Maybe it was the moment you saw him standing in front of that black Lamborgini during his “Here In My Garage” video – or maybe it was the consecutive ads you’ve been bombarded with over the years – but you’ve probably wondered what Tai Lopez actually does.

Recently, I asked myself this question.

I’m not an “online guru advice” type guy, but I realize the business model of the Tai Lopez’s and Gary Vaynerchucks of the world can be incredibly profitable.  People like Tai Lopez have their fans, and they have their naysayers as well.

Whatever your thoughts are on Tai Lopez, you have to give him credit for his ability to market himself and to monetize his personality.

It sounds easy to start recording videos, uploading them to YouTube, and expecting thousands of subscribers.  The fact is – it’s not easy at all.

I’ve made a handful of videos for YouTube, and, trust me, it’s not easy.

YouTube has an algorithm, and you don’t just unknowingly crack the algorithm – you have to do something right – and Tai Lopez did something right.

But what does Tai Lopez actually DO?  Read on to find out.

The Video that started it all.

How did Tai Lopez become wealthy?

Are you the type who cares if Tai Lopez was wealthy BEFORE he filmed his famous garage video?

Or, are you more interested in the tactics Tai Lopez has used to build his persona?

After digging into Tai Lopez and the source of his wealth, I’ve found little-sourced information about his earnings prior to filming his infamous video.

This means we cannot assume Tai Lopez was already wealthy before he shot his video, and we cannot assume he was not wealthy.

What we can do, is break down his business endeavors and job positions he held before his video.  We can then make a series of guesses if Tai was already wealthy before his video.

What did Tai Lopez do before he filmed his “In My Garage” video?

Here’s what we know about Tai Lopez before he filmed his video

After highschool

It’s not known where he went to college, but he claims he is a college dropout (it’s unknown what school he dropped out of, which is strange).

According to his bio on his website, “He spent two-and-a-half years living with the Amish, spent time to work at a leper colony in India, and helped Joel Salatin pioneer grass-fed, sustainable agriculture on Polyface Farms.”

Whether these events happened before or after his time at GE Capital is not known, but it seems he did not make millions doing things like “living with the Amish”, so it’s safe to assume he didn’t build any wealth during those periods of his life.

He worked for GE Capital

According to Tai Lopez’s LinkedIn profile, from 2001 – 2003, he worked for GE Capital.  Since Lopez was born in 1977, he was likely around 24 years old when he started working for GE Capital.

I am a former financial rep, and I have knowledge of the line of work Tai Lopez would have done at GE Capital.  If he did not hold any prior experience, it is likely he either worked on a team or was an individual rep tasked with building his own book of business.

Whether he was successful at GE Capital is unknown, but I will tell you from my experience as a financial advisor, it’s nearly unheard of to make millions of dollars within three years of working in wealth management.  Wealth managers generate their income from fees, and unless Lopez landed a whale on his first day, he wouldn’t have had enough time to generate significant income from fees during a two-year stint at GE Capital.

I’m quite confident with the conclusion that he did not build a fortune working for GE Capital.

Tailopez.com

According to his LinkedIn profile, he founded tailopez.com in 2001.  Under the job title, it merely says: Entrepreneur | Investor | Keynote Speaker | Mentor.

Although his LinkedIn says he started the website in 2001, Whois.com shows the website domain being purchased in November 2003.

It would seem that Tai Lopez has been an entrepreneur since 2001, and that may very well be where he has generated most of this wealth.

He is a founding member of LLG Financial Inc.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a founding partner of LLG Financial Inc. where he worked from November 2003 – 2007.  This would have been after his time at GE Capital – and the founding member of LLG Financial was Jon Dewar, who was a “District Leader at GE Financial Advisors”.  Jon Dewar links LLG Financial to GE Capital, which is where Tai Lopez worked until 2003.  It’s likely Lopez was recruited by Dwar when he branched off and started LLG Financial Inc.

Did Tai Lopez build his wealth with LLG Financial Inc.?

It’s not known if Lopez became wealthy during his time at LLG Financial Inc.  While it is completely possible he made a nice income during his time at LLG, it’s unlikely he made millions of dollars working for a financial services shop like LLG during a four-year stint.  If anything, Lopez may have earned anything from 50k annually, up to low six-figures (possibly mid-six figures, but it’s rare).

In all likelihood, Tai Lopez probably did not make millions of dollars by the time he left LLG Financial Inc. unless he had other businesses he made money from.

Post – LLG Financial Inc.

If Tai Lopez was a financial advisor, he would have likely been obligated to disclose any other outside business activities (OBAs) during his stint in financial services.  When I was a financial advisor, I had to disclose outside business due to a rule called FINRA Rule 3270

Below is what FINRA Rule 3270 states:

No registered person may be an “employee, independent contractor, sole proprietor, officer, director or partner of another person, or be compensated, or have the reasonable expectation of compensation, from any other person as a result of any business activity outside the scope of the relationship with his or her member firm, unless he or she has provided prior written notice to the member, in such form as specified by the member.”

Source: The Beck Law Firm

Becuase there are compliance regulations for financial advisors, it may have been difficult for Tai Lopez to have been both a registered securities representative and to have other significant outside business activities under his name.

This leads to the idea that his outside LLG Financial business activities did not occur while he was a financial advisor.

He was on Millionaire Matchmaker in 2008

On season 1, episode 4, of Millionaire Matchmaker, Tai Lopez was featured as one of the millionaire bachelors.

Here is where it gets weird.

In 2008, Tai Lopez would have been one year out of his stint at LLG Financial.

If Millionaire Matchmaker actually verified his wealth, it would mean he was already wealthy by 2008.

There are three potential explanations:

1. Lopez did indeed make his wealth as a financial advisor (as someone who was in the business, I believe it’s not likely)
2. He made his wealth from his other business endeavors during his time as a financial advisor.
3. Millionaire Matchmaker didn’t vet him, and he wasn’t a millionaire.

Let’s explore his other claims as an entrepreneur, which may better explain his wealth.

Bar owner and Dating Site Owner

Lopez has been recorded saying he has owned bars and nightclubs.  It’s possible Lopez was an investor in business entities involving lounges and nightclubs while he was still a financial advisor.  This would be in-line with the idea that Lopez did not gain wealth as a financial advisor, but, rather, as an investor in businesses.

He has also been on the record as an owner of online dating websites.

According to Vice:

Of these, he is probably best known for owning several dating sites for gold diggers, including EliteMeeting.com, ModelMeet.com, and MeetingMillionaires.com. Each of the sites dealt with complaints ranging from fake profiles to unauthorized charges on credit cards tied to accounts. One complaint, from 2009, called Lopez “the most unscrupulous dirtbag on the planet.”

Source: Vice

According to Whois.com, his websites were created on the below dates:

• MeetingMillionaires.com – June 1, 2007
• EliteMeeting.com – October 27, 2007
• Modelmeet.com – September 22, 2008

Did Tai Lopez earn his wealth from his online dating websites and/or his ownership of bars?

There is definitely a possibility, but we can’t say for sure.

Post-Here In My Garage YouTube video

Whether Tai Lopez made the majority of his wealth before his garage YouTube video is difficult to know for sure.

We do know that on September 2, 2015, Lopez first uploaded his now-famous video, and he started selling his online product, “The 67 Steps: The Steps to Finding the Good Life (Health, Wealth, Love, Happiness)”.

Today, his “Here In My Garage” YouTube video has over 67 million views, and his channel has over a million subscribers.

Tai Lopez does not disclose his wealth, nor does he disclose his online product sales.

We can assume he does make significant money from his online products thanks to his social media numbers, and he does state some numbers on his website.

Today, Tai Lopez has multiple revenue streams:

• YouTube Ads
• Mentor Box
• Educational Products
  • 67 Steps
  • Social Media Marketing Agency
  • Bitcoin Crypto Mastermind

It’s safe to assume that Tai Lopez has generated significant revenue from his above products.

According to his affiliate page, the “67 Steps” program has over 100,000 people who have purchased.  At a cost of $67 for the “67 Steps” program, he has likely generated revenue of nearly $5 million just from that product (he likely gives a cut to affiliates).

His YouTube videos have a total of 250 million views, and if he makes $2,000 per million views, Tai probably has made $500,000 from YouTube ads.

What does Tai Lopez do?

We’ve gone over the potential sources of Tai Lopez’s income, whether he was wealthy before his YouTube fame, and how much he may have made form some of his revenue sources.

But…

What does Tai Lopez actually do?

Tai Lopez falls into the internet entrepreneur guru category.

Some internet entrepreneur gurus are “self-proclaimed” – they say they are wealthy business people, then people buy their products, then they become wealthy business people.  They have a true “Fake it till you make it” business model.

Other internet entrepreneur gurus were already wealthy business people and are truly sharing their business and life experience.

With Tai Lopez, it’s really hard to tell where he falls.

Either way…

Tai Lopez has blended entrepreneurship, the selling of a life of luxury cars and homes, and the act of reading to consume knowledge and intellect, to create an online persona.

Some consumers purchase the products Tai Lopez creates because they are driven by the life he lives.  Others actually find genuine wisdom in his teachings.

He makes money through advertising revenue, and when people purchase his products, which he sells via social media channels and on his website.

To summarize what Tai Lopez actually does, he’s an internet marketer and entrepreneur who makes money selling online products thanks to leveraging the brand persona he’s built.

Whether Tai Lopez just faked it till he made it is unknown.  There’s a lot of opinions out there, but I tend to think he had generated some wealth prior to his “Here In My Garage” video. I doubt it was nearly the wealth he portrays, but wealth none-the-less.

I do believe that since he created his video, he’s gone on to generate a healthy sum of income – just not likely not the 100’s of millions you may think he has.

Now, let’s hear from you…

Do you think Tai Lopez was wealthy before his “Here In My Garage” video?

Write it in the comments below!