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Every empire has a first chapter. Ours started in a parking lot.
Before I introduce you to the newest member of the 757BizClick family, let me set the scene. It was a Saturday afternoon in Norfolk — the kind of hot one where the pavement shimmers. My son Zach and I loaded up a stack of flyers, hopped in the car wrapped in our own advertising, rolled past the All Star Elegance pop-up shop doing its thing, and pulled into Janaf Shopping Center to do what we always do — make something happen.
The product on those flyers was AutoWorks Fuel Enhancer — something I have personally run in my own vehicles for over 14 years, through more than 9 years of rideshare and delivery driving. When you drive for a living, fuel economy is not a hobby. It is a line item.
And Janaf on a Saturday? Janaf was alive. Families walking the strip with shopping bags and slushies. Kids begging for one more store. A line out the door at the chicken spot. Cars cruising Virginia Beach Boulevard with the windows down, blasting 90s R&B like the radio never changed — one minute it's Jodeci, the next minute somebody's trunk is rattling to Biggie. That is the soundtrack of commerce in the 757.
But here is the honest part, because this blog does not do fairy tales: we were struggling. Some days the flyers move. That day, they did not. Folks were polite, but hands stayed in pockets. Zach was starting to get that look. I have been in sales long enough to know that look.
That is when the man in the plain gray crewneck tee and the ballcap pulled low showed up. And he did not show up alone.
Meet William. And Meet Robo.
Now, William Dusk did not arrive at Janaf by accident. He had flown into Norfolk earlier that week, and on the ride in from the airport his driver took him right past his cousin's gleaming multi-million dollar facilities on the outskirts of the region — Jaylon Dusk's buildings, all glass and logos and security gates. William looked at all that shine and said one word: “Soon.”
Because William was in town hunting for something Jaylon's buildings cannot manufacture: talent. Undiscovered, hungry, ground-floor entrepreneurs he could invest in and add to his portfolio. And walking half a step behind him — wearing a hat and doing a surprisingly decent job of blending in — was the reason Jaylon should be nervous.
Robo.
Robo is William's humanoid robot assistant. Top secret prototype. William is racing to beat Jaylon's new robot to market before it comes off the line, and he road-tests Robo the only way he knows how — out in the real world, among real people. Robo's job is simple: pull the data, break down the situation, and keep William honest with the numbers. Consider Robo the analyst of this series. He will be doing that in every episode.
Standing in that parking lot, William asked Robo what he was looking at. Robo scanned the strip and delivered:
ROBO: “Janaf Shopping Center. Opened 1959 — one of the first large suburban shopping centers in the United States. The name is an acronym: Joint Army Navy Air Force, after the original investment group of retired and active-duty military personnel. Built on a former airfield. Over 80 acres. Roughly 880,000 square feet of retail. More than 140 retailers. The property last sold for $85.65 million. Assessment: high foot traffic, deep community roots, strong probability of locating undiscovered entrepreneurial talent.”
William nodded. And then he spotted two guys across the lot in matching “Make Something Happen” shirts, working a stack of flyers in the heat.
Before Robo even finished his sentence — William was gone.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
He walked up, read our flyer like it was a term sheet, and stuck out his hand. “William. William Dusk. How are things going today?”
I could have given him the salesman answer. I gave him the truth instead. “Well, to be honest — it's been a little rough.”
Robo, ever helpful, chimed right in with the receipts:
ROBO: “He is correct that this is difficult. Industry response rates for flyer distribution run between 1% and 5%. At the modern average of roughly 4%, one hundred flyers yields approximately four responses. Most humans quit this activity within days.” [pause] “However — the positive side. Flyer response rates have roughly quadrupled since 2016 due to digital ad fatigue. 89% of consumers remember a hand-delivered flyer more than any other marketing method. The average flyer now stays in a home 38 days, up from 17. And flyers carrying a discount code are 50% more likely to be kept at least a week. This flyer carries a discount code. Statistically sound.”
Zach just stared at the robot. I stared at the robot. The robot gave a small thumbs up.
William smiled. “I would love to help. Tell me about the product.”
So we told him — the fuel enhancer, the 14 years, the delivery driving. Robo ran his own calculations and announced that the product was “highly relevant given irregularly elevated gasoline prices, with root causes that are substantially geopolitical.” Which is robot for: gas is high and it ain't just the gas station's fault.
And then this man — who we still thought was just a friendly stranger with a very advanced Halloween costume — picked up a stack of our flyers and started working the lot with us.
The Hot Streak
Something changed when William joined. People got more receptive. A grandmother pushing a cart stopped, read the whole flyer, and said her church van “drinks gas like sweet tea” — she took three, one for each deacon. A young guy in a work truck said his boss had been complaining about fleet fuel costs all month and took a photo of the QR code right there. Two teenagers took flyers mostly because they wanted a closer look at Robo, but hey — a flyer in the hand is a flyer in the hand.
And then it happened. Zach's phone buzzed. He looked down, looked up, and about jumped out of his shoes.
“Dad — look — WE MADE A SALE!”
Right there in the Janaf parking lot. Confirmation email, order placed. All the “no thank yous” of the afternoon evaporated in one buzz of a phone. If you have ever built anything from nothing, you know exactly what that first-sale feeling is. There is no drug like it.
The Smoothie Shop Pep Talk
We celebrated the only correct way for a hot Saturday — walked down the street to the smoothie shop for a cold one. Strawberry-banana all around. Robo ordered nothing but analyzed the menu for “optimal price-per-ounce,” because of course he did.
That is where William got real with us. He told us building a business is not easy — and it is even harder when you are going through difficult personal times, when life is pressing you from every direction and you still have to show up and grind. He knows about that firsthand. Especially on those long road trips being a single man launching a business.
Then he leaned in and gave us the line.
“Believe that you can be greater than what you are.”
Not “believe in yourself” — that is a bumper sticker. This is different. It is the belief that the current version of you is not the final version. That the you sitting there sweating in a parking lot with a stack of flyers can become the you who signs the checks. William talks to entrepreneurs the way I imagine the successful version of yourself would talk to the version of you still building from the ground floor. That is his whole superpower, and honestly, it is the whole reason this blog exists.
Who Is William Dusk?
Here is what we learned over the following weeks, mostly by accident, because William does not volunteer anything about himself. The man in the crewneck tee and the cap is worth roughly $300 million. He moved to the States about five years ago. He walks through the world completely undercover — no entourage, no logos, no flexing — because he believes the only way to actually help people is to move among them as an equal.
His philosophy, which is now part of ours:
“Every time I help somebody get where they need to be in life, I get stronger. And every time I get stronger, my business grows.”
Think about that as a business model. His success metric is not revenue first — it is people helped, and revenue follows. When he helps someone and they win, he gets stronger. When he can only give good information and they have to run with it themselves, he still gets stronger — just not as much. And when he pours into someone and they still do not find their breakthrough? That is when he takes the loss. He counts it like money, because to him it is.
That is a superhero origin story if I have ever heard one. No cape. Just a ballcap and a robot.
The Cousin. The Bet. The Chase.
Every hero needs a rival, and William's rival shares his last name.
His cousin is Jaylon Dusk — the man whose facilities William rode past on the way in from the airport. Net worth: $500 million and climbing. Holdings: an electric car company, a social media company, an AI company, and a newly launched space venture. The Dusk family comes out of South Africa, and back when William and Jaylon were teenagers, they made a bet that has been running ever since: whoever holds the most assets and net worth by 2040 wins.
Quick family note, since people always ask: William Dusk is African American — and yes, he will absolutely tell you the last name fits. “Dusk” because he is a little darker than the competition. He did not pick the joke. His grandmother did, decades ago, and it stuck to the whole family.
Right now, Jaylon is winning. William will tell you that himself, no excuses. But he will also tell you — usually while gazing off into the distance like he is in a movie — that the game is not over, and that he is no quitter.
There is history there. Years ago, William's father and Jaylon's father got into a falling out and the family split down the middle. And if you get William talking late enough in the evening, he will lean in and tell you that certain ideas of his have a funny way of showing up in other people's companies. He never names names. He just says “the man” took what was his. The man is always lurking. The man is always somewhere.
We let him have that one. Every family has its stories.
But understand the real engine here: William is not chasing Jaylon's money. He is chasing Jaylon's method — and betting against it. Jaylon chose to build with cars, robots, and algorithms. William chose to build with people (Robo notwithstanding — even the people-first guy needs an analyst). This entire series is that bet playing out in public. Machines versus people. We know which side we are on.
William's 3 Cold-Approach Tips (Steal These)
Before the smoothies were gone, William broke down my marketing strategy and handed me three tips for acquiring customers with a cold approach. He said I could share them, so consider this your first free consulting session with a $300 million mentor:
- 1. Lead with their problem, not your product. Nobody at Janaf woke up wanting a fuel enhancer. Everybody at Janaf woke up hating what they spend on gas. The first sentence out of your mouth should name their pain — “tired of what you're paying at the pump?” — because a person who hears their own problem stops walking. A person who hears your product keeps moving.
- 2. Ask a question they can say yes to in under two seconds. Cold approach dies in the pause. “Do you drive a lot?” “Gas hitting your budget?” Easy yeses open the door; complicated pitches close it. Get the small yes first, then earn the right to say more.
- 3. Give them a reason to keep the paper. A flyer's real job is not the conversation today — it is the kitchen counter for the next month. Remember Robo's stat: flyers with a discount code are 50% more likely to be kept at least a week, and the average flyer lives in a home for 38 days. A code, a free sample offer, a “show this flyer” deal — that is what buys you those 38 days.
And one bonus from me, learned in the field: put a QR code on everything. That young guy in the work truck never took a flyer — he took a photo of the QR code. The QR code turns a piece of paper into a doorway. Print without one and you are leaving money in the parking lot. I will break down my full QR code strategy — where to point it, how to track scans — in a future post, because there are levels to it.
Why He Chose 757BizClick
William has seen the whole world of business — he travels constantly, covering financial news and entrepreneurs across the globe, documenting the good, the bad, and the ugly of how money really moves. He could have joined any board anywhere. He joined ours.
His reason was simple. The people he wants to reach are not reading the Wall Street Journal. They are working doubles. They are driving deliveries. They are talented, creative, and in a lot of cases disenfranchised — not because they lack ability, but because nobody ever handed them the platform or the playbook. That is exactly who 757BizClick exists for. So the fit was natural.
And this is where the story stops being a story and starts being an invitation. Everything William preaches about ordinary people building something of their own — that is not fiction, and you do not need $300 million to start. Most of the people we work with started their online business education at Wealthy Affiliate for exactly zero dollars. That is the on-ramp. William approves this message.
The Rules of the Series
So here is what The Adventures of William Dusk will be. William is going to travel — sometimes with us, sometimes solo, always with Robo pulling up the data — and everywhere he goes, we will break down the real business lessons behind the trip. Current events, world markets, entrepreneurship, money psychology, opportunity. Taught the way it should be taught: with facts, with numbers, and with enough humor that you actually finish the article.
A few ground rules so everybody is in on the joke:
- William Dusk, Jaylon Dusk, and Robo are fictional characters. This series is satire and storytelling, created for entertainment and education. Any resemblance to real billionaires, living or launching rockets, is purely coincidental. Wink.
- The business lessons and the numbers are 100% real. The characters are the sugar. The information is the medicine.
- The mission is real too. Helping everyday people build income online, save money, and make something happen. Whether that is cutting your fuel costs, earning cash back on shopping you already do, saving at the pump with Upside, or building your first online business — that part is not fiction.
Where We Go From Here
William's first big trip is already booked, and it is a serious one: he is headed to China — right into the middle of the biggest trade conversation on the planet. Tariffs, intellectual property, the strength of the yuan, and the trillion-dollar question every entrepreneur should be asking: is China still a good place to do business? Robo is already downloading trade data. We are going to break all of it down, Dusk style.
And somewhere out there, Jaylon Dusk is launching rockets and counting his lead.
2040 is coming. The bet is on. And William Dusk does not quit.
Believe that you can be greater than what you are. And Make Something Happen.
— Cedric, Zach, William Dusk, and Robo (who insisted on being credited)
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