He went from digging dumpsters for food to scaling his business to 500+ locations

A photo of Bedros Keuilian.

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with The Jay Kim Show where we publish the revised transcripts from the show’s podcast interviews with top entrepreneurs. This is heavily revised from the original show transcripts. For the full interview, go here.

Bedros Keuilian is a bestselling author, speaker, and business consultant who is also the founder and CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp, a large fitness franchise. Keuilian is also an investor in over a dozen companies ranging from subscription software platforms, digital ad agencies, and mastermind and coaching services.

But it wasn’t always like this for him. He has a true rags-to-riches story, from being so broke that he had to dig through dumpsters for food to now being a wildly successful entrepreneur. Keuilian shared his incredible journey during my interview with him.

Who is Bedros Keuilian and what do you do for a living?

The easiest way to describe who I am and what I do is that I am the “Emigrant Edge” and “American dream.”

My friend gave me that Emigrant Edge moniker because, in 2009, the economy had just crashed in the US. Unemployment was through the roof—over 11 percent—and I was happily building a franchise called Fit Body Boot Camp. I had just started, and he stopped me and said, “Why are you building a franchise with the economy crashing like this all around us? Who’s going to buy your franchise? Everyone is broke.”

And I remember saying that the money didn’t go away. The money just exchanged hands, and it’s up to me to figure out who’s got the money and sell them my franchise.

I’m just also a really lucky guy who came from a communist country and used every opportunity that it gives me. And I’ve become the American dream. Now, my goal and purpose is to pay it forward and take entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and anyone who’s got an idea, vision, or charity to their fullest potential.

Could you share your story coming over to the US?

In 1980, my father bribed the Soviet government with 25,000 rubles, and we escaped into Italy. If we told the government that we’re going to America, they would have probably killed my father. The idea was that we would go to the American consul and my dad would say, “Look, I’m a member of the Communist Party. I don’t want to be a member of the Communist Party, and so we’re here on political asylum.” And that’s exactly what we did.

When we came to the US, we were so poor and broke that I got lice in my hair from living in some really crappy apartments. We lived in 14 different apartments in our first 1.5 years in the US. And when you moved around that much, you had a lower standard of living.

When we didn’t have food, my dad would put me into the dumpster, and it was like a treasure hunt for me. My mom would say, “Get that milk, get that cheese, pick up the bread, get that lettuce.” We would tear off the mold or peel away the leaves until we get the good leaf, and we would eat that.

But we didn’t understand the culture. The mindset we had was that we’re in a country that offers freedom and opportunity, but where is it? So, my parents and siblings had multiple jobs. And it was my job, as the kid—I was six years old at the time—to dumpster dive probably three to four times a week. That’s how we got by the first six months (or year) in this country.

How did you progress from there?

My progression was kind of out of desperation. When you grow up on government-assisted food, you get the government cheese, government peanut butter, government bread, government bologna. It’s all high-calorie and really bad for you. When I reached high school, I was out of shape—35 lbs (or nearly 16 kg) overweight. And senior year was coming up; we would go to prom. All I wanted was to ask a girl out to the prom.

My life had forever changed, because through working out and eating right, all I wanted to do was help other people.

How did you scale the business?

What else do you have in the pipeline?

What exactly can you suggest on leadership?

How do you stay driven? What keeps you going?