Dana left construction for The Real World's Ecommerce campus: a case study

Transcribed on 25 October 2026 from the interview audio with Whisper speech recognition (run locally), then checked against two more full passes and a re-run of every quoted part: punctuation fixed, nothing added; “[unclear]” marks words the passes don’t agree on. Speaker labels are ours. The interviewer is from The Real World. The interview contains some swearing, kept as spoken.

0:00 Interviewer: Hey. First of all, where are you from? How old are you, and how did you discover me and Andrew and The Real World?

0:07 Dana: So I'm actually, I'll start off. I'm from Australia, the prison, the prison country, as you guys call it. Yeah. I'm 25 years old. I found you guys through, it would be TikTok, about over a year and a half ago, about February last year. So I was just, I was originally like looking at doing e-commerce and I was just like scrolling through like TikTok and then, like, the videos of Andrew kept popping up and I was like, what is, who is this guy? Like, what's going on here? It was very like, it was, it caught my attention. And then I was like, I saw like the link for Hustlers and I was like, oh, normal me, I was like, oh, this is like a scam, I don't trust this stuff. I'm just gonna let it sit. And I kept getting targeted by, and I was like, you know, this is a sign to give it a crack. I'm like, what's the worst that could happen? I'll just unsubscribe after a month if it's like, if it's shit.

0:58 Interviewer: There are many different campuses inside The Real World. We teach all sorts of different things. What do you do the most of? What do you like the most of?

1:06 Dana: So e-commerce, that's what I've been completely, that's what I've been hands down, like, focused on for the last year, pretty much. Yeah. So quick background, I was in construction. So I was doing, I was in a well-paid construction job, 200 grand a year, that's what I was getting paid, and it just didn't feel right for me anymore. I'd been in that industry for, like, since I was 18, pretty much grew up with it in a family business. And I was like, I need, I wanted to do something different, something that's more fulfilling for me. And I started looking at e-commerce, started looking at dropshipping, and then that's where I sort of came across the Hustlers, Hustlers University, and then dived into that. I would have been April last year, and just was learning for a few months, ended up quitting my job before I even made any money in it. I said, I just got to go all the way on [unclear]. Literally.

2:00 Interviewer: And that begs the question, that begs the question I have to ask now: how much money do you make with your, with your e-commerce and dropshipping business?

2:06 Dana: So I've done over $100,000 so far.

2:09 Interviewer: Nice, nice.

2:10 Dana: And that, that's pretty much, that came within four, four to five months with it, with being in Hustlers University.

2:17 Interviewer: Wow. What do you think of the, what do you think of the professors and the teachers inside The Real World?

2:23 Dana: Awesome. Like, especially with the e-com one, the e-com, it was like the question, everything gets answered straight away. So that was like a big thing that I learned when I was just trying to learn dropshipping by myself. It was so much stuff on the internet, you just don't get the correct answer, and you can spend hours looking, watching like countless videos to see, like, a result, but you can never actually find that thing. But within the university, you just ask a question, "Hey, how do you do this?", and you'll get a detailed response. You'll get something that's tailored for your question. You don't have to spend hours researching, to waste any more time. You just get a reply and then that's it, you keep moving.

3:00 Interviewer: And it's not just the professors that answer questions. Experienced guys who make money, people like you, answer questions to newer guys and younger guys. Is that correct?

3:08 Dana: Correct. People, everyone helps, everyone helps each other out, because it's like, it's a band, like a team. Everyone's there for the same goal. Everyone's wanting the same thing out of it. So yeah, everyone just helps each other get to that goal.

3:18 Interviewer: So obviously, spending $49 a month to give you the tools that have made you over $100,000 at this point sounds very good. But what would you say to people who think that Hustlers University is a get-rich-quick scheme?

3:34 Dana: It takes, like anything, it takes time. Like, you have to learn it. You can't expect, it's, [unclear], it's not like, [unclear] gambling, you're not buying crypto or doing it. You're not like, how do I put it in simple terms? You're not, you got to be invested in it. You have to actually want to see results. You have to want to work for it. You want to actually try to get something out of it. Like, I know that people have like messaged me, they say, "Oh, I was only in it for like a month, I didn't make any money." And I go, "A month?" I said, "What do you learn in a month?" I said, "You have to actually trial and error. You have to see what works for you." Everyone's different. Like, it might take, it could take people one month to make money, but it might take people a year. Everyone learns at a different rate. Everyone knows, experiences things differently. So you actually give it a crack. And I said, the thing I look at it, what are you gonna spend? It's for us, it's about, for Australia, converted to Australia, it's about 80 bucks a month or whatever it is. But 80 bucks a month, and you're learning all that, is a lot more efficient, like a lot more effective than like anything else. Like, it's, it's a no-brainer.

4:35 Interviewer: What would you say to a 23-year-old Australian man, a couple years younger than you, who doesn't believe in The Real World, who doesn't want to join The Real World and isn't making any money? What advice would you give him?

4:49 Dana: [unclear] I'd say there's no, there's no harm in trying. [unclear] People are worried about failing, and I always say if you, if you don't actually try, you've already failed. You need to, you need to actually try it and see where you go. If, if it's not for you, what, one month, you find, figure out [unclear], cool, just end the subscription and move on. You have to try. Everyone has to try stuff. And that was a big thing that I learned, you know, like when I first, when I first saw it, I was like, I'll give it a crack. If it's no good, I'll just not use it anymore.

5:19 Interviewer: I think that's it. I think that's everything. I think that's everything we need. Have a good, have a good day. We'll speak on Twitter, anything you need, let me know. I appreciate doing the [unclear]. I'll tag you when it's done. You're a legend. Keep up the good work.

5:26 Dana: Cool. Thanks, bro.

Transcribed on 25 October 2026 from the video’s audio with Whisper speech recognition (run locally), then checked against two more full passes and a re-run of every quoted part: punctuation fixed, nothing added; “[unclear]” marks words the passes don’t agree on. Speaker labels are ours. The interviewer is from The Real World. The video starts partway through Dana’s first answer. It contains some swearing, kept as spoken. The Real World’s caption for this interview read “Dana, 25” and “New revenue: $115,000/5 months”.

0:00 Dana: So I worked, I worked in construction since I was 18, currently 25 now. So what's that, six years, seven years in construction. Um, a few things happened in my personal life, which sort of pulled me out of that path. So I was heading down this one path, which I thought was my life, that's what I had to do, pulled me out of it. And I was left, like, sort of not knowing who I was, not knowing where to go. So I started investing my time into e-commerce stuff, watching YouTube videos, just paying attention to that sort of stuff. Wasn't really getting far with that. Was always hitting dead ends. Could never find the right answer. Was always a bit, was always left in the lurch. Then this is back last year in about April, when it was, you know, it was Hustlers University back then, it was [unclear]. Um, I entered that just not knowing much. Was like, all right, this is going to, I'm pretty much at like a standstill, so no matter what it's going to be, it's going to be something. So I jumped into the, uh, The Real World, and from then it's been life-changing. So all my questions, and all the, all the questions I had that I couldn't find with my, with myself online, I ended up finding [unclear] through just asking the professors, watching the videos. I ended up building an e-commerce store. The first two or three months of being in Hustlers didn't have much action. I was running paid ads and stuff and it wasn't, it was, I was struggling a little bit, so I turned to TikTok organic, and then two to three weeks after focusing on that, I started getting big wins. So my first, like, big win was like turned over, I think it was 20,000 in that three or four, or probably three weeks, with a profit of 10 grand. Um, [unclear] I was at 50% profit because you don't have the money. And then, um, I was like, oh my, like, before that, I was thinking, I'm like, e-com must just be like a bit of a scam. Like, no one really makes money when everyone just talks about making money. No one makes it. [unclear] I was like, this is like, it's bullshit. Then when I started seeing money coming in, I was like, holy crap, this is like, this is [unclear], this is something. So I started focusing on that more. So, and that's, that led me into like the start of this year in Jan, when I had another massive [unclear], just took to the next step. Um, I made like in the [unclear] three days, I turned over like 20 grand, profited 10 from it, had a couple of five grand days, and then now it's just been...

2:46 Interviewer: You made, you made 10 grand in three days?

2:50 Dana: Yeah.

2:51 Interviewer: Mate, that is, that is on a global level, that is impressive. You know, that's some, that's some very impressive, like, I love it, mate. I love it. And how, how long had you been in The Real World before you started to have those really big wins?

3:05 Dana: It was probably that, I reckon it was about three months. So I saw three or four months, thereabouts.

3:10 Interviewer: What were the, what was the experience like in The Real World, the community, the support that you get in there? Can you talk to that?

3:16 Dana: Yeah, very, very, all your questions get answered. Like, that's one thing I noticed. There's a lot of, a lot of people in there now. When you still post a question, it will get answered by someone. If, if once in a blue [unclear], might not, but you, you post the same question again, guaranteed answers. And that was the best thing, 'cause you weren't left wondering, like, looking, searching stuff up for hours on the internet, trying to find that answer and never actually getting a direct answer. You're able to, any question you have related to the website, ads, products, anything really based around e-com, you just ask it, you ask in a formal way with a lot of detail. Like, don't miss it, don't just expect, don't say simple, like, three words and expect them to give you a full essay. Be in depth with what you want and what you're, what you're actually asking, and you will receive that back from the professors. And that's what I noticed.

4:09 Interviewer: And also the community aspect, the way everyone's motivating each other. What's the energy like? What's, what's it like in terms of accessing that, that, that continual stream of, of wins and seeing what's possible and wanting to go on and create that for yourself as well?

4:24 Dana: It's very uplifting and positive. You don't see people shitting on each other. You don't see people doing any of that stuff. It's all, everyone's like a team, it's a team effort. Everyone's there helping to push everyone's up, grow them up. You see, when people post their wins, everyone gets around it. No one goes and bad-mouths them or says anything. It's all like, "Yeah, sick, keep going, bro, we're going to get this one day, let's do it." It's all this positive energy around wins, around people's questions, around any aspect of it. Everyone's there as a team.