Short Daily Billionaire Insights | 3-mins Read  

Spoiler: That crack-of-dawn discipline would later help build a $26 billion empire.

1. The Fun Stuff - Cool Story

Talk about an early start – at age 11, while most kids were dreaming in their beds, Melanie Perkins was already up at 4:30 AM, getting ready to glide across ice rinks. This future tech titan was busy mastering triple axels before breakfast, unknowingly training for something much bigger than figure skating championships.

But here's the kicker, by 14 little Melanie wasn't just perfecting her spins on ice. She was already hustling at Perth's local markets, selling handmade scarves to anyone who'd buy them. From scarves to software, who knew?

Before Melanie became the CEO of Canva, that design tool you probably used for your last social post, she was a teenager who'd already learned two crucial life lessons: the power of showing up before sunrise and the thrill of making her first sale.

The real story kicks in at university in Perth, where Melanie noticed her fellow students practically crying over complicated design software. Teaching graphic design part-time, she saw a problem begging for a solution. But who would take a 19-year-old seriously?

Enter the hustle years:

• Started Fusion Books from her mom's living room (running on instant noodles and determination)

• Flew to San Francisco 40+ times over three years

• Got told repeatedly that being from Australia was "too remote" to build a tech company

• Learned kiteboarding (of all things!) just to network with investor Bill Tai

That figure skating discipline came in handy during those years of rejection. The same girl who once practiced spins at dawn was now pulling all-nighters, printing yearbook samples with her now-husband Cliff Obrecht.

The breakthrough came with meeting Cameron Adams, their future tech lead. Suddenly, their vision of democratising design started looking less like a pipe dream and more like a revolution.

Today, Canva serves over 125 million monthly users across 190 countries. Melanie's net worth? A cool $4.5 billion. But true to her market-stall roots, she and Cliff maintain a modest lifestyle and have pledged most of their wealth to charity.

The Gold Medal Lessons

1. Early bird gets the empire: Those 4:30 AM skating sessions taught her that exceptional results require exceptional commitment.

2. Start small, think huge: From handmade scarves to digital design, every business teaches valuable lessons.

3. Sports mentally builds business muscles: Figure skating taught her goal-setting, resilience, and the power of consistent practice.

4. Just keep skating: Whether it's learning kiteboarding for investors or flying to SF 40 times, persistence eventually breaks through.

The biggest takeaway? Success leaves clues early. That teenage girl selling scarves in Perth markets was already showing the determination that would later revolutionise global design.

(P.S. Next time your alarm goes off at dawn, remember: somewhere out there, a future billionaire is already up and hustling.)

2. The Boring Stuff - Numbers & Info

3. The Actionable Stuff - BILLI Bullet

• Wake up early and start. Your billion dollar business idea could lie in an existing problem or frustration the people you interact with currently have. Think and find ways to make their lives easier with code and tech. After coming up with a good solution, you can scale and help way more people globally. Thats how you get rich.

BILLISPIRATION 😎

All we have is time. You can loose money today and make it back tomorrow, but time, time is a merciless and untameable beast that ever roams free. Observe the beast in its glorious beauty, but never dream of playing with it.