We were lucky to catch up with Eliot Popkin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Eliot, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Early in your career, how did you think through the decision of whether to start your own firm or join an established firm?

The first business I owned back when I was 19 years old was a franchise of a house painting company. It was great to see how organized they were and I learned so much about structure and project management. For me, the business was not a success financially. However, I learned alot and was able to take those lessons and it really helped me grow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Yes indeed, so I am a business development coach. I have done that for 22 years now and the total revenue my clients have earned is over 150 million. It is really rewarding work because I get to help people figure things out and it is great to see the lightbulbs go off in their head. When people come to me, they are often very stressed and overworked. I help them find balance and it is wonderful to see the change after we work together.

When I work with clients, we concentrate on the top 10 pillars that I believe businesses need to welcome success and sustain it. I really enjoy working with businesses in groups because then they can see each other figure things out and cheer each other on. I am most proud of the businesses I have helped save. Some businesses were very close to closing, or the owners wanted to split up or get divorced… the level of stress can be so high. To see the lightness in the spirit, the happiness in welcoming abundance – it is just a great feeling.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I come from a challenging background. My father was an addict and was physically abusive to me for about 9 years of my childhood. How that manifested as a professional in my early adult years was that I found it very hard to trust anyone, ask anyone for help, I pretended I knew how to do everything, it was really hard for me to work well with anyone….

Rock bottom for me looked like this; public assistance for 8 months, sleeping in my car and then on friends couches for over a year, lost 5 properties, had 3 car repossessions, credit score dropped 280 points, I was in the worst shape of my life… I just became so disillusioned, I became a shadow of myself.

Happy to say my life today is so different. The success and abundance are back but I handle them so different today. I appreciate my story and journey may inspire others. I think that is the main reason I am still here, I feel like I am living the bonus years of my life. It is a pleasure to help as many others as I can.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Referrals. Historically, most of my clients are all referrals. I am just now understanding the whole social media concept and building an audience through Instagram and Facebook. I still feel like a dinosaur with all of that lol but it is really nice documenting my journey online and seeing messages from people that are inspired by it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eliotpopkin.com
• Instagram: eliotpopkin
• Facebook: eliotpopkin
• Linkedin: eliotpopkin
• Twitter: eliotpopkin
• Youtube: eliotpopkin

Image Credits
All photos – Elijah Jamal – Photographer.