Where I Come From
No rich parents. No connections. No shortcuts. Just discipline, faith, and the courage to risk everything on myself.
I was born in a Brazilian favela — cramped brick walls, a red concrete floor, a hallway that smelled like frying oil, stray dogs barking through the night — sometimes with gunshots in the background. My parents weren't around. I was raised by aunts, uncles, grandparents, and whoever could watch me that week.
I quit school and taught myself systems — content creation, marketing, branding, and product design. My first YouTube video, filmed on a broken laptop, earned just $116. For a kid in Brazil, it was proof that online business was real. I became obsessed.
I failed. Built a business in Facebook groups that ran for years then collapsed. The market got saturated, and I didn't iterate fast enough. That failure sent me back to zero — and back to studying. I realized you can't build a modern business without content or a personal brand. Attention is the asset that multiplies every other asset.
I was in the U.S. I called my dad in the U.K. and said, "I'll make $5,000 per month by year's end." He laughed. I used that as fuel. I launched the Mr. Reis channel in June. Here's what happened next:
I've built and advised hundreds of channels, created multiple income streams, and grown communities and products around my work. I eventually deleted all my YouTube videos and still earn every day — because the underlying assets (brand, audience relationships, products, systems) continue working.