Every entrepreneur knows that the art of entrepreneurship is not something that can be learnt in a day. It’s a steep learning curve that comes only by practice. The most successful entrepreneurs, who we have grown to admire, spent years training themselves. Most times their training involved hours of figuring business out on their own by trial and error through doing the work.

What happens when an ambitious, independent and free spirited teenager finds his way into the world of entrepreneurship?

From an early age, Sam Farao, a Norwegian serial entrepreneur and a growth hacker, knew that he didn’t want to work in a 9-to-5 set up.

As with all those who tread the path of entrepreneurship, Farao wanted to create his own financial stability without having to hinge on a ‘stable’ job like most people would do. He wanted to build his own dreams rather than working hours on end building somebody else’s.

His commitment to this goal led him to be a successful serial entrepreneur delving in businesses that range from a hair salon to real estate. His story is a true testament of the fact that the world rewards those who desire to stay true to their goals until the very end.

Open Doors Through Digital Marketing

It all started in college when Farao decided that he was ready to dive into the world of entrepreneurship. His goal was to never work for anyone. Inspired by this drive, he started an online drop-shipping career while in college. His drop-shipping business became so successful that he dropped out of college to pursue it full time.

Drop-shipping goods from China and Europe got Farao to discover something new: affiliate marketing. Then and there, this newfound discovery motivated him to launch multiple websites to target customers in different niches using pay per click and search engine optimization (SEO).

At this stage a lot of people would be carried away by the returns from immense success, that they’d be hungry to do anything to keep the money flowing. Such people trade in their mission and for monetary gains.

Scaling with Startups

Farao was on a winning streak when it came to running companies. Today he runs several successful companies with their headquarters in Oslo, Norway. But, of course, it wasn’t always that way.

He had his first taste of running a company in 2011 when he started a hair salon in Oslo called Oslo Hair. At Oslo Hair, he handled the administration and the marketing. Under his watch, Oslo Hair quickly turned into a profitable business. After another successful marketing campaign, he had his grand exit when he sold the company shares. And today that hair salon is by far the rated among top hair salons in Norway.

In 2015 and 2017, Farao put his background in affiliate marketing to the test as he went on to co-found Netpixel Media and Captana respectively. His early exploits with affiliate marketing paid off and those companies generated $3 million revenue in only affiliate marketing commissions.

In early 2019, Netpixel Media and Captana executed an asset sale with Speqta AB (publ), formerly known as Mytaste Group. The assets consisted of four websites within the loan comparison sites and a voucher site. In total, the acquisition is set at 31.5 MNOK with a 12-month earn-out of the 10.75 MNOK.

The Gold in the Websites on Loans and Credit

Farao continued to mine breakthroughs using his expertise in online marketing and hit gold. In 2015 he started a coupon site in partnership with one of the most prominent online newspapers in Norway, Mediehuset Nettavisen.

Since then he opened a series of sniper sites within payday loans. A sniper site is a website that is laser focused or targeted on a specific keyword. For someone who understood online marketing and SEO, running sniper sites was within Farao’s competence.

After ranking the sniper sites, Farao would sell them and make a handsome income from his hard work. One of this most successful sniper site projects is a Norwegian loan comparison site called Loans.no. It wasn’t a surprise that he later became a partner in the globally recognized loan comparison site, Loanstar. From there he moved on to creating sniper sites on consumer loans and credit card comparison sites.

Farao was able to create a niche for himself and became a leading market player in Norway.

Farao also dabbled in the casino industry. Casinor.com is a leading guide for online casino related information in Norway, including Sweden and Finland. Casinor was later sold for an undisclosed seven-figure amount.

Currently Farao is working on a real estate investment company called Imperium Invest which was established with Dyar Al-Ashtari. Imperium Invest is focused on commercial real estate in Oslo and Amsterdam.

Farao is also a seed investor and board member of a startup called flexspace.no, which specializes in bridging the supply side with the demand side in Oslo’s flex office market.

Challenges Come with Honing Your Craft

It’s never a bed of roses for any entrepreneur. As you journey through entrepreneurship honing your craft, you’re bound to witness ups and downs along the way.

Farao’s series of successes came with its fair share of failures and challenges. One thing for certain is that no matter what challenges you might face as an entrepreneur, they’re surmountable.

According to Farao, he had to learn to be self-disciplined, self-motivated and organized. Despite that, he still faced stress and burnout. But the more he honed his craft and kept at his work, he learned that he had to break his goals into small actionable steps. That helped him manage his stress and burnout.

Drawing from his experiences, he advises entrepreneurs to take care of themselves and not get tempted to work long hours on the grind. Rest and exercise are vital to remain in the game. Overworking yourself would make the journey distasteful and uninspiring.

As you chase your big dreams, work within your means. Lack of capital is a problem for entrepreneurs, hence you have to be frugal with the capital you have and consult great mentors in order to minimize losses.