Michael Masterson: League of Extraordinary Minds Expert Panelist
Michael Masterson is not your typical businessman. An ex Peace Corps volunteer, he never took a class in business, doesn’t read the business press, and doesn’t like to talk business. He spends his spare time writing poetry, collecting fine art, and practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His neighbors call him a bohemian. But he’s also an entrepreneur. He started his first business when he was 11 years old, and in the 45 years that have elapsed since then, he has started or co-started dozens of successful businesses public and private … local and international … retail, wholesale, and direct mail.
His entrepreneurial experience is immense, even compared to other successful entrepreneurs. At one time or another, he has run or consulted for countless multimillion-dollar businesses as diverse as information publishing, fine art sales, baby products, perfumes and cosmetics to name just a few.
Richard Schefren, founder of the business coaching company Strategic Profits, says, “I consult with all of the best-known entrepreneurs in the world, and I’ve never known anyone who has been in more different sorts of successful businesses than has Michael Masterson.”
The primary focus of his business life these days, however, is split between real estate and consulting for his primary client, Agora Inc., a $300 million, Baltimore-based publisher of information products with offices in England, France, Spain, Germany, South Africa, and Australia. “It’s an honor to be associated with Bill Bonner (Agora’s founder and CEO) and this company,” Michael says. “And a pleasure to have been part of its growth.”
Notwithstanding clandestine luncheons that erupt into new multimillion-dollar ventures, Michael insists that he has been spending most of his time teaching and writing since he retired, for the second time, when he turned 50.”I have wanted to be a writer since my father complimented me on the first poem I wrote.
His non-fiction books include Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire, Automatic Wealth for Grads …and Anyone Else Just Starting Out, Automatic Wealth: The Six Steps to Financial Independence, Power and Persuasion: How to Command Success in Business and Your Personal Life, and Confessions of a Self-Made Millionaire.