Entrepreneurs are no strangers to hard work. A budding business requires time, commitment, devotion, and selflessness. Self-made investor Jay Jiang Yu is aware of this, as he is a living, breathing example of a self-made entrepreneur.
A first-generation immigrant raised in the upper west side of Manhattan, New York City, Jay Yu faced some formidable obstacles growing up. His earliest memories are of accompanying his mother to her job at a sweatshop instead of receiving a decent education. Yu’s childhood consisted of poverty and racism, but these obstacles just added to his hunger for success. A degree in psychology from the City College of New York followed by specialty classes at Columbia University gave Jay Yu the education he needed in order to pave his way into the real business world and wall street.
Thanks to his independent research and self-education, Jay Yu capitalized on his passion for international business. Today, he has built up a multimillion-dollar portfolio thanks to international investments in gold mining, innovative sports equipment, fintech, blockchain companies, legal cannabis, and large companies like Airbnb. In addition to investing, Jay Yu provides corporate advisory services, strategic consulting, and business incubation. He is well aware that the beginning stages of a new business are the most difficult. Thus, he offers a process to nurture these fledgling companies through the challenging stage. At the same time, his guidance is designed to help such startups grow and thrive, while investing his own capital.
Jay Jiang Yu doesn’t just invest his own money into new companies, but also advises many in various businesses. He offers sought-after consultation in capital funding, mergers, structured financing, IPO listings, branding, market analysis, commodities trading, and scaling. He attributes his success to being the “hardest worker in the room,” in addition to being a calculated and forward-thinking risk-taker. If anyone embodies the business term high-risk, high reward, it is Jay Yu. Yet, these risks are not spontaneous; they are carefully analyzed to determine their potential for success.
When it comes to advising young entrepreneurs, this is something Jay Yu finds very rewarding. He offers practical yet invaluable advice, such as surrounding yourself with people who share your work ethic and wake up excited about your business. Invest yourself in something you believe in that solves other people’s problems for a mutually beneficial solution is one of Yu’s success strategies.
Finally, Jay Jiang Yu emphasizes the importance of constantly growing. It does not have to be from a monetary standpoint, as growth includes knowledge and experience. If you value these things as much as revenue, you are in the right mindset to run a successful business. Remember, hard work and not just risk can also yield high rewards.
