Oftentimes, the most successful people are the ones who refuse to follow the rules of society. They’re the people so discontented with the messages they were fed as children that they go out and create their own path in life. They’re the people who are constantly looking for new opportunities, even when doing so pushes against the grain.

In short: they’re entrepreneurs. And Terrence Kruse is one of the most successful entrepreneurs you’ll ever meet.

At 27, Kruse has launched three separate online marketing businesses—each of which has scaled momentously—and his team of 13 people is now achieving $200,000 a month consistently through their TikTok ad agency, Ads That Scale.

He lives in Miami. He drives the car of his dreams. He travels the world. All this, and not once did Kruse achieve it through playing by the rules.

“I was always wanting to question authority figures. A lot of people are just raised to listen and respect your elders, and to a certain extent you should, but I always asked, ‘But why am I doing it this way? Does this actually make sense? Why is it this way?’ On an intellectual level, I was able to see through all the bullshit.”

This is the mindset that elevated Kruse’s thoughts and actions well above the status quo, allowing him to achieve a high level of success.

Kruse’s attitude begs the question: Why do we follow the grain, refusing to question things and think for ourselves?

According to Changing Minds, it’s a pattern we begin as children to remain safe and secure. Our parents respond negatively to deviation from what is “normal,” so we conform to stay safe, which is good in some cases, but not if it lingers into adulthood.

Economist, venture capitalist, and thought leader Hunter Hastings has written about this issue in the past; he’s an avid supporter of the idea that entrepreneurs must move against the status quo, as it is their function to do so, and it’s the purpose they serve in society.

“We think of entrepreneurs in economic terms, market movers dealing in goods and services, taking dollars and cents in exchange,” Hastings writes. “But the entrepreneurial mindset and the entrepreneurial process can be applied in many more contexts where the status quo requires a challenge and change is called for.”

It took gumption for Kruse to break out of the mold, of course. No one has an easy time breaking free of the societal norms that have been instilled in them since birth. But once he realized that the life he was being sold wasn’t the life he wanted for himself, Terrence Kruse took his future into his own hands and never looked back.

“I quit after a month of working my first post-graduate job. I went against what everyone had planned out for me and what society tells you to do. I jumped in, and I started my own business.”

Terrence Kruse was rewarded in kind for his bravery. He took a gamble, and it paid off in the form of a lifestyle he desired and lead-on opportunities.

“It’s panning out for me. At the age of 27, I’ve built three seven-figure online businesses, I have financial freedom, and I have time freedom. I’ve built a very nice life for myself, and I did it on my own. Nothing that they taught me in university has applied to the success that I’ve seen in the real world.”

At the risk of making Terrence’s life seem breezy, it wasn’t. There were bumps and potholes on the road, and he struggled with growing out of destructive habits that held him back. But at 27, healthy, thriving, and with a business partner he trusts, Kruse is on top of the world.

Now, he’s teaching other aspiring entrepreneurs what he’s learned through hands-on coaching and educational content.

“I’m paying forward everything that I’ve learned over the last four years of building three different seven-figure online agencies and millions in sales. All the intricacies that go into that.”

Everything we learn, we should teach. In Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, authors Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool reveal that teaching what you know is incredibly beneficial for highlighting knowledge gaps in both yourself and others.

Kruse is doing just that by sharing his story and imparting his wisdom to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

“These are extremely valuable skills that will allow growth like you’ve never believed. Teaching people ads, teaching people systems, teaching people automation. We’re going to be teaching people sales, copy, offer creation, how to manage clients, how to make hires, how to delegate tasks. It’s going to be very in depth; it’s going to have a lot of content in there.”

These are the tools and tricks of the trade that enabled Kruse to reach seven figures across three different businesses. In particular, his TikTok ad agency has taken off in ways he never could have dreamed.

“My first business was an ad agency with lead management for real estate agents. Inside one year, we did just shy of a million in revenue. That basically allowed me to have more freedom, have more income. And that experience is how I learned about building seven-figure fulfillment systems.

“I took that skill into the chiropractic space on a profit share deal and built the backend for another seven-figure agency helping chiropractors with marketing. Now here we are, and everything that I touch turns to gold.

“My third business is a TikTok ad agency. Within a half year, we scaled it up to a seven-figure business by applying all my experience to an innovative idea and just believing. At the core, this is all thanks to my habit of questioning everything.”

If Terrence Kruse could express anything to the world, it’s this idea of freedom and of breaking free from what’s expected of you. Consistently question your reasons for doing things.

“Ask yourself, ‘Is this something for me? Or is this for them? Whose dream is this going toward? Is this going toward my dream? Or is this going toward their dream?’ That’s what I think people should be asking themselves.”

Freedom cannot be overstated. It’s something that we all crave, and it’s something that Kruse has found in spades through his entrepreneurial journey.

“Achieving freedom in your life, whether that’s just time freedom or financial freedom, whatever the case may be. If I could give a message to the world, it would be do what you want to do, not what everyone’s telling you to do. Escape the matrix.”

 Written in Partnership with Luke Lintz 

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