This story is a part of the Behind the Desk sequence, the place CNBC Make It will get private with profitable enterprise executives to search out out every little thing from how they bought to the place they’re to what makes them get away from bed within the morning to their day by day routines

There’s quite a bit you won’t find out about Kevin O’Leary.

Possibly you did not know the star investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank” grew up dyslexic. Or, possibly you did not know he bought his monetary chops from his Lebanese mom, whom he says “stored a secret [bank] account from each of her husbands, her entire life.”

You may assume he is imply, based mostly largely on his tv persona. O’Leary disputes that assertion. “Individuals name me imply. I do not assume I am imply,” O’Leary, 67, tells CNBC Make It.

As an alternative, O’Leary says, he is merely following recommendation he acquired as a youngster from his late mom Georgette: By no means inform a lie, and you may by no means have to recollect what you mentioned. “In different phrases, I inform it the way in which I see it,” he says.

O’Leary credit that honesty, even when it hurts, to his success — courting again to his first entrepreneurial endeavor, an organization known as Softkey Software program that he launched from his Toronto basement in 1986. The corporate later morphed into the academic software program agency The Studying Firm, which O’Leary and his co-founders offered to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999.

Since then, O’Leary has invested in and suggested a slew of companies, from crowdfunding start-up StartEngine to “Shark Tank” firms like DrainWig and Depraved Good Cupcakes. He is additionally a bestselling creator who serves because the chairman of O’Shares ETFs.

The street to get there was removed from simple, he says — from dropping his dad at age seven to creating mulitiple enterprise errors alongside the way in which. Right here, O’Leary talks about rising up with dyslexia, the second that made him a lifelong entrepreneur and why he actually is not that imply.

I had severe dyslexia once I was younger. I began to fall behind in class in math and studying expertise. However I used to be very lucky to get into an experimental program at McGill College.

It was run by two professors, Sam Rabinovich and Marjorie Golick, who are actually legendary in dyslexia. They taught me that I did not actually have a incapacity. I had a superpower.

At that age, the entire thought was to cut back my nervousness — as a result of I may really learn a e book the other way up within the mirror in entrance of my class. That is one of many attributes sure dyslexics have. As soon as I confirmed them that I can do this, that is how I began studying till it resolved itself.

There are many examples of dyslexics which have achieved nicely in enterprise, later. However they’ve to beat the attributes.

Each time I discuss to profitable entrepreneurs, there’s one second of their lives that adjustments their course. For me, it was getting fired at Magoo’s Ice Cream Parlour as an ice cream scooper.

It was the primary and solely job I ever had. I bought fired on the primary day as a result of I did not perceive the concept of the employee-employer relationship. I solely took the job as a result of I needed to be near this woman that I used to be inquisitive about. She was working on the shoe retailer throughout the mall.

On the primary day on the job, the proprietor mentioned, “The ground is totally coated with gum. You have to scrape it off earlier than you permit, and it’s a must to do this day-after-day.” I mentioned, “I can not do this.” I used to be anxious that the woman throughout the mall was gonna see me on my knees, and that was dangerous for my model. So she fired me, and that was the final job I ever had.

I discovered that I can not work for anyone. I’ve to regulate my very own future. I am not in opposition to [the concept of] being an worker, however I can not [personally] do it. That was the course of my ambition from that day on.

I feel it has quite a bit to do with my Lebanese mom. Within the Lebanese household hierarchy, matriarchs run the present and so did her grandmother. They set the tone for the household.

My mom was fiercely unbiased. She needed her personal monetary pillar for herself. I feel I inherited that from her: She was very hardcore about ensuring she may handle herself and her household.

She wasn’t an analyst or something. However when she handed away, the executor known as me and mentioned, “You gotta get down right here. Your mom died a really rich lady.”

I had no concept that she stored a secret account from each of her husbands, her entire life. That is simply how she labored.

I am going again to one thing my mom taught me once I was a youngster: “By no means inform a lie, and you may by no means have to recollect what you mentioned.” I wasn’t training this again then, however I’ve actually come to comprehend the advantage of it now.

I inform it the way in which I see it. Many individuals do not agree with me, nevertheless it’s those that do not agree with me who get into dialogue and debate, and I feel that is very wholesome.

I do know that will get me the “imply” tag on “Shark Tank.” However when a deal is de facto crappy, it’s best to inform them the reality. Generally, that is very exhausting, however I discover that individuals can scent bull—- a mile away on social media. You have to be sincere, and I feel that engages [people].

I’ve a really giant [following], and I am very inquisitive about what they assume. I quiz them on a regular basis once I wish to determine on one thing. So long as you do not bull—- them, they will be with you for all times.