PICKAWAY COUNTY, Ohio — Brandon Schlichter, a Circleville native and entrepreneur, said he did not grow up with wealth and that his family was evicted from their home when he was six-years-old and again at 18.
“I want to be successful on social media, I need to treat YouTube like a business. I need to treat social media like a business,” said Schlichter.
He became a real estate agent at 21 to earn more money to live on his own, a move he calls life-changing.
“I ran into a truck driver who was a multi-millionaire and asked him ‘how did you do it?’ He was investing in real estate and business,” Schlichter said. “Realized I needed to be on the investment side of real estate rather than just being a salesperson.”
In the decade that followed, Schlichter started buying real estate in southern Ohio and turning the buildings into rental properties, including Chillicothe-based Trippie’s Laundromat.
Around 2017, he started posting videos to TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, simply showing how to operate a business, collecting coins and cash from washing machines and other vending machines at his properties.
“What I do on social media is kind of tear down these type of businesses and say hey, you know, a vending machine can make a thousand dollars a month and they’re not that expensive to buy,” said Schlichter.
In the two years that followed, he became an unexpected, viral social media sensation… and to this day the numbers are staggering.
“Between all my social media platforms, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all that stuff, I think I’m at one point one or one point two billion video views. I have over five million subscribers,” said Schlichter.
The 37-year-old husband and father of five, who did not attend college, has gone from rags to riches, accumulating $10 million in assets and well over 100 rental properties.
Schlichter currently coaches dozens of clients and gives financial advice to eager entrepreneurs across the country.
Schlichter said he hasn’t let the wealth get to his head, still lives in his hometown, and has this advice for those coming from a similar background.
“If I can do it, having never gone to college, no formal training at any of this stuff, I think it’s something that people can achieve if it’s something you really desire to do,” said Schlichter. “And as a business owner, whether it’s a laundry mat or a bar owner, you’ve got to be cautious and careful about how you deal with your money and just how you present yourself to people.”
