RIYADH: Known as the “Real Wolf of Wall Street,” globally acclaimed speaker and businessman Jordan Belfort has visited Saudi Arabia to share his life story and entrepreneurship experiences at the Riyadh International Bookfair.
Known as one of the youngest kingpin stockbrokers on Wall Street, who once sank a 170-foot moto yacht and ran up a $700,000 tab on hotel room, Jordan Belfort shared his story in the world of finance. He told the audience about how he lost it all to greed and his triumphant return as an inspirational global speaker.
During a book talk held on Saturday evening, Belfort detailed his humble beginnings and how he knew he was destined for entrepreneurship from a young age.
He described his childhood in New York, where he started a paper trail as his first business, before moving onto bigger endeavors making over $100,000 as a teenager in one summer by selling ice cream through a styrofoam cooler on a busy beach.
Belfort also discussed the famous story that was produced into the film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
He told the book fair about the obstacles he had to overcome to share his story with the public, not only in the writing process of the book, but through the 2013 adaptation of the “Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
During the two-hour-long book discussion, Belfort said: “You can’t say you want to be like me, you have to learn from my mistakes and model the great things about me, there are certain things that there is no doubt they were amazing but there was bad too.”
Following the discussions on his life story and memoir, Belfort addressed the skills every great entrepreneur needs to start and run a successful business.
He said that a great business man must first be an amazing salesman, before taking on marketing.
At the end of the book talk he answered some questions from the audience and gave advice on business and succes.
“Marketing and sales together are absolutely crucial for an entrepreneur’s business success,” he said.
During his book signing the following evening, Belfort spoke to Arab News about his views on the Kingdom.
“Here in Saudi Arabia the government really does a great job at providing for the people culturally and financially so it’s really a phenomenal country. I hope the citizens know how lucky they are to have a government that is not corrupt like the rest of the world. It’s really bad in some places, with wealth,” the author said.
“I think every country has its own unique heartbeat, heart and soul and a couple things I noticed about Saudi Arabia is that the people are the most gracious people they really are very hospitable and gracious. And I think the government here does an incredibly good job of taking care of its people, which is very rare around the world,” said Belfort.
Belfort also discussed his experience of visiting Saudi Arabia with Arab News. “I love eating with my hands and my wife would not have a reason to yell at me here. I eat with my hands at home and she gets mad at me, and here it’s like I think the food tastes better.”
