082: Turning Mistakes Into Massive Successes with Louis Spagnuolo

Louis Spagnuolo is a serial entrepreneur and currently serves as the Chairman of Illuminati Trust, LLC, a diversified company, as well as Chief Executive Officer for Don’t Look Media LLC, a highly recognized privately held Internet Monetization Company.

During his career Louis has worked with Professional Athletes, Entertainers, National Business Leaders, Heads of State and countless genuinely fantastic people, while sharing in the financial dreams of all his clients to the tune of over $884 Million Dollars in deal participations.

Recognized in over 278 major media publications, Louis is a nationally sought after expert in Internet Monetization, with an emphasis on asset acquisitions that can be leveraged to generate liquidity events.

Louis is also an active contributor to such charities as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, The Special Olympics, Camp Fiesta Children’s Cancer Caring Center, The Caring Bridge, The Haven Home For Boys, Stop Hunger, Habitat For Humanity and Charley’s Fund.

Places to Find Louis:

On LinkedIn, Louis Spagnuolo

Show Notes:

[3:00] minute: Set the stage for us, what was life like for you growing up and what was the mindset around money and success that was instilled in you as a child?

Wasn’t aware of where they fell on the financial spectrum.

Grew up in Boston and the struggles they had helped him later on in life.

Grew up in a neighborhood of first generation immigrants who were mostly happy to be there, which left him without a real business role model during childhood.

Louis was the one who was ambitious and wanted to see and do more, one of the main places that helped him out was the library.

[5:00] minute: The benefits of a library and reading.

[6:20] minute: The abundance of free education that is out there.

[7:00] minute: Tell me about your first big success in the business world, I believe it had to do with selling batteries in college is that right?

Cell phones were brand new in the United States. The battery only lasted six months and were the biggest hardship of owning a phone.

Was upset one time and broke his phone; doing so allowed him to notice that it was actually just AAA batteries in the battery pack, which gave him a business idea.

Replicated all the major phone brands batteries for significantly lower price.

Couldn’t sell them in the United States because of how the big phone companies worked, so instead he sold internationally in South America.

[10:30] minute: What’s especially cool about the start of that business is this idea that so many companies are born out of people looking at the things that are annoying them, that are frustrating, so for those who are looking for an idea the biggest thing to do is just look around you and see what you see. Would you agree with that?

First thing Louis tells someone pitching him a product or business is “what problem does it fix.”

[12:30] minute: You spoke in another interview about allowing your lifestyle to expand with your income, so while you were making a lot more suddenly in your 20’s you were still living month to month, tell me about that?

Huge void in education on how to handle success.

Naive to the fact that it isn’t guaranteed to keep rising and that you can’t plan for everything that is going to happen to you.

[14:15] minute: Dorothy had a similar experience and explains how she learned the same lesson.

[15:20] minute: What advice do you have to someone in this place whose income is rising and they are becoming successful and want to avoid the trap of mismanaging their money?

Lot of people that help with investments but no real education for someone who is growing their income through their business or job.