How This Entrepreneur Runs Five Companies And Travels The World
We’ve all got twenty four hours in a day, but for some highly productive people, you would think they had thirty six hours in their day.
Canadian-born serial entrepreneur, software engineer, journalist, and radio host, Michael Peres, is one of the few people with the ability to maximize his time and engage in a remarkable number of productive activities in a day.
Mikey Peres, just 31 years old, operates five tech and media startups, which includes a software development firm, news sites such as Peres Daily News, and a digital marketing agency. He is also the radio host of The Michael Peres Podcast and the pioneer of the Breaking 9 To 5 work model.
Getting to this point was not easy. At the age of nine, he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). School was tough, but Peres was able to discover his passions and build a system of learning that worked for him. Today, he is championing a fresh approach to entrepreneurship where people can learn to build toward their dreams with a limitless, no-restrictions approach.
From passion to business
When Peres was a teenager, he discovered his love of computers. He was able to tap into a wireless router to bring the internet into his home. He spent a great deal of his time surfing the internet and learning everything he could about computers. By the time he graduated from high school, he built and repaired over 300 computer systems for his school and a nearby girls’ school.
Later, after getting a degree in computer science and mathematics, and teaching himself web design and development, he began to build websites for a growing list of customers. He saw an opportunity to formalize the thriving business and turn it into a real company. In 2017, Hexa Tiger was established.
At first, it was just Peres developing websites by himself but today, Hexa Tiger has a team of seven people that develop and maintain custom WordPress websites.
When talking about how he grew the business organically, he explained “I was heavily focused on making an impression rather than getting clients.”
Eventually, he saw an opportunity to tap into a market complementary to web development. After developing websites, Peres would refer his clients to web hosting companies when it was time to go live with the sites. He figured that he could redirect these funds to himself if he offered the same service as an expansion of the already existing company.
Later in 2017, Hecto Fox, a cloud computing and hosting firm for Wordpress systems, was established. However, he had to learn to manage his time between two businesses.
Peres explains, “Hexa Tiger was already up and running smoothly on its feet, covering our survival costs without consuming a lot of our time. This is a crucial hurdle for me to jump to operate as an entrepreneur and free up my mental capital for longer-term, more fruitful projects.”
The investment paid off. His web hosting business is now a team of four with 350 clients. Moreover, given the monthly recurring revenue of a web hosting business, Peres was able to create a dependable, steady and growing revenue stream that more than covered his cost of living, freeing him up to think more entrepreneurially.
No limits, no restrictions
While growing these businesses, Peres traveled around the world. He closed several deals on plane seats or in the back of a car, and would code websites while seated around a campfire.
Soon he discovered the importance of networking and meeting people in high places, and saw opportunities in the digital marketing industry.
In 2018, with clients already from his other businesses, Hexa Web was founded, offering brand consulting, advertisement, social media marketing, SEO marketing, and content creation services.
Turning ADHD into a strength
His early struggles with ADHD taught him to work on his own terms and with a system where he was in charge of his time and energy. Peres never liked to be defined by this disorder but always attributes much of his success to the early realization that he could weaponize something everyone believed was a limitation. He could think differently, see the world from a unique point of view, and harness insights in a way that almost always yielded results.
"I work my ADHD to my favor by not fighting it, but building on the less noticed advantages," Peres said. "Because I can’t focus on doing one thing at a time, I built on a more natural foundation by perfecting the art of multitasking. I could be coding two websites while listening to a documentary, monitoring the stock market, and responding to emails."
Effectively, he took advantage of his condition so he could focus on multiple tasks simultaneously, optimizing his time and achieving more than the average person in a day.
Over the years, Peres has worked hard to understand the best methods and conditions that enable his productivity. For instance, he never forces himself to sleep at conventional hours. Instead, he works until his body indicates it’s time to rest.
By understanding how his mind works, he's learned to take complete advantage of it. He regularly goes for one to three mile sprints every few work hours.
To address his need to always do different things, Peres explains, “ I would constantly switch my settings and expose myself to new people, a habit that has inspired my travel lifestyle."
In 2019, inspired by his unusual methods of operating, Peres started the Breaking 9 to 5 work model, an entrepreneurial concept that encourages business people to work on their own terms without any of the typical constraints, such as time and location. Breaking 9 to 5 was born out of the methods Peres created for working around his ADHD and finding solutions to thrive on his own terms. It’a guide for entrepreneurs to learn everything about Peres' approach to business and getting in the right mindset.
With a growing website and a soon-to-be-released book on the concept, the Breaking 9 to 5 brand is run by a team of five people passionate about pushing entrepreneurship to a brand-new level of productive freedom. They also deliver tips for entrepreneurs and interview business leaders.
Never get complacent
By pursuing his interests, and being self-aware to learn how his mind best works, Peres has become a successful entrepreneur. His ADHD has become a vessel for entrepreneurial energy needed to overcome the challenges of growing a business. Peres explains, “I’m always operating like it’s my first week on the job. I've become addicted to the challenges and growing pains, and I stay excited for what’s ahead.”