Not everyone is handed the same opportunities in life; some are privileged enough to chase their dreams from a young age while others are stuck in the oppressive poverty cycle and never get a chance to dream for themselves. Jim Larsen belonged to the latter criteria. 

Jim Larsen grew up in a poor New England town and belonged to a middle-class family. He was taught the value of working hard for someone else and trading time for money to survive. As a result, he had no idea which career path to choose and was drifting away from all three of his college degrees. Little did he know that he would end up in a career completely unrelated to his education.  He was stuck with a poverty mentality for so long that he had stopped believing in his ability to succeed and refused to take any chances that could prove him otherwise. But eventually, he realised that he had to learn to dream for himself and dream bigger. 

However, believing in himself was just the first step. After that, he drifted for years until he finally found his passion for business. He didn’t go to business school and wasn’t gifted in marketing and sales, he just became an entrepreneur as a side-gig. In 2013, Jim and his wife decided to partner with a Direct Selling skincare company in hopes to make a few extra dollars to help ends meet. 7 years into the partnership, they were doing more than just making extra money. They had grown a multi-million dollar company in an industry known for its failure stories. Moreover, they became one of the top 0.1% of people representing the company. This gave Jim many new opportunities which included authoring a book ‘Green Ninja,’ touring the country as a high-demand speaker, and starting an entrepreneurial podcast, a business coaching company ‘The Focus Initiative’, and now Highlight Link as well. 

“I didn’t believe success was in the cards for me and because I didn’t believe it, I didn’t try for it,” admits Jim Larsen. Therefore, learning to believe in himself was the most important part of his entire journey. He also learned that self-development is the key to success which he now preaches to other business owners via his podcast and coaching to show them how they can raise their earning potential.