SimplyAbuDhabi XLVII

FromHumble Beginnings to Global Success Mike’s journey began far from the luxury of Bali. Growing up as a Chinese-American boy in Texas, he was driven by a desire to succeed. “I grew up in Houston,” he says. “And I had these neighbours, three brothers. One of them was really jacked and we all worked out together. I was also inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Plus, Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, Van Damme, Jet Li, Donnie Yen. All of these 90s action heroes. I wanted to look like them. I used to play the scenes where they’re training, and then rewind the video tape and train with them. That was my inspiration.” Years later, Mike’s business career began in unglamorous circumstances—broke, sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a friend’s apartment, but still training hard and partying harder. Four nights a week, he and his buddies, who were also his business partners, hosted vodka- fuelled karaoke parties. Each morning Mike would deflate the mattress, tidy up, and get to work on their “Six Pack Shortcuts” YouTube Channel. Launched in 2010, “Six Pack Shortcuts” quickly became the world’s most popular fitness channel, amassing over 4 million subscribers. The company reportedly generated over $500 million in total sales, and Mike himself was earning over a million dollars a month. Yet, beneath the surface of this meteoric rise, something was missing. 294 | Simply Abu Dhabi