A self-made millionaire who emigrated to the US with nothing but $500 in his pocket has shared his tough road to success – including being homeless, sleeping on park benches and living off cheap fast food.
Nick Mocuta, 37, grew up in Romania but dreamed of making a career for himself across the pond in the land of dreams.
At 21, despite knowing very little English and with just $500 to his name, which his grandma gifted to him to start a new life, the starry-eyed young man headed to Los Angeles.
Unable to find an apartment and knowing no one in the city – or the country, for that matter – the business graduate spent weeks sleeping on benches in public parks and was barely able to feed himself.
“The first cab I took to the city cost me about $100 which left me with $400 to myself – it was a culture shock, I will never forget that part”, Nick told Jam Press.
“I found myself homeless in LA, slept on benches in the parks and ate on a very tiny budget.
“I’d go to buy a dollar burger at McDonald’s and tell them ‘no cheese’ so that I wouldn’t get charged extra.”
Over the next few months, Nick was able to secure low-paid jobs such as parking cars as a valet and eventually saved up enough money for a deposit to rent a tiny flat, as well as becoming fluent in English.
But his career ambitions remained high, with the business graduate determined to make it, getting himself a real estate broker license.
Although he had anticipated that property would be how he’d make his fortune, fate had something else in mind.
Years later, in 2013, the salesman decided to apply his skills to a new venture – a random experiment of selling items like mobile phones and phone cases imported from China on eBay.
After six months, Nick was making $3,000-$4,000 a month and decided to quit his job as a broker to focus on his own business, moving fully into e-commerce.
He said: “I grew up in a family where my dad was an accountant and my mum was a teacher so school was the number one thing that I was focused on growing up, but after graduating I emigrated to America with a burning desire to do more and become more.
“I always thought that online is the future and I wanted to be part of it.”
Nine years later, he is a US citizen with multiple online stores on sites such as Amazon and Walmart, where he uses automatic fulfilment – fulfilling the order and shipping – to earn a passive income.
The millionaire, who has so far raked in $40 million in revenue, also has hundreds of partnerships with clients, as well as sells products of his own.
Nick said: “I think the reason I am successful is because I was never afraid to lose, just of not trying.
“I’m very perseverant and never give up. I fail seven times, I get up the eight.
“And I love the fact that I can work from home and all I need is a laptop and internet and I’m in business.”
As for how he spends his hard-earned cash, the former homeless-man-turned-millionaire has a portfolio of 100 flats across the US and Romania, as well as four luxury cars – including a Bentley Continental and Mercedes GT S63 AMG.
Eternally grateful to his grandmother, he was sadly never able to repay her $500 as she passed away shortly after his move to the US, but Nick looks after his other family members, having bought his parents and brother a flat each.
Not forgetting his past, the businessman is also committed to giving back, having opened a mentoring community to helps others get started selling on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, and even offers them funding to buy their first stock.
He added: “It is a family business for me, there is nothing better than giving people the financial freedom to quit their job so that they have far more time for their families.
“The happiness on their faces makes me work harder for them.”
