Meet the guy who went From homeless to making 300 multimillionaires.

Eliot Popkin grew up in chaos. An abusive father. Losing his mom young. He started his first business at 19 because he wanted control over his own life. Along the way, he hit rock bottom in a real way. Homelessness. Car repos. Losing properties. 

Today, Eliot is a business development coach, best selling author, and speaker. He’s been coaching for 24 years, helped over 300 business owners become multimillionaires, and his book Circle became a bestseller a few years ago. I sat down with Eliot to find out how he did it.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Eliot Popkin.

I’m a business development coach, best selling author, and motivational speaker. I’ve been coaching businesses for 24 years.

I’ve helped over 300 business owners become multimillionaires, and my book Circle became a bestseller about four years ago.

2. What’s your backstory? How did you get here?

I grew up in a very challenging environment.

My dad was an addict and physically abusive for most of my childhood. My mom passed away when I was growing up.

I felt like I missed out on a lot of life lessons. How to trust my talents. How to communicate. How to negotiate. How to build relationships, personally and professionally.

I became self employed early. My first business was at 19 and it came from wanting to call my own shots.

Those first few businesses did not do well, but I learned a lot from them.

I then moved to California to be in the music industry. I wanted to be a singer songwriter. I did that for years and it was fun.

There was a moment where I realized something though.

Here I am coaching people on getting what they’re worth, while I’m in an industry where people want to fight you over $1,500 for a song in a movie.

That mismatch pushed me harder toward business and coaching.

3. How did you get your first coaching client?

My first client was a family member, and I didn’t charge them.

They called me and said I can’t make payroll in two weeks. So I helped them make payroll.

Two weeks later they called again and said I can’t make payroll again.

Around the same time, I had taken a consulting job in California where we helped business owners settle tax debt.

Two weeks into that job, I noticed something that changed how I thought.

It did not matter what industry they were in, where they lived, how big the company was, or how long they’d been operating. When businesses were struggling, they made the same decisions over and over.

I realized no one was really helping them break that pattern.

So I started helping family and friends, and that consulting experience turned into the foundation for my coaching practice.

4. What’s worked best for attracting and retaining clients?

Referrals have been 90 percent of my business historically.

I tried the marketing company route. I went through a stretch of four years and eight different marketing companies.

They built landing pages and ads and campaigns and it all felt extremely salesy. That’s not my vibe.

I don’t do long term contracts. Everyone works with me month to month.

I never want someone to feel trapped. Most business owners find me when they’re already stressed. The last thing I want is to put them in a five year agreement.

On average, clients work with me one and a half to two years. But it’s always their choice.

Most of the time I’m the one calling them saying you’re good. Call me if you need me.

5. How do you feel about the business today? What do you want next?

It’s going really well.

Because I coach one on one, there is a ceiling. I’m getting close to that ceiling.

I love speaking and I love in person groups and conferences. I’ve been entertaining the idea of translating more of the work into groups.

It could look like online group coaching, maybe weekly Zoom groups. Something that lets me help more people without hitting the one-on-one cap.

6. Was there ever a moment where you thought it wasn’t going to work?

I’ve had moments where I struggled financially.

I never really doubted coaching itself. Coaching has always done well for me.

But I’ve had periods in life where everything hit the fan. Car repos. Losing properties. Public assistance. Homelessness.

Real rock bottom stuff.

People tell me I don’t look like what I’ve been through. I’ll take that.

7. What do outsiders not understand about coaching?

People think change happens fast.

They assume you can fix a business in a month or two. That’s not real life.

Most of the time, income doesn’t start taking off for three to five months.

First you have to clear out the wreckage. Then you put systems in place. Then you can bring in new clients and run campaigns on top of a stable foundation.

It’s slower and more methodical than the ads make it seem.

8. Favorite tools?

I’m non technical, so mostly Zoom.

I still create spreadsheets for clients in Excel. One of my clients showed me Google Docs, and I’ve had meetings in Slack.

But if you want the truth, it’s mostly Zoom.

9. Favorite books and content?

I’m a huge reader.

Writing my own book Circle was one of the most healing things I’ve ever done. It was cathartic to be honest about my past.

A few I recommend often.

The Game of Life by Florence Shinn. It was written in the 1930s. A lot of modern self help borrows from it and it’s an easy read.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. It’s full of businesses started with $100 or less that grew into six figure businesses. It’s a reminder that you don’t need huge capital to start, you need an idea and a simple website.

Both David Goggins books. There are parts of his story that I relate to because of the addiction and abuse piece. I find his work incredibly inspiring.

And Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. No matter what someone believes spiritually, it’s thought provoking and has a lot of powerful ideas.

10. If you had to start a different business today, what would it be?

I love the show Undercover Billionaire.

At one point I was so frustrated with marketing companies that I gave myself a challenge inspired by that show. A 90 day challenge where I would document building something and post every day.

That business was valued at over $4 Million in 90 days.

But a business idea I almost started was a cookie business.

I love cookies. I was close to launching it in California, then I moved.

The challenge is the price point. If a cookie is eight bucks, you have to think about scale. You have to sell a lot of units.

I tend to think in grand slam ideas. How do you sell 10,000 cookies a day, not one at a time.

11. Best advice for entrepreneurs?

Be the best you that you can be.

In the music industry, I got compared constantly. People told me to be more like someone else. They wanted different songs, different image, different everything.

What I took from that is simple. I’m just trying to be the best Eliot I can be.

That advice applies to business too.

I use food analogies a lot. Look at a place like Cheesecake Factory. Huge menu. Hundreds of items.

But most people order the same handful of things.

You can make a lot of money by getting niche and being the best at one thing.

If you make the best brownies in Kansas, just focus on that.

Final Takeaways

1. Referrals beat funnels when your work is built on trust and relationships.

2. Month to month pricing can be a competitive advantage in a stressed out market.

3. Real business change is slow and methodical. Systems come first, growth comes after.

4. Niche wins. If you are the best at one thing, you do not need to be everything to everyone.

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