Ahmed Ben Chaibah | The Truth About Getting Rich in Dubai (He Went Bankrupt Twice)

0:00Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Did you come from money? Behind my house there are 16 oil wells and downstairs we have a mine of gold and diamonds. And I woke up from my sleep. Oh, you must come from money, you got my support too. I wish that was the case. That wasn't the case. You were rejected 617 times. First year. You were 1.8 million dollars in debt. Mr. Ahmed Chaibah. How in the world do you go from that to creating the empire that you ended up building? Being cuckoo. It's not what you know. It's not who you know. It's who knows what you know. You have the largest inflatable water park in the world. Yes. But I'm sure it didn't start there.

0:30Ahmed Ben Chaibah: I remember I spoke to two companies, a German and a American company, both of me. They think I'm an Arabic guy. I live in the Middle East. I have no idea what I'm doing with water parks. And I was like, okay, cool. We'll see about that. Three years later, they closed the whole business. I crashed them heavily. There's three incentives people who want one each week. They want to be heard. They want to be seen. And they want to f***. If you find one of those or all of them, you close everything. What's a bigger advantage in business? Having money or having connections? Poof.

0:59Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Do we have cola? Cola please. Okay. Good program. Okay, so you have to do everything I say, okay? Open the cola.

1:10Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Okay, now drink the cola. Rock, rock, rock, rock, sounds.

1:17Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Come on. Mad. Mad. Now go together.

1:26Ahmed Ben Chaibah: i broke james i broke james okay huh ahmed yes well done ahmed there you go see now that's good now you understand how my name works what's going on everyone welcome back to the school of hard knocks podcast i'm james i'm here with jack and josh and we're sitting down with a legend in his home city of Dubai, Mr. Ahmed Sheba. Did I get that one right? No, he still didn't get it. How do we say it? Ahmed. Ahmed. I give you the exercise. Man. Never mind. Moving on. This is an exciting one today. You have built the largest water park in the world, but a lot of people might see your success and be like, no, no, no.

2:04This guy came from money. You were rejected 617 times. First year. 617 times.

2:10Ahmed Ben Chaibah: First year. You went bankrupt twice. Yes. And at one point, you were$1.8 million in debt. Yes. How in the world do you go from that to creating the empire that you ended up building? Being cuckoo. I think being crazy, I guess. I think it's a level of delusion and inconsistency and disciplines and refusing to believe what people say is true and then just go at it, I guess. Again, I want to go back to a lot of people, they see where you're at now. Yes. They see the country that you come from. And especially being that we're outside, we love it out here in the UAE. We love it out in the Middle East.

2:45I mean, just the mindset, the business that the people do. But people may see somebody like you that's already incredibly successful and think that you inherited your empire. Did you come from money?

2:53Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So behind my house, there's 16 oil wells. And downstairs, we have a mine of gold and diamonds. And I woke up from my sleep. I don't have that stuff. I mean, they see this, oh, you must come from money. You got to support you. I wish that was the case. That wasn't the case. I don't come from my family. my parents, some very nice, kind people. They never wanted to be anything in life besides having a job. And I refuse to believe that's my reality. And then I remember when I was doing this, like, what do you mean you want to run a business? You know, get a job and have a salary and have a kid and have a mortgage and the usual program.

3:32Ahmed Ben Chaibah: And I said, no, that's not me. But when you were growing up, I'm sure a lot of your peers, because what a lot of the business people out here do incredibly well is building generational wealth. I mean, we're talking multi-generation business owners and real estate and oil and finance and all these different industries. Was that for you being that you did grow up middle class somewhat discouraging? No. Almost like, you know, I mean, there were people that were already at an advantage because of, you know, the family business that they were going to end up going into. It's an advantage and disadvantage at the same time.

4:01Ahmed Ben Chaibah: It's an advantage, yes, you have that, but then you don't have the hunger. So I was always hungry about wanting to be more. I always wanted to be more. I always wanted to, I always aspired to be more. But I never looked at your success or his success. as something that I'm jealous for. No, I'm happy for you. And let's say, James, you're my boy, and today God blessed you with a million dollars. I'm excitedly happy for you because I believe God is just around the corner. He blessed you. He's going to bless me. So for me, I never looked at it in a jealousy or hate way, and that was always my narrative in life.

4:31Ahmed Ben Chaibah: It's me because, you know, you cannot complain about results with work not being done. You can't sit down and wish for apps to come to you by eating pizza on the corner on your iPhone. You have to go and do the work. and I always understand there's a process, there's steps, there's truth to things to happen. I was always focused on that part. Were you ever envious? No, never. I mean, what's the ROI on that? In my life, I always ask myself, what's the ROI on this? What's the thing on me being envious of this guy? If it's going to push me to be better, okay, fine. If it's going to make me less, no.

5:03Ahmed Ben Chaibah: If I'm going to lie to myself, I'm going to make it lighter and make me feel better about myself. You have the largest inflatable water park in the world. Yes. But I'm sure it didn't start there. What was kind of the first idea or project that kind of launched you into the inflatable water park business? I'm dyslexic and ADHD. These are my superpowers. I learned my superpowers later on in life. And when I was growing up in school, that was always, oh, you can't focus. You can't do this. I barely graduated university. So I was in the back of a yacht party. I don't drink a lot of smoke and I hit people on the boat.

5:40Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So I was in the back of my boat, and I imagine there's an inflatable slot coming from the back all the way down. So I went and started researching. I found people who can do that for me. And then I went and knocked to every single boat in the marinas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Shahjah, all the cities. And in the beginning, nobody said yes to me. And then I remember there was one Indian guy, Kumar. I remember he said very well. He said, what's my commission? He said, commission? What the hell is that? I said, how much do you want? He said, 15%. I was like, yeah, whatever. And then three hours later, ding, ding, I got a text on my phone.

6:07Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Money. I was like, oh. the incentive was money okay repeat the same formula 40 times and 40 times went in it's okay so there's three incentives people want one usually usually they want to be heard they want to be seen and they want money if you find one of those or all of them you close everything did you grow up going to the water park did you grow up going to a water park once every now and then I never aspired to be a water park owner that was never in any vision board or any goal or any of my things that I thought I'm going to be. What did you think growing up, though? Like when you were growing up in Dubai, right?

6:45I always had a job.

6:46Ahmed Ben Chaibah: I was busy being a rat, in a rat race. I was busy getting a salary from a month to a month and thinking that's life. I was busy thinking that having a career, this is what is meant for me. It could be meant for somebody else, but not for me. Was there a moment that broke you where it was like, look, enough is enough. I'm either going to chase my dream of being an entrepreneur or I'll die trying? It wasn't in that way. I had a very big managerial job in a very big events company and I was put redundant. I was like, you mean redundant? He said, we changed the metrics and so on and so on and so on.

7:21Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So, okay, fine. So, I went, I remember I sent 128 emails in the first day and then I did 73 interviews within the next three months and all of them were offering me low-balling salaries and three grades down. And I had a slip disc and I couldn't move from down here all the way to my feet, nothing. And I had to face all my demons. 41 days in bed, I can't move, nobody visited me. So I faced every demon I ran away from when I was younger. So I became calmer, that makes sense. And then the idea of Aquafone came. I was just consuming YouTube and videos and stuff all day, every day, for hours and hours.

8:01Ahmed Ben Chaibah: And then this came out. And then I remember I spoke to two companies, a German and American company both told me the German company told me you need to pay us this much money to for us to give you this brand and the American told me you are Arab you are nobody we won't give it to you I was like oh thank you you create a monster now so the moment I could finish be able to move I went to China I spent a month there with my tri-sector called Vincent I remember and I met a hundred I met I went to 128 factories I found the American and German factories I created my own brand, Aquafun, and then I went to compete in the market.

8:34Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So that's how it went for me. You said something right there that we've actually been talking about the last couple of days, which is just how far and strong the family name goes out here. It's a powerful thing. I'm sure you've seen that firsthand. Like you just said, they said that you were nobody. Yeah. Because they didn't necessarily know who you were or the family that you came from. Yeah. But I guess it wasn't that because they think I'm an Arabic guy. I live in the Middle East. I have no idea what I'm doing with water parks. and it's like, okay, cool. We'll see about that. I think three years later, they closed the whole business because I crashed them heavily.

9:09Were there any other businesses before Aquafund that you tried to start?

9:12Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Aquafund was the first one, the biggest one. And then from there, I think six years in, that's when I opened the second company and the third company and now eight companies. And what are the different companies that you own today? They are all, in a way, supporting each other. So I have an events company that creates events for the world park itself and and so on so on we do our sporting events that does events with this we have a marketing house that does marketing for us and other companies so everything i open it comes out of the main learning hub which is aqua fun so general trading like for example i think earlier this year i was with four of my friends my one guy here and two guys there literally this and i hear these two guys talking we're looking for onions for the small markets so without even talking to them i open my phone open whatsapp i speak to my friend who lives in morocco his family is the biggest exporter for vegetables.

9:59Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Like, hey, do you have any onions? It's like, we have this. Send me a file. So guys, is this what you want? Yes. I said, how much? How much? I said, okay, I put 30 % markup. Is this what I want? And I sold 200 containers of onions. I hate onions. So again, I think it's a matter of being proactive and being, again, your network. Like, it's not who you know. It's not what you know. It's who knows what you know. And that's an important part. Like, people know that. Say that again. It's not what you know. It's not who you know. It's who knows what you know. And speaking on that, you're starting your first business.

10:32Yes. How did you go about getting those initial customers? What was kind of the plan in the early days about, hey, I have the product now. I have the aqua fund, but I got to get people here.

10:43Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Wow, that's a big one. So location was a very interesting thing, but I was at the location every single day for the first five, six years. and I remember the first 10 ,000 followers on Instagram was done by me literally harassing and bullying people when they come on a product. Hey, follow my page. We have no internet. He's a hotspot. Follow my page. Literally. And then I started doing the influencer things. I started DMing influencers and hey, we want to come on a water product and so on and so on. The CEO is going to be with you and then I'm like, okay. They come over and I'm with them and then I will shoot the drone and the videos and I have the videos and pictures and then I send it to them and then that grew, grew, grew to where it is right now.

11:22Ahmed Ben Chaibah: but I was very involved with it. I think what's fascinating is when you go to AquaFun, because we've been to your park before. Yes, I remember. And, you know, that was a very interesting. That was a lot of fun. For those that don't know that are watching this, think of the show Wipeout. And Ninja Warrior. And American Ninja Warrior. Together. Put them together and bring it to life. And that is where you actually go. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. We look at this all the time. Oh, my goodness. I still have. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. We are going to, on the screen right now, we are going to put the clip of Jack being thrown 100 feet into the air.

12:00You flew off his body. You were like, I'll kill you.

12:02Ahmed Ben Chaibah: I believe I can fly. I had, because he jumped. It's because he jumped. Because Tyler jumped, and I had red welts going down my leg. Josh was bigger than that, now he's slim. Yeah, Josh is now fit, fit. Did you ever worry about, you know, danger concerns or people, you know, for some reason, you know, I'm sure. I mean, yes and no, because first of all, okay, you come in, you sign a waiver, so you sign off the waiver, all your rights is gone, number one. Number two, number one. Hey, hey, hey, you're just keeping it honest. I'm just being honest. But number two, everybody has to wear lab jacket. So no matter what happens to you, you'll float.

12:37Ahmed Ben Chaibah: You never die. And number three, we have leg guards everywhere. And first aid. So I think the maximum we ever had was somebody broke a nose because he was playing with his son rough for four hours in the world. and then I stopped out along people who are above 120 kilos that's like how much 280 pounds almost to go on because like you're fat you're gonna go and slip your ankle you're gonna cry about it so no no no so I think what's so cool about it is that this is such a unique business and I'm just so happy to be having this conversation is when you go to that Dubai Beach specifically you've got a massive chunk of that beach yes that is all for your water park I mean it's it's huge and it's on prime real estate in Dubai.

13:19How did that even work? Did you have to negotiate with the Dubai government to be able to set that up? What was the conversation like? That was war. Explain. That was war.

13:30Ahmed Ben Chaibah: I mean, it wasn't easy at all, until now, actually. But I remember even when I got the contract, to enter the land that I have taken from the government, I had to go through another private land. Do you own that now? Yeah. But to go through that land I own, I had to go through private land. And the private land owner refused to allow me to go through. So he told me, when I go through land, you have to come from the air or come from the sea. And that's what I did. I parked just keys, I think, three kilometers away. I was loading the games from three kilometers away at night, and freighted them half-assed with just keys, towing them at night, to my location, and going back 101 times.

14:07Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Because, again, I refuse to believe. I don't see the problem. I always understand. Okay, there's a problem. I need to find a solution. So, okay, I get there's a problem there, but what are the options, solutions to fix this? So I'm always solution driven. Can you actually explain how, you know, in Dubai, what are you laughing about? I can see what's going on. I want you to explain, though, because you mentioned that it's like there's privately owned land and government owned land. And even when we think about the developers out here, there's government that develops, but then also private companies and whatnot.

14:38How exactly does that work in terms of how Dubai, I guess, was built as a city or the UAE as a country? What determines what land is ultimately privately held by the government?

14:48Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So there's a rule here that all the beaches in Dubai are public beaches. All of them. So every beach in Dubai is public for public people to use it. Unless a small space that are owned by palaces, but that's a very small space. But everything behind that sand could be privately owned by James or Jack or whatever it is. They bought the land from the government. And that's where people don't understand the difference between them. And then that's why I had to go through to understand and learn the difference between this line and this line and this line and this line and this line and the law behind.

15:16So I had to learn a lot of things about the law and how to, I won't say bend it, but understand what is the loopholes for me to work with it. Guys, we are about to get right back to the podcast. But before we do that, look, one of the biggest things Ahmed talks about in this episode is what it actually takes to get customers when nobody knows who you are. When he was building Aquafund, he personally went after his first 10 ,000 Instagram followers, reached out to influencers themselves. And when business slowed down, he doubled down on content, tested what works, and kept finding new ways to get people through the door.

15:49But guys, getting attention and bringing potential customers into your business is one thing. What's even harder is making sure you actually follow up with those people and turn that attention into revenue. And that's why we use High Level across our businesses at the School of Hard Knocks. High level is an all-in-one sales and marketing system that helps you manage your CRM, which every entrepreneur needs, helps you build out your calendar, automate text messages and emails, and automatically follow up with prospective clients so you're not having to chase them down. And guys, look, it's easy to have five, ten different things going on in your business, but high level helps automate it all for you and systematize your sales and follow up process.

16:28So waste no more time. Go down right now. Click the link in the description of this video and start your free trial with high level today. to automate the sales and follow-up process in your business. Now, with that being said, let's get back to the episode. You started to make millions of dollars in your 30s. How much money did you pay in taxes? Taxes?

16:46Ahmed Ben Chaibah: What is that? How much money did you pay in taxes? We don't pay taxes here. Why not? We have VAT, the 5 % VAT, but that's it. Why not? Because we are in UAE. We do not need to pay this nonsense. But how does UAE even function as a country, as an economy, by not having its citizens pay taxes? So I think Dubai makes most of the money come because Dubai have no oil. There's no oil and gas in Dubai. Yeah, Dubai have no oil, no gas. But Dubai have no oil and gas. So the money is made through tourism and exports and trade. So Dubai makes most of the money that we use for infrastructure and stuff through either visa fees, licensing fees, the 5 % VAT and the rest comes from government funding.

17:31Ahmed Ben Chaibah: That's it. and you saw it. We have systems in Dubai. If a road, there's a pothole on the road, you take a picture of it, send it to the system, 24 hours, the pothole is removed. So that's, again, like if a neighborhood, there's no power in the neighborhood, the DEWA, which is Dubai Electric and Water Authority, will send a big generator for the area to make sure you have sunlight. So you don't believe in taxes? Not the way you guys do in America. What are your honest thoughts on taxes in America? Okay, here's my answer, okay? It doesn't make sense to me paying 50%, 60 % taxes. That's basically you work in half the year for free, you dumb hoe.

18:14Ahmed Ben Chaibah: For what? You're not safe. Your education sucks. You don't have a healthcare that actually even anywhere normal, and you have no lifestyle. Why are you doing that to yourself? You're not a tree. You can move. So what's making you stuck to a country that, okay, I pay for insurance in Dubai. But if I can pay what I pay and what you pay, I can go today, right now at this meeting, I can go to any hospital with my ID. I can get an MRI. I can get a specialist. I can get an x-ray, amnication, all covered by my insurance. You can't do that. You can't. You have to wait months for a dentist appointment.

18:50Ahmed Ben Chaibah: A dentist appointment. That's it. Never believe that. So again, for me, it doesn't make sense. We walk around with expensive watches and cars and stuff. we don't have to worry about these things. We're very safe. Extremely safe here. It's top five safest cities in the world. So for me, like what's happened now in all of Europe and the fight and riots, it's like, why? We have 200 nationalities in Dubai and we are coexisting with love and respect. Everything is here. You can walk in downtown Dubai with your white socks, come back after an hour, your socks are still going to be white. Why is that?

19:21Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Because the government cares about the people. So yeah, I don't understand why would you guys pay taxes in America? For what? I mean, if I'm getting something out of it, fine, I pay it. But I'm not. I'm happy he pays 5 % VAT and 9 % corporate tax from the business I make of him. I got some rapid fires for you. Go ahead, brother. Okay. First one, AP or Patek? Depends for what. Today I'm a Patek fighter. One has to go. One has to go? AP. What's on the wrist today and why? I just felt like I had a watch. That's it. I just felt like I would want it. Yeah, can you show it to the camera real quick? I love it.

20:03Would you rather go to a$100 million company that nobody knows about or be famous with a$10 million company?

20:10Ahmed Ben Chaibah: No, 100 million, 100%, any day. Why? Fame is just an illusion. I just came from a 15-day trip in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. My friend was next to me. That guy is the vice chairman for one of the biggest resell companies. He's an actual billionaire. Not a single brand. Nobody knows who he is. I know who he is, but nobody knows that this guy is an actual billionaire who can buy the wallet. So for me, I think low-key has always been anything else. What's a bigger advantage in business? Having money or having connections? Same. I think connections are more important. Why? Because having money could be done by a single tasking thing.

20:53Ahmed Ben Chaibah: You can be a single tasker, do one task long enough, trading, whatever that you can do, and you can make money. But you have no connection. You have no EQ, no emotional intelligence that can carry you into life. You're not likable. You're an asshole. You're a weirdo. How many companies do you own today? Eight. What's an industry that you would never invest in no matter how profitable it looked? Ooh. There's multiple ones. F &B very hard what is that? F &B food and beverage food and beverage yeah not in that space again there's people who can make it very well for me it's a headache I understand it's a lot of brain rate it's not easy it's competitive and it's like no there's better it's like I create my own niche water box what the hell I want to touch on something you were rejected 617 times in your first year yes sir how did you how did you have the resiliency to move from one rejection to the other like you get rejected the 600th time what kept you coming back for the 600 first there's a picture of two men digging on the ground and there's one guy stops digging before hitting the goal i always see that as like i did so much work effort and sweating days for me to quit right now i have a goal did i get it no so why quit that was the only motivator what was it about your goal that had you continue to believe that it was possible?

22:23Ahmed Ben Chaibah: When entrepreneurship is very spiritual and very religious in a way, because you have faith in something you can't see. And as an entrepreneur, it's like you're wearing these glasses, and you're the only one who sees that thing happening. And nobody else can believe that thing. And it's very hard to explain. So I always saw this works. I knew it would work. I felt it. I smelled it. I touched it. I knew it was going to work. There's a matter of just me trying hard enough long enough to make it happen Is there anybody that taught you the business along the way no? zero so like who did you maybe kind of inspired you from the business standpoint because it's like it's one thing to Have this idea and wanted to come to life like I think about like Walt Disney World right and how that was ultimately built And how he had that vision But in terms of you actually thinking about no we can make this a legit business Like this is something that's gonna be able to last for years and years to come so like like I guess where did that come?

23:12Ahmed Ben Chaibah: I had a business advisor for a while who helped in streamline or fix some thought process that I had. That was one. I think having bad partners, like people that I thought they were good people or partners, you learn more from failing and losing than anything else. So I had two very, very horrifying human beings as partners. They cheat, they lie on stuff. And then that made me realize, for example, let's say, James, you're married and you're cheating your wife. I would never work with you. Because if you cheat on somebody who's in your life in that way, then what are you going to do to me? So if you are a guy who cheated on his wife, I'm not going to work with you.

23:52Ahmed Ben Chaibah: If you are somebody who will lie about small things, I'm not going to work with you. So again, there are small things that like, okay, these are flags. They are true. And you can't ignore them because these are habits, and these habits become who you are in reality. Can you tell me about the bad partnerships that you had? Are you able to share some of the details? Like what happened with bad partnerships? Yeah, yeah. I mean, one of them in the beginning that left me with five cases and all the debt, he was supposed to handle the legal and the financial part, and I was supposed to handle the operational market part.

24:22Ahmed Ben Chaibah: He signed so many bad contracts with horrible clauses that had a lot of penalties afterwards, and then left me, run away and left me all these cases. And then the second one was just like sandbagging me, lying about things, trying to create traumatizing, over-exaggerated scenarios of like, oh, we are done, and we've got to pay these people this money for us to survive. It's like, what? So, yeah, I mean, you live and learn. Where did the$2 million worth of debt come from? What were you guys borrowing money for? They borrowed money. That was from the first part I was talking about. We had a cash flow cycle.

25:03Ahmed Ben Chaibah: we took so much cash out of that cash to pay things that we shouldn't pay for and then we had contracts for third price suppliers that had so much big penalties that we didn't understand they were there and then he left me with that and then each one had like a four or three month penalties and each one was like$200 ,000,$500 ,000 penalties and okay then I had to end up paying all these ones so for the next four years I think I was fighting to go back to zero that was fun when you finally got the approval and somebody gave you that yes yes to open up aqua fund the world's biggest inflatable water park yeah what was that process like like you know i'm sure you know you're dealing with you know the public beach uh like walk us through like how you know obviously the story behind getting the yes and like how is that process like how did you get things up and up and going yeah that wasn't easy because um first they said this is a dangerous concept people can die people will drown people are gonna get stuck under the water park and it's I was like, what?

26:00Ahmed Ben Chaibah: And then I had to submit almost 600 pages of documents proving that that's not the case. And then I remember there was once before opening, it said give us an evacuation plan in the water park. It's like, it's a water park in the middle of the sea. What evacuation plan? And then I literally had to just go arrows out. That's the evacuation plan. I said, yeah, okay, fine, that works. But again, I was the first one ever to do something like this in the world, in that scale. So I had to create the whole protocol of how safety, how we build it, how to operate and stuff. And again, like, you know, they didn't understand.

26:32Ahmed Ben Chaibah: They had the theory. I had the experience. You know, they say, like, no, you need to put, you know, 10 times more anchors. Like, no, you're not doing that. The science needs this. This is the water system. This is how much buoyancy and all those things. Again, technical things. But again, I only managed to do it because I have the patience and disciplines to go through it all. They say no. Okay, tell me why not. But give me a technical answer. Why not? so I can answer your technique also. Don't just tell me cause. No, tell me why. And then he gives me that, and I'll go research it. I'll get the experts.

27:06Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Here's the answer. No, but this happened. Okay, give me why. And then eventually that worked because I just think, okay, this guy's not going to stop. You guys ended up filing bankruptcy when you had gotten into 1.8 million dollars worth of debt? What do you mean by twice? Where did the second time come from? Second time happened afterwards. I think I was... got too excited and was going to open two locations at the same time and I put all the money that I had in the launch and we had a partner on that and that partner just hey. How does bankruptcy work in Dubai maybe compared to the United States?

27:42Ahmed Ben Chaibah: It's different laws it's totally different totally different but then for us that technically is different in America because if I in my name I can't open another company. Here, there's a different way around it. But for me, it was more the companies that was bankrupt. Not me, I suppose. So that company got bankrupt. There was no way for me to come back. Earlier this year, I believe in March and April, you shared how sales had dropped 90 % because of all the travel crises. Yes. How did you go about bouncing back and building a marketing plan of like, hey, even though the slowdown is affecting the business, I had to create a new plan to adapt.

28:24Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Yes, everybody in town shivered and just cocooned and stopped posting. Everybody, nobody did anything. Everybody was scared because it was all new. This never happened to the region, to us ever. The army was amazing. Nothing happened to us. We were safe, but nobody came. The media was attacking us like hyenas. I said, okay, now we're going to do it. Nobody's coming. Like I said, 90 % of my customers are tourists. Nobody's here. So I said, okay, what? Let's attack. Let's push more. So we went from posting, I think, once every three days to posting five, 10 times a day. We jumped to become 35 million views a month organically, which is unheard of.

29:08Ahmed Ben Chaibah: And then we got customers back in, local residents, as, okay, so it's working. And then testing, testing, okay, we'll find the right audio, we'll find the right hooks, we'll find the right, testing views as data, and then, okay, now we know what works and then okay we managed to survive this that because march april is our biggest month yeah that that can carry the whole year that was gone so that's like a good eight dollars almost three million dollars lost just gone like that and then okay summer is always quiet anyways so okay we had to carry the summer so we still have our rent and overhead and our operational costs to be covered but from where there's no money but we survived it.

29:49Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So now I'm actually expanding the water park and opening another IP because I believe okay, when it's low tide, that's the time for you to put your hooks. Because when the water comes back again, fish come with it. And then you can hook faster and have more fish. So for me, I think the smartest thing I did is not to cocoon and be scared and trust the process and trust the government and trust this shall pass. I don't think a lot of people realize you have business and not one, but Seven different countries. Seven different countries. Now, the businesses in those countries, you have Aquafone in different parts of the world?

30:25Yes. What countries is the business in?

30:27Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Madhavi, Seychelles, Oman, Saudi, Egypt, and now Zanzibar. So did you kind of run the same exact play that you ran with the Dubai government? Or was there any other really difficulties getting into these different foreign markets? I think because I did such a good job in Dubai, they knew what I was. Social media is the biggest tool. Because that's branding. That's just equity. and you understand it very well. You did a good job in yours. So when they see, hey, I am this company, okay, sure. So when I go there, I usually meet the deputy minister of tourism or somebody big in the government, hey, this is what I want to do.

30:59Ahmed Ben Chaibah: So I get the support from the top-up people and then they give me the right ways to do it and then I do collaboration with somebody local and then we do it. What's the logistics of opening a water park? How much does it cost to open one? And what is typical? What can an average water park? It's not about the cost because anybody can go and get something similar from China. Cool. Many did, and many failed. Like, I think I bought four companies out in Dubai that opened the same business and paid. So, yes, there is levers in cars. There's Corolla and Bentley. Same thing with Waterparks. There's Corolla and Bentley in Waterparks.

31:39Ahmed Ben Chaibah: That's one. But then it's the operation, the safety, the maintenance, the touch and feel, and all the other things around it. so it's all these things that I put in if somebody comes and he's a wealthy man he has his kids I want my kids to be taken care of don't worry about it I'll get you a lifeguard only for the kids you pay$300 done so all these small things you're going to go to work and get thirsty I want water I want water you're hungry I have the food you want sunbed you want a toy for your children I have toys so understand the demand and become supply for that what was the biggest challenge that you faced going from one location to your second location?

32:17Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Quality control. That's the biggest thing. And quality control comes down always to humans. Finding the right people to run it. And again, I think the first trait has to be trustworthy. Trustworthy is the hardest and most important trait. And willingness to try and learn. Because again, it's not rocket science. It's just a water park. But finding those people is very hard. Are there some countries that maybe rejected you for trying to get your park into them? Or have you been pretty successful going from Dubai with the proof of concept going into these other places? Difficulties, yes. Like there's Egypt, extremely difficult.

32:56Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Because it's chaotic. There's a system there. Very hard. Maldives was pretty easy. Seychelles was pretty easy. Zanzibar, fairly easy. Now we're doing Zanzibar and Zambia. And that's why you were out there? Yeah, yeah. That's why I was there now. And what were you doing out there? Two things. I think first I want to see the country again. The people are just, I spoke about it heavily. I said, Europe is cooked. Why would you in the summer go to Europe when it's very expensive, it's hot, it's extremely unsafe, and you have to queue to go to a restaurant when you can put half that money in Africa, East Africa.

33:34Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Southeast Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanderbark, easy countries. The people will take care of you better than your family. they are the most wonderful happy people ever the weather is absolutely phenomenal food is amazing and it's safer than Europe and that's my perception from somebody who have been to 100 countries it's way safer than Europe so I'm done with Europe what are the must see countries before people die? sorry? what do you think are the must see countries before people die? it's very hard you need to do safari at least once safari could be Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa it's one of those three you need to go see Japan once for the sake of seeing Japan you need to go Morocco is an absolutely phenomenal country nothing in Europe at all at all I'm trying to see Europe nothing in Europe at all it's just legacy and that's it China is absolutely cuckoo crazy China there's 200 provinces each one is bigger than Texas so yeah I think that's because again I have always changes for me.

34:39Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Every time it changes for me. I've been in Zanzibar five times. Each time is different. I'm a little disappointed you didn't put America on there. No. We got too many taxes. Yeah, yeah. I've been 18 times in America. Nothing against it, but I'm just done with America. There's way more beautiful places in the world than America. I want to ask you, how do you think the UAE prevents themselves from turning into a place like Europe? And I'll be the first to say there are parts of Europe that I think are beautiful, but I definitely do see there are countries beautiful ones that are there's a lot of problems that are being created you know dubai is an incredibly desirable destination i've read earlier today that last year 10 000 millionaires in 2025 alone moved to the uae which was more than any other country in the world which is incredible combined but with that type of growth that's going on yeah um how do you think that it prevents it ultimately is it just because the leadership's so strong that like they've got certain things in place to prevent that from happening or what safety control those two things very adamant here you cannot come to the country with no visa you do wrong you visit the council you're out that's the control so there's scammers everywhere undercover police everywhere you said there's scammers everywhere there's more cameras everywhere and then again so many times if you steal a car most chances within an hour you'll be in jail.

36:05Ahmed Ben Chaibah: You like in Dubai we go to the mall I can leave my phone on the table and that's how I book my table. Because it's cameras everywhere. Nobody is stupid enough to go and capture it. And again most people here are well off and if you have a job you have a job. You have no job then you can't exist here. So I think that's one of the things. But again there is a high level of tolerance and respect in this country. Very high. And that's the biggest part here. And there is no political parties here. There is no religious extremists here. We don't have this stuff here. Zero. When I first interviewed you, I asked you about what your favorite, deepest life quote was.

36:41Do you remember what you shared? You shared a message from your phone.

36:44Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Yes, I remember it. Do you remember what it is? I have it before still. It was something I wrote to myself, I think 80 years ago now, when I was 1.8 million in debt and four cases are down. I said, train your mind harder than anybody. because your mind is a muscle. You can train it. That's a big one. Never accept someone else's limitation because people can throw a limitation at you and then you think it's true. Pain is essential. It's not going to be easy. You need to go through pain. Pain is the way you shred that extra weight and you become what you become. Visualize what you want all the time.

37:21Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Visualization is the most strongest thing. You've got to be very specific. You can't say I want a G class. You're going to say, which G-class? Which model? What color? Inside, outside? Who's next to you? What song is it going to do? How is the wind going to feel in your hair? I have no hair, but in your hair. You know, you have to exactly know how it feels. Learn the meaning of overload. Most people don't understand the concept of 100 hours a week. And that's fine. You might understand it. But most people, 100 hours a week, you're crazy. even you get it doing good and that's and that's fine and then become obsessed and then never become satisfied those the seven points i had the first one train your mind harder than your body yes we were talking outside a little bit when i asked you about you know what was your self-talk and i know that jack had mentioned a little bit earlier as well about you know when you're facing those 600 rejections like what is it that keeps you going but you kind of had a little exercise that you did where you told me to kind of like whisper my name and then kind of yeah like can you walk me through that again yeah yeah um the whispering the name is a very interesting thing because it just showcases to you the power of your mind and the control do it with josh okay josh now in your head quietly okay don't whisper your name okay now scream your name in your head see both ways you can control your mind and the purpose of the exercise is just to make understand it's mind of matter you can control what your mind do and anxiety is nothing but your soul leaving your body and it's wandering in a place that doesn't exist so i always say breathe let your soul come back to your body and be present in this moment so breathing is a very big one very big one yeah and you forgot to tell him that he has to scream his name out loud now no no no but again you can control everything but you just have to believe that you can control it well we like to end these podcasts off with two questions my friend I'll start and Jack will end it but if the four of us sitting here were to die tomorrow and you could leave one last message one last guiding principle with the younger generation what would that be we gave him so much already and there's no one because what works for you and Jack is so different.

39:45Ahmed Ben Chaibah: Even your brother. He is your brother. It's so different. So again, there's no one fit all. And again, this whole, I think, just be kind. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself. And that's a very big one. Be kind. Why is that so important? Because you cannot be in war with the world and yourself. You cannot. The mountains are there to climb, not to carry. So stop doing it. Stop taking it too serious. You're all going to die. yeah and haman no ahmed ah ahmed you white people

40:22Ahmed Ben Chaibah: yeah okay i'll let you i'm trying to say it right i'm trying to say it right with the life career legacy everything that you've been through yeah how do you want to be remembered i think it's by the kids that i i I sponsor and try to create their own lives. I think that's it. I think legacy is nothing about ego. So I think just being able to change people's lineage, it's my power. I love it. Well, this was a fantastic episode, my friend. We appreciate you joining us today. And for everybody tuning in right now, be sure to like and subscribe for amazing episodes coming every week to the Hard Knocks podcast.

40:56We're going to put the links down in the description for you all to follow along with Aquaman and Aquafun to get access and to learn all about the incredible work that he's doing and the different countries that he will soon be going into. who I'm sure we'll be finding out about soon. We're also going to put a link down in the description for you guys to get access and join the number one community for entrepreneurs in the entire world, the School of Mentors, where every single week we host live calls with the 8, 9, 10, and 11-figure entrepreneurs we interview on the School of Hard Knocks, where you can ask your questions directly to them.

41:24We can't wait to see you on the inside. And with that being said, we'll see you in the next episode.