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What motivates you? Is it making your family proud? Chasing financial freedom? Others’ opinions of you? For Quiane Crews, it’s the thought of never wanting to go back to living out of his friend’s car. Hitting a low point in life similar to what Quiane experienced is surely enough to send most people into a depression, have them questioning what they did to deserve such a terrible situation. However, Quiane is not like most people. His situation only caused him to work harder and make his own way in the entrepreneurial space, and his story can serve to inspire anyone who needs the extra push to stay positive and work harder.
After dropping out of school in 2015 and then finding out he would be having his first kid a few months later, Quiane has always had to deliver under high pressure, as he has always had an extremely small margin of error. With that being said, he soon found success in network marketing, and found himself in a terrific financial situation at a very young age. After a few bad investments and being unwise with his spending habits, Quiane soon found himself living with friends after being kicked out of his own house. After trying to make the network marketing business thrive to get him back into his own living situation, Quiane instead had to take yet another step backwards and move into his friend’s car in the dead of winter.
At this exact moment in time, Quiane had to pull himself together and face the reality of his situation: I put myself in this situation, and I’m the only one who will be able to get myself out of it and back on my feet.
And he did just that.
After he found more success in network marketing, he found massive success in dropshipping for Amazon and eBay before building out his own website, where he was able to bring in a gross profit of $1.2M. Learning from his past mistakes, he used his profits to invest in his own tech company rather than make fruitless purchases and failed investments.
Today, Quiane is working on growing his new lifestyle brand and launching his very own independently developed smartphone. Even after being turned down by the Chairman of Sprint when inquiring about distributing his smartphones through the company, Quiane took the response in stride, and knew he was still on the right path regardless of the chairman’s decision. His ambitions and vision are admirable, and he works tirelessly to see his dreams become a reality.
His best advice to anyone reading is that whatever it is in life that you want, you can go and get it. There are no real limitations to what you can accomplish, only the ones that you put on yourself are what can ever hold you back. At only 23 years old and launching his own smartphone to compete with the tech giants of the world, Quiane has received some discouraging feedback, but his belief in himself trumps all of the outside doubt he has received.
Contrary to popular belief, Quiane feels that he felt more stress and less happiness once he gained wealth and popularity. Rather than equating wealth to stress and unhappiness which would lead to burnout and a loss of ambition, Quiane stays laser focused on his long term goals and has the discipline to continue to grow regardless of the struggles he encounters along the way.
While his mental state never wavered even in his darkest hours, he certainly had his back against the wall for a period of time. Rather than folding, he found inspiration out of his demons and bounced back to become a better entrepreneur and person than he ever has been today.
Quiane is a model of how to never give up on yourself and let unfortunate circumstances attack your mental health. His mental toughness and desire to be successful is hard to replicate, but his mindset can be matched through goal setting, determination, and hard work.
Quiane can be found on Instagram @thatboycrews, and on Twitter @QuianeCrews.
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More on Mental Health on Campus:
What Campus Mental Health Centers Are Doing to Keep Up With Student Need
If You’re a Student Who’s Struggling With Mental Health, These 7 Tips Will Help
The Hidden Stress of RAs in the Student Mental Health Crisis