Episode #30 - William Rivera

#15MinuteFounder

William Rivera went from being a felon at 17 to building Ecom Degree University, a $40M education business, before launching a second company already scaling with 250 licensed agents.

In this episode of 15 Minute Founder, William unpacks the exact mindset shift that got him there, starting with a childhood moment of exposure that rewired what he thought was possible, through building 100 Shopify stores by hand, two straight years of live weekly webinars before ever automating anything, and his blunt (and admittedly polarizing) philosophy on why he doesn’t hire people who don’t take care of their bodies.

Highlights from the chat

Q: What was the biggest mindset shift you made going from broke to a million-plus a month?

The biggest mindset shift is “exposure”. You can only grow to what you’ve been exposed to. At 12 or 13, my mom worked as a nanny for a former pro basketball player’s family, and seeing their lifestyle up close (down to a Skittles bag being rationed one piece at a time) was the first time I realized my own family wasn’t as well-off as I thought.

That exposure sparked genuine curiosity about making money, eventually leading me down an e-commerce rabbit hole online.

Q: How did you make your first dollar online?

Shopify dropshipping in 2017, while working nights at an Amazon warehouse. My first store, selling cannabis accessories, got banned immediately for violating Shopify’s policies.

I eventually found success with a viral “distance bracelet” couples product, running a free-plus-shipping model, sourcing it for $6 and charging $10 shipping. The day I made my first sale, I quit my job and went all in.

Q: Why did you go all in after making only about $10,000 profit, when most people would’ve played it safer?

I had been fired from every job I’d ever had and hated being told what to do. Reading books like “Think and Grow”, “Rich and Rich Dad Poor Dad” taught me the distinction between employees, business owners, and investors, and I knew I’d always be behind if I stayed an employee.

I also wanted to buy my mom a house, and that’s something I knew a regular job would never make possible.

Q: How did you push through imposter syndrome when you started documenting your journey with barely any viewers?

I kept the end goal firmly in mind: buying my mom a house, and gave myself a blunt gut-check – “did I care more about what people thought, or about achieving that goal?” Once the answer was clearly “no,” posting content became easier.

I also gave myself a full four-year runway, mirroring a college timeline, instead of expecting overnight success. And that helped prevent an early burnout or even making me quit.

Q: How did you scale from Shopify to eventually building an automated, multi-million-dollar education business?

I pivoted into Amazon wholesale during COVID because most entrepreneurs struggle to be great at marketing, sales, and operations simultaneously. Wholesale solves the marketing problem by piggybacking on an already-trusted brand’s reputation.

That pivot to Amazon (making around $300K/month) is what really blew up my personal brand, since few people were teaching that model on social media at the time.

Q: How did Ecom Degree’s automated system actually get built?

I did two straight years of live webinars every single Sunday before automating anything. In the first year I made his first million, the second year my first $10 million. Once I’d run enough live sessions to know exactly which version converted best, I simply recorded that best-performing version and turned the pitch at the end into an evergreen, automated funnel: a $47 ticket into a five-day event, upsold to a $5,000 program.

Q: How did you build your first team?

My very first hire was a virtual assistant from the Philippines (found via Hubstaff) to fulfill Shopify orders. She still works with me today and eventually started her own staffing company that now supplies much of my team.

My first coaches for Ecom Degree all came from within my own student community, which I consider one of my biggest tips for any course creator: hire from your own tribe.

Q: If someone’s starting from scratch today, which platform is better: Shopify or Amazon?

For a first $10K/month, Amazon wholesale is more accessible. No logo, no store to build, and you can literally scan a barcode at Costco with an app like Scan Profit to check if a product is profitable to resell.

For $50K-$100K+ per month, I’d lean more toward content creation and personal branding, since there’s a much bigger demand for good content than there is supply of it.

Q: Was it really the business model that made Ecom Degree a $40 million company?

No, it was my story. People wanted to buy from me specifically, a felon at 17 who’d turned his life around, more than they wanted to buy an Amazon course. The business model made the purchase logical, but my personal story is what actually grabbed attention first.

Q: Why did you start a second business (Future First Advisors) instead of coasting on Ecom Degree’s success?

Ecom Degree isn’t easily exitable. Private equity sees it as too tied to my personal brand and the ongoing demand for e-commerce education specifically.

Future First Advisors, a Medicare agency, is government-backed with recurring revenue, which makes it far more attractive to private equity (often 10x+ EBITDA multiples) and gives me a real path toward an eventual exit.

Q: How do you screen for high performers when hiring?

Applicants must answer written questions in a full paragraph (not a one-liner) and submit a video response. This helps me test both communication skills (critical for a sales role) and physical fitness, which I treat as a proxy for discipline.

I’m upfront that this isn’t for everyone, and that’s intentional. The company attracts who I am, since I hold myself to the same standard I expect from my team.

Q: What’s your #1 productivity hack?

Plan the next day the night before, on paper. I usually decide the handful of needle-moving priorities before going to sleep so there’s no mental fog or wasted energy figuring out what to do each morning.

I also start each day by immediately delegating tasks to my team before diving into my own deep work.

Q: What books had the biggest impact on how you think?

“The One Thing” by Gary Keller taught me how to reverse-engineer a five-year goal down to what needs to happen today, this month, this year. “One to Many” by Jason Fladlien gave me the literal, practical framework I had used to build my first webinar.

I read it like a textbook, building each section of my own webinar right alongside the corresponding chapter.

Q: What’s a belief you hold that most people would push back on?

That if you’re poor in America, you deserve to be poor. Because the abundance of information and resources available means there’s no real excuse not to improve your situation. I keep comparing such scenarios to sleeping on a numb arm: people only truly change when their circumstances hurt enough to force it.

Q: Final billboard message for an aspiring entrepreneur?

“If it was done, then it can be done by you.” Nearly everything I’ve accomplished came from believing that if someone else has already done it, I could do it too. That removed the fear that usually holds people back.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – From Felon at 17 to $40M Founder

06:22 – Why He Went All In After $10K Profit

10:07 – Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

11:40 – Giving Himself a 4-Year Timeline

13:45 – Pivoting From Shopify to Amazon Wholesale

16:06 – Discovering Webinars & “Million Dollar Days”

17:29 – How the Daily Automated Webinar Works

20:23 – The “Savage Consistency” Mindset

21:04 – Building His First Team & Hiring His First VA

23:34 – Shopify vs. Amazon: Which to Start With Today

26:44 – Why His Story Sold Ecom Degree, Not the Business Model

27:50 – “100x Dumber, 100x Richer”

31:26 – His New Venture: Future First Advisors (Medicare)

37:26 – Running a 250-Person Remote Team

39:53 – How He Interviews & Screens for High Performers

44:19 – His Daily Routine: Sleep, Workouts, Deep Work

51:39 – The Book That Rewired How He Thinks

56:28 – His Contrarian Take on Poverty & Excuses

58:54 – Billboard Message