Lifestyle

The Twists and Turns in the Life of an Entrepreneur – John Shen

Published

2 years ago

February 7, 2023

Business is tricky, but there are numerous examples of success to make it a reasonable risk for many entrepreneurs. Most people know the other side of the business equation comprising the failures and challenges. Perhaps this is what is holding them back. The most important aspect of its success is the owner’s philosophy, dedication, professionalism, and work ethic. Handling and overcoming challenges effectively are among the most difficult things for entrepreneurs.

Most firms fail not because the owner made bad judgments but because they made no decisions at all or luck was not on their side. Entrepreneurship demands a unique collection of talents, including salesmanship, people management, financial acumen, and emotional intelligence.

Entrepreneurs are vital in market economies because they function as the country’s economic development wheels. They create new employment by developing new goods and services, resulting in an increase in economic growth. Talking about entrepreneurs takes us to John Shen, who restarted his journey after previous colossal failure as an entrepreneur in 2009 when he established the American Lending Center (ALC). Being an entrepreneur, John Shen faced and overcame several challenges during his life that brought him the experience of his working career.

Entrepreneurship Led John Shen to Establish Three Real Estate Companies in Orlando, Florida

Residing and working in Philadelphia, John took his family on vacation to Disneyworld in Orlando, FL. On one occasion, he heard of several investors purchasing vacation homes to rent out to visitors on a short-term basis. Shen decided to take a chance and buy a home to rent as an investment. The entrepreneur advertised his rental property on many websites to improve occupancy. He ultimately found a partner to help him launch a side business. This property management firm cleaned and maintained rental residences. People around Shen’s community started asking him about his investment. He began teaching many of them how to buy rental houses. Some of his neighbors also went to Florida with him to acquire a home through Shen’s property management firm.

The success of these companies inspired John to reconsider his life aims and ambitions. In addition to his full-time work in Philadelphia, he entered the real estate sector. He took the Florida real estate exam and obtained a license before joining a real estate firm.

In 2003, Florida saw significant real estate growth, and Shen’s firm thrived. He received his real estate broker’s license in 2004. He began going to major American cities such as New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and others to frequently conduct Florida real estate investing seminars for hundreds of people in hotel ballrooms.

John concluded in 2004 that he could no longer live a double life by working two jobs. He quit his full-time job and relocated to Florida with his family. He received a mortgage broker license and established his own office for his three businesses: real estate agent, mortgage broker, and property management firm.

His company prospered during 2005 and 2006 when US banks began lowering mortgage loan income requirements and issuing no-doc loans with low rates. The Florida real estate market was the most modern in the country. John’s reputation as a formidable buyer’s agent grew. However, in 2006, banks began to witness foreclosures across Florida. The cheap mortgage rates were expiring, and hundreds of homeowners could not pay their mortgages and were forced to leave their homes.

In early 2007, Shen’s real estate agent and mortgage broker companies vanished, and his property management firm had fallen to near-zero profit. With the fall of the real estate market, the entrepreneur lost all of his sources of income. In 2008, he shuttered his Orlando office and laid off his employees.

John was in significant debt and had to short-sell some of his properties. He traveled to Hawaii in 2008 to try to sell a few remaining properties he owned. His attempts were unsuccessful since he was unable to find any buyers. Depressed and deprived, John decided to commit suicide by leaping out of the 16^th-story window of the Honolulu hotel room. However, just as John was about to open the window and leap, he collided with his laptop. John discovered an email in his spam folder when the screen came back up. He decided to read it. His life was saved by the email. John escaped the burden of failure by returning to Florida and starting over.

Giving up implies accepting that things will never improve, which is just not the case. Life is full of ups and downs, and John Shen has been on that roller coaster but chooses to live the life he wants instead of ending it.

Lifestyle

Derik Fay: The Quiet Architect of Impact-First Entrepreneurship

Published

1 week ago

May 8, 2025

Michelle Langton

In an era where noise often overshadows results, Derik Fay is quietly shaping a different kind of legacy — one built not on showmanship, but on undeniable substance. For more than two decades, Fay has engineered the rise of over 30 companies across industries as diverse as real estate, technology, healthcare, and entertainment. Yet his name rarely leads headlines — not because he hasn’t earned it, but because he never needed it to validate his success.

Growing up in Rhode Island, Fay learned early that the world rarely hands out opportunity; it must be seized, created, and multiplied. While many of his peers pursued traditional paths, he took a risk that would define the rest of his life: at just 22, he founded 3F Management, a venture firm with an entirely different mission — to build companies that would outlast trends, outperform markets, and, most importantly, out-impact their competition.

Instead of obsessing over short-term wins, Fay approached entrepreneurship like a craftsman. Much like Henry Ford, who famously said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business,” Fay built companies that weren’t just profitable — they were purposeful. Every venture was designed to create real, sustainable value, both for shareholders and for the communities they served.

Through his relentless focus on structure and leadership, Fay’s ecosystem of businesses now touches thousands of lives daily — from employees finding new opportunities to entrepreneurs gaining the mentorship they never had before. But unlike typical moguls who boast about headcounts, Fay views every job created as a ripple in a larger mission: empowering individuals to write better futures for themselves.

Where others have scaled fast and crashed harder, Fay’s model thrives on foundations few are patient enough to build anymore. His method is slower, smarter, and almost surgical: find what others overlook, fix what others fear, and grow what others abandoned too early. It’s this principle that led him to not just build companies — but to resurrect them, reimagine them, and sometimes even walk away if the mission no longer aligned with the impact he envisioned.

Fay’s philosophy extends far beyond boardrooms. Philanthropy isn’t a checkbox at the end of his success story — it’s embedded into the way he scales. His ventures are built with giving back written into their DNA, from local community initiatives to broader mentorship platforms that help emerging entrepreneurs get their first real shot at success. His life’s work is proof that wealth and generosity are not mutually exclusive — they are, in fact, essential partners.

Today, while newer generations of entrepreneurs hustle for likes and magazine covers, Fay’s name is whispered in rooms where real power moves. His reputation — built quietly but relentlessly — is that of a man who delivers, builds, and elevates without the need for public validation.

In a business world increasingly built on spectacle, Derik Fay reminds us that the most lasting legacies are forged not in the glare of the spotlight, but in the thousands of lives changed quietly along the way.

For more insights into Derik Fay’s ventures and philanthropic efforts, visit www.derikfay.com and follow him on Instagram @derikfay