Growing up poor in Atlanta wasn’t the greatest situation for Justin Gilmore, the founder and owner of an ATM supply and processing company ATMMachines.com. His family struggled to make ends meet day to day, which only fuelled Justin’s future goals. He got into the mindset of success and would spend countless hours working hard and maximizing his skills so he could someday make something of himself.
By the time the ninth grade rolled around, Justin got expelled during his first semester. This didn’t come as much of a surprise, considering he’d faced problems with school before, like failing and having to retake the sixth and seventh grade. The 15-year-old now had more time to focus on his future, though his family and others around him didn’t have much hope.
That’s what drove him to work harder and better. Justin quickly began reading and analyzing any self-help and entrepreneurial books he came across, as well as spending a large amount of his money on courses about sales. Most of the courses were scams or didn’t get him the results he was looking for, but Justin continued acquiring as much knowledge as possible.
Once he turned 17, Justin began a hustle where he would buy pizzas under the table for $2.50 each, then double the price and sell them to anyone he came across. He’d go as far as to drive an hour in every direction if it meant he could unload his stock of 40 to 100 pizzas, but he frequented office buildings.
Starting at 10:30 AM, he would load up his trunk, back seat, and passenger seat full of pizzas, then spend the next few hours ‘hucking’ them, as he called it. The greatest technique was to start at the top of an office building and work his way down to the ground floor, earning double the profit on every pizza he sold.
The story Justin used was that a company that he had made up ordered in bulk but then canceled at the last minute, leaving him to dispense what was left. And people ate that up, even tipping him when he’d ask for it. This went on for a few years before Justin decided to move onto bigger and better things.
In his early twenties, he learned about the ATM business. His experience with customer service and selling, paired with his research on entrepreneurial books, helped him grasp what to expect. For Justin, it’s important to treat customers like business partners. Deals aren’t one-sided, so he prefers to think of everyone as an equal rather than a payday. That mindset is what helped him go out around Atlanta and create a route of businesses that would benefit from ATMs.
Two short years later, Justin was making between $10,000 to $15,000 each month. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to support himself and his family finally. His goals of making them proud had finally come true. He had proven that anyone is capable of anything with dedication and belief in themselves, even if nobody else thinks so.
Justin continued to scale his business, and now the entrepreneur has grown things to impressive heights. And he’s not done yet. Helping others and providing support is something he wants to focus on, which is why Justin is creating a course to teach others how to set up their own ATM business. You can find more information about this on his Instagram, @atmmachines_com.