2 Self-Made Millionaires Share How They Got Rich in 3 Years
Written by
Cindy Lamothe
Edited by
Kristen Mae
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Ever wonder how some people seem to hit the jackpot in record time? While most of us are grinding away year after year, a few self-made millionaires have managed to turn big ideas into serious cash — sometimes in just one to three years.
According to a study from Northwestern Mutual, only one in three American millionaires — people with $1 million or more in investable assets — actually see themselves as “wealthy.”
GOBankingRates spoke with Mircea Dima, CEO and founder of AlgoCademy, and Joseph Keshi, CEO of Keshman Property Management, to uncover their wealth-building strategies. Their paths were different, but the underlying principles overlapped in telling ways. Here’s what they had to say.
Turning a Coding Problem Into a Million-Dollar Solution
Dima didn’t stumble into wealth by chance. He said it took three years of focused effort to become a millionaire.
“After developing a compounding skill set, timing, and a passion for solving valuable problems, success followed,” he said.
AlgoCademy was born after several years of teaching algorithms and training engineers for technical interviews at companies like Facebook. Along the way, Dima noticed major inefficiencies in how coding was taught.
“Students relied too much on memorization and used almost no systematic thought,” he said. “Solving that problem became my source of wealth.”
Wealth Hastening Requires Focus
Dima said the early days involved coding the platform up to 16 hours a day and reinvesting every dollar back into product development and marketing tests.
“I tracked user retention and learning outcomes weekly — not vanity metrics,” he said.
In less than a year, AlgoCademy surpassed $100,000 in monthly subscription revenue, validating the approach and allowing the business to scale.
Building Wealth Starts With Income Conversion, Not Just Earning More
Joseph Keshi, CEO of Keshman Property Management, took a different path. “I built my wealth through strategic property investment and cash-flow management over a three-year period,” he said.
Because Keshi started with limited capital, he focused less on earning more upfront and more on converting active income into passive income streams. He began by purchasing undervalued properties in emerging neighborhoods of Jacksonville and reinvesting rental income into additional units.
“Every dollar earned worked to generate more money,” he said.
Within three years, this disciplined approach of buying, improving, and leasing transformed a modest start into seven-figure equity.
Leveraging Smart Debt, Not Avoiding It
“The biggest lesson I tell clients: Not all debt is bad,” Keshi said.
He explained that timely borrowing can drive growth when paired with appreciating, cash-flow-generating assets. Rather than avoiding debt entirely, he used low-interest loans to scale his portfolio, then applied rental profits to accelerate repayment.
This balance of leveraging and reinvesting helped build momentum without taking on excessive risk.
The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything
“Millionaires think about cash flow, not cash sitting in a bank account,” Keshi said.
He personally tracks every expense, evaluates returns on a monthly basis, and focuses on financial freedom rather than appearances.
“Life accelerates for anyone willing to treat money like a system rather than a symbol.”
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