While his friends partied, this entrepreneur slogged to build a global racing company

When Daniel Charles, the founder and CEO of Global Racing Schools, first decided to get into the racing business, he wanted to open a race track in Singapore. But he realized it would cost about half a billion dollars.

“That may not be the best place to start,” he thought. He decided to scale down, and considered starting a go-cart track instead. But that proved too daunting as well.

Finally, he settled on becoming a dealer for motorsports products. Slogging his way through, Daniel, at 25 years old now, has built Global Racing Schools into a company that connects leisure and professional racers to driving experiences by over 200 suppliers in 20 countries.

“I remember an entrepreneur talking on television about the right way to get into an industry: ‘Don’t focus on getting the whole body in. Start with the toe’,” he says, “if you want to be a DJ, start by carrying amps around. If you want to be the next Zuckerberg, start by hanging around the right places and events.”

Today, the young entrepreneur has offices in Singapore, Australia, and the United States. The avid Formula One fan, looking every bit a professional racer himself with designer shades, watch, and a racing polo-tee, has handled between two to three thousand customers ever since the company was started in 2008.

A basic driving package at a race track starts from around US$600, while an aspiring professional can fork up to US$3,000 a day. Global Racing Schools takes a cut of the revenue from their partners in Europe, America, and Asia. Corporate clients have turned out to be his biggest customers.

Recently, the company has even begun offering Ice Driving experiences in countries like Mongolia, Canada, and Finland.

While there are websites offering similar driving experiences, they are usually confined to a country, say, France. He isn’t aware of a company in Asia that’s offering these packages in various exotic locales.

“Don’t focus on how much money you will make; find something you’re passionate about. If you just look at money, you will forget that you won’t make money for a very long time.”

Daniel epitomizes the old-school, gut-it-out, learn-as-you-go kind of entrepreneur; a throwback to an earlier time. With no mentors, outside investment, or industry knowledge, he jumped into the dealership fray against grey heads with more experience, armed with nothing but savings from his previous businesses and his dream of building a global racing empire.

“There was no one to guide me or incubate my business. I didn’t know anyone in the industry either. When I showed up on the scene, everyone asked, ‘who’s this new kid on the block?'”

Being young certainly was a disadvantage, and people tended not to take him seriously. He had no grounds to stand on.

Being young also meant that while his friends were out partying and having fun, Daniel would be going on business trips and attending meetings.