Meet Shawn Sharma—elite social media influencer and entrepreneur in credit arbitrage
Shawn Sharma is the definition of a rags-to-riches success story. He began with nothing, literally, and has now created twenty-plus successful businesses with some of the finance industry’s most successful titans. His company, Credit 101, has helped thousands of people learn about the importance of good credit, improve their credit by one-hundred points or more in only months, and brought him tremendous wealth and satisfaction. Shawn credits his success to a tireless work ethic, strong choices of who to collaborate with, and above all, the desire to help others.
Shawn grew up poor, the result of educated immigrant parents who could not translate their knowledge and experience to comparable jobs in the US. His father, a doctor, could not squeeze in hours of studying each night while holding down menial jobs to make ends meet. Shawn’s mother became disabled after a medical accident; therefore, she never fulfilled her career dreams. These incidents fueled Shawn to work hard in school, eventually landing him high school and college scholarships, where he ultimately graduated from Cornell University and attended medical school. When his father passed away, Shawn stepped up to take care of his family in a big way and discovered the massive benefits of credit arbitrage.
The wealth came only after a series of financial mistakes that Shawn chalks up to inexperience, even leading to the verge of bankruptcy. As with most mega-successful individuals, Shawn pulled himself up by the bootstraps, and in fact, entirely bootstrapped his company, Credit 101. There have been dozens of seven-figure businesses since, but one of Shawn’s most significant expenses has been furthering his education in the industry. “I have paid $100,000 to attend the ‘100-Million Mastermind’ and $250,000 to attend a charity event where I got to sit next to billionaires.” Additionally, he has invested in top-notch coaching from some of the biggest names in the entrepreneurial space. Shawn spares no expense when it comes to education because it translates to continually offering the latest and best financial courses to his clients.
Every entrepreneur meets challenges, deals with self-doubt, and has to muster the resolve to keep moving forward. For Shawn, the key to staying motivated when times are tough remembers where he came from. Shawn grew up with disabled parents, each plagued with illness and poverty in a trailer park, and has seen it all. Shawn describes his focus as “iron-like,” in large part because of his parents’ disappointments. His parents left a safe and comfortable life in India behind to come to the US and left all their friends and family behind to make a brighter future for their children. Transitioning from being a doctor and a college professor to working minimum wage jobs needed to make ends meet and feed hungry children, Shawn’s parents made great sacrifices to allow him to pursue the American dream- an opportunity Shawn never takes for granted. He has always worked his hardest to see his parents’ dreams of success a reality. Shawn’s life goal is to make his parents proud and make their sacrifice worthwhile. His dream is to create generational wealth for his family and make massive financial literacy changes, medical technology, and the healthcare space, in that order.
One of the keys to becoming a successful entrepreneur is realizing that no one can do it all alone. Shawn has taken this motto and created a team of successful aspiring businessmen and women, surrounding himself with quality like-minded individuals. One valuable lesson he has learned is to be wary of mixing friendship and business. One of his first business experiences was an Airbnb company, where he collaborated with three partners to scale thirty Airbnb’s and seven figures in revenue in less than six months. Unfortunately, Shawn’s partners were naïve, had no contracts, and resulted in one partner embezzling Shawn’s money. The other two partners skipped out on the business altogether, leaving Shawn nearly half a million dollars in debt. He says he is now careful about who he partners up with and has created a streamlined business model. “I train one sales manager, then give him a 100% responsibility to hire, recruit, train, and build the team below him. Delegating so many tasks allows Shawn to focus on the bigger picture, a critical element for any company’s success.
His business decisions are sometimes risky but have paid off in dividends. “I ran up a million in cryptocurrency in 2016, was one the biggest manufactured spenders in the country in 2018 and 2019, and quickly built a massive social media presence of 1.1 million followers in only two years.” Even starting some of the companies he has, where he had to invest significant capital upfront, many of his friends and family told him he was crazy, yet he’s had massive success from all of his investments.
To learn more about Credit 101, travel hacking, and for financial inspiration and motivation, follow Shawn on Instagram and check out his website.