Akira The Don - My Dream

Today's guest is one of the world's leading marketing experts and living proof that the American dream is alive and well
If you're willing to work your face off

Life starts
In being born in Belarus
In the former Soviet Union
I came to the US
When I was three years old
We were very, very, very poor
I lived in a studio apartment with eight family members
And my dad and my mom
As you can imagine are very much my heroes
My dad worked every hour of his life
Being a stock boy in a liquor store
I was a very entrepreneurial kid
I was day trading attention from a young age
I had six lemonade stands
When I was seven years old
And I would spend all my time
Trying to figure out what tree and what pole
To put the signs on
Because I was watching people drive
And trying to figure out what signs
Yes, I was a very sick child

When I was 12 and 13
I was selling baseball cards which were very popular
In the United States at the time
And I was making one to two thousand dollars a weekend
Selling them
In the malls
Which was great and I was rich for a young kid
And it was fantastic
But then my career changed
My dad dragged me into the liquor store
And I hated it at first
But luckily, I realized that people collected wine
I was into collecting sports memorabilia
That was my passion, that was the connection
And I decided
That I was gonna jump into my family business
Open up 4,000 liquor stores across America
Sell the franchise one day
And buy the New York Jets

(Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team

In 1994 I was in my dorm room in college
My friend came over to me
He brought me into a room
It was the first time I heard, “coo-coo-ch”
Which was the Internet
I was very excited about it
I didn't know what it was
I said something stupid like “Is this the information superhighway?”
I looked at it
This was 1994
I literally stood there
And watched people on the Internet for five hours
It was that crazy
It was just that insane
It was so new
And when I finally had my turn
To go on there
When I finally had my turn to go on there
Within 20 minutes
I landed on a message board
Where people were trading and buying cards
Baseball cards
And I realized, “My God, I can do business on this thing”

2x (Chorus)
'Cause that is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team
That is my dream
Buy the New York Jets
American football team

You two stand up
You two stand up
Let's clap it up for these guys