Gus Drakopoulos of Sin City and Show Palace: Why Obsessive Passion Trumps All When Turning Raw Ideas Into Real Businesses

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gus Drakopoulos.

After overcoming challenges with the past, Gus Drakopoulos (aka “The Boss Man”) was 19 years old when he got hired as a cold caller and became the embodiment of “The Wolf of Wall Street”. As a registered stockbroker, he then closed one of his first deals with a successful immigrant and night club owner, and knew he wanted in on the same fun, exciting life.

Fast forward to 2002, Gus opened his first night club, Sin City in The Bronx (the adult dance establishment a million blockbuster movies have been shot in — Hustler with Jennifer Lopez, Billions, The Sopranos and more- In 2011 he opened another adult nightlife venue called Show Palace in Queens and soon after, Sin City in Philadelphia.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I’m born and raised in Queens NY. Predominately a Greek/Italian neighborhood. Went to school in a Greek/American HS, and sheltered from other cultures until I graduated. Today I see all people, from all different ethnicities, races and cultures as the same. We all have the same values, and people are not as different as we are made to think they are. The neighborhood was tough and it created tough guys. We all had nick names and 30 years later, all the people we grew up with, we are still friends.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

If you can think it you can achieve it! It’s thoughts’ are things, your thoughts’ become your reality.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. As I climbed up the ladder of success, pinching myself if this is reality, I often asked why is it not happening to others that came from where I came from. The book goes into why one has and other do not. The book is my bible, not only for business, but life in general.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge? Why are people struggling to bring there ideas into reality?

Many reasons!, just like failure has many reasons, I don’t focus on why they can’t or why one fails, I focus on how one did and succeeds. Those traits are few, and all we have to do is follow suite. If I had to guess a few reasons, the one that probably is the top of the list, is passion. Without it, you lack drive, work ethic, and an unstoppable desire to achieve your goals. It borderline an obsessive disorder you have to create.

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Depends on the idea, however if it’s that unique, even if it’s been created before, maybe yours will be better. Blockbuster rented videos, Netflix did the same with a different twist to how they did it in the 90’s.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands?

In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it. A successful person over time sharpness his abilities. No one has all the answers how to do something, not even Elon Musk. However, from my personal experience, over the years, I sharpened my capabilities to navigate and find the right people to get me what I need. I was able to do that by constantly networking and meeting different people, and identifying what they can offer. So, If you need to patent something it’s about finding the right lawyer to do so. Thru your network you build over the years, you should be able to do that. If your network is not there yet cause of age, or what not, find a mentor who already has a network.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

Compliment your staff. Say thank you, even for the smallest things. Make your staff feel appreciated and heard.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Research everything about the industry you are about to go into, identify the leaders in it, and find out who are the people behind those leading companies. Reach out to them to help you become a leader in that industry next.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Hire a consultant! Henry Ford was once called an ignorant man by a newspaper. He took them to court for defamation, during the court proceedings the opposing council examined Mr. Ford on the stand and started asking him some ridiculous questions to prove to the court how ignorant he was. Mr. Ford replied and said, why should I fill my brain with such non useful knowledge? Let me remind you that on my desk I have a row of buttons and by pressing the right one it summons a professional on the topic of issues I need an answer too.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I try to give back with inspiration, helping others who can help at the moment themselves and my life’s journey and knowledge I’ve gathered to the ones who want to follow a similar path.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them. YES!

Puff Daddy, aka Diddy! He has a passion and drive, create and win like no other! Or at least he is very vocal about it. He also, has a great family structure, and has had a great loss having him reflect on what important and what is not.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.