The Founder of Kinkos — Paul Orfalea

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso, or four energy drinks before or during the show, so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. I originally made this podcast 565 days ago, and I wanted to republish it as a bonus episode for two reasons. The first reason is I think that you're going to find Paul's life story inspiring. He goes from people telling him that he's dumb when he's young because he can't read because he's dyslexic, from graduating at the bottom of his class in high school to being a billionaire. And I think you'll find a lot of his ideas both counterintuitive and valuable. The second reason I wanted to publish this episode again is because I wanted to tell you about this fantastic conversation that Paul had with my friend Patrick who's the host of Invest Like The Best. The conversation that Patrick and Paul had will make you laugh and you'll learn a ton about how Paul built a multi-billion dollar business. I would say a majority of the people that listen to Founders also listen to Invest Like The Best. If you don't listen to Invest Like The Best already, search for Invest Like The Best. Make sure you follow the show. It is one of my favorite podcasts. Patrick is now a very close friend of mine.
Listen to, it's episode 299, It's About The Money. That's a conversation with Paul. And if you're interested in more of my story, my backstory, what I've learned from reading hundreds of biographies, I did an episode with Patrick, which is my favorite conversation I've ever done. That is episode 292 It is called Passion and Pain. And without further ado, we're going to get into Paul's amazing, amazing life story. I hope you like this.
Paul says to me, Hey, do you want to come out with me? I need some local information about rental rates.
He grabbed me because I was a student and could give him some feedback about the student perspective on renting near UCSB.
So I'm driving with him, and Paul is just a terrible driver. There are two sets of realtors trying to follow us.
Suddenly, he sees this black cat about 300 yards ahead of us. He screeches on the brakes, pulls a U-turn, and goes the other way. He will not let a black cat cross this path.
Then we're driving along, and he sees Pardell Road, the site of the original Kinkos, which he sold to his partner.
Because of that, he won't drive down Pardell Road anymore.
We screech up in front of these apartment buildings. I follow Paul as he runs inside. In each one, he turns on a faucet, lets it run for a minute while he watches it, and then asks me, how much rent do you think I could get for this place? I'd say something, and he'd say, nah, and then he'd give me a number 25% above my estimate. We saw eight properties in what had to be under an hour. The realtors are running behind us. We get back in the car. He puts offers on six of them and ends up buying four. Basically, he ends up buying about $2 million of real estate in 45 minutes.
As we drive back to the office, we stop at a kiosk where at that time, you had to pay a 50 cent fee to cross the university campus.
Paul accidentally drops a dime between the seat and the door. It must have taken him at least two minutes to fish out that dime.