the younger generation.
369
Your last message to help them stand out and become a millionaire in today's world.
370
Oh, invest your time wisely and find something you love.
371
Did you ever start your own business?
372
I did.
373
Yeah?
374
But no, I think doing what we did at Apple, there's no other place on earth you could do that.
375
Why, what do they do differently from everybody else?
376
Look at the product line, I will tell you.
377
What makes them so successful?
378
What's a lesson from Apple that other young entrepreneurs can learn today's world?
379
Set a high bar.
380
Set a high bar.
381
Do they think a lot bigger?
382
Yeah.
383
Always try to elevate what you're doing.
384
What types of companies did you start?
385
Well, same kind of thing as a tech thing.
386
The lesson I learned at Apple is always set a high bar.
387
Everybody's trying to do the best job they can.
388
That's how you get great products out of it.
389
Thank you so much for your time, sir.
390
I appreciate you.
391
You've got great advice.
392
Really appreciate your time.
393
Thank you, sir.
394
So I go up to my guy in the Ferrari, and he didn't make his wealth starting businesses, but he was an employee at Apple, an early employee at Apple in the 1990s.
395
And it just goes to show up.
396
You're in the right place at the right time.
397
You can still become rich.
398
I mean, he's Ferrari rich, you guys.
399
So he got there for a reason.
400
Pretty cool to interview out here in Silicon Valley in the tech capital of the world.
401
Let's go get another one, you guys, come on.
402
Excuse me, sir.
403
Sir, how old were you when you became a millionaire?
404
How old?
405
When I became?
406
Yeah, how old were you?
407
I can't remember, it was so long ago.
408
No, I'm kidding.
409
Could have been 50.
410
So you made it later in life.
411
Yeah.
412
Was delayed gratification important, patience in your career?
413
It was okay.
414
Yeah.
415
And how did you get rich?
416
What line of business are you in?
417
I built a satellite company.
418
A satellite company?
419
But that's such a niche business.
420
How did you get into building satellites?
421
I found a company that was broken.
422
It was after 9-11.
423
And I thought we were going to need more information about people around the world.
424
And I had lost a friend on 9-11.
425
Sorry for your loss.
426
So it was more like, let's fix this and find this kind of information that we need more of.
427
I didn't realize until I'd been at it for a while that we'd make a ton of money.
428
Right.
429
What was the most amount of money you made in a year?
430
Oh, we won one contract for billions of dollars from the U.S government.
431
Because we were the early guys.
432
So you built a billion dollar company?
433
Yeah.
434
Congratulations, man.
435
How did you get that contract?
436
I got a...
437
I want to make sure my Uber doesn't leave.
438
They won't, let me talk to them.
439
I have a channel with 17 million followers.
440
I've interviewed 25 billionaires in the last four years to help the younger generation.
441
Let me ask you this, if you could give me one piece of advice on how you scaled out a multi-billion dollar company, how did you do that?
442
It takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment.
443
You have to work six days a week or seven, and you have to be lucky.
444
Did you sacrifice a lot?
445
Oh yeah, sure.
446
I worked six or seven days a week for years.
447
When you found the company- Didn't get to see my son's football games and stuff like that.
448
But we made America safer, we protected the environment, we created lots of jobs, and we made our investors rich so it was like the American dream.
449
How did you sell to the U.S government?
450
How did you land it as a client? said you need to know more about the world.
451
This is so long ago that people didn't have digital maps.
452
A friend of mine started Google Earth.
453
Nobody believed they needed digital maps.
454
You guys grew up with maps in your phone but back then they didn't have them.
455
So we convinced people you need to know more.
456
I really got to go with this.
457
You know people that thought you were crazy when you were buying?
458
Totally.
459
They said go back to, you know, I would, I built it in Washington.
460
They said go back to New York, digital mapping, nobody will ever make money.
461
Why didn't you listen to them?
462
I was convinced it would work and that was the crazy part.
463
I stuck with it.
464
Thank you so much for your time.
465
So I appreciate it.
466
Wait, real quick, Sarah.
467
You said it was broken.
468
What did you go in there to fix it?
469
What's the most common mistake, the most common reason why businesses are broken in today's world?
470
They are selling what they have, not what the customer needs.
471
You a good negotiator?
472
I'm a great negotiator, but you sell the customer what they need, not what you have.
473
You solve needs, you're gonna get rich.
474
What's the best advice you ever got from a mentor?
475
One lesson that a mentor taught you that always- Don't give up.
476
Yeah.
477
Did you almost give up?
478
No, but it was crazy to keep going.
479
Last message to the younger generation, right here.
480
One more nugget to them, to build a billion dollar company, man.
481
One more lesson to the younger generation.
482
Work hard, but be excited.
483
The future's so bright, you all ought to be wearing shades.
484
We're going to 2026.
485
What's the best industry to get into right now?
486
Nobody's talking about it.
487
Give me the best industry.
488
That's a tough one.
489
That's the toughest question you get.
490
I think cyber is going to be hugely important.
491
Why?
492
Because AI is making it easier to fake everybody out.
493
My guy founded a satellite company of all businesses, you guys.
494
And he just gave us an incredible interview out here in Silicon Valley.
495
We have all businesses.
496
Satellites built a multi-billion dollar business and just gave us a great interview, you guys.
497
Come on, man.
498
Silicon Valley's going crazy.
499
Excuse me, sir.
500
Question for you.
501
How old were you when you became a millionaire?
502
Oh, God.
503
I know these guys don't even know.
504
Oh, do you?
505
Well, that's an interesting question.
506
I had a misspent youth, so it took longer than you'd expected.
507
And how did you make it, would you say?
508
I'm a plastic surgeon.
509
I just worked hard.
510
So you got to be a plastic surgeon?
511
I made my patients happy, and they rewarded me, and it was great.
512
So when you came out of medical school, what was your turning point to building your own practice and having your own business?
513
I think I knew from the beginning I wanted to be a plastic surgeon.
514
Why?
515
So it was great.
516
I wanted to make people happy, and I wanted to see everyone enjoying it.
517
So it was a great field for me.
518
Did you learn that the more happy you make other people, the more money you're gonna make in turn?
519
I think it works out that way.
520
I don't know if I learned it that way, I don't wanna say that, but it happened like happened.
521
I became a plastic surgeon because I wanted to be an orthopod because this orthopod guy was really, I wanted to be a sports doctor.
522
And then this plastic surgeon showed up in some pink gargoyle glasses and he was like, you need to come with me and become a plastic surgeon.
523
And he converted me and it all worked out great.
524
I'm gonna challenge you, take me back to the most life-changing conversation you've ever had.
525
What's the best advice you ever got from a mentor throughout your career?
526
That's a good question.
527
That was one of them, because he told me just to be you and enjoy it.
528
And I think, I'm old.
529
I mean, I see so many young people.
530
You can drive into the drive-through at McDonald's, right?
531
And meet someone who you can just see them and you're like, they're gonna be something someday.
532
And everyone can be something someday.
533
And I became, I was a farm boy from Illinois.
534
I became a plastic surgeon here in Silicon Valley.
535
What do most medical professionals get wrong about the business side of medicine?
536
Because a lot of them, they come out of school, they've got shiny objects engine when they get out because they're in school for so damn long.
537
When you come out of school, what's a way that you could advise them about building the business the right way?
538
I think for any business, and when you create happiness for yourself and happiness for everyone around you, you will succeed.
539
I have people come in to me and give me $20,000 in cash for their surgery that are ditch diggers, that own businesses, that worked really hard.
540
And when you enjoy what you're doing, you're good at it, you can succeed.
541
Have you seen the business of medicine change a lot, especially in plastic surgery?
542
Where do you think it's going?
543
Oh, it's evolved a lot, for sure.
544
It's evolved a ton.
545
And have you adapted a lot of the technology that's came out?
546
The technology's been great, for sure.
547
It's improved what we do improved, how our patients improve.
548
It's been great.
549
Plastic surgery has been a really wonderful field.
550
Why?
551
Because it's just evolved.
552
Our results are better.
553
People heal faster.
554
People are happy.
555
I mean all you'd have to do is come to work with me for a day.
556
You can bring that camera around and you would see so many people so happy.
557
A lot of people are judgmental about plastic surgery.
558
A lot of people think it's vain or superficial.
559
But people are super happy.
560
And you can make millions in that space as well.
561
You can make money but you can also, I mean I would argue that the happiness is more than the money.
562
I love that.
563
You got amazing advice sir yeah thank you so much for your time
564
and I appreciate you man this is great all right you guys
565
that is a wrap on today's video I need you to like
566
and subscribe for amazing content man we just came out to
567
one of the richest cities on planet earth silicon valley to figure out how they got rich
568
and how you can do the exact same thing
569
but let's go a step further you guys see I launched
570
and built the number one most powerful entrepreneur community
571
and network in the entire world where every single week you can get mentored directly from the millionaires
572
and the billionaires I interview on this channel so
573
if you want direct access to the millionaires billionaires I interview
574
and you want them to mentor you go down click the
575
link in the description of this video to join the school
576
of mentors today I can't wait to see you on the inside with
577
that being said I'll see you in the next video
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
B22
She Made Over $20 Million Doing THIS
Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
I Started With $600... Now I Make $10B/Year
Business EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
Asking Billionaire Women How They Got RICH!
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B22
These Millionaires Gave Us Life Changing Advice...
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B12
Multimillionaire Explains Time Is More Important Than Capital When Running a Business
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B25
Asking Millionaire Homeowners How They Got Rich
Business EnglishInterview EnglishWorking Adults
B22
I Asked Will Smith How He Made $350 Million
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B21
Asking Miami Billionaires How They Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
Asking Billionaire Women How They Got RICH!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B21
I Asked Tom Cruise How He Made $600 Million
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
C16
Asking Billionaires How They Got Rich! (Beverly Hills)
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B27
Asking London Billionaires How They Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B2The secret wealth formula nobody teaches
Business EnglishWorking Adults
B2Asking One Of The Richest NBA Players How He Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B26
27 sentences
Steve Jobs on Failure
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B23
11 sentences
Inside Elon Musk’s Mind: The Interview You Can’t Miss
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
206 sentences
How Thiel Fellowship Changed My Life - OYO Rooms Founder Ritesh Agarwal
Business EnglishInterview EnglishHigh School Students
B25
283 sentences
The One Social Skill That Beats All The Others
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B26
35 sentences
Steven Bartlett’s Secret To Business Success (Hint: It’s Not Hard Work)
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B25
444 sentences
Asking Wealthy American Women How They Got Rich!
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
359 sentences
If You’re Young, You NEED to Hear This — Jack Ma’s Life Advice
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B23
93 sentences
How APPLE Became the world's first TRILLION Dollar Company | Story Of APPLE
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B26
418 sentences
Alex Hormozi: The 4 Steps To Your First Dollars Tomorrow
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
519 sentences
Capitalise on Your Potential and Rise to the Top | Suits Masterclass
American AccentBusiness EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich!”. This video has 577 sentences and 4842 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:32. The speaker talks fast, about 248 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 133 of its 577 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| millionaire noun | /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/ | Somebody whose wealth is at least one million (10⁶) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies). |
| billionaire noun | /ˌbɪl.jəˈnɛɚ/ | Somebody whose wealth is at least one billion (10⁹) currency units (usually understood to exclude holders of hyperinflated currencies). |
| mentor noun | /ˈmɛn.tɔː/ | A wise and trusted counselor or teacher. |
| switchgear noun | A device used to control, meter, protect, and regulate electronics as part of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. | |
| entrepreneur noun | /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/ | A person who sets up a business; generally, a person who owns and manages a business and assumes its financial risks. |
| silicon noun | /ˈsɪləˌkɑn/ | A nonmetallic element (symbol Si) with an atomic number of 14 and atomic weight of 28.0855. |
| surgeon noun | /ˈsɝd͡ʒən/ | One who performs surgery; a doctor who performs operations on people or animals. |
| follower noun | /ˈfɒləʊə(ɹ)/ | One who follows, comes after another. |
| imperfect adjective | /ɪmˈpɜː(ɹ)fɪkt/ | Not perfect. |
| evolve verb | /ɪˈvɑlv/ | To move (something) in regular procession through a system. |
| misspent adjective | Spent in a bad way, squandered | |
| negotiator noun | /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/ | One who negotiates. |
| orthopod noun | An orthopaedic surgeon. | |
| buck noun | /ˈbʌk/ | A male deer, antelope, sheep, goat, rabbit, hare, and sometimes the male of other animals such as the hamster, ferret, salmonid, shad, skunk and kangaroo. |
| someday adverb | Sometime; at some unspecified time in the future. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| stand out verb | To jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Don't you guys still talk like that?
- What's that thing for you right now?
- How'd you end up working for a tech company?
- Tell me, how'd you get into the tech industry?
- Why didn't you listen to them?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've built · has created · I've interviewed |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is not taught · being said · were probably born |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who changed · bandwagon, which means · someone who you |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 125 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: ninth /naɪnθ/, filthy /ˈfɪlθi/, grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: negotiator /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/, chivalry /ˈʃɪvəlɹi/, gratification /ˌɡɹætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, superficial /ˌsupɚˈfɪʃəl/, entrepreneurship /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ.ʃɪp/
- Long words — get the stress right: millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/, entrepreneur /ˌɑn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/, negotiator /nɪˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪ.tə/, diversify /daɪˈvɝ.sə.faɪ/, gratification /ˌɡɹætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like millionaire, billionaire, mentor.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.