Becoming Mr. Wonderful | Kevin O'Leary Tells it All

This is the place. Coming up was right here when she said, "You're fired." I didn't even know what fired meant. How dragons are really made? I have never ever in my life worked for someone again and never will. Can't believe I'm so emotional.

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Welcome back to this special edition of Dragons' Den. I'm Diane Buckner. Besides being very rich and very ambitious, Kevin O'Leary is known as the most fearsome of all the Dragons. But how did he get that way?

"I really, really believe I am the merchant of truth. I am the merchant of truth, and you can't deal with it.

Here in lecture us about truth when you know nothing about truth. Your reputation is rude and arrogant. You don't listen to any but um, into my kitchen, buddy you got to take the heat. You're missing that I'm missing the mouse to make money—the only thing that matters.

Okay? It's the part where I make money and there is no part where I make money. Okay? You sucked, I gotta tell you that. Absolutely sucked. Period. End of story. I couldn't give a damn about somebody's feelings when I'm talking about money because money has no feelings.

This is all crap. It's my in tears don't mix. Get over life's hard. Money doesn't care. Your tears don't add any value."

But Kevin O'Leary's own journey began in the middle-class suburbs of Montreal.

"Wow, make that tree was about two feet high when I lived here. It's like 50 years ago. We were not a wealthy family. We're middle class; we lived on a street called Kenaston Avenue in Montreal. I was always taken care of.

And my mother always said to me, 'I'm going to make sure you get an education; you'll never want for an education.' I got to take a picture; this has been so long. I got to send a copy of this to my brother. This is amazing! We used to play right on this lawn, ride our bicycles up and down the street.

Although the street looked huge back then, I remember this being a really large place, you know? I must have been a door. It was at that period where my mother got divorced too. My father, unfortunately, my father passed away quite soon after that.

She remarried an executive in the International Labour Organization, and his role was to be a management expert in countries all around the world. So we moved from Cambodia to Ethiopia to Tunisia to Cyprus to Switzerland. Besides a globe-trotting childhood, his stepfather also gave Kevin some strict advice: 'Put down the guitar and pick up a book.'

Kevin was unpredictable when he was a teenager, and we could not figure out what he was going to do. We spent many sleepless nights thinking about his future.

"I knew every kid in every one of these houses used to walk these streets at night in packs looking for a party to go to. It was great! I had my first bread or beer here—15% alcohol. I had my first car accident just turn the corner from here, wreck my mother's car.

I'll never forget that! My hope for Kevin was, of course, happiness. But we differed on the way in which his happiness could be achieved because he could have been quite happy playing music and taking pictures and doing virtually nothing. But I would not have been happy."

"I'll never forget this place. It was very profound what happened to me here. I could buy this place today and bulldoze it if I want. I remember my very first job; it was at a place called Magoo's Ice Cream Parlour in Ottawa, Canada, and it was incredibly traumatic for me.

And it taught me a lesson I've never forgotten. It ruled my life in business from that day on. This is Magoo's Ice Cream Parlour! This was Magoo's Ice Cream Parlour. It was my second day working there, and the owner had hired me to scoop ice cream. It was right here—the counter was right here.

And I was finishing work one day, and she said to me, 'Get down on your knees and scrape the gum off the floor.' And she looked at me like a witch, and I said no! And she said, 'You're fired! Get out of my ice cream store!' Right here. Happened right here.

I didn't even know what fired meant, but within minutes, I was on my bicycle on my way home in utter shame, in shock that she had that kind of control over my life. It was stunning and powerful. I have never ever—what? Still dizzy! I can't believe it changed my life forever. I have never ever in my life worked for someone again. Ever! No one has ever had control over me. Ever!

And never will." I can't believe I'm so emotional; I haven't thought about these things in years.

Kevin always went when other people were afraid to tread, and he took a decision; he doesn't want to work for anything. He wanted to be his own master, so he started his business from nothing.

I mean, he had one product; he had two telephones in a one little small place in Toronto. That's the basement. That is the four billion-dollar basement. That is where SoftKey Software Products began. That turned into the Learning Company, and we sold to Mattel right there—Read-a-Rabbit and Uncle Kevin together. It was just wonderful! Imagine that! From $10,000 my mother lent me in the basement of my home—3.7 billion!

Trust me, I wouldn't have a cottage if they hadn't bought my company.

"Welcome to Fantasy Island! Come on in! This is sort of my home away from home. What I like about this is to be one with nature. Look at that! Let's visit my favorite room—ah! My babies! Whoo! Wait a moment of silence—yes! Oh, that's hot!

Look down the lake, often with a glass of wine, and just see what's happening. Boats go by, sunrises, sunsets—wonderful! Once you become wealthy, which I believe happens when you're not watching, you have to find a business you fall in love with, and while you're doing that, hopefully enjoying yourself,

because I don't believe entrepreneurs ever do things they don't want. You're going to get rich; you're just not going to notice it. That's the kind of problem I want to have with you! We want to be bitching about the money—we're family, buddy! And I'm giving you an offer here that is absolutely spectacular.

Seeing that process actually occur on Dragons' Den hits a prime mortal vein in every person: the desire to be successful and to be free of life's shackles through wealth. That's what's really happening on Dragons' Den.

So money does rule my life, and I'm okay with it. I have found my inner peace. What do you want to do with your money?

"I want more inner peace!"

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"I can afford to walk out of here if I want to and never come back, and there's nothing you can do about it! That's freedom! That's power! That's what I want!"

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"Thank you! Thank you! Hear, hear! Well done! Alright, thank you everyone! I was great!"

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